The Questionnaire about Interpersonal Difficulties for Adolescents (QIDA) is a self-report instrument designed to measure adolescents' perceived interpersonal anxiety levels in a wide range of relationships with people of different ages, genders, levels of authority, and levels of intimacy and in several contexts: family, school, friends, opposite…

Vocational psychology has generated a number of concepts and assessment instruments considered to reflect ability self-concept (i.e., one's view of one's own abilities) relevant to career development. These concepts and measures often are categorized as either self efficacy beliefs or self-estimated (i.e., self-rated, self-evaluated) abilities.…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a dynamic software simulation on the understanding of the kinetic molecular theory by 7th graders. Students in the control group (n = 62) studied a curricular unit that addressed the differences in arrangement and motion of molecules in the three phases of matter. The experimental group (n…

This study analyzes the effects of ability grouping on self-concept measures in a sample of 211 German students in their 1st year at the top track of secondary school (grade level 5; mean age: 10.46 years). 156 students, 55% of whom were female, attended regular classes, while 46 students, of whom 33% were female, attended special classes for the…

This paper examines the inexorable rise of "health" as regulative discourse, highlighting its class and cultural dimensions. With reference to the policy content of recent obesity reports, analysis suggests that contemporary concerns around obesity are but a modern variant of earlier eighteenth and nineteenth century child saving crusades whose…

The present study examined ethnic, gender, and age differences in perceived discrimination and the association between perceived discrimination and psychological well-being in a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents. Data are from the National Survey of African Life (NSAL), which includes 810 African American and 360 Caribbean…

Disproportionate placement of African American and Hispanic students into disability and special education categories may result from true behavioral and cognitive differences, bias in assessment and referral, or some combination of the two. Studies of commonly used ADHD rating scales suggest teacher bias may contribute to placement discrepancies.…

Background: An earlier study (Baxter "et al." 2006) found that a structured health check conducted in primary care identified clinically significant previously unrecognized morbidity among adults with intellectual disabilities. The aim here was to examine whether follow-up health checks would identify equally significant newly identified morbidity…

This study examined two resiliency factors: self-concept and perceived parental support, in conjunction with abuse factors that impact psychological functioning. Data were collected on 61 sexually abused children prior to treatment. Findings indicate that a child's self-concept was associated with all the trauma symptoms except sexual concerns and…

This article examines the concept of glocality as a way to better understand why immigrants, poor people, print-illiterate families, and boys are short-changed by schools that often operate under a deficit model or deprivation model in which students' economic, language, and gender status is the main determinant for school success. The author…

Surveys and focus groups were administered to two samples of US university undergraduates to compare sexual aggression prevalence as assessed based on the Power-Assertion model (n = 139) versus the Confluence model (n = 318). Men were more likely to commit all illegal acts, especially conventional rape. Women also committed illegal acts,…

The authors examined how math track placement and gender affected 7th-grade students' self-esteem, self-concepts, and social comparisons. Participants were 170 students who completed surveys that assessed their self-esteem, academic self-concepts of ability, and the kinds of social comparisons they make. Results showed that higher track students…

The purpose of pre-service teacher education programs is to provide future teachers with the necessary skills and tools to be effective educators. In addition to providing students with pedagogical methodologies, these programs should prepare students to work with various and diverse populations and give them the ability to acknowledge and address…

This study addresses concerns about boys' underperformance on literacy tasks compared to girls, by investigating male and females students' responses to narrative texts. Participants were 142 Grade 9 and 10 students. Achievement orientations, including goals, self-efficacy, and self-handicapping, were measured and approach and avoidance factors…

All school children experience stress at some point in their school careers. This study investigates whether dyslexic children, by way of their educational and social difficulties, experience higher levels of stress at school. The School Situation Survey was used to investigate both the sources and manifestations of stress amongst dyslexic…