A Replication of the Specter of Authoritarianism among Criminal Justice Majors: Does Race Matter?

Authoritarian personality types possess characteristics that are especially troubling if found among criminal justice (CJ) professionals. Recent research found significantly higher Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scores in male college students majoring in CJ than in male nonmajors as well as significantly higher scores among lower division students than their upper division counterparts. However, the results of that study were limited because the sample was predominantly Caucasian. Given the growth in African-American CJ professionals and the special salience of race, it is important to examine whether the findings can be generalized to African-Americans. In order to explore that issue the current study replicates that research with a largely African-American sample drawn from a historically black college/university (HBCU). Results indicate that, unlike the findings in the original study, CJ majors at the HBCU did not have statistically higher RWA scores. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Mothers’ Experiences of Children in the Autistic Spectrum in Greece: Narratives of Development,Education and Disability Across their Blogs

Autism occupies a prominent place in scientific research both as a medical and as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Autism is studied as a disorder and a diagnostic label, as an experience of people with autism, their parents and their supporters, and finally as a disability related to stigma and rejection. The purpose of this article is to describe the posted experiences on personal blogs of five mothers who have school-aged children in the autistic spectrum in Greece. The qualitative method of content analysis is used for analysing the personal narratives across their blogs because this method focuses on describing and understanding the presented experiences and acknowledges the central role of the researcher in describing and signifying the issues discussed. The results of the content analysis show that the mothers seem to view autism through a developmental perspective and as they lead efforts for their child’s developmental timeline they are worried about their child’s developmental course and tend to experience high levels of anxiety, depression and burnout. The mothers act as practical scientists and co-therapists, taking an active role in educating and raising their children, finding a school and selecting appropriate interventions. The mothers struggle to obtain quality in education and services, while faced with the absence of technical infrastructure and understaffing in schools, lack of funding, covert or overt practices of acceptance and rejection of people with disabilities in the educational system, the attitudes and ignorance of some educators, and the high cost of private services. These mothers, at first, view autism as a tragedy and within their social environment they face covert or overt rejection since their children are stigmatised as “abnormal”. Later on, the mothers accept their child’s disability as a prerequisite for gaining a new life experience. It seems that the mothers have a mixed perception of disability, which sometimes tends to be closer to the medical model, sometimes to the hybrid model, while other times to the social model of disability.     

Does the Empirical Literature Inform Prevention of Dropout among Students with Emotional Disturbance? A Systematic Review and Call to Action

For the past 30 years, the dropout rate for students with emotional disturbance has hovered around 50%, a rate substantially higher than the dropout rate for students with other disabilities and the general population. This systematic review evaluated the literature published between 1990 and 2013 on the effectiveness of dropout prevention and intervention for students with emotional disturbance. Only one experimental or quasi-experimental study tested a dropout prevention program with students with emotional disturbance meeting the methodological criteria for this review. The results reveal a dearth of research-based strategies or programs to support high school completion among students with emotional disturbance, underscoring the need for rigorous intervention research to improve outcomes for these students. We discuss implications for research and practice in light of this research gap.     

Educational Achievement of Immigrant Adolescents in Spain: Do Gender and Region of Origin Matter?

This study explores the educational achievement of immigrant youth in Spain employing data from 3 waves of the Longitudinal Study of Families and Childhood (Pànel de Famílies i Infància), a representative sample of children in Catalonia first interviewed at ages 13-16 in 2006 (N = 2,710). Results suggest consistent disadvantage in achievement among first-generation students. Differences in achievement between the second and third generations are apparent in bivariate analyses, but are explained by observable characteristics in multivariate analyses. Gender-specific analyses uncover a large achievement gap between first-generation girls and their third-generation counterparts, but no equivalent gap for boys. Region-of-origin differences are modest, with the exception of Latin American adolescents who exhibit the lowest educational outcomes. The significance of perceptions about school on achievement are discussed.     

A Potential Case of Linguistic Prejudice: The Expression of Identity in ‘Black and White’

The existence of a race-based stigma has been well documented among adolescents and young adults within higher educational settings; however, similar studies among students at historically Black universities are rare. Specifically, the ‘acting white’ accusation is a common, and yet seldom openly discussed phenomenon that exist within the African American community. This type of stigma is often relegated to certain characteristics (i.e., behaviors, preferences, etc.) that may defy individual and collective assumptions regarding African Americans. Utilizing nearly 200 student questionnaires, this study identified the extent to which speaking correct English as well as other specific behaviors are associated with being accused of acting white. This process incorporated the use of bivariate correlation and regression models. Findings suggest that speaking correct English as well as the existence of other factors (i.e., preferences in dress, associations, etc.) are significantly related to the accusation. This includes both experiential and nonexperimental student responses. In determining predictor variables, those who experience as well as how they respond to the accusation revealed statistical significance. The study concludes by offering areas of further research as well as suggested policy implications within higher educational settings. This includes an examination of complex and multilayered aspects of identity among minority groups within academic environments.     

