The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has identified that one in three Australian students do not feel a sense of belonging to school, yet little research has investigated how the socio-ecological factors are differentially associated with school belonging for immigrant and native-born students. This study investigated the link…

There is considerable variability in the extent to which young people with developmental language disorder (DLD) experience mental health difficulties. What drives these individual differences remains unclear. In the current article, data from the Twin Early Development Study were used to investigate the genetic and environmental influences on…

Background: Despite a large body of research that has explored the influence of genetic and environmental factors on educationally relevant traits, few studies have explored teachers' beliefs about, or knowledge of, developments in behavioural genetics related to education. Aims: This study aimed to describe the beliefs and knowledge of UK…

Children start preschool with large individual differences in their early numerical abilities. Little is known about the importance of heterogeneous patterns that exist within these individual differences. A person-centered analytic approach might be helpful to unravel these patterns and the cognitive and environmental factors that are associated…

According to models of differential susceptibility, the same neurobiological and temperamental traits that determine increased sensitivity to stress and adversity also confer enhanced responsivity to the positive aspects of the environment. Differential susceptibility models have expanded to include complex developmental processes in which genetic…

This article argues that, across different psychological contexts, the methods of data collection, treatment, and analysis in word association tests have hitherto been inconsistent. We demonstrate that this inconsistency has resulted from inadequate control, in previous studies, of certain important variables including the basis of norm…

Most of the individual difference variance in the population is found "within" families, yet studying the processes causing this variation is difficult due to confounds between genetic and nongenetic influences. Quasi-experiments can be used to test hypotheses regarding environment exposure (e.g., timing, duration) while controlling for…

The purpose of this commentary is to focus on the clinical utility of the four- and five-factor structural models for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). It provides a discussion of important considerations when evaluating the clinical utility of the…

Does the choice of test for assessing reading comprehension influence the outcome of genetic analyses? A twin design compared two types of reading comprehension tests classified as primarily associated with word decoding (RC-D) or listening comprehension (RC-LC). For both types of tests, the overall genetic influence is high and nearly identical.…

Investigated how urban elderly spend their days. Obtained detailed time budgets for one full day from 535 persons with differing levels of independence in contrasting environmental settings. Consistent patterns appeared across groups, particularly in the amount of time spent in the various social contexts and in most discretionary activities.…

Results of longitudinal studies suggest that the stability of preferences varies across individuals, although it is unclear what variables account for these differences. We extended this work by conducting periodic assessments of preference for leisure activities over 3 to 6 months with 10 adults with developmental disabilities. Although previous…

The High School Characteristics Index (HSCI) is an instrument designed to measure environmental press. Measurement characteristics of the HSCI used to measure differences among the responses of individuals are contrasted with those obtained for the HSCI used to measure differences among aggregate group responses. (Author)

Explores the reactions of single persons and small groups-each in a room they had territorialized- and to compare these against the reactions of singles and small groups who were in a comparable room which they had not territorialized. (Author)

Administered two questionnaires to 800 Israeli subjects which examine the affiliation need in four groups of situations. No differences were found between first and later-borns in their tendency to associate with others. Results showed significant interaction between sex and specific situational factors. (Author/RC)

Reviews psychometic studies of human spatial ability and studies of environmental, genetic, hormonal, and neurological influences that interact in producing individual variation in spatial test scores. (MP)