Reports results of a study of the predictions that gender differences exist in the preference for a caring morality and will exist across cultures. Describes a scale developed to test the predictions. Reports that the predictions were confirmed with women from four cultures preferring a more caring morality. (DK)

To determine if personality characteristics reflect influences of culture, while sex differences remain similar across cultures, 100 Indonesian and 100 American college students completed the Cattell Clinical Analysis Questionnaire, in the appropriate language. An analysis of the results showed that females in both cultures were higher than males…

Cross-cultural differences in creative thinking were assessed for 51 American and 54 Japanese college students. The American students showed significantly higher scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) figural test than the Japanese students. No gender differences were found in either culture. TTCT performance did not correlate…

A study of 188 ninth grade American and Mexican boys and girls found significant similarities in their perception of the characteristics of the ideal man and woman. However, boys emphasized physical characteristics more than girls, and many cross-cultural differences are reported. (FMW)

Eight German and eight Italian children were observed during their first year in preschool. Cultural differences and similarities in play and behavior and sex differences are reported. Findings suggest that strategies that children use to enter kindergarten or a new group exist universally. (Author/RH)

Results indicated that the two component solution of the Behar Preschool Behavior Questionnaire had a simpler structure and was easier to intepret than the three component solution. In addition, the two component solution was found to be stable across sexes, ages, socioeconomic populations, and cultures. (PCB)

An alternative procedure to the draw-a-scientist test (DAST) was used to uncover students ideas about science, scientists, and technology. A series of illustrations (based on the interview-about-instances (IAI) procedure) concerned with appearance, gender, work place, and employment were developed. Through interviews, students (n=121) responded to…

"Outlier studies" identify items for which extreme differences in performance by contrasting groups occur; these extreme items are the "outliers" referred to. Review of the studies conducted on tests receiving major use in higher education reveals that though one cannot make a priori classifications of outliers with confidence,…

Concern over the under representation of women and minorities in the natural sciences and engineering led to the research reported in this document. The project surveyed a stratified sample of 1,651 college seniors who registered to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and who were majoring in natural sciences, mathematics, computer…

This paper presents an empirical positivist approach to an educational research problem: what factors influence the educational achievement of Maltese-Australian children in Melbourne Schools? The research tested the hypothesis that Maltese-Australian students were more field dependent than Anglo-Celtic Australians and what the role of cognitive…

To determine what factors either alone or together interact to create ethnic variations in mental health care use in the State of Hawaii, a study interviewed subjects who were randomly selected from the higher income area of Diamond Head/Kahala and the lower income area of Kalihi/Palama. Ethnic groups studied included Caucasian, Japanese, Chinese,…

Reports on a study of 305 African American and 338 white middle school students to determine whether self-beliefs underlying self-esteem are different across ethnic and gender boundaries. Finds that academic self-beliefs, as opposed to nonacademic self-beliefs were not strong predictors of self-esteem among any of the groups. (ACM)

This study compared the scores of 60 students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology at Phoenix College (Arizona) to national norms on the Study Skills Inventory. The study also analyzed gender differences and compared ethnic groups and age groups. Results indicated that the Phoenix College sample closely reflected the national norm. No clear…

A study was made of cross-cultural patterns of achievement motivation in relationship to the mathematics achievement of Japanese and American boys and girls approximately 16 years of age. Sample sizes were 9,582 for the United States subjects (specifically, from Illinois) and 1,700 for the participants from Japan. Data came from performance on the…

Harter's Perceived Competence Scale for Children was administered to 714 Taiwanese fifth graders; results were compared with those from American samples. Cultural differences were found. Results among Chinese replicate the measures' factorial validity and, across the two groups, indicate a high correlation between perceived cognitive competence…