A group of 36 children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) were compared with 36 typical children matched on age, gender, and verbal IQ. Both a competence-importance discrepancy and social support/positive regard construct were significant predictors of self-worth for controls; however, for those with DCD, only the competence-important…

Utilizes data from a prospective longitudinal study of at-risk children to explore multiple predictors of high school dropouts across development. Results reveal association of early home environment, quality of early caregiving, socioeconomic status, IQ, behavior problems, academic achievement, peer relations, and parent involvement with dropping…

College freshmen (n=326) who preferred field-independent and field-neutral learning styles had higher grade point averages. High school grade point average and ACT scores were the best predictors of freshman academic performance. Learning style and ACT scores best predicted student retention. (SK)

Educational practices involving emotional intelligence should be based on solid research, not sensationalistic claims. There are two emotional-intelligence models based on ability and an ability/social-competence mixture. Emphasizing cooperative behavior could stifle creativity, healthy skepticism, or spontaneity. Teaching emotional reasoning pays…

Thirty-three mother-child dyads participating in an early intervention program were observed through three 8-minute sessions that were videotaped for each dyad at the 5th, 10th, and 15th months. By 15 months, about half the dyads experienced an event that was defined as establishing successful interactions. Mothers' marital status predicted…

Forty-eight young adults with mental retardation were placed into high and low learned helplessness groups based on responses to a questionnaire. Participants were presented with vignettes and asked what they would do. Results found low learned helplessness participants obtained significantly higher decision-making scores. Additional information…

Characteristics influencing employment of 11,743 individuals with mental retardation were analyzed to evaluate employment rates for county providers. Good physical and emotional health, being male, age between 18-49, IQ between 50-75, and good adaptive skills were associated with employment. The importance of health promotion programs is…

Reports that studies of native and transfer students at a university indicated that lower division GPA and major were significant predictors of upper division GPA for both groups, but more so for transfers than for natives. States that, although race was not a significant predictor for transfers, it was the most significant predictor for native…

A study of the 10% most able students in Sweden (n=744) found entrance into higher education was influenced by the choice of program in upper secondary school, the marks received, the students' attitudes to school, and satisfaction with their performance. Parental and teacher support had an influence on males. (CR)

A study of 335 undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology courses at two universities found that learner initial attitudes were predictors of academic achievement and that prior academic achievement was the single predictor variable in a logistic regression analysis of whether students earned satisfactory grades. These results support the…

Two studies of adolescents in England and Russia examined the effects of prolonged instruction on students' development of abstract deductive reasoning and understanding of logical necessity in algebraic and verbal reasoning. Results indicated that prolonged instruction emphasizing the metalevel of algebraic deduction contributed to enhanced…

Collected time-use diaries of television viewing from two cohorts of children (ages 2-5 and 4-7) from low-income families and gave annual tests of reading, math, receptive vocabulary, and school readiness. Found that viewing of child-audience informative programs between ages 2 and 3 predicted higher academic performance. Frequent viewers of…

Tested the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in predicting elementary teachers' intentions to teach health education, describing teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding the teaching of health to students. Teacher surveys indicated that variables of the TPB explained 52.3 percent of the variance in teachers'…

Focuses on the problem of predicting college success given traditional cognitive measures. The first four chapters describe a study conducted in the United States and Estonia to determine variables associated with college success. The next four chapters contain commentary and critiques of the study, with reaction in the final chapter by the study…

Study seeks to examine, for South African adolescents, the reliability of the Communities that Care Youth Survey of risk and protective factors for drug use and anti-social behavior, and the extent to which drug use can be predicted from community, family, school, and peer factors. Findings support use of the survey with slight revisions for South…