INTRODUCTION For years, students have endured the physical and mental stress that comes as a result of the demands of postsecondary education. All-night cramming for exams and marathon paper writing sessions are considered, by many, to be a rite of passage, endured by generations of students. For many years, students have also turned to stimulants (from coffee to energy drinks and caffeine pill...

Despite public recognition of the hazards of 21st birthday drinking, there is little empirical information concerning its prevalence, severity, and risk factors. Data from a sample of 2,518 college students suggest that 21st birthday drinking poses an extreme danger: (a) 4 of every 5 participants (83%) reported drinking to celebrate, (b) birthday drinkers indicated high levels of consumption, (...

The tobacco-free generation proposal advocates legislation precluding the sale and supply of tobacco to individuals born after a certain year. The measure is aimed at overcoming defects with current youth access laws that suffer from rite-of-passage and mixed signalling effects. Since its introduction in 2010, the proposal has attracted international attention, highlighting a number of matters ...

This article examines childbirth in a public maternity hospital in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from the perspective of young and adolescent women, mostly black and working-class. As an anthropological study, it is based on the analysis of birth narratives and hospital ethnography, especially in the obstetric ward. The women describe labor as dominated by fear, loneliness, and pain. These feelings ...

This study examined qualitative research on adolescent pregnancy to determine designs and methods used and to discover emergent themes across studies. Most of the 22 studies reviewed were described as qualitative or phenomenological by design and included samples comprising either African-American and Caucasian participants or African-Americans exclusively. Based on analysis of the collective p...

Black Africans who were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean experienced myriad forms of coercion alongside Middle Passage. This article centres on mobilities Manuel Francisco Zapata, a man Wolof descent, born and raised Muslim in Meknes, Morocco. Captured enslaved by Spanish, he lived for several years Seville, was then trafficked to Cartagena de Indias Panama City before being tried...

Sociological theories seldom inform public health interventions at the community level. The reasons for this are unclear but may include difficulties in finding, understanding or operationalising theories. We conducted a study to explore the feasibility of locating sociological theories within a specific field of public health, adolescent risk-taking, and to consider their potential for practic...

Alcohol advertisements are a potentially potent site for the representations of masculinity and gender relations given alcohol’s role as a rite of passage for young men in Western cultures. Concerns about violence against women draw attention to the representations of masculinity that alcohol advertisements privilege and that may have important implications for gender relationships. Traditional...

Female genital mutilation, also known as female genital cutting, is a deeply rooted cultural practice in more than 28 African countries, parts of the middle east, and pockets of Asia. Annually, an estimated 2 million girls come of age in such areas.1 Support for the practice in communities is broad-based. Mothers, mothers-in-law, fathers, and religious and community leaders defend the practice ...