This mixed methods study yielded two explanatory models for better understanding of the association between socioacademic factors and gendered racial identity among African American community college women. The quantitative portion explored the degree to which racial identity attitudes and sense of belonging with faculty were predictors of…

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce, describe, and document the methods involved in the preparation of a mindset intervention built into a freshmen development course, and established after years of longitudinal research, that is designed to have a positive impact on the outlook, achievement, and persistence of first generation…

This research focuses on the everyday challenge in academic learning of assessment, and argues that academic buoyancy is a key factor in academic success. To scaffold students' learning and effectively support academic buoyancy, there is arguably a need for a better understanding of: (i) what students find most and least useful in their assessment…

This study explores the similarities and differences between adult language learners' and their teachers' attributions of perceived success and failure in learning English as a foreign language in an intensive program. It examines attributions along with three dimensions: locus of causality, stability and controllability. 319 students and 81…

In this mixed-methods study, we used an explanatory sequential design to investigate the processes through which parental involvement influences adolescents' achievement motivation. One hundred twenty low-income urban parents and their sixth-grade adolescents completed questionnaires, and a subsample of 11 mothers and 11 adolescents were…

Student attrition from colleges in the United States is a widespread phenomenon, posing real stresses to students, their families, and to universities. We examined the causes of poor academic performance in students' first semester through interviews and questionnaires and administered a small intervention course to freshmen on academic probation…

Student affairs professionals seek innovative methods to enhance academic achievement for students. A recent study highlighted the need to bridge student development work with course curricula (Kilpatrick, Stant, Downes, & Gaither, 2008). This study also linked the importance of nonacademic cognitive variables, such as locus of control, to…

When faced with personal success, some persons appear to become anxious and will do something to avoid or sabotage their efforts. This fear of success among university students was investigated in this study. The sampling included 210 students, 83 males and 127 females. The independent variables under consideration were locus of control, gender,…

Previous research has stressed the role of both expectancies and reinforcement in the decision making process. In order to determine if the measure of externality and internality correlates with an association between willingness to risk and external/internal locus of control, and to determine the role of social learning in students…

A scale assessing teacher beliefs concerning the responsibility for student academic success was developed and validated. The results show a striking difference in male/female teacher responses. Female teachers consistently assumed greater responsibility for the learning outcomes of their students. (JN)

This study was conducted to compare causal attributions for success and failure response across four school subject areas (English, Mathematics, General Music, and Physical Education) using a "critical incident" methodology. Students (N=205) from a midwestern junior high school completed a questionnaire in which they identified important…

The concept of an individual's perception of control was applied to the classroom performance of university students. The initial approach was to use a laboratory simulation of a university classroom to explore the following: (1) whether it is possible to induce feelings of helplessness in a university classroom; (2) effects that feelings of…

In a sample of 559 fifth-grade students, measures were collected to assess: (1) dimensions of self-attribution for causes of academic outcomes; (2) multiple dimensions of self-concept; and (3) academic achievements. The empirically-derived dimensions of academic self-attribution replicated and extended results of previous research, but failed to…

The attributions of success and failure in a course in nursing research design and statistics were measured using a modified version of the Mathematics Attribution Scale. Eight subscales were formed by combining hypothetical success or failure events paired with each attribution category. The scales were success-task, success-environment,…

The Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ) is a multidimensional instrument designed to measure seven facets of self-concept hypothesized in Shavelson's hierarchical model. The SDQ, along with measures of attributions and academic achievement, was administered to primary school students from two quite diverse populations. Separate factor analyses of…