This article reports the development and initial validation of scores obtained from the Adolescent Concerns Measure (ACM), a scale which assesses concerns of Asian adolescent students. In Study 1, findings from exploratory factor analysis using 619 adolescents suggested a 24-item scale with four correlated factors--Family Concerns (9 items), Peer…

With the current emphasis on accountability in kindergarten through twelfth-grade education, greater demands have been placed on school social workers. In fact, many federal, state, and school officials are demanding the use of evaluative outcome research that demonstrates the potential impact of supportive services. The present study examined the…

This study examined a host of variables the literature or focus groups showed to influence student motivation to achieve academically. Secondary school teachers in Doha, Qatar were asked to identify the five most and five least motivated students in their classrooms. They also were asked to estimate the degree of involvement the parents had in the…

Urban African American first-year high school students' absenteeism was found to be negatively related to grade point average (GPA) and avoidance as a means of coping (use of substances as a way to escape--food, alcohol, smoking, caffeine, etc.) and positively related to use of social support as a means of coping (efforts to stay emotionally…

Curriculum tracking continues as an entrenched part of schooling despite a substantial amount of research that shows educational advantages for college-track students and disadvantages for non-college-track students. This study examined racial/ethnic differences in the odds of being in the college and honors math tracks in high school and was…

Reflecting the concern which has been generated over the influence of television viewing on society at large, this "FAST Bib" presents annotations of 31 ERIC documents and journal articles published between 1989 and 1992. Annotations in the FAST Bib are divided into five sections: (1) Overview; (2) The Connection between Television and…

This publication consists of two research updates. The first, "Learning to Work: How Parents Nurture the Transition from School to Work," highlights conclusions from the study, "Lessons from Life's First Teacher: The Role of the Family in Adolescent and Adult Readiness for School-to-Work Transition," which offers an analysis of how families…

Parents' and their children's means of paying for college were studied using path analysis to determine if the use of parent contributions, work earnings, or student financial aid has intergenerational effects. The sample consisted of 2,082 student/parent records from the 1990 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. Actual parent contributions…

Formats of communication within families are believed to be relevant contexts for children's development. Cultural values, norms, and interpretation patterns are transferred from parents to children within the family's specific communication framework. The purpose of this project was to study the quality of relationships and the communication…

This study represents further work into the area of what specific processes determine whether a sibling relationship will be positive or negative. Specifically addressed was the influence of each child's personality or temperament in shaping the quality and type of sibling relationship. Significant attention was paid to analyzing sibling…

The family's influence on children's learning accounts for 80 percent of variance in students' academic performance. The present study, framed by the concept of human development within ecological contexts as elaborated by Bronfenbrenner (1979), investigated literacy practices and views of parents with limited literacy skills who participated in a…

This study explored 330 third- and fifth-grade Maryland students' motivation to read using the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP). The first part of the MRP, a Likert-type, self-report, group-administered questionnaire, was completed by all students. The second part of the MRP, the Conversational Interview, was individually administered to a random…

This two-part study examined aspects of family environments that are considered to be influential in the development of young children's creativity. Mothers of children ages 4 to 6 years were surveyed on their valuing of particular personality characteristics (The Ideal Child Checklist) and specific features of the home environment (The Creative…

This research report provides information about the school context for learning mathematics and highlights some factors that National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) analyses have found to be associated with effective schooling. Approximately 26,000 4th, 8th, and 12th graders in 1,500 public and private schools participated in the…

A study examined parents' satisfaction with their children's school performance and parents' value for their children's academic success as variables that may influence children's perceptions of academic success or failure. Parents' values (parents n=240) were assessed with a ten-item paired-comparison scale made up of five value items. Children's…