Examined manuscript letter writing skills of students in Grades 1-3. Three letter characteristics, grade, and alphabet fluency each made a significant contribution to the prediction of letter legibility after effects of other predictors were controlled. Letter legibility in turn made a significant contribution to the prediction of text legibility…

This study evaluated an alternative method of identifying early reading difficulty. From a sample of 1st and 2nd grade children, 47 were identified as dually discrepant in reading and compared with 28 children identified as low achieving. Single point measures of fluency and phonological awareness were not sensitive indicators of problems,…

A study involving 8,629 adults examined the association between parental alcohol abuse and child abuse, neglect, and other household dysfunction. Compared to households without alcohol abuse, the adjusted odds ratio for each category of adverse childhood experience was 2 to 13 times higher if parents abused alcohol. (Contains references.) (CR)

Examined competence motivation of 77 children at 12 and 30 months in relation to the quality of parental support received at various age intervals. Although quality of parental support was moderately stable across time, found only weak relationships between quality of support received earlier and children's later competence motivation. Found…

Examines the specificity of marital distress and maternal depressive symptoms as potential mediators of one another in the prediction of adolescent adjustment. Findings show that marital distress mediated effects of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent externalizing symptoms, and maternal depressive symptomatology mediated effects of marital…

Examined relations between temperament, ability estimation, and injury proneness from toddlerhood through school age. Found that children scoring high on Extroversion and low on Inhibitory Control as toddlers and preschoolers tended to overestimate their physical abilities and have more unintentional injuries at age 6. Children low on Extroversion…

Describes results of study of a 45-item scale developed to measure the construct and administered to four separate samples. The Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale significantly correlated in theoretically predicted ways with measures of racial identity, empathy, health narcissism, feminism, androgyny, homophobia, and dogmatism (the last…

Examines the influence of social support, university comfort, and self-beliefs on the persistence decisions of African American (N=98) undergraduates attending a predominantly White university. Each construct predicted persistence, with university comfort and social support the strongest predictors. A positive perception of the university…

A study examined the stability of and relationships among the maternal attitudes of mothers of 35 cocaine-exposed infants and ratings of infant temperament. Of the infant and maternal variables, only infant temperament was found to be a significant predictor of maternal global attitudes at 6 months of age. (Author/CR)

A study of 259 women found those who report abuse in childhood dissociate more than nonabused women, although they do not experience more perceptual distortions. Duration of abuse, age of onset of abuse, number of perpetrators, and relationship of perpetrators to victim predicted difficulties in many aspects of reality testing. (Author/CR)

Of 150 American Indian nursing students in a tribal college, 38 completed the program. Completers were significantly older and had higher Test of Adult Basic Education math and language scores. High school grade point average and number of dependents were not significant predictors of completion. (Contains 25 references.) (SK)

Investigates risk factors for current suicidality in clients diagnosed with schizophrenia (N=223). Results indicate that severity of depressive symptoms most strongly correlated with degree of suicidality. Younger age and recent traumatic stress each significantly predicted suicidality independent of depressive symptoms. Suggests that the…

Examines drinking patterns of female college students and evaluates the contributions of age, sorority membership, emotional pain, and peer acceptance on both frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption. Results indicate that sorority membership and emotional pain were significant predictors of frequency of alcohol consumption; and age, sorority…

This study compared adolescents on a continuum of risk of school dropout: adolescents in the mainstream program (low risk); in an at-risk program (medium risk); and in an alternative evening program for dropouts (high risk). The researcher wanted to determine what factors predict school dropout, with particular attention given to family and social…

Purpose: Although persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) require increasingly more assistance with activities of daily living as their disease progresses, the caregiving environment has received little attention as a source of predictors of their survival time. We report here on a study to determine whether variation in survival time of persons…