The Student Perception of Wellbeing Questionnaire: Preliminary Investigation into its Psychometric Properties

An estimated 20% of all adolescents will experience a depressive disorder by the age of 18, with schools being at the forefront of initiatives to promote resilience and well-being. This study reports on the development of the 24-item Student Perception of Wellbeing Questionnaire (SPWQ), created as a measure of well-being in three areas: exercise, explanatory style, and conflict resolution. The SPWQ was administered to 235 male school students from Years 6–8 and 251 female students from Years 7–9, and a principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the data obtained. A three-factor solution was identified dealing with explanatory style, conflict resolution, and exercise, which explained 31% of the total variance. The scale was found to have strong internal consistency with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of α = 0.80 for the male students and α = 0.84 for the female students.     

Development of the Preferences for College Counseling Inventory

This study describes the development of the Preferences for College Counseling Inventory (PCCI). In addition to providing data about college students' preferences for the logistics of counseling and the demographic/professional background of a potential therapist, the PCCI also provides numerical scores on 3 scales (Therapist Expertise, Therapist Warmth, and Therapist Directiveness) that measure preferences for therapist dispositions and 2 scales (Task‐Oriented Activities and Experiential/Insight‐Oriented Activities) that measure preferences for counseling activities.     

A defensive mindset: A pattern of social information processing that develops early and predicts life course outcomes

The hypothesis was tested that some children develop a defensive mindset that subsumes individual social information processing (SIP) steps, grows from early experiences, and guides long-term outcomes. In Study 1 (Fast Track [FT]), 463 age-5 children (45% girls; 43% Black) were first assessed in 1991 and followed through age 32 (83% retention). In Study 2 (Child Development Project [CDP]), 585 age-5 children (48% girls, 17% Black) were first assessed in 1987 and followed through age 34 (78% retention). In both studies, measures were collected of early adverse experiences, defensive mindset and SIP, and adult outcomes. Across both studies, a robust latent construct of school-age defensive mindset was validated empirically (comparative fit index = .99 in each study) and found to mediate the impact of early child abuse (38% in FT and 29% in CDP of total effect) and peer social rejection (14% in FT and 7% in CDP of total effect) on adult incarceration.     

Evidence of efficacy of the Integrated Literacy Study Group professional learning program to enhance reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders

This article reports on a pilot study of the Integrated Literacy Study Group, a digitally delivered professional learning intervention to prepare elementary school teachers to provide evidence-based reading instruction and behavioral strategies to students with or are at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Using broadcast methods, we recruited 72 teachers across five states in the western United States to participate in the randomized controlled trial. Intervention teachers, relative to controls, made significant gains in self-efficacy and use of the reading and behavioral strategies learned in the professional learning program. Students with or at risk of emotional and behavioral disorders served by participating teachers made significant improvements in academic competence and engagement. Teacher professional learning can improve teacher knowledge of evidence-based reading and behavioral strategies for students with (or at risk for) emotional and behavioral disorders, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher practice, with positive impacts on student early literacy and academic competence.     

A new industry creation and originality: Insight from the funding sources of university patents

Scientific breakthroughs coming from universities can contribute to the emergence of new industries, such as in the case of biotechnology. Obviously, not all research conducted in universities leads to a radical change from existing technological trajectories. Patents and patent dynamics have long been recognized as critical in understanding the emergence of new technologies and industries. Specifically, patent citations provide insight into the originality of a discovery that has received patent protection. Yet while a large body of literature addresses the impact of patent originality on various firm performance measures, we address the question of what conditions drive patent originality in the process of knowledge creation within the university. Using data on patented cancer research, we examine how research context – as reflected by the funding source for each scientist – is associated with patent originality. We find that when university scientists are partly funded by their own university, they have a higher propensity to generate more original patents. By contrast, university scientists funded either by industry or other non-university organizations have a lower propensity to generate more original patents. The significance of our findings in the cancer research setting call for further research on this question in other research fields.     

Indian adult education and the post‐colonial legacy

Under the Raj education concentrated on reproducing a small Anglicized elite capable of administering the country. Adult education was minimal and confined to a few urban centres. After Independence Indian adult education was burdened with the project of modernization as India under Nehru and the nationalist movement desperately tried to industrialize the state according to western and soviet models. Despite the relative success of the first Five Year Plan's literacy programme, levels of funding dropped while bureaucracy and falsification of figures increased. Despite Gandhi, Indian education also suffered from elitist discourses inherited from the British Raj which assumed a ‘trickle‐down’ effect and resulted in the over‐balancing of the system towards higher education. Western experts (with the honourable exception of Frank Laubach) have tended to confirm the bias, but even Laubach's agenda raised suspicion. Only with the coming of the NAEP in 1978 was a serious attempt to redress the balance made. Subsequent radical educationists have once again taken up the banner of ‘Gandhi’ in the cause of educating the very poor and the project of modernization has given way to more needs‐based programmes.