A U.S. Department of Education study shows that the average 12th-grade African-American student is reading and doing math at around the level of the average 8th-grade white or Asian student. Hispanic students are about as far behind. Both African-Americans and Hispanic college students obtain diplomas at half the rate of white or Asian students.…

This longitudinal study examined the protective influence of psychological and family factors on academic achievement in 123 Latino college (101 Mexican American, 14 Central American, 8 mixed Mexican/Central American) students. Three cultural resources-ethnic identity, family interdependence, and parental support-were hypothesized as protective…

This article reports findings from a study exploring the roles of peer influences in cultivating urban high school students' academic success in mathematics. While the literature describing family/school influences on the academic achievement of students of color is compelling, much of it suggests that urban students' peer groups do not support…

This study used a sample of 501 families from the Mississippi Delta region to examine the feasibility of the Family Stress Model for understanding adolescent suicidal ideation. The results indicated that family economic pressure was related to parental depressive symptoms, which, in turn, was related to parental hostile behavior and physical…

In this short-term longitudinal exploratory interview study, the relations between exposure to community violence and subsequent alcohol use were examined, with a focus on caregiver and family variables as moderators. Maternal caregivers and their children (N = 101 families; 98% African American; M child age = 11.2 yrs) were interviewed separately…

The UK reading literacy data from the OECD PISA 2000 study are analysed using multilevel methods. The main analyses focus on the composite reading literacy scale resulting from the study and the explanatory variables used are 16 of the scales derived from answers given to the pupil questionnaire administered as part of the survey, together with…

This paper uses diffusion of innovation theory as a framework for studying why United States college students who attend study abroad information sessions fail to take advantage of such educational opportunities. Surveys were administered to two groups of undergraduate students--those who studied abroad and those who did not. Students ranked their…

Retaining students is a critical topic in higher education. A plethora of research has investigated demographic, age, life stage, ethnicity, and a host of other variables that influence retention. Colleges have responded to retention issues with a host of classes, workshops, and orientation or mentoring programs to aid student retention.…

Purpose: To identify women's sources of information about cervical cancer screening, information which women report receiving during Pap consultations, information they would like to receive, and the relationships between perceived information needs, personal characteristics and information sources. Design/methodology/approach: Logistic regression…

Our study investigates the impact of different social contexts (family, peer groups, school) on student outcomes of 5,110 students in Dutch secondary schools. Configuration is used to construct typologies from the intersection of these 3 social contexts of learning. Four empirically based configurations were found. The relative and additional…

This paper describes the development of Spanish-language proficiency in bilingual preservice teachers at a university on the Texas--Mexico border. A survey with open-ended questions was administered to preservice teachers in bilingual and English as a Second Language certification programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the paths…

Many adolescents who were born in the late 1970s and 1980s in Russia became juvenile criminals due to the change in the social structure, the proclamation of the values of the comfortable way of life, the institution of property ownership and so forth. Many young people have to help relatives who are in need, and this as well often causes them to…

In this study, the author examines the factors that permit young people's inclusion in market relations in the "spheres of education, employment (in the labor market), and consumption." The data for this study are drawn from a city wide representative survey in Moscow of the Association for Socioeconomics and the Institute of Problems of…

Objective: To explore the relationships of family and cognitive factors to aggression as reported by parents and teachers. Method: Data regarding different types of aggressive behavior were collected from parents and teachers of 165 school-age (7-11 years old) children referred to a study of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and disruptive…

This study identified student and school-level factors associated with student achievement on the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), an examination that includes a student questionnaire examining home literacy practices. Linked student and school contextual data enabled the use of hierarchical linear modeling to complete the analyses…