Agents of change: pathways through which mentoring relationships influence adolescents' academic adjustment

A conceptual model was tested in which the effects of mentoring relationships on adolescents' academic outcomes were hypothesized to be mediated partially through improvements in parental relationships. The parameters of the model were compared with those of an alternative, in which improved parental relationships were treated as an outcome variable rather than a mediator. The study included 959 young adolescents (M age = 12.25 years), all of whom applied to Big Brothers Big Sisters programs. The adolescents were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group and administered questions at baseline and 18 months later. The hypothesized model provided a significantly better explanation of the data than the alternative. In addition to improvements in parental relationships, mentoring led to reductions in unexcused absences and improvements in perceived scholastic competence. Direct effects of mentoring on global self-worth, school value, and grades were not detected but were instead mediated through improved parental relationships and scholastic competence. Implications of the findings for theory and research are discussed.     

Parent Support for Children’s Physical Activity: A Qualitative Investigation of Barriers and Strategies

Purpose: Parents play an important role in supporting children’s physical activity (PA) behavior. Parent PA support is a behavior unto itself that has been examined within the framework of an adapted theory of planned behavior (TPB). The primary purpose of this research was to identify key barriers to parent PA support to understand perceptions of control in relation to parent PA support. The second purpose of this research was to identify potential strategies to enhance parent PA support via enhanced perceived behavioral control. Method: Focus groups were conducted with parents (N = 21) of children aged 5 to 11 years old. A deductive content analysis was employed to analyze the data guided by an adapted TPB. Results: Themes related to barriers included parents’ motivation, affective experiences in providing PA support, and control factors (e.g., cost, time, safety concerns, screen). Themes related to potential strategies included opportunities for participation and improved affective experiences for parents, community parenting, and self-regulatory strategies. Conclusion: The identification of specific barriers to parent PA support can guide the development of interventions to facilitate parent PA support. Informational, programming, and self-regulatory training interventions may be useful in enhancing parent support.     

Ethnicity as a moderator of the theory of planned behavior and physical activity in college students

Most college students do not meet physical activity (PA) guidelines, and ethnic disparities exist. The present study examined the utility of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in explaining PA intentions and behavior in black and white college students and whether any TPB relationships were moderated by ethnicity. Black (n=170) and white (n=180) students completed a baseline TPB questionnaire and PA assessment 2 weeks later Hierarchical latent variable regression analyses showed that affective attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) were significant predictors of intention for both ethnic groups, whereas the PBC-intention relationship was significantly stronger for white students. Intention significantly predicted PA for both ethnic groups. Furthermore, common and ethnic-specific beliefs were identified.     

The Nature and Consequences of Essentialist Beliefs About Race in Early Childhood

It is widely believed that race divides the world into biologically distinct kinds of people—an essentialist belief inconsistent with reality. Essentialist views of race have been described as early emerging, but this study found that young children (n = 203, M_age = 5.45) hold only the more limited belief that the physical feature of skin color is inherited and stable. Overall, children rejected the causal essentialist view that behavioral and psychological characteristics are constrained by an inherited racial essence. Although average levels of children's causal essentialist beliefs about race were low, variation in these beliefs was related to children's own group membership, exposure to diversity, as well as children's own social attitudes.     

Cross‐Cultural Differences in Children's Beliefs About the Objectivity of Social Categories

The present study compared 5‐ and 10‐year‐old North American and Israeli children's beliefs about the objectivity of different categories (n = 109). Children saw picture triads composed of two exemplars of the same category (e.g., two women) and an exemplar of a contrasting category (e.g., a man). Children were asked whether it would be acceptable or wrong for people in a different country to consider contrasting exemplars to be the same kind. It was found that children from both countries viewed gender as objectively correct and occupation as flexible. The findings regarding race and ethnicity differed in the two countries, revealing how an essentialist bias interacts with cultural input in directing children's conceptualization of social groups.     

Other Books on Broadcasting

Howard Poteet's Published Radio a Television, and Film Scripts:A BibLioqraphy (Troy, N.Y.: Whiston Publishing Co., 1975—$15.00)

Richard Adler (ed.) Television as a Cultural Force (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1976—$15.00/4.95, with single pbk copies available from the Aspen Communications program office in Palo Alto (see order form enclosed))

Jethro K. Lieberman and Neil S. Rhodes' The Complete CB_Handbook (New York: Avon Books 29553, 1976—$1.75, paper)

Fredric Stuart's The Effects of Television on the Motion Picture and Radio Industries (New York: Arno Press, 1976—$23.00)

Ben Armstrong and LaVay Sheldon (eds.) Directory of Religious Broadcasting : 1976 (National Religious Broadcasters, Box 2254R, Morristown, N.J. 07960—$15.00, paper)

MARC Newsletter (Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center, 191 West Huntington Drive, Monrovia, Calif. 91016)

Spectrum (Billy Graham Program in Communications, Graduate School, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. 60187)

WACC Journal (Eckart-Verlag, D-4800 Bielefeld 1, Postfach 2520, Federal Republic of Germany)

Action (World Association for Christian Communication, 7 St. James St., London SW 1, England)

Interfilm Reports (Bulletin of Interfilm, the International Interchurch Film Centre, P.O. Box 515, Hilversum, Netherlands)

Pastor A.W. Allworthy's Petition Lansman-Milam Petition (Christ the Light Works, Box 19641, Dallas, Texas 75219– $8.45, paper, including postage)     

Road damage and the vehicle

In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of a relationship between road damage and high axle-loads. The heavy-vehicle operator constantly seeks new legislation permitting the use of larger vehicles to achieve economies of scale while the controller of the highway network resists such pressure to contain maintenance and protect the environment. This article examines the factors that influence the amount of road damage inflicted by a vehicle and identifies the options that exist to minimize it.