Psychological profiles of sexually abusive adolescents in Ireland

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to profile the psychological and psychosocial characteristics of a group of Irish adolescents who had sexually abused other youngsters. METHOD: Levels of behavior problems, personal adjustment, anger management, and psychosocial adjustment were compared in 27 Irish adolescents with a history of sexually abusing another youngster (SA group), 20 clinical controls who had significant behavioral problems but no history of sexual offending (CC group), and 29 normal controls who were without significant psychological problems (NC group). Measures used included the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Youth Self-Report Form (YSR), selected scales from Beckett (1997) Adolescent Sex Offender Assessment Pack (ASOAP), and the Family Environment Scale (FES). RESULTS: Compared with the CC group, the SA group displayed fewer problems overall on the CBCL and the YSR. The SA group showed problems with self-esteem, emotional loneliness, and perspective-taking similar to those of the CC group, but their impulsivity scores were similar to those of the NC group. The locus of control scores of the SA group fell between those of the CC and NC groups. The SA group showed an anger management profile that fell at an intermediate position between those of the NC and CC groups. The SA group showed problematic family functioning in the areas of expressiveness, behavior control, and social support, similar to those of the CC group. Their difficulties with family cohesion were less severe than those of the CC group but worse than those of the NC group. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the psychological adjustment of adolescents with a history of sexually abusing others was more problematic than that of normal controls but less problematic than that of youngsters who had significant behavioral problems but no history of sexual offending.     

Applying Konorski’s model of classical conditioning to signal-centered behavior in the rat: Some functional similarities between hunger CRs and sign-tracking

Two experiments were conducted to investigate functional similarities between “hunger CRs” of Konorski’s (1967) model of appetitive classical conditioning and sign-tracking behavior in rats. Konorski’s model predicts that hunger CRs will be facilitated (1) when a nonrein-forced stimulus similar to the reinforced CS is introduced, and (2) when some CS presentations are unexpectedly nonreinforced. In Experiment 1, hungry rats acquired a leverpress response to a retractable lever that was paired with response-independent food. Following this training, a second lever was introduced whose presentation was not followed by food. The effect of the presence of this second lever was to facilitate responding to the original lever. In Experiment 2, single-lever autoshaping training was followed by a shift from 100% pairing of the lever with food to only 50% of the lever presentations being followed by food. The introduction of partial reinforcement produced an immediate and durable increase in leverpressing. The findings of both experiments are consistent with predictions from Konorski’s model of classical conditioning if sign-tracking is considered as a “hunger CR.”     

The experiences of Vietnamese university faculty in relation to their faculty development

As Vietnam higher education has explored ways to integrate into the international community, professional development of faculty is becoming a key element. However, there is a significant shortage of faculty development (FD) in Vietnam, resulting in a large gap in quality, quantity, and qualifications between Vietnamese faculty and their colleagues in Southeast Asia. We conducted a phenomenological study to gain insights into the experiences of Vietnamese faculty in their FD. Four themes emerged: faculty’s perceptions of faculty roles, FD activity participation, factors affecting their FD, and FD desires. To improve the quality of FD in Vietnam, we offered a number of recommendations for faculty members, policymakers at different levels, and further research.     

Exploring the structure of digital literacy competence assessed using authentic software applications

Educational technology research and development - Digital literacy competence (DL) is an important capacity for students’ learning in a rapidly changing world. However, little is known about...     

Giving account of our (mobile) selves: embodied and relational notions of academic privilege in the international classroom

ABSTRACT

Contemporary models of academic work reflect a process of compression given that busy (time compression), jet setting (space compression) scholars constitute the norm of academic success. Valuable reflections from mobile academics are available, and yet, such narratives are often confined to individual voices and perspectives. In this paper, we endeavor to present a collaborative analysis of our shared experience as short-term foreign experts at a Chinese Normal University, simultaneously embracing and being troubled by our institutional and individual desires to become global. Throughout our analysis, we focus on the contrasts of our national, racial and class identities of origin and those we enacted while teaching in China. In doing so, we pay attention to the literal and metaphorical meaning of mobility. Our project explores ways in which mobility is(n’t) always privileged, as well as whether and how we experience time – space compression contrasting our class, race, nationality and sexual orientation differences.     

