Purpose: Research underscores how autonomy and decision-making involvement may help to enhance the quality of life of older adults; however, individuals with dementia are often excluded from decision making that is related to their daily functioning. In this study we use a modified version of the Stress Process Model to consider the stress process…

This study applies the family--systems concept of differentiation (the balance of autonomy-granting and connectedness) to another primary system of adolescent development--school. This study assessed the relationships among levels of family and school differentiation to the externalizing and internalizing behaviors, peer group membership, and…

This paper argues that a useful way of analyzing the current moves to locate education within a decentralized framework of schools competing for educational consumers is to return to the founders of managerialism. In particular, this paper suggests that by returning to the point of production, the "mutilated rationality" (Habermas) of…

Two studies examined people's ideas about conflicts between the morality of friendship and the morality of individual autonomy. Study 1 included 144 subjects of 15, 18, and 21 years of age. In individual interviews, subjects were asked (1) what they would do in dilemmas in which friendship expectations conflicted with individual autonomy; (2) the…

This final report describes the activities of Project LEEDS (Leadership Education to Empower Disabled Students), a federally supported project designed to create student/staff teams from colleges and universities to encourage undergraduate/graduate students with disabilities to become leaders, through development of self-identity and identity with…

This book offers Paulo Freire's retrospection on his life and work. These reflections, conceived in the form of 18 letters to his niece, Cristina, provide a backdrop for a deeper understanding of the experiences--including his exile---that have informed his thinking and teaching. The first 10 letters look back on Freire's childhood and youth. The…

The acculturation of developmental timetables for autonomy from parental supervision and in social relationships was studied in a sample of 220 ethnic German immigrants to Germany from Romania, Poland, and countries of the former Soviet Union. The acculturation rate was predicted to be related to prior differences in parent-adolescent interaction…

Based on a second language learning workshop that was a follow-up to the 1990 British conference, "Autonomy in Language Learning," at the Lane End conference center, this report covers the practical implications of the ideas that emerged at the conference. The continuum that encompasses learner autonomy and autonomous learning is…

Based on Montessori's ideas about children's innate capabilities and potential, this book encourages restructuring the home environment to provide children, especially preschool children, with opportunities for self-directed activities and personal autonomy. In each of the chapters, a different room is examined as to how it could be redesigned to…

Personal autonomy is a fundamental ideal in American culture. When the autonomy of a person with reduced capacity is restricted or limited by law and a guardian is appointed, the issue becomes critical to our understanding of social justice. Preservation of autonomy remains a core social value even while the legal system moves to erode personal…

Development must offer people not only release from poverty but also social esteem and political freedom. While knowledge production has exploded, its distribution and use is still limited, especially in the Third World. Literacy is the most promising means of bringing information and technology to common people in developing nations. Each country…

This study investigated the relationship between examinee achievement-specific locus of control and the differences between self-adapted testing (SAT) and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) in terms of mean estimated proficiency and posttest state anxiety. Subjects were 379 college students. A disordinal interaction was found between test type…

This report is the result of an investigation by the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled of the Bernard Fineson Developmental Center's policies and practices concerning sexual incidents among residents. It also raises broader issues about the meaning of consent when sexual activity involves persons with severe or…

Competing norms for justifying actions and decisions in teaching and their effects on the curriculum and teacher learning are discussed. Interpreting teaching as a moral action, this paper argues that a personal orientation (personal practice, feeling, or beliefs) removes teacher action and decisions from the realm of objective and professional…

Self-directed learning has been a high-interest topic within the field of adult education for the last decade. The following are among suggestions writers have made about how adult educators can best facilitate self-directed learning: (1) encourage learners to appreciate that they can act on their world individually or collectively to transform…