Child Behavior Problems,Teacher Executive Functions,and Teacher Stress in Head Start Classrooms

Research Findings: The current article explores the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems and preschool teacher job stress, as well as the possibility that teachers’ executive functions moderate this relationship. Data came from 69 preschool teachers in 31 early childhood classrooms in 4 Head Start centers and were collected using Web-based surveys and Web-based direct assessment tasks. Multilevel models revealed that higher levels of teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems were associated with higher levels of teacher job stress and that higher teacher executive function skills were related to lower job stress. However, findings did not yield evidence for teacher executive functions as a statistical moderator. Practice or Policy: Many early childhood teachers do not receive sufficient training for handling children's challenging behaviors. Child behavior problems increase a teacher's workload and consequently may contribute to feelings of stress. However, teachers’ executive function abilities may enable them to use effective, cognitive-based behavior management and instructional strategies during interactions with students, which may reduce stress. Providing teachers with training on managing challenging behaviors and enhancing executive functions may reduce their stress and facilitate their use of effective classroom practices, which is important for children's school readiness skills and teachers’ health.     

Patient and Provider Perceptions of Decision Making About Use of Epidural Analgesia During Childbirth: A Thematic Analysis

This study examines the nature of differences in perceptions of decision making between patients and providers about use of epidural analgesia during labor. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns in written survey responses from 14 patients, 13 labor nurses, and 7 obstetrician–gynecologists. Results revealed patients attempted to place themselves in an informed role in decision making and sought respect for their decisions. Some providers demonstrated paternalism and a tendency to steer patients in the direction of their own preferences. Nurses observed various pressures on decision making, reinforcing the importance of patients being supported to make an informed choice. Differences in perceptions suggest need for improvement in communication and shared decision-making practices related to epidural analgesia use in labor.     

Connections between Student Explanations and Arguments from Evidence about Plant Growth

We investigate how students connect explanations and arguments from evidence about plant growth and metabolism—two key practices described by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study reports analyses of interviews with 22 middle and high school students postinstruction, focusing on how their sense-making strategies led them to interpret—or misinterpret—scientific explanations and arguments from evidence. The principles of conservation of matter and energy can provide a framework for making sense of phenomena, but our results show that some students reasoned about plant growth as an action enabled by water, air, sunlight, and soil rather than a process of matter and energy transformation. These students reinterpreted the hypotheses and results of standard investigations of plant growth, such as van Helmont''s experiment, to match their own understanding of how plants grow. Only the more advanced students consistently interpreted mass changes in plants or soil as evidence of movement of matter. We also observed that a higher degree of scaffolding during some of the interview questions allowed mid-level students to improve their responses. We describe our progress and challenges developing teaching materials with scaffolding to improve students’ understanding of plant growth and metabolism.     

Perceptions of Moral Violations and Personality Traits Among Heroes and Villains

This study investigates disposition-formation processes in entertainment by predicting perceptions of media heroes and villains by their behavior in specific moral domains. Participants rated self-selected heroes and villains from television and film along the moral domains of care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity (Haidt & Joseph, 2007 Haidt, J. & Joseph, C. (2007). The moral mind: How 5 sets of innate moral intuitions guide the development of many culture-specific virtues, and perhaps even modules. In P. Carruthers S. Laurence & S. Stich (Eds.), The innate mind (Vol. 3, pp. 367–391). New York, NY: Oxford.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) as well as along dimensions of warmth, competence, and duplicity used in impression-formation research (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002 Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P. & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878–902. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.82.6.878[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Results show that heroes violate moral norms in domains of authority and purity, whereas villains violated moral norms in the domains of caring and group loyalty. Furthermore, these moral violations are associated with personality dimensions of warmth and competence differently for each character type, such that impressions of heroes are driven by their work in the care domain (i.e., saving or protecting people), whereas for villains, violation of purity norms is most strongly associated with subsequent impression formation processes.     

Predicting Media Appeal From Instinctive Moral Values

Zillmann's moral sanction theory defines morality subcultures for entertainment as groups of media viewers who evaluate character actions with shared value systems. However, the theory provides no a priori means to identify these shared value systems. The model of intuitive morality and exemplars incorporates a theoretical framework for identifying and testing the factors from which these shared value systems emerge. This study applies the model's framework, based on 5 “moral domains” from moral foundations theory, to test the influence of shared value systems on character perceptions and narrative appeal. A within-subject experiment varied violation of these five domains (care, fairness, ingroup loyalty, authority, and purity) and narrative resolutions (positive or negative outcomes) in 10 short narrative scenarios. The 5 domains predicted character perceptions and narrative appeal. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of these domains for understanding the reciprocal relationship between audience values and media response.     

Sail training as education: more than mere adventure

This paper describes the process and findings of a multinational study of the characteristics of sail training for young people. The study used a structured qualitative method and involved ‘indigenous practitioner‐researchers’ who collected the majority of the data. Our findings show that participation provides an opportunity for learning in the practical and cognitive domains in relation to skills and knowledge, and in the affective domain in relation to social confidence. The data collected provide evidence that sail training has positive benefits in terms of participants’ social confidence and their self‐perceptions of capacity to work collaboratively with others. It is argued that while sail training experiences are generally positive and beneficial, some appear to be more effective than others in developing social confidence. We also show that it is not principally the seamanship dimension of the experience, but the combination of a structured purposeful programme with the unique character of the seafaring environment that provides the basis for that learning. The more effective experiences in this respect appear to be those where there is a greater emphasis on specific programme activity. Sail training should therefore be understood not solely as adventurous recreation but as a powerful educative experience.     

Age Differences in Adaptive Decision Making: The Role of Numeracy

The primary purposes of the present study were to examine age differences in adaptive decision making and to evaluate the role of numeracy in mediating the relationship between age and adaptive decision making. Adaptive decision making was assessed by the Cups task (Levin, Weller, Pederson, & Harshman, 2007 Levin , I. P. , Weller , J. A. , Pederson , A. A. , & Harshman , L. A. ( 2007 ). Age-related differences in adaptive decision making: Sensitivity to expect value in risky choice . Judgement and Decision Making , 2 ( 4 ), 225 – 233 .[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Forty-six younger (18 to 24 years old) and 37 older adults (61 to 89 years old) completed the Cups task. In addition, the Numeracy Scale (Lipkus, Samsa, & Rimer, 2001 Lipkus , I. M ., Samsa , G. , & Rimer , B. K. ( 2001 ). General performance on a numeracy scale among highly educated samples . Medical Decision Making , 21 ( 1 ), 37 – 44 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) was used to measure individual numeric ability. Adaptive decision making was operationalized by the Expected Value sensitivity (i.e., the product of probability and outcome magnitudes) across the gain and the loss domains. Older adults had significantly lower Expected Value sensitivity than young adults. In addition, older adults demonstrated significantly lower numeracy than younger adults. Finally, numeracy partially mediated the relationship between age and adaptive decision making. It is suggested that older adults’ declined decision making may be partially due to their declined numeric abilities. Implications were discussed in numeracy education and public policies concerning older adults.     

Physical Discipline Use and Child Behavior Problems in Low-Income,High-Risk African American Families

This article has been retracted.