A follow-on study was conducted on first-grade and third-grade children who were tested on a word identification measure of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test. Results found decoding strategy was highly correlated with concurrent reading test scores. Use of phonetic decoding was a strong positive predictor and whole word decoding a negative…

Contributes to scholarship on advertising and cross-cultural studies by exploring cultural factors affecting customer confidence in advertising. Uses a sample of 16 European nations to test G. Hofstede's theory of cross-national values. Finds that Hofstede's dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and individualism are important…

A structural model predicting the educational and career expectations of 282 Mexican American high school girls was developed and tested. Predictors included socioeconomic status, acculturation, academic achievement, instrumentality, expressiveness, gender role attitudes, parental and teacher support, family and career commitment, and perceptions…

Examined quality of children's relationships over time. Found that 9-year-olds' perceptions of teacher-student relationships were associated with teachers' ratings and were predicted by the quality of relationships with first teachers. Perceptions of mother-child relationships were consistent with earlier attachment security. Perceptions of…

Examined relationship between mothers' motivation, capacities, and opportunities, and how much supervision their children received. Compared 95 mothers providing adequate supervision with 37 providing inadequate supervision. Found that second group was less motivated, had fewer problem-solving and social skills, and was more likely to have…

Short-term longitudinal study compared influence of 6th, 8th, and 10th graders' closest friends (CF) and friendship groups (FG) on cigarette and alcohol use. Results showed that CF influenced initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. Only FG use predicted transition into current cigarette use. Only CF use predicted transition into current alcohol…

Focuses on the career self-efficacy of the large Latino population in the United States. Acculturation and English language-use predicted career self-efficacy, unlike years of U. S. residency, age, and educational level. Implications for career counseling for Latinos are discussed. (EMK)

This study examined the impact of childhood physical abuse on self-concept and social competency among 660 college students. Findings indicated that a history of physical abuse was predictive of current self-concept but did not predict social competence. Analysis suggested that physical abuse has a negative impact on self-concept through its…

Examines social support and coping in relation to resiliency among a sample of rural, low-income Appalachian African-American and White adolescents. Regression analyses reveal that social support from family and problem-focused, avoidance, and wishful-thinking forms of coping significantly predicted resiliency. Race and gender distinctions were…

Study creates and tests a comprehensive model of adolescent problem drinking. Results indicate that high levels of parental support and a positive school climate in the 8th grade influence the formation of relationships with peers with positive values in the 10th grade that guard against problem-drinking behavior in the 10th grade. (Contains 40…

Attempts to identify predictors of ability in the first week of an introductory journalism writing course. Finds that students with higher self-efficacy and students who spend more time reading newspapers seemed to be the best prepared on the first day of the introductory course. (SG)

Language and reading outcomes at age 13 were examined in 22 children who were late talkers as toddlers. Compared to 14 controls, children who were late talkers had significantly poorer vocabulary, grammar, reading/spelling, and verbal memory skills, although they performed in the average range on most language and academic tasks. (Contains…

A study involving 351 Kenyan families with children with disabilities found the following predicted school enrollment: parents' expectations about social acceptance, parents' bias against educating children with intellectual disabilities, parents' beliefs about segregated schooling, parents' beliefs about the appropriateness of the child's school…

This longitudinal study correlated block play performance at age 4 to mathematics achievement for third-, fifth-, and seventh-graders, and high school students. No correlation was found between block performance and standardized mathematics tests or grades in elementary school. Beginning in middle school and through high school grades, a positive…

This article constructs a model to predict the likelihood of parental use of corporal punishment on children in two-parent families. Reports that corporal punishment is primarily determined by cultural, human, and social capital that are available to, or already acquired by parents. Discusses an integrated, resource-based theory for predicting use…