Analyses of national longitudinal surveys of students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades indicate that general and specific measures of social capital (attending Catholic school, family structure, parent-child and parent-school interactions) are related to likelihood of dropping out, and that social capital interacts with parents' financial and human…

Describes the ensuing conflict when the book "Daddy's Roommate" was included as part of the preschool anti-bias curriculum. Discusses parent boycott, letters to parents, board discussions, and formation of a committee to propose solutions. Describes the voting plan based on position statements on both sides of the issue and how creating…

Three case studies in southern California explore the effects of parental involvement on a child's reading achievement through the parent's influence over reading group placement. Two Hispanic first-graders improved substantially when their parents took actions explicitly related to reading group placement; a third remained in a low reading group.…

Encourages teachers to share appropriate information about books and reading with parents in order to influence storybook reading in their students' homes. (MG)

Three dimensions of parent style--autonomy support, involvement, and provision of structure--were studied using 64 mothers and 50 fathers of children in grades 3 through 6. Focus was on defining parental influences on children's school-related adjustment and performance. The three aspects of home environment were differentially associated with…

Maps various parental behaviors and activities that influence the career development of adolescents. Findings indicate significant sex differences that favor sons. (FMW)

Describes parent-child activities during storybook reading, suggesting that interactive reading (constructing meaning) is more developmentally enriching than attending to story. Found that Curacaoan mothers were more concerned with child's understanding of story than with constructing meaning. Argues that parents should be trained in dialog that…

Examines educational attainment and percentage of holders of matriculation certificates among foreign-born and Israeli-born adult children of Iraqi and Romanian immigrants who arrived in Israel 1948-51. Discusses patterns of educational attainment in terms of ethnic group differences in socioeconomic resources, within-group social stratification,…

Examined whether children of alcoholic mothers were more psychologically damaged than children of nonalcoholic mothers. The subject families' potential for creating a good upbringing environment and subjects' childhoods were studied. Found that children of alcoholic mothers develop social maladjustment problems and addictions, and have a high rate…

Examined the extent to which maternal linguistic input enabled children to use syntactic bootstrapping. Studied uses of 25 common verbs in speech of 57 mothers to their 1-year olds and 2-year olds. Found that verbs can be used to create informative syntactic frames, syntactic frames can cue appropriate verb class, and multiple syntactic framing…

Analyzed stability and change in late adolescent attachment relations and the interrelationship among attachment, separation-individuation, and college adjustment variables. Results of two studies suggested stability in attachment to parents, over time, for both men and women. Security of attachment was inversely related to independence from…

A study investigated to what extent parental socioeconomic and educational background and college planning variables (familiarity with admissions, aspirations, financial planning) influenced the kinds of characteristics they looked for in colleges. Subjects were 1,332 parents of eighth graders. Results are presented and discussed in the context of…

A questionnaire on attitudes toward war play was given to 316 Italian and 84 English parents of children aged 2 to 6 years. In both cultures, boys were significantly more likely than girls to engage in solitary and social war play. Parental attitudes, television, and peers were the major sources of influence on war play. (Author/LB)

Reports a longitudinal study of the link between home variables (mainly maternal support), cognitive prerequisites of preschoolers, and later school achievement (spelling, reading, and arithmetic). Maternal support significantly affected competencies and academic achievement. Cognitive competencies predicted later academic achievement; achievement…

A study of 1,478 adolescents (364 males and 1,114 females) attending 10 private schools nationally explored factors influencing male and female adolescent sexual behavior. Most factors examined were significantly correlated with sexual intercourse frequency. Few gender differences were observed. Differential peer association was the strongest…