Among the many life transitions that individuals must master throughout their lives, the transition to adulthood ranks very high in terms of importance, complexity and uniqueness. It involves the completion of education, and the assumption of new social roles and responsibilities, at a time when previous institutional structures that guided…

Background: Chronotype refers to individuals' preference for morning or evening activities. Its two dimensions (morningness and eveningness) are related to a number of academic outcomes. Aims: The main goal of the study was to investigate the incremental validity of chronotype as a predictor of academic achievement after controlling for a number…

Successful mentors seem to understand and appreciate their mentees, entering their worlds to uncover their unique strengths and capabilities. This sort of empathy and sensitivity goes a long way toward facilitating close relationships, as does the mentee's willingness to fully engage in the mentoring experience. And, since initial resistances may…

This study examines the predictive utility of students' motivation (self-efficacy and task values) to their physical activity levels and health-related physical fitness (cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength/endurance) in middle school fitness activity classes. Participants (N = 305) responded to questionnaires assessing their self-efficacy…

Presenting a new theory of work role transitions, a conceptual framework for analyzing and predicting modes of adjustment to transition is outlined. Includes a list of references. (MD)

Many would agree that learning on the Web--a highly autonomous learning environment--may be difficult for individuals who lack motivation and self-regulated learning skills. Using a social cognitive view of academic motivation and self-regulation, the objective of the present study was to investigate the relations between students' motivational…

The social psychological constructs postulated by Garner, Clement et al. are integrated into a proposed new framework of second/foreign language (L2) learning motivation. The proposed model comprises three levels: language, learner, and learning situation. Practical examples for motivating L2 learners are presented. (55 references) (LB)

This article reports the results of a preliminary study that applied a randomized posttest-only design to evaluate the effectiveness of a literacy curriculum that incorporated explicit opportunities for Spanish-speaking Head Start preschool children (N = 76) to develop writing abilities in English. The study also addressed English language…

A study of 163 colleges and universities examined 33 variables seen as incentives for faculty to engage in sponsored research. Results suggest a small predictive relationship between released time to write proposals, reduced faculty loads to work on funded projects, availability of graduate and research assistants, return of some direct costs to…

The limited research on precocity in infants and preschool children is reviewed, examining specifically the problems of: describing young gifted children, predicting their future development, determining the origins of high achievement motivation and commitment, and nurturing the talent at home and/or in the preschool. (Author/JDD)

Children develop emotional intelligence during the early years of life, and according to some experts, emotional intelligence is a more reliable predictor of academic achievement than is IQ. However, today's children appear to be low on emotional well-being. This has potentially negative consequences, not only for academic achievement but also for…

A study (n=510) investigated students' cognitive and noncognitive variables predicting success and persistence in an undergraduate engineering program. Students performing well in science and mathematics and genuinely interested in engineering were more likely to persist and succeed. Predictor variables changed over the students' first two years.…

The variables of Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, high school rank, emotional adjustment, motivation for grades, and sex were examined as they relate to the academic success of university seniors. Information from 208 members of the Class of 1988 from a Mid-Atlantic Region liberal arts college was collected through the Opinion, Attitude, and…

Describes a secondary analysis of a national assessment of educational progress in science which was conducted in 1981-1982 with students of age nine. Suggests that elementary school students' achievement and attitude are influenced jointly by a number of factors rather than by one or two dominant ones. (TW)

To better understand the effect of student background, work load, and attitudes on performance in intermediate algebra, a study was conducted in summer 1990 among students at a central Texas community college using pre- and post-course questionnaires completed by 124 of 157 students in 8 sections of intermediate algebra. Respondents were…