Evaluation of Jigsaw,a cooperative learning technique

Cooperative learning techniques have been promoted for the development of academic and social competencies. One such technique, Jigsaw, creates cooperation by structuring student interdependence through the learning task, rather than through the grading system. A process and outcome evaluation of Jigsaw was conducted. Eleven teachers of fifth-grade classes received Jigsaw in-service training and conducted Jigsaw in their classes over a school year. Students in 13 other fifth-grade classes served as a comparison group. Students received a pretest and a post-test assessing attitudes toward self, peers, and school, and achievement and attendance records were collected. The process evaluation revealed that the quality and frequency of Jigsaw implementation varied greatly. Jigsaw failed to have a positive effect on the outcome variables, even for the five classes where it was implemented proficiently. The results, which are consistent with an earlier study (J. Moskowitz, J. Malvin, G. Schaeffer, & E. Schaps, 1983, American Education Research Journal, 20, 687–696), are discussed in terms of a theoretical shortcoming of this technique.     

Memory performance of children with dyslexia: a comparative analysis of theoretical perspectives

This study examined the memory performance of children with reading disabilities (RD) using methodology representative of three theoretical perspectives on RD subtypes: the phonological deficit, dual route, and phonological-core variable-difference models. Analyses compared the serial memory, verbal learning, and abstract visual-spatial memory performance of 45 children with RD to that of chronological-age (CA)- and reading-level (RL)-matched controls, using subtype identification methods from each of the theoretical models to classify children with RD. Phonological deficit and dual route comparisons indicated that children with RD, regardless of subtype, performed more poorly than CA- and better than RL-matched participants on all memory tasks. Phonological-core variable-difference methodology yielded three RD subtypes, two of which exhibited distinctive memory deficits relative to both CA and RL control groups. The phonological-core variable-difference model accounted for more variance in memory performance than either of the other two models.     

Beyond national states, markets, and systems of higher education: A glonacal agency heuristic

This paper offers an overarching analyticalheuristic that takes us beyond currentresearch, anchored in conceptions of nationalstates, markets, and systems of highereducation institutions. We seek to shapecomparative higher education research withregard to globalization in much the same waythat Clark's (1983) ``triangle' heuristic hasframed comparative higher education research inthe study of national policies and highereducation systems. Our ``glonacal agencyheuristic' points to three intersecting planesof existence, emphasizing the simultaneoussignificance of global, national, and localdimensions and forces. It combines the meaningof ``agency' as an established organization withits meaning as individual or collective action. Our paper critiques the prevailing framework incross-national higher education research,addressing the liberal theory that underpinsthis framework, the ways scholars address therise of neo-liberal policies internationally,conceptual shortcomings of this work, andemergent discourse about ``academic capitalism'. We then discuss globalization and ourheuristic. Finally, we provide examples of howstates, markets, and institutions can bereconceptualized in terms of global, national,regional, and local agencies and agency.     

The development and current status of special education in Nicaragua

Ph.D. A researcher and Director of Studies at Stockholm University's Institute of International Education. He has conducted national studies of special needs education in Nicaragua and the United Republic of Tanzania, as well as written a number of articles and books on such topics as special needs education, educational evaluation and the restructuring of schooling in Sweden. His most recent publication isSpecial needs education in Nicaragua: a study of the prevalence of students with disabilities in primary schools and the factors affecting their successful participation (1994).     

Children''s Expectations of the Outcomes of Social Strategies: Relations with Sociometric Status and Maternal Disciplinary Styles

To explore relations between maternal disciplinary styles, children's expectations of the outcomes of social strategies, and children's peer status, 144 mothers and their first- (N = 59) and fourth- (N = 85) grade children (ages = 70-86 months and 116-129 months, respectively) participated in home interviews prior to the beginning of the school year. Measures of children's sociometric status were obtained in classrooms after the school year began. Results indicated that children of mothers who were more power assertive in their disciplinary styles tended to be less accepted by peers and tended to expect successful outcomes for unfriendly-assertive methods for resolving peer conflict (e.g., threatening to hit another child). In addition, children who expected unfriendly-assertive strategies to lead to self-oriented gains were less accepted by peers. Moreover, maternal disciplinary styles and outcome expectations for unfriendly-assertive strategies were found to make separate and independent contribution to peer status.