Does Mathematics Remediation Work?: A Comparative Analysis of Academic Attainment among Community College Students

Postsecondary remediation is a controversial topic. On one hand, it fills an important and sizeable niche in higher education. On the other hand, critics argue that it wastes tax dollars, diminishes academic standards, and demoralizes faculty. Yet, despite the ongoing debate, few comprehensive, large-scale, multi-institutional evaluations of remedial programs have been published in recent memory. The study presented here constitutes a step forward in rectifying this deficit in the literature, with particular attention to testing the efficacy of remedial math programs. In this study, I use hierarchical multinomial logistic regression to analyze data that address a population of 85,894 freshmen, enrolled in 107 community colleges, for the purpose of comparing the long-term academic outcomes of students who remediate successfully (achieve college-level math skill) with those of students who achieve college-level math skill without remedial assistance. I find that these two groups of students experience comparable outcomes, which indicates that remedial math programs are highly effective at resolving skill deficiencies.

Does the Cognitive Interview Promote the Coherence of Narrative Accounts in Children With and Without an Intellectual Disability?

We examined whether the cognitive interview (CI) procedure enhanced the coherence of narrative accounts provided by children with and without intellectual disabilities (ID), matched on chronological age. Children watched a videotaped magic show; one day later, they were interviewed using the CI or a structured interview (SI). Children interviewed using the CI reported more correct details than those interviewed using the SI. Additionally, children interviewed using the CI reported more contextual background details, more logically ordered sequences, more temporal markers, and fewer inconsistencies in their stories than those interviewed using the SI. However, the CI did not increase the number of story grammar elements compared with the SI. Overall children interviewed with the CI told better stories than those interviewed with the SI. This finding provided further support for the effectiveness of the CI with vulnerable witnesses, particularly children with ID.     

Child maltreatment among boy and girl probationers: Does type of maltreatment make a difference in offending behavior and psychosocial problems?

This study examined differences in offending behavior and psychosocial problems between juvenile offenders who have been sexually abused (n = 231), physically abused (n = 1,568), neglected (n = 1,555), exposed to multiple forms of maltreatment (n = 1,767), and non-victims (n = 8,492). In addition, the moderating effect of gender in the association between type of maltreatment and offending behavior/psychosocial problems was examined. Results showed that violent offenses were more common in victims of physical abuse and victims of multiple forms of abuse than in non-victims, both in boys and girls. In boys, sexual offenses were far more common in victims of sexual abuse than in victims of other or multiple forms of maltreatment or in non-victims. In girls, no group differences were found in sexual offending behavior. For both boys and girls, externalizing problems were relatively common in victims of physical abuse and neglect whereas internalizing problems were relatively common in victims of sexual abuse. In victims of multiple forms of maltreatment, both internalizing and externalizing problems were relatively common. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.     

A Preliminary Evaluation of REACH: Training Early Childhood Teachers to Support Children’s Social and Emotional Development

This paper describes the development, implementation and preliminary evaluation of the Reaching Educators and Children (REACH) program, a training and coaching intervention designed to increase the capacity of early childhood teachers to support children’s social and emotional development. We evaluated REACH with 139 teachers of toddler and preschool classrooms. Teacher attendance and survey results suggest that teachers were highly satisfied with the training and materials. Data from classroom observation scales conducted pre- and post-REACH implementation suggest significant improvements in the sensitivity of teachers’ interactions with children in the classroom, and increased teacher use of targeted social and emotional supports (such as teaching children to resolve conflicts). Further, data from observations of children’s classroom behavior suggest increases in children’s prosocial behaviors and small but significant decreases in verbal aggression. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the REACH program may be effective in building teachers’ capacity to support social–emotional development of young children, and point to the need for additional research.     

Latino Adolescents’ Ethnic Identity: Is There a Developmental Progression and Does Growth in Ethnic Identity Predict Growth in Self‐Esteem?

The current longitudinal study of 323 Latino adolescents (50.5% male; M age = 15.31 years) examined whether ethnic identity exploration, resolution, and affirmation demonstrated significant growth over a 4-year period and whether growth in ethnic identity predicted growth in self-esteem. Findings from multiple-group latent growth curve models revealed that exploration, resolution, and affirmation all increased significantly from middle to late adolescence for Latina girls. For Latino boys, only affirmation increased significantly. Furthermore, only growth in exploration predicted growth in boys' and girls' self-esteem. This research indicates that patterns of growth in ethnic identity vary by adolescent sex. Furthermore, findings underscore the need to examine the unique contributions of each ethnic identity component, rather than using a composite ethnic identity score.     

