Given the increased risk factors in the transition from middle school to high school, this study tracked academic and school discipline records for students receiving general and special education services as they transitioned from Grade 8 to Grade 9. The authors employed analysis of variance and structural equation modeling to determine the…

This study examines how social and motivational attributes may influence students' online learning experiences. Based on a review of social theories of learning and research about individual characteristics associated with motivation four constructs were included: social ability, learning goal orientation, perceived task value, and self-efficacy.…

This investigation examines whether negative interparental conflict strategies (stonewalling, triangulation, verbal aggression, and physical aggression) and parenting styles are related to social and physical aggression with peers for children followed longitudinally from age 9 to 10 (N = 256). Parents reported on negative conflict strategies and…

Youth who initiate sexual intercourse in early adolescence (age 11-14) experience multiple risks, including concurrent adjustment problems and unsafe sexual practices. The current study tested two models describing the links between childhood precursors, early adolescent risk factors, and adolescent sexual activity: a cumulative model and a…

Wireless Internet technology is gaining a foothold on more and more campuses, yet few studies have investigated how wireless Internet supports and enhances a student-centered learning environment. This study seeks to fill the gap by developing an instrument to measure how wireless Internet supports student-centered learning. A web survey was…

This study of 805 Finnish teachers working in elementary, secondary, and vocational schools tested 2 interaction hypotheses. On the basis of the job demands-resources model, the authors predicted that job resources act as buffers and diminish the negative relationship between pupil misbehavior and work engagement. In addition, using conservation…

The developmental correlates of diffuse support for the polity and civic commitments were explored in a survey of 1,052 students (mean age = 14.96 years) from African American, Arab American, European American, and Latino American backgrounds. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that regardless of their age, gender, or ethnic…

The present study integrates findings from three lines of research on the association of social cognition and externalizing psychopathology, language and externalizing psychopathology, and social cognition and language functioning using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To date these associations have been examined in pairs. A sample of 354…

Background: School refusal behavior is a particularly nettlesome problem for mental health and education professionals because of its symptom severity and heterogeneity as well as lack of consensus regarding inclusive classification strategies. Alternatively, a functional model of school refusal behavior may provide a particularly useful way of…

This investigation tested whether parenting mediates longitudinal associations between marital conflict and children's adjustment. Data were drawn from a three-wave study of 283 families with children aged 8-16 years at Wave 1. Relations among marital conflict, parenting (behavioral control, psychological autonomy, and warmth), and children's…

Purpose: Public funding of institutions offering higher education is becoming scarcer, more complex, and to an ever-increasing extent performance-based. Concerning the teaching area the financing is partly based on student credits and professional degrees. Thus student loyalty has become an important strategic theme. The purpose is to study…

In the componential approach to modelling reading ability, a number of contributory factors have been empirically validated. However, research on their relative contribution to explaining performance on second language reading tests is limited. Furthermore, the contribution of knowledge of syntax has been largely ignored in comparison with the…

The Programme for International Student Assessment comparative study of reading performance among 15-year-olds is reanalyzed using statistical procedures that allow the full complexity of the data structures to be explored. The article extends existing multilevel factor analysis and structural equation models and shows how this can extract richer…

A new instrument of motivational climate in physical education is presented with the goal of measuring perceptions of teachers' emphasis on mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and social approval goals. The measure was based on the principle of compatibility, according to which climate perceptions and achievement goals should be…

This study examined the relation between self-restraint and exposure to violence (witnessing violence and victimization) in predicting increased frequencies of aggression and drug use among an ethnically diverse sample of sixth graders attending four rural middle schools (n = 913). Lower levels of self-restraint predicted higher rates of…