In the literature on achievement goals, performance-approach goals (striving to do better than others) and performance-avoidance goals (striving to avoid doing worse than others) tend to exhibit a moderate to high correlation, raising questions about whether the 2 goals represent distinct constructs. In the current article, we sought to examine…

Minority stress is often cited as an explanation for greater mental health problems among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals than heterosexual individuals. However, studies focusing on sex or sexual orientation differences in level of minority stress and its impact on mental health are scarce, even more so outside the United States.…

Two preliminary studies are presented investigating the self-beliefs that may affect goal achievement in a student population. In Study 1, goal achievement on an abstract task, where goals are externally set by others, is considered in relation to students' levels of optimism. In Study 2, goal achievement on academic performance, where goals are…

Research indicates that cooperative learning with teacher-guided instruction is more effective in helping young children to learn than cooperative learning with minimal guidance. In the present study, two different cooperative learning activities (jigsaw and drama) and a control condition (a traditional teacher-led approach) were compared. The…

In the United States, initiation or hazing activities in high school and university sport are increasingly being recognized as a serious issue facing coaches and sport administrators. These events include humiliation, degradation or abuse of new team members, presumed to enhance team bonding. This study is grounded in Waldron and Krane's…

Adolescents struggle with setting and striving for goals that require sustained self-discipline. Research on adults indicates that goal commitment is enhanced by mental contrasting (MC), a strategy involving the cognitive elaboration of a desired future with relevant obstacles of present reality. Implementation intentions (II), which identify the…

In this cross-sectional study we investigated to what extent autonomous and controlled motivation and social achievement goals are associated with students' emotional experiences at school. We found in a sample of 426 elementary school students, aged from 10 to 12 years, autonomous motivation (i.e. students' engagement in class activities because…

Universities have both social and cultural contexts, and new students need to participate effectively in both in order to succeed in this environment. With ever increasing numbers of students and the diversity of the contemporary university population, institutions have to consider innovative ways to effectively engage individuals. In terms of…

Updating and extending the work of O'Leary-Kelly, Martocchio, and Frink (1994), with this meta-analysis on goal setting and group performance we show that specific difficult goals yield considerably higher group performance compared with nonspecific goals (d = 0.80 plus or minus 0.35, k = 23 effect sizes). Moderately difficult and easy goals were…

In recent years, many universities across the United States have instituted "ally" programs that have been designed to promote awareness and support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) persons. While such ally programs have emerged at many colleges and are certainly publicly visible, little empirical…

The purpose of this study was to understand how urban-residing Aboriginal adolescent-parent dyads (n = 11) jointly constructed and acted on goals and strategies with their social supports (n = 17) to facilitate the adolescents' career development. A modified protocol following the qualitative action-project method was used. A discrete joint…

The author presents a commentary on a special issue of the "Journal of College Counseling". The articles included in the issue describe the mental health needs and counseling center utilization patterns of the diverse population of college students. The establishment of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health has created the opportunity to study…

Master Gardeners are very important in helping Extension deliver horticultural information to local citizens. The theoretical framework of the study reported here was based on Houle's Typology. The purpose was to develop an understanding of adult motivations to participate in the Florida Master Gardener program. The sampled population was 613…

Despite much research into mate selection, non-heterosexual populations are often only included for comparison purposes, while trans people and their partners are overlooked. This study attempts to address this using qualitative methodology to explore the mate selection of the partners of trans people. Six participants were recruited from online…

Educators agree that developing critical thinking skills is a key goal of college education. While the literature on higher-level thinking emphasizes the significance of writing for developing such skills, teachers often receive little guidance about the kinds of writing assignments that can prove most beneficial for helping students to develop…