Examined child protective services (CPS) screening practices in 12 sites from 5 states to identify factors predictive of the decision to investigate a report. Found that only 66% of all reports making specific allegations of maltreatment were investigated, while only 70% of all reports making specific allegations of injury were investigated. (MDM)

Argues that Gottlieb rejects population sampling and statistical analyses of distributions as he proposes that his experimental brand of mechanistic science is the only legitimate approach to developmental research. Maintains that Gottlieb exaggerates developmental uncertainty, based on his own research with extreme environmental manipulations.…

When children produce regularizations like "comed," not all verbs are equally liked to be regularized. It is argued that one predictor is which vowels are present in the base form vs. the past tense form, and that regularizations are likely when the base vowel is dominant and unlikely when the past tense vowel is dominant. (Contains 25…

Investigated contributions to individual differences in preschoolers' identification of basic emotional expressions and situations, emotion language, and self-generated causes for basic emotions. The contribution of socialization predictors to emotion understanding was moderated by gender only for negative emotional responsiveness, and children…

Examined the relationship between variation in 840 children's cognitive activities and child-care quality, interaction with teachers, and children's play activities and attachment security with their child-care teachers. In 7 of the 8 subsamples, 15 to 30% of the variability in cognitive activities could be predicted from positive social…

Discusses teachers' use of systematic instructional design practices; describes fundamental components of instructional design; explains a teacher planning inventory; and reports on a study of junior and senior high school teachers that examined their use of instructional design practices in their planning routines. (Contains 21 references.) (LRW)

This study examined the relationship of previously determined predictors of general delinquency to violent behavior of African American and Caucasian males in a sample of 3,761. With the exception of family structure, predictors of violence are similar to predictors of general delinquency. (SLD)

Demonstrates that 11-year-old children's scientific thinking in formal operational terms can be significantly developed through training in the cognitive style of field independence determined by the Group Embedded Figures Test. Suggests students could perform formal operationally if they had the skill of identifying the variables to be…

Changes in functioning related to aging were examined over a 3- to 4-year period in 34 adults (ages 22-56) with Down syndrome. Changes related to aging were minimal; neither effects of age at entry nor change over time were significant. IQ at entry significantly affected performance on neuropsychological and behavioral measures. (Author/SW)

Examines the implications of incorporating user-centered design within information systems design practices. Highlights include a definition of user-centered design based on human-computer interface; questions asked about users, including outcome, process, and task variables; and three criteria for when to use this approach in information systems…

Analytical solutions for point and variance estimators of the mediated effect, the ratio of mediated to direct effect, and the proportion of the total effect mediated were determined through simulation for different samples. The sample sizes needed for accuracy and stability are discussed with implications for mediated effects estimates. (SLD)

Reports on research studying student teachers that finds five major categories of characteristics (motivation, priorities, effort, self-concept, and personal effectiveness) that may help predict the success of teacher education students. (SR)

This study used a sampling of empirical data from public libraries to examine organizational characteristics (i.e., specialization, horizontal differentiation, vertical differentiation, professionalism, administrative intensity, organizational slack, and organizational size) and performance levels of three groups of organizations delineated…

Nine years of data from first-time nurse candidates taking the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) were examined to identify predictors of successful performance and determine probabilities of success. Variables placing nurse candidates at risk included first-semester grade point average, sex, and whether they…

Investigates predictors of college students' intent to join alumni chapters after graduation. Finds such intentions especially strong where respondents identified with university facets similar to alumni relations, reported or had thought of involving university-related accomplishments and activities, and saw alumni relations as instrumental in…