This study examined perceptions of the future among young adults with and without learning disabilities (LD). Participants were 16 college students who participated in a semi-structured interview: 8 with LD and 8 without LD. Four domains were identified: time horizon, future life domains, emotions toward the future, and impact of having a diagnosis of LD. Participants with LD expressed a more limited vision of their future than participants without LD, reflected in such aspects as a narrower time horizon scope and less detailed descriptions. In addition, most participants with LD thought that their situation as a person with a disability would impact their future to some degree, at least in specific areas of life. However, they were like participants without LD in other aspects. For example, both samples mentioned work, family, and leisure when describing their future. The results suggest that professionals working with young adults with LD cannot automatically apply the same strategies they use when working with young adults with typical development. For instance, they may need to examine the extent to which their clients perceive their disability as central and influential and focus on coping strategies where relevant.

This study focused on college students with and without learning disabilities and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and examined the contribution of disability status (having or not having a disability) and the use of institutional support to academic self-efficacy, and the joint contribution of all variables to self-advocacy. Participants were 452 students: 231 with disabilities. They completed a self-advocacy questionnaire, an academic self-efficacy questionnaire, and a background questionnaire. Participants with disabilities reported lower levels of academic self-efficacy compared to participants with typical development. Additionally, disability status, use of institutional support, and academic self-efficacy were all significant in predicting different components of participants' self-advocacy. Participants with disabilities reported higher levels of knowledge of rights and leadership than participants with typical development; use of institutional support positively contributed to participants' knowledge of rights, communication, and leadership; and academic self-efficacy was positively associated with participants' knowledge of self, knowledge of rights, and communication. Participants' age was also a significant predictor of self-advocacy. Older students reported higher levels of knowledge of self, knowledge of rights, and communication. Additionally, gender was a significant contributor of participants' leadership, with men reporting higher levels of this self-advocacy component than women. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

PURPOSE:The study investigated the social-emotional functioning of children with typical hearing and deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) children from diverse cultural backgrounds in Israel through parental reports. METHOD:A total of 242 parents from both Arabic and Jewish communities participated: 130 were parents of D/HH children and 112 were parents of children with typical hearing. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and a background questionnaire were used. RESULTS:Results revealed increased total difficulties, emotional symptoms, and peer problems as reported by parents of D/HH children. Jewish parents of D/HH children reported greater total difficulties, conduct problems, and peer problems than Arab parents. Significant gender differences were found, with parents of boys reporting higher levels of hyperactivity/inattention and lower prosocial behavior. Among D/HH children, Arab parents reported higher peer problems among hearing aid users compared to cochlear implant users, whereas Jewish parents reported the opposite trend. CONCLUSION:These findings highlight the significant social-emotional challenges faced by D/HH children, particularly in peer interactions, and underscore the need for tailored interventions that consider cultural differences.

