College freshmen transitioning from parental guidance to autonomous living are particularly at risk for engaging in heavy alcohol use. With reduced parental control, increased independence and peer influence, and a new physical and social environment, they are particularly vulnerable to risky drinking and associated consequences. The purpose of…

This book examines the trend toward markets in UK schools by outlining the varied economic and political arguments both for and against increased parental choice. It describes how choice actually takes place--including when the choice takes place, who has the final say, how many schools are considered, and which choice criteria are reported. One…

Organizing the world into masculine and feminine categories is a process called "gender schematicity." High gender schematicity has been linked with children's inclination to self-select out of certain learning opportunities that they deem gender-inappropriate. This study examined gender schematicity among kindergartners and…

Many parents want to know how important the quality of care is to children's social, emotional, and academic development. This digest synthesizes some major recent research on child care quality. First, the digest explains what features contribute to quality of care. The digest also explains the differences between studies of how quality is…

A new study of parents' health, medical care, and health-related behavior finds that large numbers of parents at all income levels take part in risky behaviors that are harmful to their own health and are likely to harm the health of their children. These behaviors include smoking, heavy drinking, and being overweight and sedentary. Risky…

This article discusses the application of self-efficacy beliefs on career development. This theory was introduced by Hackett and Betz (1981) and has received many extensive studies. There are many factors that may influence career self-efficacy such as gender, culture, parental, and family backgrounds. The methods of increasing career…

There is little empirical evidence that home-school education is as academically effective as traditional education, or that average and above-average academic achievement is sustained through high school. A sample of 110 home-schooled students (59 males, 51 females, ages 5 years 3 months to 19 years 6 months) were administered the…

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy reviewed recent research about parental influences on children's sexual behavior and talked to experts, teens, and parents. From these sources, the Campaign derived 10 tips for parents and other adults to help reduce the risks of teen pregnancy. The 10 tips discussed in this pamphlet are: (1) be…

This paper describes how parents affect a child's vocational choice and what parents can do to help children improve their vocational prospects, the opportunities and responsibilities of parents in the socialization processes which lead to the children's vocational choices, and what parent educators can do to help parents be more effective with…

The basic objective of the current study was to investigate systematically the moral reasoning of adolescents and their mothers in delinquent and nondelinquent families using Kohlberg's structured moral dilemmas. (Author/RK)

These results lend additional support to the theorized importance of parental identification in the early development of behavior disorders. (Author)

A social worker at the Seizure Unit, Children's Hospital, Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, explains how the unit helps parents understand epilepsy. (DS)

The single best predictor of maternal teaching, or child response, was ethnicity. Children in this study experienced different learning environments which may result in different skills and expectations brought by them into the classroom. (Authors)

Investigation concentrated on verbal and nonverbal variables of child-mother interactions as it pertains to the child's language development. (MB)

One major aspect of moral judgment selected for this study is the child's flexibility toward rules. (MB)