Motivation and Commitment to Volunteering in a Sample of Argentinian Adults: What is the Role of Generativity?

This study explores the motivations and commitment to volunteering in a sample of Argentinian adults, and it analyzes the role of generativity. The sample consisted of 200 volunteers who were purposively selected from five volunteer organizations in the city of Córdoba (Argentina). Participants were assigned to three age groups: young volunteers (18–39 years old), middle-aged volunteers (40–59 years old), and older volunteers (60 or plus years old). The motivations of “values” and “understanding” obtained the highest scores. No relevant differences were found between age groups in the motivations and commitment to volunteering. Generative concern showed more predictive value for motivations and commitment to volunteering than any of the sociodemographic variables considered in the study. The results are discussed at the light of considering volunteering as an expression of generativity in different stages of the life cycle.     

What Works in Writing With Peer Response? A Review of Intervention Studies With Children and Adolescents

Peer response is viewed as an important aspect of writing instruction. Several meta-studies indicated that peer response is effective. However, these studies did not focus on the specific aspects of peer response that made it effective. The present review analyzes the effects of instructional factors accompanying peer response in 26 studies on writing proficiency. Three theoretical perspectives are distinguished: a cognitive, a social-cognitive, and a genre perspective underlying the reviewed studies. In all studies, additional instruction in strategies, rules for interaction, genre knowledge, or a combination of these instructional aspects to writing with peer response is provided. Peer response with such additional instruction seems effective compared with individual writing. Recommendations for future investigations are directed to methodological issues for comparing the effects of separate instructional components for writing with peer response. In addition, it is advised to direct future studies towards more controlled research into the effects of instruction in genre knowledge on writing with peer response.     

Understanding Teacher Candidates’ Engagement with Inquiry-Based Professional Development: A Continuum of Responses and Needs

Teacher educators recognize that teacher candidates must have authentic, scaffolded opportunities to transform knowledge into practice. This study explores teacher candidates’ engagement with teacher inquiry as a method for supporting professional development. Findings suggest teacher candidates differ tremendously in their responses to the inquiry process, creating a continuum of proficiency. This study extends the literature by providing concrete examples of the variation in readiness, sophistication, and quality in teacher candidates’ attempts to engage in teacher inquiry. Implications for teacher educators include the importance of providing differentiated support through structured, sequenced experiences that build an inquiry stance in teacher candidates.     

Race and Color: Two Sides of One Story? Development of Biases in Categorical Perception

Categorical perception is a phenomenon that leads people to group stimuli into categories instead of perceiving their natural continua. This article reviews the literature of two biases connected with categorical perception: categorical color perception and the other‐race effect. Although these two phenomena concern distant targets (colors and faces) and imply different biases (one attentional, one mnemonic), they share at least three commonalities. First, they both involve the chunking of continuous dimensions into categories. Second, adult categories are shaped by cultural processes. Third, infants' discrimination performance seems universal and guided by perception. In this article, it is proposed to look for a common developmental mechanism that clarifies the shift from a perceptual to a sociocognitive knowledge of the environment. New perspectives are discussed.     

The Enjoyment of Formal and Informal Recreation and Leisure Activities: A comparison of school‐aged children with and without physical disabilities

Despite the fairly extensive literature on the developmental benefits of youth's participation in organised, out‐of‐school activities, little is known about the participation of school‐aged children with physical disabilities in formal recreation and leisure activities, both in comparison with their participation in informal activities and with children who are typically developing. Enjoyment of formal and informal activities was examined for 427 children with physical disabilities and 354 children without disabilities, aged 6–14 years. It was predicted that children without disabilities would report significantly greater enjoyment of formal than informal activities, whereas this would not be the case for children with disabilities. This prediction was confirmed. Children with disabilities also participated in significantly fewer formal and informal activities, and participated in these activities less intensely than did children without disabilities. The mechanisms responsible for psychological engagement, enjoyment, and the developmental benefits of participation in activities are discussed, along with implications for research and clinical practice.     

China's cooperation in education and training with Kenya: A different model?

This is the first detailed study of the character and particularity of China's rapidly growing education and training cooperation with Kenya. Set against the 50-year history of Kenya's engagement with China, it pays special attention to the human resources targets of the Forum for China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from 2000. It argues that the growing popularity of China as a destination for both short- and long-term training for Kenyans, and the increasing interest by Kenyans in learning Chinese, cannot be separated from the wider involvement of China in Kenya's infrastructure development, the growth of Chinese business and foreign direct investment, and Chinese migration to East Africa.