A survey of more than 600 Michigan high school students suggests that adolescents who prefer television news and public affairs programs tend to feel their families, friends, and schools think public affairs are important; tend to be older; and tend not to be from a minority racial background. (GT)

Three studies indicate that because Black students can enter college with substantially lower Scholastic Aptitude Test scores than their White peers yet still expect to achieve on a par with the majority population, other factors should be considered when predicting the academic success of Black students. (SB)

Stage-state analysis of the life course is presented as useful in identifying types of life courses and their relative frequency, in estimating the likelihood of moving from a given state through a sequence of future states, and in analyzing routes and processes connecting initial states with potential outcomes. (Author/DB)

Proximity of dormitory peers, involvement in informal social activities, and lack of commitment to religious and academic values were independently related to drinking and drinking onset. Formal involvement in college activities and psychological stress had no independent effect. (CP)

Results showed the Scholastic Aptitude Test-verbal section, the Scholastic Aptitude Test-mathematics section, the rank in class, and annual income were not effective predictors of college graduation, withdrawal or academic dismissal status. Future research should investigate the interaction of both antecedent and intervening variables. (Author)

To ensure that foreign dental graduates have the knowledge and professional skills necessary to practice dentistry in the United States, several dental schools have established international student programs. A study to determine effective predictors of the success of foreign dentists at the University of Southern California is reported.…

This research was concerned with the significance of class size, class level, and core v noncore sections of classes in instructor evaluation at a major state university. High evaluations were associated with small, noncore, undergraduate classes. (Author/CP)

Data in Yarworth and Gauthier's article on student self- concept and participation in school activities (EJ 189 606) were reanalyzed by Walsh and Winne (TM 505 375). Yarworth and Gauthier's criticism of the reanalysis (TM 505 376) is answered. (GDC)

The confluence model of cognitive development was tested on 7,060 children. Family size, sibling order within family sizes, and hypothesized age-dependent effects were tested. Findings indicated an inverse relationship between family size and the cognitive measures; age-dependent effects and other confluence variables were found to be…

The effect of attitudes toward mathematics-related coursework, previous mathematics coursework, student sex, spatial ability, and masculinity-femininity of interest pattern on statistics achievement were studied in 188 graduate students. Sex-related differences were found in mathematics attitude, spatial visualization, and achievement in the…

Three methods of estimating a model of school effects are compared: ordinary least squares; an approach based on the analysis of covariance; and, a residualized input-output approach. Results are presented using a matrix algebra formulation, and advantages of the first two methods are considered. (Author/GK)

The job survival of 1,736 newly hired workers across a variety of organizations is examined. Voluntary and involuntary turnover are analyzed separately. Organization related factors such as pay and training are better predictors of job survival than are individual variables such as race, sex, age, and education. (Author/KC)

Two successive classes of accelerated medical students were administered a variety of tests to find predictors of medical school grades. Through a combination of the Hand Test and Rorschach, a single index of maladjustment, Daubney Index, was derived. This correlated -.55 with medical school grades for 23 students. (Author/SJL)

About half the college students surveyed were not inclined to consider occupational information in making their educational choices, although they felt the opportunity for employment in their chosen field was very important. Immigrating students were more concerned about vocational information. Counselors must deal with this discrepancy. (JAC)

Computer-based Monte Carlo methods compared the predictive accuracy upon replication of regression of five complete and four incomplete factor score estimation methods. Prediction on incomplete factor scores showed better double cross-validated prediction accuracy than on complete scores. The unique unit-weighted factor score was superior among…