This study examined whether female undergraduate students who share with male undergraduates similar demographics, perceptions, and alcohol use locations, also share similar alcohol usage patterns, negative consequences, and predictors for both. Secondary analysis was conducted using 1992 and 1993 U.S. Department of Education Core Survey data…

A two-level regression model is imposed on the ability parameters in an item response theory (IRT) model. The advantage of using latent rather than observed scores as dependent variables of a multilevel model is that this offers the possibility of separating the influence of item difficulty and ability level and modeling response variation and…

A controversy currently exists in the literature regarding the stability of self-esteem across childhood. This ongoing study, initiated in 1987, was designed to respond to the limitations in the existing body of knowledge. It examines the influence of a variety of environmental variables, specifically home and school experiences, as well as…

News writing students at two universities were surveyed concerning their perceptions of freshman composition and its usefulness for other academic writing, journalistic writing, and the work world. The survey was also designed to determine whether students believed freshman composition and journalism emphasized the same writing skills and whether…

This study was conducted to assess the predictors of safe sex practices among a group of college students. Subjects were 261 students attending the evening division of a large urban university campus, 68% of whom were female and 94% of whom reported being heterosexual. The average age of respondents was 26 years. Subjects responded to questions…

This paper discusses two techniques for improving the predictive validity of personality measures: (1) measuring dispositional levels of private self-consciousness, that is, one's tendency to habitually reflect on covert aspects of the self such as thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and motives; and (2) priming trait-relevant knowledge (temporarily…

A study examined the relationship of independent variables to scores on the National Teacher Examinations Test of Professional Knowledge (TPK) to determine the best combination of predictor variables to account for variance on the TPK. Data were elicited from 202 undergraduate students at Furman University who had already taken the TPK and were…

Findings from a study that examined the school-level factors related to the success of early efforts to restructure schools through school-based management are presented in this paper. Specifically, the study examined the antecedent factors expected to affect the probability of a school moving forward toward more extensive decentralization. An…

Demographic prediction of juvenile delinquency has been hampered by the heterogeniety of youth samples. In an attempt to correct for sampling bias in predicting juvenile delinquency, 1,689 male and female youths(aged 12 to 19, drawn from a 6 percent systematic, census tract, random sample of Pennsylvania school youths) completed the Youth Needs…

Characteristics of academic departments that affect resource allocation to departments by the college or university are discussed, especially in times of retrenchment. Attention is focused on the ability of academic departments to maintain or increase their share of the resources allocated by the central governing board. Relevant departmental…

Typically, attributions of attitude are assessed after one instance of an actor's behavior. To determine what types of attributions observers make after the presentation of a sequence of behaviors, 135 college students were asked to make attributions about an actor's behavior after having been provided with category-based (group membership) and…

To determine the extent of influence that a reader's perspective as a member of a specific audience has on the assessment of student writing, a study examined the holistic judgment and the positive and negative comments made by four different types of writing evaluators on 40 different letters, each of which was written to one of four audience…

The extent to which students' ratings of teacher performance in mathematics courses are reliable, valid, and unbiased was investigated. Data on 746 courses by 52 faculty members over a 4-year period were used in a multiple regression analysis. It was found that students gave higher evaluations to faculty members when the students had previously…

A number of psychological models may explain why people vary in their satisfaction with various life domains (e.g., family, or grades). Six of the models are: (1) positive affect (the degree to which one experiences joy or happiness in each life domain); (2) negative affect (unpleasant emotions associated with domains); (3) social comparison (how…

It has been postulated that the result of the Mexican woman's inability to live up to the stiff requirements of her culture should show itself in depressive trends. These theories are often applied to the Mexican-American female as well. The aim of this study was to determine if acculturation is related to depression in Mexican-American females. A…