Explores biological and sociocultural elements as functional determinants of self-esteem that are dependent upon gender and developmental stage. Findings indicate self-esteem of early adolescent girls depends upon parental support, but for boys it depends upon a sense of mastery. In later adolescence a sense of mastery becomes important to both…

Traditional measures such as Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and grade point averages are not adequate to predict academic achievement of lower-achieving students. Combining traditional predictors with nontraditional ones (including psychological and cognitive variables) produces a more effective predictor model. (IAH)

Examines the problem definition behavior of 48 White families (two natural parents and adolescent child) discussing simulated problematic situations. Analyzes the effects of family background, interpersonal relations, and discussion process variables. Interprets the importance of interpersonal ties in terms of family interaction issues. Contains…

Describes three studies that evaluated the impact of computer assisted study on college examination performance. Two studies compared textbook study with computer assisted study, and the third study compared the examination performance, reading ability, and study skills of students choosing computer assisted study and those choosing to work on…

Described is a method for discriminant analysis which uses the multiple regression facilities offered by many microcomputer statistical packages. This method is illustrated with an ecological example using the MICROTAB statistical package on a BBC microcomputer. Compares these results with an analysis of the same data using SPSS X. (Author/CW)

The effects of school policy on cigarette smoking among seventh graders were investigated in this study. All of the schools involved had restrictive smoking policies and many had smoking prevention education plans. Although punitive measures were found to have no effect, smoking policy generally was found to decrease adolescent smoking. (AF)

Describes study conducted with Dutch preschool and elementary school students to determine their perception of reality when watching Sesame Street on television. Variables studied include age, communication skills, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and data are analyzed using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. (13 references) (LRW)

Discussion of how we perceive meaning from graphics highlights a computer simulation model, UCIE (Understanding Cognitive Information Engineering), that simulates graphical perception. An empirical study is described that compared actual performance to UCIE predictions related to the amount of time required to answer a question in various…

Reports on a longitudinal study of the relationship between productive phonological ability and awareness in children under the age of six. The study followed 45 subjects with variant productive phonology levels from the mean age of 3 years, 6 months to 6 years, 0 months. As a child matures in productive phonology, accompanying exponential growth…

Shows that sociolinguistic patterns reflect and transmit sociopolitical patterns. The modernization of Israeli Palestinian society, resulting in a heterogeneous social structure, will probably lead to little conformity to any one social code. Supporting evidence is found in the differentiation of Hebrew and English words in Palestinian Arabic. (24…

Data from St. Barthelemy (French West Indies) show that, for people born from 1878 to 1967, neither cohort size nor fluctuations in external demands for labor had a lasting effect on the probability of eventual migration. Emigration slowed only after development of local tourism brought prosperity to the island. (AF)

Indicates that measures of reflective reasoning skill are significantly related to initial scientific beliefs about evolution, as well as to gains in declarative knowledge about evolution; however, the same measures are not significantly related to changes in those beliefs. Interrelationships among the study's major variables and their educational…

Presents the results of a United Kingdom study comparing computer anxiety, mathematics anxiety, and computer experience among college students and elementary students. Includes discussion of age, sex, and the relationship between anxiety and experience. Reports that the younger children had higher computer experience and less computer anxiety.…

This paper illustrates how, in the item-response theory framework, collateral information about test items can augment or replace examinee responses when linking or equating new tests to established scales, using data from the Pre-Professional Skills Test for approximately 40,000 examinees. Collateral information can predict item operating…

Describes study of students in grades 8 through 12 that was conducted to determine the degree to which television messages influence a person's construction of reality (the cultivation hypothesis). Research methodology that tests the effects of television exposure is examined with emphasis on the importance of demographic control variables. (38…