One of the motivations frequently cited by Sen and Nussbaum for moving away from a utility metric towards a capabilities framework is a concern about adaptive preferences or conditioned expectations. If utility is related to the satisfaction of aspirations or expectations, and if these are affected by the individual's previous experience of…

This study examines infant temperament (inhibited and uninhibited styles) as a predictor of behavior in the kindergarten classroom. Thirty-one kindergarten children were observed in their classrooms for approximately 1.5 hours on each of four occasions between September and January. Fourteen children (8 girls, 6 boys) had been classified as high…

Employee retention was studied in 48 counselors working at a summer camp for children and adults with disabilities. We hypothesized that attitudes toward persons with disabilities, personality characteristics of counselors, job satisfaction, and previous counselor experience would predict whether counselors would elect to return to work the…

Objective: To study childhood predictors for late adolescence criminality. Method: The follow-up sample included 2,713 Finnish boys born in 1981. Information about the 8-year-old boys' problem behavior was obtained from parents, teachers, and the children themselves. The follow-up information about criminal offenses was based on the national…

Despite a growing body of literature on the causes of heavy episodic drinking, little attention has been paid to this phenomenon in the sociological and criminological literature. This research assesses the extent to which a popular theory of crime and deviance, control theory, can explain heavy episodic drinking. Analysis of data collected from a…

The present work examined the influence of topic interest on the strength of different components of text representation and long-term retention according to the model of text processing by van Dijk and Kintsch (1983). A Series of relevant personality characteristics were assessed to control for alternative explanations of interest effect, A total…

The present study examined relationships between leisure interests and the Big Five personality traits, positive and negative affect, and moods. Regression analysis identified particular personality but not mood or affect variables as significant predictors of leisure factor scores. Further exploration through factor analysis revealed factor…

In a sample of low-income families (N = 239), structural equation models assessed predictors of fathers' involvement with preschool-aged children in instrumental, behavioral, and emotional realms. Results suggest that parental conflict has a strong negative relation with father involvement. Fathers' human capital characteristics, healthy…

This study investigated the efficacy of noncognitive variables for predicting college student achievement in an introductory psychology course. The sample included 102 new first-year students at a private urban university and 233 new first-year students at a rural public university. Data were collected on self-ratings of overall academic ability,…

This study examined the predictive factors of demand for degrees and academic performance at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). The study followed two cohorts of university students from secondary education to the completion of the third year of higher education. The data analyzed included secondary school qualifications, selectivity…

Prompted by repeated failure on a required English language proficiency test by a large proportion of undergraduates, educators at Cardinal Stritch College (Wisconsin) conducted a study to determine predictors of failure or success on the test, and whether revision of course placement standards should be considered to improve test performance.…

Beginning in 1992, Atlantic Community College, in New Jersey, conducted a 4-semester study to determine which factors resulted in student attrition and whether the factors that affected retention changed during the study period. The study population included 119 degree-seeking students who entered in January 1992 and who took the state's basic…

In January 1996, the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges prepared a 15-year forecast of enrollment and weekly student contact hours (WSCH) using an econometric model that analyzes real (i.e., price-adjusted) costs facing students, real operating budget expenditures of colleges, population and unemployment projections, and…

This longitudinal study was designed to ascertain if those teacher candidates (N=388) having failed to make or having made a more or less successful transition into the teaching field 7 years after the commencement of teacher preparation differed in academic aptitudes and academic abilities assessed upon commencement of teacher preparation. MANOVA…

This longitudinal study was designed to compare the academic, personal, and family characteristics of those teacher candidates persisting and not persisting through teacher preparation and the early years of classroom teaching. The candidates' (N=551) personal, family, and academic characteristics were collected upon commencement of teacher…