Examined were several theoretically important relations among motivational characteristics of students that are malleable, or changeable with intervention. The motivational construct identification with academics, which includes perceptions of belonging and valuing within an academic context, was investigated along with intrinsic/extrinsic…

Using the technique of path analysis and cities as units of analysis, this study investigates the causes of black residential segregation. The data suggest that the relative socioeconomic status of blacks and black population size are important determinants of segregation. Also relevant are percent black and the relative growth rates of the white…

The influence of financial aid on college student persistence was studied using causal modeling. The study population was 227 full-time freshmen, who enrolled in fall 1982 at a liberal arts college at a large commuter institution. All the students received financial aid. The model, which included background and academic variables, accounted for…

Using a path analysis on simplex pattern models of adolescent drug use, Potvin and Lee (1980) studied the personality and perceived environmental variables associated with drug use. To evaluate the appropriateness of the drug use models derived by Potvin and Lee, a structural modeling methodology using LISREL VI was applied to the data from their…

Traditional information processing (or high-involvement) models hold that cognitive change leads to attitude change which leads to behavior change. It has been suggested, however, that in many advertising situations, cognitive change can lead directly to behavior change, and that for many products advertising is a "low involvement"…

Direct and indirect effects in decomposed zero-order correlations among variables in causal models are considered. Under certain circumstances, the components of the decompositions could be interpreted as direct, indirect, and spurious causal effects, plus a component called joint associations. The sum of the direct and indirect effects is the…

Latent Variables Path (LVP) models have been found to be a helpful device for the formulation and validation of complex theories in educational sciences. The estimation of parameters for LVP models can use the Maximum Likelihood (ML) or the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. This paper focusses on the PLS method introduced by H. Wold, and…

A linear recursive path model was developed and evaluated using a combined male and female sample, and separate male and female samples in an attempt to identify causal relationships of in-school student characteristics to satisfaction in post high school employment. (Author)

Path analysis was used to reevaluate the analysis of covariance quasiexperimental study of the effectiveness of the Head Start program. Contrary to the original analysis, the alternative approach yields small positive estimates of effect. (Author/CTM)

Two high schools serving the same community are compared in order to examine how control/strain variables predict delinquency in two contexts. The school context characterized by a broader definition of success, more specialized discipline, and predictable supervision was found to have lower levels of delinquency for both genders. (Author/LMO)

The author addresses and critiques the recent controversy between Bandura (1983) and Phillips and Orton (1983) over Bandura's recent article on modes of causation in social learning. The proper role of formal models in the analysis of social dynamics is also discussed. (Author/EGS)

Responds to Staddon's critique of the author's earlier article and addresses issues raised by Staddon's (1984) alternative models of causality. The author argues that it is not the formalizability of causal processes that is the issue but whether cognitive determinants of behavior are reducible to past stimulus inputs in causal structures.…

Tested a path model reflecting developmental and chronic types of career indecision on counseling students (N=164) and high school students (N=155). Data from both samples supported the model, confirming the role of trait anxiety in career indecision. (JAC)

The structural relations among viewing behaviors, viewing conditions, background characteristics, and intellectual ability to preschoolers' learning from instructional television were investigated. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups who viewed tapes designed to teach seriation concepts. A School Aptitude factor made…

This study distinguished between forms of self-consciousness (private self-consciousness and social anxiety) and investigated the effect of self-esteem, vulnerability to criticism, and the tendency to fantasize on each. A structural equation analysis used unobserved variables from a sample (n=1098) of adolescents, ages 12 to 19. (Author/BS)