Emotional Autonomy Redux: Revisiting Ryan and Lynch

Ryan and Lynch have suggested that emotional autonomy in adolescence, at least as indexed by Steinberg and Silverberg's Emotional Autonomy Scale, is associated with poor family functioning and might therefore be better conceptualized as detachment. In the present study, we contrast adjustment scores among adolescents who differ in both emotional autonomy and perceptions of support in their relationship with their parents. Several thousand adolescents aged 14 through 18 completed Steinberg and Silverberg's emotional autonomy measure, a measure designed to assess the provision of support in the parent-adolescent relationship, and a number of standardized measures of adjustment. Adolescents high in emotional autonomy but low in relationship support show problematic adjustment profiles, consistent with Ryan and Lynch's interpretation of the measure as an index of detachment. Although adolescents high in both emotional autonomy and relationship support report more internal distress and behavior problems than some adolescents, they score higher on measures of psychosocial development and academic competence than their peers. Emotional autonomy in the context of a supportive adolescent-parent relationship may carry some developmental advantages as well as some deleterious consequences suggested by Ryan and Lynch.     

Adolescent prosocial behavior: the role of self-processes and contextual cues

Peer- and teacher-reported prosocial behavior of 339 6th-grade (11-12 years) and 8th-grade (13-14 years) students was examined in relation to prosocial goals, self-processes (reasons for behavior, empathy, perspective taking, depressive affect, perceived competence), and contextual cues (expectations of peers and teachers). Goal pursuit significantly predicted prosocial behavior, and goal pursuit provided a pathway by which reasons for behavior were related to behavior. Reasons reflected external, other-focused, self-focused, and internal justifications for behavior; each reason was related to a unique set of self-processes and contextual cues. Associations between prosocial outcomes and sex and race (Caucasian and African American) were mediated in part by self-processes and contextual cues. The implications of studying prosocial behavior from a motivational perspective are discussed.     

Reciprocal relations between parenting and adjustment in a sample of juvenile offenders

The over-time reciprocal links between parenting and adolescent adjustment were examined in a sample of 1,354 serious adolescent offenders followed for 3 years (16 years of age at baseline, SD = 1.14). Parallel processing growth curve models provided independent estimates of the impact of parenting on adolescent functioning as well as the impact of adolescent functioning on parenting. Positive adolescent development was facilitated by high parental warmth and low parental hostility. Parental monitoring predicted less problematic behavior, but less positive functioning as well. Predictably, parents became warmer and less hostile in response to positive adolescent development, and less warm in response to problematic adolescent functioning. Parental monitoring declined when adolescents exhibited either positive or problematic functioning.     

Examining the Black-White achievement gap among low-income children using the NICHD study of early child care and youth development

The Black–White achievement gap in children’s reading and mathematics school performance from 4½ years of age through fifth grade was examined in a sample of 314 lower income American youth followed from birth. Differences in family, child care, and schooling experiences largely explained Black–White differences in achievement, and instructional quality was a stronger predictor for Black than White children. In addition, the achievement gap was detected as young as 3 years of age. Taken together, the findings suggest that reducing the Black–White achievement gap may require early intervention to reduce race gaps in home and school experiences during the infant and toddler years as well as during the preschool and school years.     

The teaching of socioscientific issues in interdisciplinarity biology-philosophy, an ethical stake and citizenship issue

This research starts from a relatively optimistic thinking based on the fact that the teaching of the socioscientific issues through the practice of argued debates can contribute positively towards education in scientific citizenship. The teaching of techno-sciences raises topical questions which interfere in the classroom and at the same time carry scientific and social controversies within which it is possible to anchor the construction of new knowledge and citizen＇s behaviours. These controversial issues raise more questions and motivate the pupils more. Setting these topics for debate in the classroom could ＂restore, if only a little, what＂ Astolfi likes to call ＂the taste of knowledge （savoirs） ＇since the two words （saveur and savoir） come from the same Greek root＇ sapere＂, as Astolfi, 2006, marvellously put it in the foreword to the recent book How to teach socially acute questions （Legardez ＆ Simonneaux, 2006）. The present contribution is research in progress. It questions a protocol of training of future teachers. The principal objective is to train the pre-service teachers to teach socioscientific issues （SSI）. Like Funtowicz and Ravetz （1992, 1993）, we think that the SSI belong to ＂Post-Normal-Science＇. Accordingly, we will study the contribution of the training in epistemic, social and ethical values in the analysis of socioscientific issues by biology and philosophy future teachers. We will analyze the evolution of teacher trainees＇ decision-making after training on 3 socioscientific issues （the oncomice, the baby drug, the therapeutic cloning） and the impact of this socioepistemologic and ethical training on their teaching practices.     

Biochemical studies of soy bean milk and chicken protein

Soy bean milk, prepared in the Korean manner, had approximately the same protein content as cow milk. The other nutrient compounds were present in soy bean milk to a lesser extent than in cow milk.Soy bean milk curdled spontaneously at a lower acidity than cow milk. However, the same period of time was required for spontaneous curdling.In the feeding experiments, the ration containing soy bean milk produced gain in weight less rapidly than the ration containing cow milk, and with less efficiency, i.e., with the consumption of more ration per unit of gain in weight.In feeding experiments, chicken protein was found to be a less efficient protein than casein.     

The Changing Relationship between Institutional Governance and Management in the United Kingdom: A Scottish Higher Education Funding Council Perspective

The changing relationship betweeninstitutional governance and management in the unitedkingdom arising from the second report of thecommittee on standards in public life, the UnitedKingdom National Committee of Inquiry into HigherEducation, and from significant increased governmentexpenditure on higher education is examined. Theframework of accountability within which highereducation institutions operate is related to thesereports. The Scottish Higher Education FundingCouncil's (SHEFC) perspective of the role of thegoverning body is examined and contrasted with bargh,scott and smith's research on governing bodies. BothSHEFC's perspective and Bargh et al.'s researchare also contrasted with, and related to, a number ofNational Audit Office (NAO) reports and also toProfessor sizer's investigation and the nao reportinto allegations of misconduct at glasgow caledonianuniversity (1998). Finally, the paper drawsconclusions on the changing relationship betweengoverning bodies and managements, on the requirementon governing bodies to demonstrate that they areappropriately constituted and operate effectively ascorporate bodies, and on how these are reflected inthe SHEFC code of good practice and good practicebenchmarks.     

Associations Between Perceived Material Deprivation,Parents’ Discipline Practices,and Children's Behavior Problems: An International Perspective

This study investigated the association between perceived material deprivation, children's behavior problems, and parents’ disciplinary practices. The sample included 1,418 8- to 12-year-old children and their parents in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Multilevel mixed- and fixed-effects regression models found that, even when income remained stable, perceived material deprivation was associated with children's externalizing behavior problems and parents’ psychological aggression. Parents’ disciplinary practices mediated a small share of the association between perceived material deprivation and children's behavior problems. There were no differences in these associations between mothers and fathers or between high- and low- and middle-income countries. These results suggest that material deprivation likely influences children's outcomes at any income level.