The early childhood aggression curve: development of physical aggression in 10- to 50-month-old children

This study examines the prevalence, stability, and development of physical aggression, as reported by mothers and fathers, in a sample of children initially recruited at 12, 24, and 36 months (N=2,253) and in a subsample followed up 1 year later (n=271) in a cross-sequential design. Physical aggression occurred in 12-month-olds, but significantly more often in 24- and 36-month-olds. The rates of physically aggressive behaviors increased in the 2nd year of life, and declined from the 3rd birthday onward. Stabilities were moderate for 12-month-olds and high for 24- and 36-month-olds. At the ages of 24 and 36 months, boys were more aggressive than girls. The results confirm and extend R.E. Tremblay's (2004) hypothesis about the early development of physical aggression.     

‘It's just the way it is…’ or not? How physical education teachers categorise and normalise differences

This article explores how Dutch physical education (PE) teachers discursively construct body differences between students related to gender, (dis)ability and health. Our results show how disciplinary technologies of categorisation and normalisation are embedded in two distinct discourses that our participants used: the discourse of naturalness for explaining and managing differences in gender and ability and the discourse of transformation for explaining and managing differences in health. Both these discourses produced body norms in PE as male, abled and slender. However, how the teachers managed deviance and normalcy varies per discourse. ‘Fat’ bodies that were produced as deviant through the discourse of transformation were disciplined in explicit ways. The use of the discourse of naturalness resulted in justification and naturalisation of perceived differences in gender and (dis)ability and practices such as differentiated teaching.     

Broadening the search for minority science and engineering doctoral starts

This analysis looked at doctorate completion in science and engineering (S&E) by underrepresented minorities: blacks, Hispanics and Indian Americans. These are the groups we must increasingly depend upon to make up for shortfalls in science and engineering doctorate production among American citizens. These shortfalls derive from truncated birth rates among white people, for the most part. The analysis answered several questions officials will need to know the answers to if we are to plan effectively to develop the talents of these individuals. Specifically, the National Science Foundation asked us to look at the feasibility of involving nontraditional minority science and engineering graduates (baccalaureates at 25+) as doctoral starts, along with minority S&E graduates who had taken jobs with corporations to pay off student loans and military personnel involved in S&E study and S&E work (see NSF report of research under grant SED-9107756). We found that nontraditional minority S&E doctorate recipients matched their traditional counterparts in elapsed time to degree and similar indicators. They had less in the way of support for doctoral study, however. We found that minority S&E graduates who took jobs in corporations were keenly interested in returning to campus to complete degrees. We also found that many bright minority youngsters are studying S&E subjects in the Community College of the Air Force and in U.S. Army SOC colleges. Some have enrolled in baccalaureate programs on university campuses and plan to continue on to the PhD. We concluded that money is important in tapping these talent pools to make up for the demographically driven shortfalls discussed above.     

Mary just hit tommy—again!

Early Childhood Education Journal -     

Attitudes to reading at ages nine and eleven

A survey was conducted with the aim of identifying attitudes towards reading amongst upper primary pupils, and establishing whether these attitudes had changed over the five‐year period from 1998 to 2003. A sample of 5076 pupils in Years 4 and 6 completed questionnaires. Attitudes were generally positive, but declined somewhat between the younger and older of these age groups. A sub‐sample of 2364 of these pupils were in the same schools where the same questionnaire had been completed in 1998. Enjoyment of reading had significantly fallen over the five years, whilst confidence as readers had significantly increased over the same period. The changes may be related to the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy, but other explanations are also possible.     

Inhibition in Toddlerhood and the Dynamics of the Child''s Interaction with an Unfamiliar Peer at Age Five

Measures of inhibition to social and nonsocial unfamiliar events, obtained in toddlerhood, were studied as predictors of social behaviors during an interaction with an unfamiliar peer in 100 5-year-old children. Social inhibition predicted a highly shy and inhibited behavioral pattern with peer and less frequent expression of affect during fantasy play; nonsocial inhibition predicted decreased involvement in group play. Analysis of the changing dynamics of the ongoing peer interaction revealed that the role of child inhibition as a predictor of social behavior may be mostly evident during the initial encounter with the peer. Children who as toddlers were particularly socially inhibited, during the initial phase of peer interaction showed a significantly stronger pattern of shy and inhibited behavior and proximity to mother. In contrast to existing evidence that maternal depression may be a risk factor for the child's long-term peer relationships, no differences in social behavior were found between children of normal and affectively ill mothers during a brief encounter with unfamiliar peers.     

Understanding institutional image

An organization's image is not a clear, concise concept but rather a set of an individual's perceptions about the institution. An educational institution has a multifaceted image that includes academic, social, political, and perhaps stylistic dimensions. We discuss the use of the semantic differential research tool to investigate one institution's image. Specifically, we explore the following questions: (1) What are the differences between the institution's desired image and current image? (2) Do various constituencies view the institution differently? If so, how do alumni perceptions differ from those of current students? Does the institution's internal image differ from its external image?Presented at the Thirty-Second Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Atlanta, GA, May 10–13, 1992.