Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographic, social and psychological factors associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among a sample of secondary school students (N = 402). Methods: Students completed a questionnaire which examined their level of participation in MVPA and sedentary behaviours…

A theoretical model of academic motivation consisting of (a) academic self-efficacy, (b) purposefulness and intentionality, and (c) support through school counseling for autonomous learning was explored with 346 high school juniors. Regression analysis indicated academic self-efficacy and utilization of school counseling to be significant…

This study examined whether differences in phonological awareness were related to differences in speech comprehensibility. Seventeen adults who learned English as a foreign language (EFL) in academic settings completed 14 tests of phonological awareness that measured their explicit knowledge of English phonological structures, and three tests of…

Background: While researchers have attempted to address the difficulties of diagnosing affective disorders in the intellectually disabled population, diagnosing bipolar disorder in an individual with severe intellectual disability (ID) remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to identify what symptoms can predict a diagnosis of mania in the…

With the emergence of the Internet, e-learning has increasingly become the promising solution that continues to grow day after day. Considering students' perception toward e-learning is important in successful development of e-learning in higher education, since attitude of user towards application of information technology is one of the most…

In this study, we integrate insights from the life-course and stress-process perspectives to argue that adult children's negative treatment of parents, as well as negative events that children experience, detrimentally affect elderly parents' mental health over time. We argue that these strains may affect mothers more than fathers, and blacks more…

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between weight status and participation in physical activity (PA) among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white (NHW) adolescent boys and girls. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, height and weight were measured and a modified 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey was administered to 1302…

This article presents propensity score matching as a method to implement randomized conditions to analyze service effects using nonexperimental data. Most social work research is challenged to implement randomized clinical trials, whereas administrative and survey data are often available and can provide valuable information about services…

This book is meant as a basic and fairly nontechnical introduction to multilevel analysis for applied researchers in the social sciences. The term "multilevel" refers to a hierarchical or nested data structure, usually people within organizational groups, although the nesting may also consist of repeated measures with people or…

Four studies examined the validity of the "Living Word Vocabulary" (LWV), a corpus of approximately 44,000 alphabetized words with multiple meanings tested at different grade levels. Regressions were performed between the grade level p-values (percentages of students responding correctly to a vocabulary test item) reported by LWV and…

Various realizations have led to less frequent use of the "OVA" methods (analysis of variance--ANOVA--among others) and to more frequent use of general linear model approaches such as regression. However, too few researchers understand all the various coefficients produced in regression. This paper explains these coefficients and their…

Ordinary least-squares regression treats the variables asymmetrically, designating a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. When it is not obvious how to make this distinction, a researcher may prefer to use orthogonal regression, which treats the variables symmetrically. However, the usual procedure for orthogonal regression is…

The paper is a critique of the traditional mode of interpreting factor analyses; it is not a criticism of factor analysis per se. Instead, the author proposes a statistical procedure based upon stepwise regression (SRP). The traditional mode focuses on the largest factor loadings (FL). A factor is both described and named by these heavily weighted…

This paper presents a promising new item bias detection technique that derives practical appeal from its simplicity and economy, and provides data relating to the method's consistency across samples. The proposed regression on item characteristics (RIC) method is a straightforward and inexpensive approach to the study of item bias, based on…

In educational tests, subscores are often generated from a portion of the items in a larger test. Guidelines based on mean-squared error are proposed to indicate whether subscores are worth reporting. Alternatives considered are direct reports of subscores, estimates of subscores based on total score, combined estimates based on subscores and…