Exposure to terror may have a devastating effect on individuals’ physical and mental health and their concerns for the future. Religious faith may help interpret and cope with such events. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the impact of the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent war on the future perceptions of 15 religious Jewish young adults and the role of faith in shaping these perceptions. Data analysis yielded two themes: (a) faith as a matrix for making sense of the attack and the war, and (b) future perceptions in times of war and their relation to faith. The findings demonstrated the role of collective trauma and faith in shaping participants’ perceptions of their future, which tended to be unclear, optimistic, demanding personal initiative, realistic, and collective. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Young adults with disabilities tend to have lower rates of employment and career indicators as compared with youth without disabilities. Therefore, understanding the factors that may influence such outcomes is crucial. This study examined the future perceptions of 18 young adults with physical disabilities while focusing on the barriers and supports that may impact their transition into adult life. All participants were living in a rehabilitative student community in southern Israel. They participated in an in-depth semi-structured interview. Data analysis, which was conducted according to an adaptation of the Consensual Qualitative Research method, revealed four major domains: emotions, future life roles, barriers, and supports. Findings emphasized that the participants' disability was extremely dominant in their future perceptions. In general, they expressed caution and concern about their future. They also tended not to express detailed long-term planning. Their perceptions focused on their future work, future intimate relationships, and the need to manage simultaneously different roles. When addressing their possible barriers and supports, they related both to environmental (e.g., social stigma and community support) and to personal (e.g., low self-esteem and high motivation) factors. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This study examined future career expectations of college students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and/or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) while focusing on the contribution of academic self-efficacy, self-advocacy, and family and academic support. Among participants with disabilities, assistance from support centres was also examined. Participants were 342 college students: 179 with LD and/or ADHD and 163 without disabilities. They completed a self-advocacy questionnaire, a general academic self-efficacy scale, a future expectations scale, and a background questionnaire. Whereas students with LD and/or ADHD reported lower levels of academic self-efficacy than students without disabilities, there were no significant differences between the two groups in future expectations. One component of self-advocacy (knowledge of self), family support, and academic self-efficacy were significant predictors of participants' future career expectations. When participants with disabilities were examined separately, only knowledge of self and academic self-efficacy were significant predictors. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The contribution of family influence and self-efficacy to the future perceptions of 255 Israeli young adults (186 Jewish, 69 Arab Muslims), was examined. Participants completed the Future Perceptions Scale, the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE) Scale, and the Family Influence Scale. Family’s instrumental support and participants’ cultural background were significant predictors of CDMSE. Significant interactions were found between cultural background and family financial support and values/beliefs in predicting CDMSE. Family influence, CDMSE, and cultural background significantly contributed to participants’ future perceptions. Significant interactions between cultural background and CDMSE in predicting future perceptions were found. Implications of the findings are discussed.

FUTURE CAREER EXPECTATIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LEARNING DISABILITIES AND/OR ADD/ADHD

Immigration is a multifaceted process that alters parent-child relationships and impacts immigrant children’s development. However, not much is known regarding the long-term implications of immigration on children when they reach adulthood. This phenomenological study explored the perceptions of parent-child relationships among young adults who immigrated as children to Israel, and the ways such relationships shaped their future parenting perceptions. Twenty-five young adults who immigrated to Israel in middle and late childhood from Ethiopia ( n = 14) and from the former Soviet Union ( n = 11) were interviewed for this study. Analysis indicated that the participants’ experiences of relations with their parents may be organized into three main domains: shifting relations in the context of immigration, relations in the context of long-term adaptation and maturation, and relations in cultural context (e.g., cultural perceptions about family life and culture-related immigration challenges). Participants’ perceptions of their own parenting incorporated culture-specific factors (e.g., family hierarchy and cohesiveness, child-rearing practices, and respect given to parents) as well as difficulties and strengths experienced by the participants’ families during immigration. Although most participants wished to be different from their parents (not wanting their children to work so hard) they hoped to preserve some of their culture of origin’s child-rearing practices. The findings have implications for professionals who work with immigrant families and for policy makers. Considering a family’s specific cultural background and helping parents integrate diverse parental practices may assist immigrant families in coping with challenges of immigration and help young adults who immigrated as children in creating a coherent parenthood.

Field experience is considered one of the most important and powerful components of teacher education programs. The current study examined the development of the professional identity of pre-service special education teachers during their practical field experience period. The study focused on their relationships with their cooperating teachers and the type of training program (teacher training college [TTC] versus university) using a mixed-methods approach. Eighty-four participants took part in the quantitative design and nineteen participants took part in the qualitative design. Questionnaires and reflective diaries were used to examine changes experienced by participants during one academic year. TTC students reported higher levels than university students in relation to two factors of professional identity: self-efficacy and confidence in professional choice. Students' relationships with their cooperating teacher were positive and improved over time among both study groups. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This study examined the future perceptions of Israeli and Hong Kong young adults focusing on three aspects: (a) time horizon (how far into the future participants envision), (b) future life roles on which they focus, and (c) emotions towards their perceived future. Twenty students took part in semi-structured interviews. Israeli participants reported a narrower range of time horizon. Both samples mentioned four domains when envisioning their future: work, relationships, education, and leisure. Both Israeli and Hong Kong participants were similar in their emotions towards their perceived future, although Israeli participants were overall more positive. Research and practice implications are discussed.

