Are low achievers disliked in a cooperative situation? A test of rival theories in a mixed ethnic situation

The effect of cooperative and individualistic learning experiences within which majority students worked with lower-achieving minority peers were compared. A number of theories predict that when white students collaborate with lower-achieving minority students prejudice and rejection will increase. These theories were tested against a counter position that working collaboratively promotes liking regardless of differences in achievement. Forty-eight students (20 minority and 28 white) were assigned to conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for ethnic membership, sex, social class, and ability level. They participated in the study for 55 min a day for 15 instructional days. The results indicate that cooperative learning experiences, compared with individualistic ones, promoted higher achievement for minority students, more cross-ethnic interaction aimed at supporting and regulating efforts to learn and ensuring the active involvement of all students, and greater cross-ethnic interpersonal attraction. The results do not support the theories that posit equal achievement levels are necessary for successful integration and do support the position that cooperative experiences result in liking regardless of the ethnic membership or achievement level of collaborators.     

Attachment and Temperament in the Early Life Course: A Meta‐Analytic Review

This meta‐analytic review examines the association between early attachment (assessed at 1–5 years) and child temperament (assessed at birth–12 years), and compares the strength of this association with recently documented meta‐analytic associations between early attachment and social competence, externalizing behavior, and internalizing symptoms. Based on 109 independent samples (N = 11,440) of diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, temperament was weakly associated with attachment (in)security (d = .14, CI [0.08, 0.19]) but modestly associated with resistant attachment (d = .30, CI [0.21, 0.40]). Temperament was not significantly associated with avoidant (d = .10, CI [?0.02, 0.19]) or disorganized (d = .11, CI [?0.03, 0.25]) attachment. Across developmental domains, early attachment security was more strongly associated with social competence and externalizing behaviors than internalizing symptoms and temperament.     

Resilience to bullying: towards an alternative to the anti-bullying approach

Anti-bullying strategies are significant approaches addressing bullying in schools, however their capacity to produce a reduction in bullying behaviour is open to question. This article examined a resilience-based approach to bullying. One hundred and five primary and high school students were surveyed using several standardised instruments. The study found that high school students reported more victimisation than primary students; that students reporting greater resilience; experienced less distress regarding bullying; that relatedness demonstrated a stronger negative correlation than mastery with distress levels to bullying; that students exhibiting greater emotional reactivity engaged in more bullying behaviour compared to others; and that a younger group exhibited greater resilience levels compared to an older group. The results support an evolutionary psychology view of bullying and suggest an operational definition of bullying in terms of power differentials within a relational context. Further examination and development of a resilience-based intervention model focused on developing a sense of relatedness is supported.     

States’ Potential Enrollment of Adult Students: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

This study shows that financial aspects of state higher education policies, particularly tuition, have an impact on the level of enrollment of adult undergraduates within a state. This study also demonstrates how stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) can be utilized to examine the potential maximum enrollment of adult learners in postsecondary education and generate state-level scores that can be utilized to rank states according to the difference between the potential maximum and actual enrollment of adults in higher education.     

From barriers to bridges: An investigation on Saudi student mobility (2006–2009)

Globalisation is often thought to advocate for a single set of beliefs and customs and for a rejection of the need to protect regional cultures and traditions. In the aftermath of 9/11, the rift between Western and Arab cultures has deepened, and there is a patent need for cultural bridges to be built. The government of Saudi Arabia has, by increasing funding for higher education through grants and scholarships, enabled Saudi students to study at overseas universities. A number of non-Saudi students are also enrolled at Saudi Arabian universities. After a brief introduction to the cultural and educational history of the Arab region and Saudi identity, this article turns to contemporary higher education in Saudi Arabia. It introduces the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme and then goes on to present detailed enrolment data for 2006–2009, demonstrating trends and policy changes and identifying patterns in student mobility.     

Child abuse in the eyes of the beholder: lay perceptions of child sexual and physical abuse

OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to explore the effects of victim and perpetrator gender, type of abuse, and victim-perpetrator relationship on university students' and non-students' perceptions of different kinds of child abuse. METHOD: One hundred and ninety-nine participants (including university students and non-student adults) evaluated each of 24 vignettes (within-subjects design) describing an abusive interaction between a child and an adult. The following four variables were manipulated: the victim's gender, the perpetrator's gender, the type of abuse (physical, relatively mild sexual, or relatively severe sexual), and the perpetrator's relationship to the victim (parent or babysitter). Participants rated each vignette on a number of dimensions: degree of trauma and severity, likelihood of general occurrence and reoccurrence, victim believability, and "repressibility" of the event. RESULTS: Significant interactions emerged on each dimension. For example, sexual abuse (whether mild or severe) was rated as being more traumatic and severe if perpetrated by a parent, but relationship type did not affect perceptions of physical abuse. In addition, significant perpetrator gender by victim gender interactions indicated that homosexual abuse was perceived as more traumatic and repressible than heterosexual abuse, but as less likely to occur; and male participants tended to be more affected by the gender of the perpetrator and abuse type than female participants. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that people have stereotypes about the circumstances and consequences of child abuse. These stereotypes are often, though not always, consistent with existing empirical findings.     

Linkages between delayed children's social interactions with mothers and peers

The social dimensions of family-peer linkages of 4- to 6-year-old children (N=63) with developmental delays (IQ range, 50-80) were examined in this study. Hierarchical regressions revealed consistent and meaningful patterns of association relating children's influence attempts directed toward their mothers and their interactions with peers. A similar association with peer interactions was found for children's ability to obtain compliance from their mothers. Evidence suggested the existence of a core behavioral pattern that children exhibit with different partners and in different contexts. The role of horizontal forms of parent-child interactions in promoting the peer relationships of children with delays was suggested, particularly in terms of an intervention approach for this group of children.     

The development of a content analysis model for assessing students’ cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a content analysis model for assessing students’ cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions. It adopted a fully mixed methods design, in which qualitative and quantitative methods were employed sequentially for data analysis and interpretation. Specifically, the design was a “sequential exploratory” (QUAL → quan) design with priority given to qualitative data and methods. Qualitative data were 800 online postings collected in two online courses. Quantitative data were 803 online postings from the same two courses but from different discussion topics and different weeks. During the qualitative process, a grounded theory approach was adopted to construct a content analysis model based on qualitative data. During the quantitative process, χ² tests and confirmative factor analysis (CFA) which used online postings as cases or observations and was the first of its kind were performed to test if the new model fit the quantitative data.     

Updating Working Memory and arithmetical attainment in school

Here we wished to determine how the sub-components of Working Memory (Phonological-Loop and Central Executive) influence children's arithmetical development. Specifically, we aimed at distinguishing between Working Memory inhibition and updating processes within the Central Executive, and the domain-specificity (words and numbers) of both subcomponents in a population of children with low attainment in arithmetic and their age matched typically-attaining controls. We show that both groups were similar for phonological loop abilities, while Working Memory updating demonstrated a domain-specific modulation related to the level of children's arithmetical performance. Moreover, inhibition processes interacted with domain-specificity and arithmetical attainment. These results are particularly relevant to the diagnostic assessment of arithmetical ability and should be considered in existing tests of arithmetical development.