Intellectual engagement (IE) refers to enjoyment of intellectual activities and is proposed as causal for knowledge acquisition. The role of IE for cognitive development was examined utilizing 2-year longitudinal data from 112 ninth graders (average baseline age: 14.7 years). Higher baseline IE predicted higher baseline crystallized ability but…

Existential intelligence is often neglected in literature, especially at the tertiary level. Therefore this study aims to identify the degree of existential intelligence in a sample of graduate students at the World Islamic Sciences University in Jordan. In addition, the study aims to find out whether this degree differs according to a number of…

The present study was intended to provide perspective, albeit less than unequivocal, on the research of Lynn (2010) who reported higher IQs in the northern than southern Italian regions. He attributes this to northern Italians having a greater genetic similarity to middle Europeans and southern Italians to Mediterranean people. Higher regional IQ…

This article outlines shortcomings of currently used university admissions tests and discusses ways in which they could potentially be improved, summarizing two projects designed to enhance college and university admissions. The projects were inspired by the augmented theory of successful intelligence, according to which successful intelligence…

The participation and performance of students in statewide accountability and assessment systems are measures of student and school success. These accountability systems theoretically reflect performance for all students, including students receiving special education. Yet few examine the participation and performance of students in special…

This study investigates the relationships of domain-general cognitive abilities and domain-specific verbal and mathematical abilities to students' educational characteristics when two theoretically grounded, but competing structural models are applied. In the standard model, a single latent ability causes interindividual differences in the…

The purpose of this study is threefold. First, an estimate of state IQ is derived and its strengths and limitations are considered. To that end, an indicator of downward bias in estimating state IQ is provided. Two preliminary causal models are offered that predict state IQ. These models were found to be highly predictive of state IQ, yielding…

This study investigated the factor structure of the 10 subtests of the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI). Although two principal factors emerged, the CMI Competence and Attitude subtests did not load distinctly on the two separate factors. Results also tended to indicate that the discriminant validity of the CMI may be minimal. (PN)

A study of 18 Down Syndrome and 18 other mentally retarded adults found evidence of a significant erosion of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children scores from the third to fourth decades of life. The Block Design subtest was especially vulnerable to performance decline with age in the Down Syndrome adults. (Author/JDD)

Examined 128 children for contributions of biomedical risk conditions, SES, and HOME scores to prediction of intelligence, and association of extreme scores on HOME and SES to intelligence-test performance. Found home environment was the most important predictor of intelligence at all ages, with SES showing a smaller effect beginning at age 5.…

Platelet serotonin (5HT) levels of 5 autistic subjects (ages 16-37) who had siblings with either autism or pervasive developmental disorder were significantly higher than levels of 23 autistic subjects without affected siblings. Autistic subjects without affected siblings had 5HT levels significantly higher than 10 normal controls. Sex, age, and…

Reading comprehension scores from the Wechsler Individual Achievement Tests, the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, and the Gray Oral Reading Test were examined in relation to measures of reading, language, and other cognitive skills that have been hypothesized to contribute to comprehension and account for comprehension differences. In a sample of 97…

A study involving 35 children (age 9) with high-functioning autism, 31 children with developmental language disorder, 40 children with low-functioning autism, and 17 children with low IQ, found IQ was predictive of adaptive behavior in both low-functioning groups, but language and verbal memory predicted adaptive behavior in higher functioning…

It has been suggested that IQ's of gifted children resemble parents less than do people in general. This finding may have been an artifact of the particular estimator of the regression coefficient used. An unbiased estimator is introduced and shows that gifted children resemble parents more than persons in general. (Author/RD)

The confluence model of cognitive development was tested on 7,060 children. Family size, sibling order within family sizes, and hypothesized age-dependent effects were tested. Findings indicated an inverse relationship between family size and the cognitive measures; age-dependent effects and other confluence variables were found to be…