Previous research has demonstrated relationships between cognitive autonomy (ability to think independently) and perceived social support (perceptions of available quality environmental support) among different samples (e.g., Michael & Attias, 2016). The present study examined 116 typically hearing and 91 deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) adults, who completed the Cognitive Autonomy and Self-Evaluation Inventory (Beckert, 2007) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988). Significant correlations were found between most of the cognitive autonomy and social support variables, with no significant differences between the correlations for the two groups. Participants who were DHH reported higher levels of four of the five cognitive autonomy variables than the participants with typical hearing. Additionally, for the DHH group, family status, education level, and age at detection of hearing loss significantly predicted some of the cognitive autonomy variables. Implication for research and practice are discussed.

Teachers working in special education are confronted with various requirements. Their ability to cope with these requirements may be largely influenced by their levels of self-efficacy which start to develop during their academic studies and specifically while gaining practical experience. This study examined the contribution of experience-related variables and personal variables to teaching self-efficacy among 98 special education college students from two different training programs in Israel: 58 participated in a program requiring individual instruction-based field experiences and 40 in a program with group instruction-based field experiences. They completed questionnaires measuring teaching self-efficacy, career decision-making self-efficacy, hope, and demographics. The instruction and special education domains of teaching self-efficacy were predicted by the type of field experience and personal variables, efficacy in teacher-student relations was predicted by experience-related variables, and efficacy in educational organizations was predicted by personal variables. Practical implications are discussed.

This study examined the career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) of deaf and typically hearing young adults and the contribution of career-related family support and expectations to this type of self-efficacy. Participants were 110 young adults: 50 deaf persons and 60 persons with typical hearing. They completed the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale and the Family Influence Scale. Study groups did not differ in their CDMSE. However, deaf participants reported lower levels of financial support and higher levels of family expectations compared to participants with typical hearing. An interaction was found between hearing status and family's financial status in participants' CDMSE, and family support and expectations significantly contributed to certain CDMSE factors only among the participants with typical hearing. Deaf participants who used only sign language reported lower levels of self-efficacy to gather career-related information compared to deaf participants who used only spoken language. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study investigated the future perceptions of Hong Kong female university students. Fifty-eight students completed a semi-structured questionnaire to better understand their beliefs, hopes, and visions about their future. The thematic analysis performed yielded 10 major future life themes in the participants' responses: (a) work, (b) family, (c) roles and responsibilities, (d) romantic relationships, (e) values, (f) living situation, (g) quality of life, (h) status of education, (i) personal interests and hobbies, (j) finance, and (k) friendship. Findings from this study provide novel information on Hong Kong women's future perceptions that may help career counsellors when constructing client goals and tasks aimed at exploring and fulfilling their future perceptions.

Tutoring and mentoring programs may be a promisingintervention to help at-risk children who may be in need of a positive influence in their lives. The purpose of the current study was to examine the contribution of tutoring to at-risk adolescents' self-efficacy and future career expectations. Ninety-eight tutees and 147 college student tutors completed the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children, the Work and Education subscale of the Future Expectations Scale for Adolescents, and a background questionnaire twice: first at the beginning and then toward the end of 8 months of tutoring. Both tutees and tutors reported higher levels of tutees' social and emotional self-efficacy as well as future expectations toward the end of the year. Tutors also reported higher levels of tutee academic self-efficacy. Increased self-efficacy was associated with increased levels of future expectations. Changes in academic and social self-efficacy predicted changes in tutees' future career expectations. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

This study examined the contribution of cochlear implants (CIs) to the social-emotional functioning of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (dhh). Sixty-three parents of children who are dhh participated in the study. Thirty children were CI users and 32 used hearing aids (HAs). They completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and a background questionnaire. Parents of children with CIs reported lower levels of hyperactivity/inattention and higher levels of pro-social behavior compared to parents of children with HAs. Additionally, older age when hearing loss was detected was related to more pro-social behavior, and age at implantation among CI users was negatively correlated with children's hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems. These findings add to the existing knowledge about the many benefits of CIs for individuals with hearing loss and emphasize the possible impact of early implantation to children's social-emotional functioning.