This study sought to construct a set of family strengths using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - Child Supplement (NLSY-CS), and, if the family strengths' construct was possible, to discern whether the presence of these family strengths predict better outcomes for children. The original NLSY sampled approximately 12,000…

This document contains four reports detailing a four-phase research project on Alaska Natives' attitudes and values toward education. A literature review examines the history of Native education in Alaska, issues in research on American Indian and Alaska Native education, dropout studies, student assessment, language and culture, learning styles,…

Notes the challenges posed by cultural diversity in the United States. Presents a demographic assessment of factors relating to the schooling of culturally diverse populations, analysis of challenges associated with the growing number of language-minority students who are Hispanic, and conceptual and empirical perspectives precipitating a more…

Reports on a study of the effects of personal characteristics, family involvement, and ability grouping on school participation and commitment. Finds that decreasing levels of school commitment are associated with increasing rates of school crime, misconduct, and nonattendance. (CFR)

Summarizes research concerning the characteristics of at-risk students. Available research clearly demonstrates that the single most consistent factor characterizing at-risk students is social class. Consequently, studies investigating the impact of social class on school success are also reviewed. Research leads to specific suggestions for…

Contends that student alienation cannot be solved by improved instructional methodology or curriculum content reform. Argues that the citizenship education goals of social studies cannot be taught effectively because societal values do not support schools or teachers. Provides five suggestions on policies that might address these issues. (CFR)

Used a variety of family factors to predict development of children who averaged 30 hours of nonparental care per week for each month of their lives and of those who experienced no more than 10 hours of nonparental care per week. Multivariate analyses provided no evidence that family factors predicted outcomes differently for these two groups.…

This paper investigates the effects of individual, family, social and demographic characteristics on the maintenance of Spanish among English-speaking Latino youth. This research finds effects of generation, gender, race, parent's English proficiency, single-parent status, parental income, and neighborhood concentration of co-ethnics as well as…

Background: Differences in service utilization indicating that boys use more mental health services than girls were analyzed to see if they could be explained by known correlates of service use. These correlates were arranged into individual (severe emotional disturbance, level of impairment and externalizing disorders), family (parental…

This study examined the relationship among creativity, ADHD symptomatology, temperament, and psychosocial functioning by comparing four groups of children aged 10-12 years: (1) 29 ADHD children without creativity, (2) 16 highly creative children displaying ADHD symptomatology, (3) 18 highly creative children without ADHD symptomatology, and (4) 30…

This article discusses women's body image resilience. Body image dissatisfaction is prevalent among girls and women. Girls as young as 6 years old experience negative body image, and there is evidence that women struggle with body concerns throughout the life cycle (Lewis & Cachelin, 2001; Smolak, 2002; Striegel-Moore & Franko, 2002). In fact,…

Using cluster analysis, 789 predominately Latino and African American high school youth were classified into varying academic at-risk profiles using self-reported levels of academic confidence, motivation to attend school, perceived family support, connections with teachers and peers, and exposure to violence. Six clusters emerged, 5 of which were…

Using a comparative-cultural perspective, this collection of essays examines the co-constructivist nature of human development in culturally organized environments. The contributions also cover a large age span--infancy to adulthood. Chapters in part 1 cover two different directions in the study of early adult-infant interaction from a comparative…

Home environments have been linked to cognitive development and academic performance, with suggestions that family factors exert more influence on language and literacy learning than on mathematics achievement. This study's purpose was to learn how selected family factors might be differentially related to primary grade achievement in reading and…

This book is the report of the Family Ties Commission, which was established by the Association of Teacher Educators to study the relationship between home and school. Following the preface and two introductory essays, "Education and My Family" (K.B. O'Rourke as told to E. Johnson) and "Preparing for Successful Children" (B. Clawson), the book is…