With few exceptions, the dynamics underlying the mood structures of individuals with Parkinson's Disease have consistently been overlooked. Based on 12 participants' daily self-reports over 72 days, we identified 10 participants whose covariance matrices for positive and negative affect were similar enough to warrant pooling. Dynamic factor models…

Reading comprehension plays a key role in academic success in today's classrooms. Literature Circles (LCs), a learner-centered collaborative reading activity, brings together the ideas of cooperative learning, independent reading, and reader response theory to enhance students' reading comprehension as well as their motivation toward learning…

Research suggests that voluntary activity accounts for 40% of individual happiness and can be purposefully manipulated to make meaningful changes in one's reported level of happiness (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005a; Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006). The current study explored the utility of a school-based positive psychology psychoeducation…

Recognizing recent criticisms concerning the cross-cultural generalizability of self-determination theory (SDT), the authors tested the SDT view that high school students in collectivistically oriented South Korea benefit from classroom experiences of autonomy support and psychological need satisfaction. In Study 1, experiences of autonomy,…

This paper reports findings from a two-year multi-site, multi-method naturalistic research project on the use of multimedia case instruction to prepare teachers for teaching students with emotional/behavioral disorders. Participants were 251 teacher education students across five universities. Independent variables included testing condition (pre…

Using selected research reports, personal correspondence with students and, my experience as a higher education administrator of a College in a Caribbean small islands state, I reflexively display the usefulness of a pastoral approach to student retention. Difficulties of employing the approach are also explored.

In this two-wave prospective study, the authors investigated whether level of dispositional affective empathy moderated the association between parental support and antisocial behavior in early adolescents. The sample consisted of 823 Dutch boys and girls (mean age = 12.8 years) enrolled in the first year of secondary education. Higher levels of…

Within a sample of 584 twins aged 12 to 25 months (292 pairs) studied longitudinally, positive affect measured through two laboratory pleasure episodes and maternal report at 12 and 22 months significantly predicted empathy-related helping and hypothesis testing assessed between 19 and 25 months. Girls showed significantly more concern than did…

In this article, we report on a study examining those factors which contribute to the mathematics performance of a sample of children aged between 8 and 13 years. The study was designed specifically to consider the potency of a number of mathematical affective factors, as well as background characteristics (viz., gender, ethnicity, and…

In, "Idiographic Filters for Psychological Constructs," Nesselroade, Gerstorf, Hardy, and Ram study patterns of variation within individuals. In this context they make an important suggestion: to test for invariant relations among latent variables, but to allow the relations between these latent variables and their indicators to vary between…

Callous and unemotional (CU) traits have been linked to severe antisocial behavior in youth, but studies examining the etiology of CU traits are lacking. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that childhood anxiety and parenting practices would interact to predict changes in CU traits over time. Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 120…

Two studies addressed age- and gender-related patterns in early adolescents' and emerging adults' conceptions of intimacy in friendships. Forty-one early adolescents and 96 emerging adults in Study 1 and 174 emerging adults in Study 2 described a time when they felt especially close to a friend. Narratives were coded for intimate behaviors and…

This prospective investigation sought to discriminate children who were both aggressive towards and victimized by peers in the first grade, from those who were only aggressive, only victimized, or neither (i.e., socially adjusted), using early child and family risk factors. Two hundred thirty-eight children, their mothers, and teachers…

The present study investigated the family characteristics of bullies, victims, and positively behaving adolescents. The study was conducted in three elementary schools in Adana central province with students who were attending 6th-7th, and 8th grades. A who-is-who form prepared by the researchers was used for the determination of the family…

This 18-month prospective study investigated factors that contributed to changes in eating disorder symptoms among adolescents living in the People's Republic of China. Five hundred forty-one Chinese middle school and high school students (182 boys, 359 girls) completed measures of eating disorder symptoms; body dissatisfaction; appearance ideal…