Contemporaneous and longitudinal associations between social behavior and literacy achievement in a sample of low-income elementary school children

This study investigates associations between social skills (aggression and prosocial behavior) and literacy achievement in a sample of low-income children (between 4 and 6 years old when the study began) during elementary school. Results revealed consistent associations between social skills and literacy achievement in the first, third, and fifth grades, but the patterns of the associations were different for aggression and prosocial behavior. While the strength of the association between aggression and literacy achievement increased over the elementary grades, the association between prosocial behavior and literacy achievement decreased. In addition, path analyses revealed that poor literacy achievement in the first and third grades predicted relatively high aggressive behavior in the third and fifth grades, respectively.     

Adoptive Gay Father Families: A Longitudinal Study of Children’s Adjustment at Early Adolescence

Findings are presented from the second phase of a UK longitudinal study of 33 gay father, 35 lesbian mother, and 43 heterosexual parent families when their adopted children reached early adolescence. Participants predominantly lived in urban/suburban areas and were mostly white and well-educated. Standardized interviews, observations, and questionnaires of parental mental health, parent–child relationships, and adolescent adjustment were administered to parents, children, and teachers between 2016 and 2018. There were few differences between family types. However, adjustment problems had increased in all family types, with better parenting quality and parental mental health associated with fewer adjustment problems. The findings contribute to adoption policy and practice, and to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender in child development.     

School exclusion,substance misuse and use of weapons: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews with children

The study presents data drawn from semi-structured interviews with five young people permanently excluded from schools in North East England. The research aimed to investigate the risk factors that lead to the children using illegal drugs, to determine the drivers and implications for drug misuse and the carrying of knives into school. The research also hoped to elicit from the young people, the solutions that could have prevented their exclusion from school. The interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand how a homogenous sample made sense of their lived experiences. The findings highlight the importance of prompt identification and support for children with learning and subsequent mental health needs as the evidence suggests they lead to perceived negative behaviours by teachers. The research provides further evidence that behaviour sanctions in mainstream schools such as detention and isolation booths do not improve behaviour but make it worse. Original to this research is the finding that children are consuming drugs before school to cope with their inability to access the learning, to aid their concentration and to medicate themselves to reduce the likelihood of being sanctioned by teachers.     

Geriatric Expertise among Medical School Faculty: Preparing for the Challenges of an Aging Population

This study examined non-geriatrician physicians' experiences in a geriatrics-focused faculty development program, and effects of the program on their geriatrics knowledge and their teaching and practice. In-depth interviews were conducted with all physicians (n = 26) participating in the Dean's Faculty Scholars in Aging program. Most participants reported substantial gains in geriatric knowledge, and in the knowledge that older people are a distinct group with special needs. Most reported substantial changes in the way they care for older patients. Most reported incorporating notably more geriatrics content into their teaching. The program may serve as a process to address the growing need for physicians with geriatric knowledge.     

‘Motivate’: the effect of a Football in the Community delivered weight loss programme on over 35-year old men and women’s cardiovascular risk factors

The purpose of this study was to examine whether an innovative, inclusive and integrated 12-week exercise, behaviour change and nutrition advice-based weight management programme could significantly improve the cardiovascular risk factors of overweight and obese men and women over the age of 35. One hundred and ninety-four men and 98 women (mean age?=?52.28?±?9.74 and 51.19?±?9.04) attending a community-based intervention delivered by Notts County Football in the Community over one year, took part in the study. Height (m), weight (kg), fitness (meters covered during a 6?min walk) and waist circumference (cm) were measured at weeks 1 and 12 as part of the intervention. Changes in body weight, waist circumference and fitness for men and women were measured by a 2-way repeated measures ANOVA, with significance set to p?<?0.05.Weight, waist circumference and fitness significantly improved over time in both men (4.96?kg, 6.29?cm, 70.22?m; p?<?0.05) and women (4.26?kg, 5.90?cm, 35.29?m; p?<?0.05). The results demonstrated that the FITC lead weight loss intervention was successful in significantly improving cardiovascular risk factors in both men and women. In particular, the weight loss reductions achieved were comparable to those seen in similar, more costly men-only programmes. This is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of such an intervention in an inclusive, mixed gender programme and more specifically, in women.     

Youth Leaders' Perceptions of Commitment to a Responsibility-Based Physical Activity Program

This study extended Schilling's (2001) study by investigating program commitment among a larger (N = 12), older (M = 16.7 years), and more experienced (M = 5.96 years) sample of participants in the Project Effort Youth Leader Corps. Individual interviews elicited a greater number and specificity of themes. Program-related barriers included logistics, structure, and relationships, and personal-related barriers included perceived alternatives, personal characteristics, and “real-life” responsibilities. Similar to Schilling's (2001) earlier study, antecedents grouped under program environment, program structure, relationships, and personal characteristics. Participants also described outcomes in terms of behavior and emotional involvement but reported more themes related to leadership. Results are discussed in terms of consistencies and changes over time and implications for program development, expansion, and evaluation.     

Depository document selection in academic law libraries: A core list of items selected

This article reports the results of a study done of the item selection patterns of selective federal depositories in academic law libraries. Previously published core lists of documents for law school collections are reviewed, and the issue of a minimum percentage requirement for selection is clarified. The current study proposes a new list, one derived from research using data from the GPO Automated Item Number File. A magnetic tape of the item selections for the 143 law school libraries with depository status as of May 1983 was obtained by the author from the Government Printing Office. The tape was reformatted to show the number of libraries selecting each item. A list was then created of the 200 item numbers that appeared most frequently, and these were matched with SuDocs numbers using the List of Classes. The result is a core list of titles selected by three-fourths or more of the libraries. This list of basic titles is analyzed. Also discussed are the types of documents which appear on a list of 200 infrequently-selected item numbers (selected by 10 or 11 percent of the libraries), though the list is not reproduced here. It was found that over two-thirds of the available item numbers are selected by less than 10 percent of the libraries. Results of this research can serve as a guide to law-related documents perceived to be most useful for law school depository librarians.