Assessment of clinically depressed and nondepressed children (ages 9-17) on measures of attributional style, hopelessness, depression, life stress, and child temperament suggested absence of a unique constellation of cognitive characteristics in depressed children compared with the nondepressed sample. Treatment appeared to affect self-reported…

Examines the relations among achievement motivation, locus of control, and the occupational and educational aspirations of 92 rural and 98 metropolitan 11th graders from South Dakota. Rural subjects had lower occupational and educational aspirations but did not differ from urban subjects in achievement motivation or locus of control. (Author/TES)

Assessed delinquent and nondelinquent male adolescents (N=43) on locus of control and intellectual achievement responsibilty. Results supported a multidimensional model. There was no difference in expectancy of control for negative academic events between delinquents and nondelinquents. Birth order and delinquency were the most important…

Fifth and sixth graders performed at a high or low level on a novel achievement task within a competitive or individual goal structure. The type and frequency of children's thoughts were assessed. Children made more ability attributions in the competitive condition and more effort attributions in the individual condition. (Author/BS)

This study examines the relationship between adolescents' time perspective and attributions for achievement. Measures of time perspective (continuity, optimism, pessimism, and utilization) and attributions (ability, effort, context, and luck) independently assessed for success and failure were administered to 10th graders. Implications for…

This study examined the relationship between perceived stress in family, school, and peer-group situations and four measures of psychological well-being. The sample of Canadian adolescents was studied to determine the mental health consequences of stress and the moderator effects of locus of control orientation on stress-outcome relationships.…

This article advances an attributional theory of motivation and emotion, with achievement strivings as the theoretical focus. Causes of success and failure share three common properties: locus, stability, and controllability. Stability of causes influences changes in expectancy of success. Expectancy and affect guide motivated behavior.…

Found that a text mode of programed instruction and tutorial computer-assisted instruction are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally- and externally-oriented preservice elementary teachers (N=81) the integrated science process skills. (JN)

Studies the relationship between video game playing and academic achievement. Compares matched groups of community college psychology students, differing in the amount of their game playing. There were no differences between frequent and infrequent players on measures of psychology class attendance, locus of control, or grade point average.…

Two experiments were performed to examine the process of attributional thinking in Black and White children who differed in social class. Blacks did not display a less adaptive attributional pattern than did whites following actual performance on exams, and no differences existed in children's understanding of the meaning of causes. (Author/LMO)

Determined importance of transition between a student's initial collegiate science experience and the decision to continue in science, and whether reasons students give to explain their success or failure in their first course are related to that decision. Results demonstrate a sense of competence for students who continue in science. (Author/JM)

Explores how families who care for their elderly relatives view their situations, in semistructured interviews with 10 Indian and 10 White caretakers of ill elderly relatives in the rural northwest. Results implied that cultural background influences the meaning of caretaking and that both affect the coping strategies selected. (JAC)

A study was undertaken to determine how individuals at community colleges made sense of organizational change, specifically with respect to the identification of external and internal forces of change. Interviews were conducted with over 200 administrators, board members, faculty, staff, and students at 6 community colleges in the United States…

This study examined the multivariate relationships between teacher efficacy and task analysis variables as predictors of classroom beliefs about control, focusing on these relationships in preservice teachers. Preservice teachers from a required educational psychology course volunteered to participate in the study. They completed three…

Based on national data from Prospects: The Congressionally Mandated Study of Educational Growth and Opportunity, researchers identified individual characteristics that distinguished academically successful, or resilient, third grade students from minority and low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds from their less successful, or nonresilient,…