We empirically examined the effect of reading comprehension on passage fluency in English and Spanish in the context of Cummins interdependence hypothesis (1979) and Perfetti's blueprint of the General Components of Reading (1999). Participants were 96 second-grade English learners being taught to read in Spanish and English. Measures in both…

This study developed and (statistically) confirmed a new model of the occupational decision-related processes of adolescents, in terms of the extent to which they may be amotivated about choosing a future occupation. A theoretical framework guided the study. A questionnaire that had previously been administered to an Australian adolescent sample…

The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to examine how psychosocial support provided by teachers and classmates related to students' self-regulated learning as expressed through self-reported academic initiative, and (2) whether academic competence and school satisfaction mediated these relationships. The data were from a nationally representative…

This study examined how global locus of control influences children's reading engagement or reading involvement and interest in stories. It is based on locus of control, interest, and dual information processing theories. One hundred and seventy students from schools in the northeastern United States, ages 9 to 12, participated. They completed a…

In this study, we compared methods to improve the decoding and reading fluency of struggling readers. Second-grade poor readers were randomly assigned to one of the two practice conditions within a repeated reading intervention. Both interventions were in small groups, were 20-28 min long, took place 2-4 days per week, and consisted of phonemic…

This article explores how exposure to environment-related media content, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control play a role in Hong Kong adolescents' environmental intention. The author conducted a survey with a sample of 1,012 (465 male, 547 female) adolescents in Hong Kong. Structural equation modeling confirms that exposure to…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explain pre-service teachers' intention to use technology in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 197 pre-service teachers from a Turkish university completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to four constructs…

Building on interpersonal theories of depression, the current study sought to explore whether early childhood social withdrawal serves as a risk factor for depressive symptoms and diagnoses in young adulthood. The researchers hypothesized that social impairment at age 15 would mediate the association between social withdrawal at age 5 and…

This article proposes a Thurstonian model in the framework of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to assess preferences among quality of life dimensions for the elderly. Data were gathered by a paired comparison design in a sample comprised of 323 people aged from 65 to 94 years old. Five dimensions of quality of life were evaluated: Health,…

In this study, the socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development was examined in 331 fifth graders from schools in Lima, Peru. Reading comprehension was measured using an adaptation of the PIRLS Reading Literacy test. The fifth graders' reading comprehension results, measured over the course of fifth grade, were related to the…

This longitudinal study tested the direction of associations between family meals and alcohol and tobacco consumption during early adolescence. We examined family meal frequency, family connectedness, alcohol (binge drinking, drunkenness), and tobacco consumption (past year, daily frequency) in 671 adolescents (51% women; mean age, Wave 1 = 14.05…

Published research demonstrates an association between exposure to media sexual content and a variety of sex-related outcomes for adolescents. What is not known is the mechanism through which sexual content produces this "media effect" on adolescent beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. Using the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction, this…

The present study examined the structural relations of social influences, task values, ability beliefs, educational expectation and academic engagement for both boys and girls. The structural equation modelling analyses provided nationally representative evidence of gender differences in: (1) the links from teacher-student relationship and peer…

Considerable evidence indicates that student motivation and use of learning strategies are related. There is insufficient understanding, however, about their reciprocal effects--whether motivation affects strategy use, the converse, or whether the effects are bidirectional--and which components of motivation and strategies are involved. A two-wave…

This study aims to conceptualize disobedient pupil behavior within the more general framework of antisocial behavior and to reveal how two forms of aggressiveness are related to disobedience. Disobedience, in the context of this article, covers disruptive pupil behavior or discipline problems when the pupil is aware of breaking a standard set by…