Introduction: This study assessed the influence of exposure to pro-tobacco advertisements on experimentation with emerging tobacco products among U.S. adolescents aged =9 years, in Grades 6 to 12. Method: Data were obtained from the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Multivariate logistic regression was used to measure the association between…

Studies have begun to focus on what skills contribute to the development of phonological awareness, an important predictor of reading attainment. One of these skills is the perception of prosody, which is the rhythm, tempo and stress of a language. To examine whether prosodic perception contributes to phonological awareness prior to reading…

This 1-year prospective study aimed to examine associations between children's preschool emotional and behavioral problems and their kindergarten classroom engagement, and to identify any gender differences in this association. In preschool, parents and teachers completed questionnaires assessing aspects of children's (n = 575) emotional…

A challenge associated with traditional mixture regression models (MRMs), which rest on the assumption of normally distributed errors, is determining the number of unobserved groups. Specifically, even slight deviations from normality can lead to the detection of spurious classes. The current work aims to (a) examine how sensitive the commonly…

Higher education is increasingly interested in its impact on the sustainability attributes of its students, so we wanted to explore how our students' environmental concern changed during their higher education experiences. We used the Revised New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) with 505 students and developed and tested a multinomial…

The authors apply a regression-discontinuity design to identify the causal impact of letter grades on student effort within a course, subsequent credit hours taken, and the probability of majoring in economics. Their methodology addresses key issues in identifying the causal impact of letter grades: correlation with unobservable factors, such as…

Outsourced workers in information technologies (IT) generally have high skills and a high value on the job market. Their IT outsourcing organizations are likely to provide them with training, in the first place for skill development, but perhaps also as a way to bind the workers to them. This can be understood along the role of the psychological…

Background: Peer relations is a vulnerable area of functioning in children with specific language impairment (SLI), but little is known about the developmental trajectories of individuals. Methods: Peer problems were investigated over a 9-year period (from 7 to 16 years of age) in 171 children with a history of SLI. Discrete factor growth…

Peer and parent influences on alcohol use and related risky behaviors were examined in a sample of late-adolescent (M = 17.3 years; SD = 1.11 years) urban youths. Participants (N = 400) completed an online measure assessing peer influences of alcohol use and alcohol offers and also parental influences of rules against alcohol use and perceived…

Although identified as a critical component of proficient reading in the primary grades, reading fluency (word recognition accuracy, automaticity, and prosody) is often viewed as less important beyond the early stages of reading acquisition. In the present study, 108 ninth-grade students were assessed to explore the relationships among word…

This article examines how nations split decision-making about health services between federal and sub-federal levels, creating variation between states or provinces. When is this variation ethically acceptable? We identify three sources of ethical acceptability--procedural fairness, value pluralism, and substantive fairness--and examine these…

In secularising Germany the aim of religious education (RE) is under discussion. The churches opt for denominational education familiarising the students with their own religious tradition. Humanists claim an ethical education, giving students objective information about different religions. Which perspective do students who will become RE…

This article presents a methodology for modelling the development of self-regulated learning skills in the context of computer-based learning environments using a combination of tracing techniques. The user-modelling techniques combine statistical and computational approaches to assess skill acquisition, practice, and refinement with the…

The purpose of this study is to assess the anxiety connected with target language of the high school students learning Turkish as a foreign language. In this study, descriptive relational screening model was used. Two scales were used for collecting data. First scale was FLCAS-Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale; it was developed by Horwitz…

In fall 2005, the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas authorized the optional use of a plus/minus grading system. Since 2005, approximately one-half of courses have been graded using plus/minus and one-half using the straight letter grade system. This study examined student (n = 338) and…