The authors examined the prediction of occupational attainment by age 40 from contextual and personal variables assessed during childhood and adolescence in 2 participant samples: (a) the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a study of 856 third graders in a semirural county in New York State that began in 1960, and (b) the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal…

The present study examined the extent to which motivation contributes to the prediction of school achievement among elementary school children beyond general mental ability ("g"). The sample consisted of "N" = 1678 nine-year-old UK elementary school children who took part in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). Teachers…

The purpose of this study was to examine the evidence to determine if there are gender differences in suicidal ideation of adolescents. This study examined the main effect of risk factors from 5 domains and protective factors from 1 domain in relation to suicidal ideation by gender and identified the most important predictors of suicidal ideation…

A sample of 370 students in the 7th-9th grades in 1998 was followed for 3 years through the 10th-12th grades in order to investigate the relation of ''developmental assets''--positive relationships, opportunities, skills, values, and self-perceptions--to academic achievement over time, using actual GPA as the key outcome variable. The greater the…

The validity of Holland's theory in the Croatian sample has been tested. The Croatian version of Holland's Self-Directed Search was applied on 1,866 Croatian adolescents from different age samples. The instrument has shown a good reliability of all RIASEC scales in all subsamples. Construct validity was also verified: The presence of circular…

Mother-child play of 12-month-old infants (N = 130) from maltreating (N = 78) and nonmaltreating (N = 52) families was analyzed as a context that integrates infants' developing social and cognitive skills. Play was coded from semistructured and unstructured play paradigms. No group differences were found in infants' play maturity. Infants from…

This study of 368 female undergraduates examined self-efficacy and role model influence as predictors of career choice across J. L. Holland's (1997) 6 RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) types. Findings showed that levels of self-efficacy and role model influence differed across Holland types. Multiple…

The study purposes were to examine: (a) the determinants of exercise intention and past exercise behavior (PEB) using the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, and (b) the moderating influences of sex and exercise group (meeting or not meeting exercise guidelines). Participants (n = 676 adolescents) completed self-reported measures of…

This study reports on an assessment system for school-leavers with disabilities to identify their capacity for work and the type of transition-to-work programme best suited to each person. Participants were 1,556 high school students in four cohorts who left school between 1999 and 2002. Each school-leaver was assessed by rehabilitation…

We conducted a longitudinal study examining the role of phonemic awareness, phonological processing, and grammatical skills in the development of reading and spelling abilities in Greek. A battery of cognitive, linguistic, and literacy tasks was administered to 131 primary school children (65 7-year-olds and 66 9-year-olds) and was repeated in the…

Using longitudinal data collected over 2 years on a sample of 2,745 urban elementary school children (1st-6th graders, ages 6-11 years) from economically disadvantaged communities, effects of stressful experiences within 3 contexts (school, family, neighborhood), cumulative stress, and multiple context stress on 3 indices of children's adjustment…

Background: In the light of the existence of lengthy waiting lists for out-of-home placements, this study examines the factors affecting the decision to apply or not to apply for this facility in a city traditionally characterized by a cultural and policy emphasis on family responsibility and by relatively low levels of welfare commitment to…

This study focuses on the contribution of overall epistemological understanding to argumentation skills, after controlling for topic knowledge and interest, in eighth graders. Students were introduced to two controversial topics, global warming and genetically modified food, through the reading of a two-sided text on each topic. After reading,…

This study investigated the characteristics of 106 children primarily referred for externalizing behavior problems and their families, and assessed the prediction of treatment outcome following a standardized short-term, cognitive behavioral group program. "Exploring Together" comprised a children's group (anger management, problem-solving and…

A secondary analysis of data collected from 1,130 young people ages 15 to 24 in a population-based household survey to assess the reproductive health needs of young people in three communities in Jamaica was conducted to determine the relationships among three measures of sexual violence, background variables, three measures of sexual risk taking…