Pre-kindergarten child care and behavioral outcomes among children of immigrants

The school transition model suggests that children's transitions into formal schooling can have lasting and profound implications for their educational careers, though this model is rarely used to understand the outcomes of children of immigrants. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners in 1998–1999, we examine the pre-kindergarten child care arrangements of children of immigrants and how these care arrangements are associated with children's behavior. We find that minority and immigrant children are less likely than their native-born white counterparts to be enrolled in center-based care and other care, compared to parental care, prior to kindergarten. We also find that ethnic origin is an important predictor of child care usage. Finally, though center-based care, on average, is not independently associated with children's behavior in kindergarten, the association between center-based care and behaviors varies by race and immigrant status. Broadly, these findings underscore the importance of understanding how native- and foreign-born children experience the transition to schooling, a critical period in the life course.     

An interview study of college freshmens’ beliefs about their academic motivation

An important aspect of metacognition, one potentially affecting much of students’ academic efforts, was tapped in this study. College students’ beliefs about their academic motivation were elicited systematically using ethnographic interviewing. We reasoned that students are very conscious of their decisionmaking regarding academics, and thus, they would be able to report on many of the factors affecting their academic motivation. In general, the students reported that many factors affect their academic motivation, specifically, many more factors than have been considered in previous theoretical analyses of academic motivation, with students perceiving that interactions between motivational factors often are critically determinative of academic efforts and achievement.     

Youth’s Sibling Relationships Across the Course of a Parent’s Military Deployment: Trajectories and Implications

The present exploratory study explored the trajectories and implications of at-home (military unaffiliated) parents’ perceptions of youth’s sibling relationships across the course of a parent’s military deployment. Participants included 109 families with at least two siblings (older sibling and younger siblings age: M = 10.85, SD = 3.92 and M = 7.89, SD = 3.58, respectively) and one parent serving in the National Guard. Data were collected via in-home interviews, at six time points across the deployment cycle. A series of multilevel models revealed increases in sibling disharmony during the months a deployed parent was away, but showed signs of recovery in the year after they returned. Increases in sibling disharmony were positively associated with increases in youth’s externalizing behaviors above and beyond the effects of parenting.     

The exercise and affect relationship: evidence for the dual-mode model and a modified opponent process theory

This study examined the relationship between exertion level and affect using the framework of opponent-process theory and the dual-mode model, with the Activation-Deactivation Adjective Checklist and the State Anxiety Inventory among 14 active and 14 sedentary participants doing 20 min of treadmill exercise at speeds of 5% below, 5% above, and at lactate threshold (LT). We found a significant effect of time, condition, Time × Condition, and Time × Group, but no group, Group × Condition, or Time × Group × Condition effects, such that the 5% above LT condition produced a worsening of affect in-task compared with all other conditions whereas, across conditions, participants experienced in-task increases in energy and tension, and in-task decreases in tiredness and calmness relative to baseline. Posttask, participants experienced mood improvement (decreased tension, anxiety, and increased calmness) across conditions, with a 30-min delay in the above LT condition. These results partially support the dual-mode model and a modified opponent-process theory.     

COGNITIVE COMPONENTS OF DEVELOPMENTAL WRITING SKILL

A significant number of studies have examined the cognitive components of basic academic skills, which has led to major changes in both teaching and early identification assessment practices. However, the majority of previous research has focused solely on reading. This study examines the cognitive components of academic writing skills across early grade levels (1–4) while controlling for basic word identification skills. Results from this study suggest writing skill requires several cognitive skills of differing emphasis depending on the level of writing skill. Perceptual and rapid perceptual processing skills are important during the early acquisition of writing skills followed by a transition to language and language retrieval skills and later still to working memory skills. Applications for education and cognitive assessment are discussed.     

Cognitive Style Index: Further investigation of the factor structure with an American student sample

The present study investigates the factor structure of the Cognitive Style Index (CSI), comparing the unitary, bipolar continuum of intuition–analysis, the theory upon which the CSI is predicated, with the two‐factor theory of cognitive style. We conducted both confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses on data from a sample of 222 American university business students. There was a lack of fit for the unifactorial model. Our results suggest the instrument is tapping multiple dimensions of cognitive style, the implications of which are discussed.     

Tiers of intervention in kindergarten through third grade

This study measured the effects of increasing levels of intervention in reading for a cohort of children in Grades K through 3 to determine whether the severity of reading disability (RD) could be significantly reduced in the catchment schools. Tier 1 consisted of professional development for teachers of reading. The focus of this study is on additional instruction that was provided as early as kindergarten for children whose achievement fell below average. Tier 2 intervention consisted of small-group reading instruction 3 times per week, and Tier 3 of daily instruction delivered individually or in groups of two. A comparison of the reading achievement of third-grade children who were at risk in kindergarten showed moderate to large differences favoring children in the tiered interventions in decoding, word identification, fluency, and reading comprehension.     

Visual discrimination learning of random figure problems by rhesus monkeys

In a two-choice discrimination learning paradigm, a U-shaped function was found between trials to criterion and the number of sides comprising the random figure discriminanda. These data are consistent with results from human Ss and suggest similar information processing capabilities in the two species. Changing the orientation of the stimulus figures after the discrimination had been learned only partially disrupted subsequent discrimination performance. Any single difference in selected form attributes between the two figures comprising a problem was not a good predictor of learning speed, suggesting that monkeys use a combination of such factors.     

More Than a Pipeline Problem: Labor Supply Constraints and Gender Stratification Across Academic Science Disciplines

Employing a nationally representative sample of science faculty in U.S. colleges, we investigate 3 explanations for persisting differences in women's faculty representation across science fields even after adjusting for women's variable representation among doctoral recipients. First, we examine labor market factors: (a) differential growth rates and critical mass in the supply of women doctoral recipients, (b) growth or contraction in academic and nonacademic job opportunities, and (c) presence of foreign-born scholars. Second, we control for institutional explanations such as differential rates of faculty unionization and less receptivity to women at prestigious or research-oriented universities and fields that are applied, soft, or nonlife sciences. Third, gender role explanations are addressed by controlling for gender differences in work experience, work interruptions, and the prestige of doctoral credentials. After finding that none of these explanations account fully for distinctive patterns among science fields in the faculty gender composition, we discuss how they may reflect differences in academic cultures.     

“These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty”: Older Children and Adults Struggle With Induced‐State Episodic Foresight

We explored children's and adults’ ability to disengage from current physiological states when forecasting future desires. In Study 1, 8‐ to 13‐year‐olds and adults (N = 104) ate pretzels (to induce thirst) and then predicted and explained what they would want tomorrow, pretzels or water. Demonstrating life‐span continuity, approximately 70% of participants, regardless of age, chose water and referenced current thirst as their rationale. Individual differences in working memory and undergraduate grade point average were positively related to performance on the pretzel task. In Study 2, we obtained baseline preferences from adults (N = 35) and confirmed that, prior to consuming pretzels, people do not anticipate wanting water more than pretzels the next day. Together, these findings indicate that both children and adults are tethered to the present when forecasting their future desires.