Using a multi-theory approach, the current study was designed to identify gender differences in the psychological mechanisms by which urban adolescents' motivation in physical education transfers into their leisure-time activities. The theoretical frameworks of Self-Determination Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior were integrated to…

To test and compare theoretical explanations of the use of corporal punishment in school, the authors examine how well county-level measures of culture, socioeconomic strain, and social capital predict the prevalence and incidence of corporal punishment in Kentucky schools. Although several variables are significantly correlated with corporal…

Background: Pay is an important human resource function that has attracted considerable interest within the professional literature and this study addresses pay discrimination. Purpose(s): To address pay for a particular protected group unaddressed in existing literature (Hispanic-surnamed principals). Setting: The setting for this study is public…

The aims of this study were to examine self-efficacy and other motivation variables among high school science students (n = 502); to determine the degree to which each of the four hypothesized sources of self-efficacy makes an independent contribution to students' science self-efficacy beliefs; to examine possible differences between life,…

In order to gauge youth perceptions of school violence, this study links two perceptual bias literatures: third-person perception and optimistic bias. The intersection of the two literatures may be especially beneficial in understanding how adolescents process and interpret public health messages and subsequently engage in risk behaviors or…

The outcomes of enabling courses offered in Australia's vocational education and training (VET) sector were examined. "Enabling course" was defined as lower-level preparatory and prevocational courses covering a wide range of areas, including remedial education, bridging courses, precertificate courses, and general employment preparation…

The objective of this study was to investigate differential tendencies to avoid guessing as a function of three variables: (1) lingual-cultural-group; (2) gender; and (3) examination year. The Psychometric Entrance Test (PET) for universities in Israel was used, which is administered in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian. The…

Entrance scores on the Mathematics Achievement Test, Level I, and Scholastic Aptitude Test (verbal and mathematical), and high school rank for 2,189 students entering engineering as freshmen at The University of Texas at Austin during the years 1974-1977 were used in regression equations as predictors of academic achievement and retention for…

This study examines the relationship between parents' perceptions of certain attributes of their involvement in various aspects of their child's or children's school environment and their child's or children's academic achievement within that school. Parents and children from 132 schools in Louisiana participated in the School Analysis Model 2000…

The relationships among drug use, health beliefs, peer use, sex, and religion were examined using data collected from 265 seventh graders in rural northern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin in January and February of 1984. Positive relationships were found between drug use and peer use and health beliefs. (TJH)

This pretest/posttest study measured the change in computer literacy and attitudes toward computers among 36 preservice teachers enrolled in an introductory computer training course that was focused on developing programing skills. Independent variables included age, gender, locus of control, final grade in the course, and prior experience in word…

Most undergraduate programs require completion of a mathematics course, but pass rates in these courses are often low. To determine predictors of student success in 100-level mathematics courses at the University of Southern Maine, we used a questionnaire to collect information on possible predictors of grade (student demographics, attitude,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between learning styles and students' attitudes towards the use of technology in a leisure study curriculum. All 422 subjects completed the Kolb learning style inventory (LSI) and a computer attitudes survey (CAS) developed by the authors. The LSI is a standardized assessment utilized to…

The present paper reports a series of six studies, each investigating the power of self-rated analytical, creative, and practical abilities for predicting one of six individual-difference variables: cognitive development, modes of thinking, career interests, learning approaches, thinking styles, and personality traits. Contributing to the…

This study investigated predictors of depression in 278 African-American, 206 European-American, and 122 Hispanic teen mothers approximately 36 months after the birth while controlling for depression 14 months after the birth. Predictor variables were age, ethnicity, mastery, knowledge of development, and parental distress. Younger teens were not…