The determinants of progress to the doctoral degree

The time doctoral students expect to take to complete their degree is investigated in a model which stresses the effects of economic factors. The model also accounts for the interdependency among such variables as employment hours, study hours, household income, and part-time study. We find that field of study, amount of borrowing, household income, and study hours have direct effects on expected time to degree. Indirect effects also occur from employment hours and the amount of fellowship, scholarship, or grant aid. When the sample is separated into foreign and U.S. students, we find that U.S. students underestimate their time to degree. Also, household incomes are higher for U.S. students and increase the time to degree, while the opposite is true for foreign students. Teaching assistantships increase the time to degree for foreign students while research assistantships reduce it.     

Relationship between psychopathology,learning disabilities,or both and WISC‐III subtest scatter in adolescents

The aim of this study was to determine whether subtest scatter might be an indicator of learning disabilities (LDs), psychopathology, or of both, in a sample of normal adolescents. Subjects completed the WISC‐III and the MMPI‐A and then their scores for the WISC‐III subtests, verbal scatter (VScatter), performance scatter (PScatter), full scale scatter (FScatter) scores, perceptual organisation factor (PO), and the SCAD profiles were calculated. The MMPI‐A was scored and the clinical scales were extracted. The hypothesis that subtest scatter is associated with LDs was generally not supported. There was a relationship between subtest scatter and psychological disturbance in adolescent males, however the results for females were less clear. Further, high PScatter in adolescent males was associated with an MMPI‐A codetype 4‐2/2‐4, indicating tendencies toward depressive features, delinquent behavior, and possibly substance abuse, tendencies which are likely to lead to school failure. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Not virtual,but a real,live, online,interactive reference service

In today's fast-paced environment, traditional medical reference services alone are not adequate to meet users' information needs. Efforts to find new ways to provide comprehensive service to users, where and when needed, have often included the use of new and developing technologies. This paper describes the experience of an academic health science library in developing and providing an online, real-time reference service. Issues discussed include selecting software, training librarians, staffing the service, and considering the future of the service. Use statistics, question type analysis, and feedback from users of the service and librarians who staff the service, are also presented.     

海洛因依赖性的治疗及其预防

近十几年来,我国的毒品问题又沉渣泛起,并且带来了一系列严重的社会问题.海洛因依赖性的治疗是一个复杂的系统工程,包括海洛因依赖性的诊断、临床脱瘾治疗、心理康复治疗和重返社会几个方面.人们为减少并最终消除对毒品的需求,科学、实用地提出了针对正常人群、高危人群、药物滥用者进行逐级预防的三级预防体系.     

The role of gender constancy in early gender development

Kohlberg's (1966) hypothesis that the attainment of gender constancy motivates children to attend to gender norms was reevaluated by examining these links in relation to age. Ninety-four 3- to 7-year-old children were interviewed to assess whether and how constancy mediates age-related changes in gender-related beliefs. As expected, results indicated a general pattern of an increase in stereotype knowledge, the importance and positive evaluation of one's own gender category, and rigidity of beliefs between the ages of 3 and 5. Moreover, the stability phase, rather than full constancy, mediated some of these relations. After age 5, rigidity generally decreased with age, with relations primarily mediated by consistency.     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

Measuring the Impact of Professional Accreditation on Student Experiences and Learning Outcomes

This research uses a conceptual model to examine the influence of a change in accreditation standards on a representative national sample of 203 engineering programs at 40 institutions. Based on data collected from more than 140 program chairs, 1,200 faculty, 4,300 graduates of 2004, and 5,400 graduates of 1994, the study investigates the differential impact of the change in accreditation standards on programs reviewed in different years during the period of transition. Despite significant variation across most of the measures and groups in 1994 (before the introduction of the new accreditation criteria), the 2004 evidence demonstrates a surprisingly uniform level of student experiences and outcomes. These findings suggest that engineering accreditation is beginning to accomplish its quality assurance goals. This is a revised version of a research paper presented at the meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, May 17, 2006, Chicago, IL.