Where do we stand? Views of racial conflict by Vietnamese American high-school students in a black-and-white context

This article, based on qualitative research, authorizes the voices and views of Vietnamese immigrant students regarding racial dynamics at an urban public high school. Though not included in public or school-based discussions about race relations following a violent clash between white and black students, Vietnamese students reported experiencing social exclusion and racial conflict as a daily reality in school. The informants mapped the roots of racial conflict in school as a struggle over space, including the classroom, hallways, cafeteria, gym, and bathrooms. The students also demonstrated a significant commitment to the school and expressed a desire to be included in efforts to improve race relations and the quality of life within the school. Their perspectives and experiences challenge the validity of the dominant black-and-white paradigm that defines the public understanding of race relations in the school, the city, and the society.     

Interactional effects of marital status and physical abuse on adolescent psychopathology

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the interactional effects of parental marital disruption and physical abuse on risk for adolescent psychopathology in a nonclinical sample with a randomly selected control group. METHOD: The sample was drawn from 99 community-based adolescents indicated as physically abused by Child Protective Services and 99 randomly selected controls. Nonabused adolescents whose parents were married, abused adolescents whose parents were married, nonabused adolescents with a parental marital disruption, and abused adolescents with a parental marital disruption were compared. Outcome was psychopathology as measured by psychiatric diagnosis based on a best-estimate procedure subsequent to semistructured diagnostic interviewing. RESULTS: Interactional effects of marital disruption and abuse were found for risk for lifetime Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), with parental marital disruption and having been physically abused combining to increase the risk 15 times for diagnosis of lifetime ADHD. Parental marital status alone was not a significant risk factor for adolescent psychopathology, but physical abuse was a significant risk factor for several diagnostic categories. CONCLUSIONS: Future divorce research should include abuse history as a possible confounding variable. Possible reasons for the findings are reviewed and clinical implications are discussed.     

A Sample Science Education Activity in Multicultural Environment

In this study, a sample activity developed in the workshops called ＂Science education in multicultural environment＂ of the program ＂Integrative teaching in multicultural environment＂ was presented. Workshops about varied subjects were carried out by participants representing four countries and participants developed teaching materials by getting benefit from elements special to their cultures in the ones related to science teaching. Two students from Belgium, one student from Denmark, one student from Latvia and five students from Turkey participated in the study and three Turkish academicians conducted the workshops. The outcomes of the study were evaluated by presenting them to all participants. The workshops were designed to help students learn instructional strategies and draw upon their prior learning experiences in order to apply effective multicultural education teaching activities. Emphasis is also placed on understanding the varied backgrounds and needs of students.     

Achievement Goals and Student Well-Being

This study is concerned with the role that achievement goals may play in facilitating the psychological well-being of students. Specifically, we build on “goal theory” analysis of adaptive behavior in examining the relationship between task and ego goals, perceptions of school emphases on task and ego goals, and indices of well-being and disruptive behavior. Generally, task goals and perception of the school as emphasizing task goals were related to positive psychological well-being, and ego goals and perceiving the school as emphasizing ego goals were related to negative psychological well-being. This pattern was found for both African American and Euro-American students. However, path analyses pointed to possible different processes as operating for the African Americans and the Euro-Americans in the sample.     

Biological applications of the “Filtered” Van der Pol oscillator

The present article deals with the development of an oscillatory model, which generates waveforms corresponding to ECG patterns. The present oscillatory system relies on coupling of oscillators derived from the famous VDP oscillator. We demonstrate that inducing a relaxation type of dynamics in the models contributes to their successful generation of ECG like signals. Furthermore, an interesting affinity is found, which associates the present models with a version of the well-known practical Wien Bridge oscillator. The presently discussed system relies on coupled elementary oscillator units. The present coupling is due to merely two units. The model, however, is likely to become even more realistic by coupling in the same manner an assembly of relatively many oscillators.     

Reasoning About the Scope of Religious Norms: Evidence From Hindu and Muslim Children in India

Conflicts arise when members of one religion apply their norms to members of another religion. Two studies explored how one hundred 9- to 15-year-old Hindu and Muslim children from India reason about the scope of religious norms. Both Hindus and Muslims from a diverse Hindu–Muslim school (Study 1) and Hindus from a homogeneous Hindu school (Study 2) more often judged it wrong for Hindus to violate Hindu norms, compared to Muslim norms, and said the opposite for Muslims. In contrast, children judged it wrong for both Hindus and Muslims to harm others. Thus, even in a setting marred by religious conflict, children can restrict the scope of a religion's norms to members of that religion, providing a basis for peaceful coexistence.     

A comparison of the Vane Kindergarten Test with the WPPSI and a measure of Self-Control

This study assessed the concurrent validity of the Vane Kindergarten Test (VKT), using scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) as the criterion measure. In addition, VKT scores were correlated with kindergarten grades and the Self-Control Rating Scale (SCRS). The results indicated that the VKT could be used as a valid screening measure for kindergarten children, but that it tended to overestimate ability and was not a test independent of a child's ability for self-contorl.     

School psychology trainers' identification of current stressors in the work lives of urban practitioners. A comparison study

The focus of this study is to investigate school psychology trainers' identification of current stressors in the work lives of practitioners. Surveys rating 40 stressors on a Likert‐type scale were completed by 161 school psychology graduate faculty, members of the School Psychology Educators Council of New York State. Survey results were compared to the job‐related stressors identified by New York City Psychologists using an almost identical questionnaire. While there appears to be general agreement between faculty trainers and practitioners on the identification and relative ranking of work‐related stress, the faculty trainers consider those events to be more stressful than do the practitioners. Faculty's recognition of the environmental forces that negatively impact upon the experience of school psychologists should provide impetus for the development of graduate programs that address stress prevention and/or coping strategies. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Assessing the effects of a work-based antipoverty program for parents on youth's future orientation and employment experiences

The impacts of New Hope, a 3-year work-based antipoverty program to increase parent employment and reduce poverty, on youth ages 9-19 (N = 866) were assessed 5 years after parents left the program. New Hope had positive effects on the future orientation and employment experiences of boys, especially African American boys. Compared to boys in control group families, boys in program group families were less cynical about work, less pessimistic about their employment prospects, and more involved in employment and career preparation. They also worked for longer periods during the school year than did control group boys. Comparable effects were not found for girls. The developmental significance of the findings, possible processes that led to the impacts, and the policy implications of the findings are discussed.