Several studies show that parents' and teachers' perceptions of children's academic competence are important predictors of children's subsequent academic performance. However, there is a lack of evidence on what precedes these perceptions as well as the dynamics within a comprehensive model. The aim of this study was to investigate the…

This study investigated how affective factors like attitude and motivation contribute to science achievement in PISA 2006 using linear structural modeling. The data set of PISA 2006 collected from 4942 fifteen-year-old Turkish students (2290 females, 2652 males) was used for the statistical analyses. A total of 42 selected items on a four point…

Physical therapy intervention for children with cerebral palsy (CP) is focused on reducing neurological impairments, improving strength, and preventing the development of secondary impairments in order to improve functional outcomes. However, relationship between motor impairments and functional outcome has not been proved definitely. This study…

A new score report based on a mechanism of formative assessment and feedback is developed to offer individual testees not only their final scores but also their sub-scale scores, their percentile position, as well as corresponding feedback on self-regulation strategies. Structural equation modeling is adopted in the confirmatory factor analysis to…

Using data provided by the Self-Directed Search (SDS) on a sample of 1,519 participants comprising 3 subsamples containing high school students, university students, and working adults, the authors examine the structure of vocational interests in Romania. Three competing structural models of vocational interests (Holland's circumplex model and…

In this article, a 2-way multigroup common factor model (MG-CFM) is presented. The MG-CFM can be used to estimate interaction effects between 2 grouping variables on 1 or more hypothesized latent variables. For testing the significance of such interactions, a likelihood ratio test is presented. In a simulation study, the robustness of the…

Recently a new mean scaled and skewness adjusted test statistic was developed for evaluating structural equation models in small samples and with potentially nonnormal data, but this statistic has received only limited evaluation. The performance of this statistic is compared to normal theory maximum likelihood and 2 well-known robust test…

Missing data are common in studies that rely on multiple informant data to evaluate relationships among variables for distinguishable individuals clustered within groups. Estimation of structural equation models using raw data allows for incomplete data, and so all groups can be retained for analysis even if only 1 member of a group contributes…

This study investigates information protection for professional users of online social networks. It addresses management's desire to motivate their employees to adopt protective measures while accessing online social networks and to help their employees improve their proficiency in information security and ability to detect deceptive…

The gameplay experience can be understood as an interaction between player and game design characteristics. A greater understanding of these characteristics can be gained through empirical means. Subsequently, an enhanced knowledge of these characteristics should enable the creation of games that effectively generate desirable experiences for…

The emergence of positive psychology has generated increased interest about the correlates of positive psychological functioning. Researchers have identified and studied various positive psychological constructs (e.g., hope, optimism, self-efficacy, gratitude, and life satisfaction) and found them to covary and to be positively associated with…

Since the 1970s, a large body of research has reported on the differences between deep and surface approaches to student learning. More recently, however, this metaphor for students' approaches to learning has been applied to the practice of teaching. Studies at the university level have identified two approaches to teaching: the information…

Textbooks have played an important role in education for decades. Given the significant number of technology applications in education, it is not surprising that at least one such application is the electronic textbook (e-textbook). There are a variety of motivations to adopt an e-textbook, including frequent content updates and low costs. The…

Knowledge and learning are important driving forces for business success and competitiveness, especially in the knowledge-intensive organizations (KIO's) whose core business is to create and sell knowledge (e.g. education, R&D units, and consultancy organizations, among others). Previous works suggested one of the Critical Success Factor (CSF)…

Depressive problems and academic performance, social well-being, and social problems in adolescents are strongly associated. However, longitudinal and bidirectional relations between the two remain unclear, as well as the role of gender. Consequently, this study focuses on the relation between depressive problems and three types of functioning in…