Early Head Start and African American families: Impacts and mechanisms of child outcomes

Persistent disparities exist between African American children and their European American counterparts across developmental domains. Early childhood intervention may serve to promote more positive outcomes among African American children. The current study examined whether and how the Early Head Start (EHS) program benefited African American children at the end of the program, when they were 36 months of age, as well as the parenting these children experienced and how this affected their developmental outcomes. The data show a wide and strong pattern of impacts of EHS for African American children and families. Path analysis yielded findings that suggested a direct effect of EHS on specific child outcomes and parenting processes within this group of African American families. Parental supportiveness and cognitive stimulation emerged as important direct influences on African American children's outcomes and as pathways through which Early Head Start benefits these children. These findings are discussed in the context of early childhood intervention practice.     

Graduateness: an empirical examination of the formative function of university education

The formative merits of university education are at risk of being reduced from graduateness in the sense of broad academic cultivation to professional training with a strong emphasis on employability. The difficulty in opposing this trend is the absence of a clear framework for academic cultivation. The aim of this study is to construct a model that uses the formative function of university education as a starting point, that distinguishes graduateness from employability, and that integrates theories on reflective thinking, scholarship, moral reasoning and lifelong learning. This approach offers the possibility of making use of insights from established theoretical traditions in the study of the intellectual development of students. For this study, a questionnaire was developed to investigate graduateness, or intellectual cultivation, among students in a research university. Structural equation modelling revealed that the expected structure was confirmed by the data. Reflective thinking has the strongest influence on lifelong learning; however, scholarship and moral citizenship are also important elements.     

Different mental rotation performance in students of music,sport and education

In this study the effect of long-term physical and musical activity on spatial cognitive performance, measured by mental rotation performance, is investigated in detail. Mental rotation performance is the ability to rotate a three-dimensional object using the imagination. Three groups, each consisting of 40 students, and divided by the subjects, music, sports, and education, solved a psychometrical mental rotation task with three-dimensional block figures. The results showed a better mental rotation performance for music and sports students compared to the education students. Furthermore, the well known gender difference favoring males was found for both sports and education students but not for music students.     

Comorbidity of PTSD in anxiety and depressive disorders: Prevalence and shared risk factors

The present study aims to assess comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in anxiety and depressive disorders and to determine whether childhood trauma types and other putative independent risk factors for comorbid PTSD are unique to PTSD or shared with anxiety and depressive disorders. The sample of 2402 adults aged 18–65 included healthy controls, persons with a prior history of affective disorders, and persons with a current affective disorder. These individuals were assessed at baseline (T0) and 2 (T2) and 4 years (T4) later. At each wave, DSM-IV-TR based anxiety and depressive disorder, neuroticism, extraversion, and symptom severity were assessed. Childhood trauma was measured at T0 with an interview and at T4 with a questionnaire, and PTSD was measured with a standardized interview at T4. Prevalence of 5-year recency PTSD among anxiety and depressive disorders was 9.2%, and comorbidity, in particular with major depression, was high (84.4%). Comorbidity was associated with female gender, all types of childhood trauma, neuroticism, (low) extraversion, and symptom severity. Multivariable significant risk factors (i.e., female gender and child sexual and physical abuse) were shared among anxiety and depressive disorders. Our results support a shared vulnerability model for comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders with PTSD. Routine assessment of PTSD in patients with anxiety and depressive disorders seems warranted.     

Caregiver instability and early life changes among infants reported to the child welfare system

This study describes the extent of caregiver instability (defined as a new placement for 1 week or longer in a different household and/or with a new caregiver) in a nationally representative sample of infants, followed for 5–7 years. Data were drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), a longitudinal study of 5,501 children investigated for child maltreatment. The analysis sample was restricted to 1,196 infants. Overall, 85.6% of children who were infants at the time of the index maltreatment experienced at least one caregiver instability event during their first 2 years of life. Caregiver instability was associated with the child having a chronic health condition and the caregiver being older than 40 years of age at baseline. The levels of instability reported in this study from infancy to school entry are extremely high. Children with more risk factors were significantly more likely to experience caregiver instability than children with fewer risk factors. The repeated loss of a young child's primary caregiver or unavailable, neglectful care can be experienced as traumatic. Some evidence-based programs that are designed to work with young maltreated children can make a substantial positive difference in the lives of vulnerable infants.     

Storytime Using iPods: Using Technology to Reach all Learners

Many educators would agree that one way to enhance reading fluency is by being read to by fluent readers. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of providing students with audio books via an iPod Shuffle during silent reading time at school. For six weeks, Kindergarten participants spent time either silent reading or listening to a recorded story on an iPod Shuffle during daily dedicated silent reading time. Results show that there was no impact of using the iPod Shuffle on reading fluency; however, students exhibited greater motivation to read, greater engagement in the process, and sustained interest in stories “read.” The benefits to student self-esteem and study skills warrant the use of this strategy for students who may not have opportunities to be read to by a fluent reader on a consistent basis.     

The effects of social status and social dialect on listener responses

The findings of this experimental study indicate that the response to the dialect speech of another is not unidimensional and that dialect is more likely a determinant of speaker ethos for middle social status persons than for high or low social status persons.     

Film Biography

Kenneth L. Geist's Pictures will Talk: The Life and Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz (New York: Scribner's, 1978---$12.95)

Two new books, one a revision, deal with another important director, Alfred Hitchcock

Donald Spoto's Stanley Kramer: Filmmaker (New York: Putnam, 1978---$12.95)

James Robert Parish, et al., Hollywood Character Actors (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1978--- $30.00)

Jesse L. Lasky Jr. with Pat Silver, Love Scene: The Story of Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (New York: Crowell, 1978---$10.95)

Hollywood actress and actor biographies, a round up of recent titles

Danny Peary, ed. Close-Ups: The Movie Star Book--Intimate Profiles of Movie Stars by their Co-Stars, Directors, Screenwriters and Friends (New York: Workman Press, 1978---$8.95 in paper with a hardback also available)     

Boys Don't Cry and female masculinity: reclaiming a life & dismantling the politics of normative heterosexuality

–This analysis argues that Kimberly Peirce's film Boys Don't Cry can be read as a liberatory narrative that queers the centers of heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity by privileging female masculinity and celebrating its differences from heterosexual norms. My critique emphasizes how the narrative strategically challenges heteronormativity and, in turn, “narrative's heteroideology” (Roof, 1996), in four ways: 1) by dismantling the myth of “America's heartland”; 2) by problematizing heteromasculinity; 3) by centering female masculinity; and 4) by blurring the boundaries of female masculinity. I argue that the articulation of each subversive strategy within the narratives of Boys Don't Cry can serve a liberatory function, whereby the privileged subjectivities of heterosexuality and hegemonic masculinity are dismantled and, simultaneously, female masculinity and gender fluidity are privileged and normalized. I conclude that the narrative structure of Boys Don't Cry not only privileges gender diversity, but also exposes the inherent sexual bigotry of heteroideology and the brutal and deadly consequences of society's failure to eradicate such prejudice. I just keep on laughing Hiding the tears in my eyes Because boys don't cry. Boys don't cry. (Smith, Tolhurst, & Dempsey, 1988)