Concurrent and prospective correlations among reading, spelling, phonemic awareness, verbal memory, rapid serial naming, and IQ were examined in 19 students with reading disabilities and 36 controls at grades two and eight. The strongest predictors of reading disabilities were cognitive-linguistic measures, particularly rapid naming. (Author/CR)

Identifies factors associated with exercise participation and adherence in a sample of sedentary, functionally limited, community-dwelling adults ages 60 to 94 who participated in a home-based resistance training program (N=102). Results show that psychological factors were most important to adherence to the home-based program. (Author/MKA)

Examines the effect of couple socioeconomic status (SES); pretherapy marital adjustment; and therapist, husband, and wife defensiveness with 22 therapists and 88 couples. Husbands' higher marital satisfaction before therapy was associated with higher adjustment at the end of therapy, and similar results were found for wives. Results suggest that…

Investigates the different ways married men and women view the level of equality in their relationship and the connection between different indexes of marital equality and marital satisfaction with Israeli couples (N=150). Results show that, although equal role sharing and decision making were predictive of women's marital satisfaction, these also…

Illegal behavior, drug trafficking, and substance abuse levels of two groups (both parents, mother only) of inner-city African-American youth were compared. African-American subjects who had been raised in mother-only households reported significantly fewer illegal offenses. Findings are contrary to common attitudes regarding the effects of…

Examined association between maternal responsiveness during infancy and middle-childhood behavior problems. Found that responsiveness was significantly associated with disruptive behavior problems but unrelated to attention problems. Absence of MRes during infancy increased risk of later disruptive behavior problems, even with concurrent parenting…

Investigates the incidence and patterns of substance use and predictive risk factors in fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade low-income family Mexican Americans. Results capture patterns of substance use among this population over two years, as well as the relationship between reported risk factors in year one and the use of minor and major substances…

A study of 16 first-grade Greek children with literacy difficulties and 16 controls found that the time needed to process a written item was the crucial index of difficulty in literacy acquisition and that phonemic awareness and speech rate tasks were predictors of learning to read and spell Greek words. (Author/CR)

This study examines motivation and learning-strategy use in college chemistry classes in order to understand women's lower levels of achievement in that domain. Results from the study of 603 students indicate that prior knowledge, motivation, and the use of learning strategies were significant predictors of course achievement above and beyond…

Investigated the relationship between children's knowledge structures for peers and externalizing behavior problems. Evaluated initial aggression level in years 1, 6, and 9 of longitudinal study; evaluated social knowledge structures in year 6. Found that knowledge structures were related to children's concurrent externalizing behavior and…

Examined gender and motivation in high school mathematics classes through an expectancy-value framework with 366 students. Task-specific goals were much stronger predictors of effort than were any other set of variables. For both males and females, endorsing the stereotype that mathematics is a male domain was negatively related to reported…

Discusses the impact of giftedness on psychological well-being. Research reviewed indicates that gifted children are as well adjusted as their typical peers and that the psychological well-being of a gifted child is related to the type of giftedness, the educational fit, and the child's personal characteristics. (CR)

A study examined the predictability of student persistence and achievement, based on Scholastic Assessment Test scores, high school rank, mother's education, birth order, and study-skills course grade, in a group of students served by a federal Student Support Services program. Some variables (SAT scores, study-skills course grade) were more…

Investigates the relationship between phonological awareness, short-term memory, grammatical awareness, and reading accuracy in a follow-up study of 34 nine-year-olds originally studied as preschoolers. Finds the best concurrent predictor set for reading accuracy at age nine was grammatic knowledge, phoneme awareness, and speech rate, which…

This study with 111 high achieving students (ages 9 to 13) found significant correlations between the number of science courses selected and science-related attitudes, specifically enjoyment of science lessons, leisure interest in science, and career interest in science. Science-related attitudes were more important predictors of course selection…