Teaching a Human Sexuality Course: What Are Counseling Students Thinking?

The pervasiveness of sexual issues in counseling suggests the necessity of educating counseling students about relevant topics. Students enrolled in a human sexuality course anonymously submitted topical questions and secrets/fantasies. Following a content analysis, findings depicted themes of content and tone that provided curricular implications for counselor educators.     

Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students’ perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest approach. Significant differences in students’ perception of their knowledge and their determined knowledge exist at the beginning (pretest) and end (posttest) of the course. Alignment between student perception and determined knowledge was significantly more accurate on the posttest compared with the pretest. Students whose determined knowledge was in the upper quartile had significantly better alignment between their perception and determined knowledge on the pre- and posttest than students in the lower quartile. No difference exists between how students perceived their knowledge between upper- and lower-quartile students. There was a significant difference in alignment of perception and determined knowledge between males and females on the posttest, with females being more accurate in their perception of knowledge. This study provides evidence of discrepancies that exist between what students perceive they know and what they actually know.     

Who Benefits Most From Head Start? Using Latent Class Moderation to Examine Differential Treatment Effects

Head Start (HS) is the largest federally funded preschool program for disadvantaged children. Research has shown relatively small impacts on cognitive and social skills; therefore, some have questioned its effectiveness. Using data from the Head Start Impact Study (3‐year‐old cohort; N = 2,449), latent class analysis was used to (a) identify subgroups of children defined by baseline characteristics of their home environment and caregiver and (b) test whether the effects of HS on cognitive, and behavioral and relationship skills over 2 years differed across subgroups. The results suggest that the effectiveness of HS varies quite substantially. For some children there appears to be a significant, and in some cases, long‐term, positive impact. For others there is little to no effect.     

Socialization to interdisciplinarity: faculty and student perspectives

Socialization has become a common framework through which to understand the doctoral student experience; however, the framework has predominately been used as a lens through which to understand traditional, single-discipline doctoral student experiences. Interdisciplinary doctoral programs are becoming increasingly common in both the United States and elsewhere but relatively little empirical research exists about this distinct experience. Through multiple interviews with 18 doctoral students and their 35 faculty members, we discuss differences in the socialization process for these students in regard to knowledge acquisition, investment, and involvement. Implications for practice and future research are included.     

Performance factors in associative learning: Assessment of the sometimes competing retrieval model

Previous simulations revealed that the sometimes competing retrieval model (SOCR; Stout & Miller, Psychological Review, 114, 759-783, 2007), which assumes local error reduction, can explain many cue interaction phenomena that elude traditional associative theories based on total error reduction. Here, we applied SOCR to a new set of Pavlovian phenomena. Simulations used a single set of fixed parameters to simulate each basic effect (e.g., blocking) and, for specific experiments using different procedures, used fitted parameters discovered through hill climbing. In simulation 1, SOCR was successfully applied to basic acquisition, including the overtraining effect, which is context dependent. In simulation 2, we applied SOCR to basic extinction and renewal. SOCR anticipated these effects with both fixed parameters and best-fitting parameters, although the renewal effects were weaker than those observed in some experiments. In simulation 3a, feature-negative training was simulated, including the often observed transition from second-order conditioning to conditioned inhibition. In simulation 3b, SOCR predicted the observation that conditioned inhibition after feature-negative and differential conditioning depends on intertrial interval. In simulation 3c, SOCR successfully predicted failure of conditioned inhibition to extinguish with presentations of the inhibitor alone under most circumstances. In simulation 4, cue competition, including blocking (4a), recovery from relative validity (4b), and unblocking (4c), was simulated. In simulation 5, SOCR correctly predicted that inhibitors gain more behavioral control than do excitors when they are trained in compound. Simulation 6 demonstrated that SOCR explains the slower acquisition observed following CS-weak shock pairings.     

Longitudinal Associations of Childhood Parenting and Adolescent Health: The Mediating Influence of Social Competence

The current study examined a process through which parenting during the primary school transition contributes to cardiovascular health in adolescence, a foundational period for adult health trajectories. Using path analyses, social competence was tested as a mediator between parental sensitivity and adolescent health among 884 families. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity was associated with increasing social competence from first grade (age 7) to sixth grade (age 12), which was associated with higher awakening cortisol in ninth grade (age 15) and decreasing blood pressure from sixth to ninth grade. Results suggest that social competence mediates associations between childhood parenting and adolescent cardiovascular risk, and may be protective to children's health over time.     

EVIDENCE FOR THE EXPANDING ROLE OF CONSULTATION IN THE PRACTICE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS

In 2010, the National Association of School Psychologists approved the Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services (or the NASP Practice Model), codifying what an expanded role encompasses in the delivery of school‐based psychological services. This study examined the role and function of school psychology practitioners from three Midwestern states with different legal statues and policy initiatives related to the practice of school psychology. A total of 175 practicing school psychologists from Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa reported their actual and preferred practices and completed a self‐assessment on their knowledge of the NASP Practice Model. Results showed participants not only identified problem‐solving consultation as their most knowledgeable domain of practice but also the activity on which they spent the greatest amount of their time. Analysis by state revealed differential levels of practice devoted to consultation and intervention. Study findings are discussed relative to the potential impact and importance of state law and policy initiatives.