Longitudinal Trajectories of Family Functioning Among Recent Immigrant Adolescents and Parents: Links With Adolescent and Parent Cultural Stress,Emotional Well-Being,and Behavioral Health

This study examined longitudinal effects of adolescent and parent cultural stress on adolescent and parent emotional well-being and health behaviors via trajectories of adolescent and parent family functioning. Recent immigrant Latino adolescents (M_age = 14.51) and parents (M_age = 41.09; N = 302) completed measures of these constructs. Latent growth modeling indicated that adolescent and parent family functioning remained stable over time. Early levels of family functioning predicted adolescent and parent outcomes. Baseline adolescent cultural stress predicted lower positive adolescent and parent family functioning. Latent class growth analyses produced a two-class solution for family functioning. Adolescents and parents in the low family functioning class reported low family functioning over time. Adolescents and parents in the high family functioning class experienced increases in family functioning.     

The Representation of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations in Popular Music over 60 Years

Content analyses examining the values expressed in popular music have been predominantly ad hoc, limited to antisocial themes, and lacking a comprehensive theoretical coding scheme. We applied a content analytic scheme based in the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME) to examine altruistic and egoistic values in popular music over 60 years. Findings show (a) more frequent representation of egoistic than altruistic motivations, and (b) the profusion of egoistic motivations focused mostly on romantic (in adult-targeted music) but also platonic (in child-targeted music) relationships.     

A Reflection on the Development of an Erasmus Mundus Digital Library Learning (DILL) Programme

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the development of an Erasmus Mundus Digital Library Learning (DILL) program to understand the impact of the changes in technology on the role, skills and competencies of the digital librarian in contemporary society. This reflective article is based on the writer’s experience as a participant observer of the DILL program on its 10?years of development. A literature review was also employed to gather information from scholarly articles that were analyzed to help answer the research questions. Analysis of data followed a thematic approach where key ideas were identified and grouped together into themes that have been used to structure the discussions in the article. The discussions in this article have implications for further developments of education for information, particularly relating to the development of digital library learning programs in different contexts. Any effective digital library program should focus on content within a specific context, with required technology and a unique digital library education curriculum that is separate from LIS syllabi. The program may also be more effective if its curriculum content is designed to evenly assess the professional knowledge, generic skills and specific personal competencies of today’s digital librarians.     

Cyrus Levinthal,the Kluge and the origins of interactive molecular graphics

In the mid-1960s, a group of scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led by Cyrus Levinthal, took hold of one of the early interactive graphics terminals and used it to visualize, study and model the structure of proteins and nucleic acids. From this encounter between cutting-edge computer technology and molecular biology emerged the crucial elements for the development of a research-technology field known today as interactive molecular graphics. The following account is not only about how computer graphics technology has literally changed the way scientists view the molecular realm, but also a look at how an epistemic and institutional space was created to integrate this technology into scientific research.     

Management Strategies for Promoting Teacher Collective Learning

This paper aims to validate a theoretical model for developing teacher collective learning by using a quasi-experimental design, and explores the management strategies that would provide a school administrator practical steps to effectively promote collective learning in the school organization. Twenty aided secondary schools in Hong Kong were selected by cluster sampling, and 777 teachers took part in the questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to identify the interrelationship of the 5 disciplines of Senge＇s （1990） learning organization model. Results showed that personal mastery and systems thinking are individual and collective level predictors respectively for teacher collective learning. Building a mental model and shared vision in a sequential order predict systems thinking. Management strategies in cultural, policy and leadership domains are recommended to school administrators who wish to promote teacher collective learning as a means of coping with the changes generated by the curriculum reform in Hong Kong.     

Student financial aid and degree attainment

This research examines the relationships of student aid with degree attainment using a sample of aid recipients, nonrecipients who applied for aid but were not eligible, and a representative group of controls selected from the 1970–1971 entering freshman class at Washington State University. When the other independent variables are statistically controlled, student aid is found to have a very small positive association with degree attainment. The denial of aid to those who were not eligible decreases their likelihood of graduation. A grant, loan, and work study package is found to be the most effective for enhancing degree attainment. The loan-grant package is also positively related to degree attainment, but the grant-loan package is detrimental to the completion of a college degree.     

Maternal Support of Children's Early Numerical Concept Learning Predicts Preschool and First‐Grade Math Achievement

The primary goal in this study was to examine maternal support of numerical concepts at 36 months as predictors of math achievement at 4½ and 6‐7 years. Observational measures of mother–child interactions (n = 140) were used to examine type of support for numerical concepts. Maternal support that involved labeling the quantities of sets of objects was predictive of later child math achievement. This association was significant for preschool (d = .45) and first‐grade math (d = .49), controlling for other forms of numerical support (identifying numerals, one‐to‐one counting) as well as potential confounding factors. The importance of maternal support of labeling set sizes at 36 months is discussed as a precursor to children's eventual understanding of the cardinal principle.     

Preschool inclusion in the United States: a review of research from an ecological systems perspective

Using an ecological systems conceptual framework proposed by Bronfenbrenner, research on the inclusion of preschool children with disabilities in programs with typically developing children was reviewed. Drawing mainly from studies conducted in the United States, research on child characteristics (biosystem), classroom practices (microsystem), family perspectives (mesosystem), social policy (exosystem), culture (macrosystem), and changes in variables across time (chronosystem) is described. Positive developmental and behavioral outcomes occur for children with and without disabilities in inclusive settings, although as a group, children with disabilities are not as socially integrated as their typically developing peers. Parent attitudes are generally positive although they voice some concerns about inclusion. Several social policy issues within the U.S. system (e.g., enforcement of standards, fiscal issues) serve as barriers to and facilitators of implementation of preschool inclusion, and cultural variables shape the nature of inclusive classrooms as well as family access to inclusive settings.