Changing options in American education

Henry H. Hill. New York: The Macmillan Company     

In practice: “Green on the screen”: Promoting sustainability through a campus film series

The authors describe the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Sustainability Film Series and the impact it has had on both the university and local communities.     

Perceived Academic Control and Failure in College students: A Three-Year Study of Scholastic Attainment

Although self-initiative is recognized as instrumental to success in college, some students do not take responsibility for their academic development and fail to make the transition from high school to college. This problem is exacerbated when bright, highly skilled students drop courses or quit college entirely. Research into this paradox of failure reveals that, although high academic control benefits learning-related emotions, cognitions, motivation, and performance, it is not sufficient to ensure optimal success. Along with academic control other factors are implicated in the paradox. In this 3-year longitudinal study, four groups of students who differed in academic control (low, high) and failure preoccupation (low, high) were tracked using broad indices of scholastic development. Overall, students higher in academic control obtained better 3-year GPAs and withdrew from fewer courses. More notable, however, high-academic-control students who were concerned about failure had better 3-year GPAs and also were less likely to withdraw from courses or quit university than the other three groups. Paradoxically, high-academic-control students who were less concerned about failure did poorly. In qualifying the assumption that more perceived control is always better, these results are interpreted following social cognition theory.     

The interrelatedness of multiple forms of childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction

OBJECTIVE: Childhood abuse and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have historically been studied individually, and relatively little is known about the co-occurrence of these events. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which ACEs co-occur as well as the nature of their co-occurrence. METHOD: We used data from 8,629 adult members of a health plan who completed a survey about 10 ACEs which included: childhood abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), neglect (emotional and physical), witnessing domestic violence, parental marital discord, and living with substance abusing, mentally ill, or criminal household members. The bivariate relationship between each of these 10 ACEs was assessed, and multivariate linear regression models were used to describe the interrelatedness of ACEs after adjusting for demographic factors. RESULTS: Two-thirds of participants reported at least one ACE; 81%-98% of respondents who had experienced one ACE reported at least one additional ACE (median: 87%). The presence of one ACE significantly increased the prevalence of having additional ACEs, elevating the adjusted odds by 2 to 17.7 times (median: 2.8). The observed number of respondents with high ACE scores was notably higher than the expected number under the assumption of independence of ACEs (p <.0001), confirming the statistical interrelatedness of ACEs. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides strong evidence that ACEs are interrelated rather than occurring independently. Therefore, collecting information about exposure to other ACEs is advisable for studies that focus on the consequences of a specific ACE. Assessment of multiple ACEs allows for the potential assessment of a graded relationship between these childhood exposures and health and social outcomes.     

Gender, Psychosocial Dispositions, and the Academic Achievement of College Students

Researchers have recently claimed that there are substantial differences in the psychosocial dispositions and academic achievement of male and female college students. To test this proposition, a sample of 854 undergraduate students were selected from a major Canadian Research-1 university. Multiple regression analyses assessed the effects of gender and several other independent variables on coping strategies, academic control, self-esteem, and grade point averages. Few differences emerged between the genders on the psychosocial dispositions or on academic achievement. The results suggest that both male and female students can improve their coping strategies and academic control, which together directly affect their academic achievement.