Self-efficacy from the perspective of adolescents with LD and their specialist teachers

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We conducted a series of focus group interviews with 28 Grade 8 and 9 students with LD and individual interviews with 7 specialist LD teachers. Content analyses of the student and teacher data resulted in 2 a priori and 3 inductive themes: self-efficacy, calibration and levels of self-efficacy, students' self-awareness, attributions for failure, and problems and solutions. The students viewed themselves as low in self-efficacy and generally accurate in the calibration of their efficacy and performance, whereas the teachers viewed the students as overconfident about academic tasks. In contrast to the teachers, the students viewed verbal persuasion as a valued source of self-efficacy. Students attributed their failures to lack of effort, whereas their teachers attributed student failure to uncontrollable deficits. Problems and solutions related to student motivation were discussed from student and teacher perspectives.     

Validating the Hornik & Woolf approach to choosing media campaign themes: Do promising beliefs predict behavior change in a longitudinal study?

Hornik and Woolf (1999) proposed using cross-sectional survey data to prioritize beliefs to address with communication campaign messages. The empirical component of the approach combines evidence of (1) association of beliefs with intentions and (2) current level of beliefs to calculate a “percentage to gain” as the potential promise of a belief. However, the method relies on cross-sectional data; its conclusions are open to challenge. Here, a panel study assesses whether the calculated promise of a belief actually predicts future behavior change. A nationally representative sample of 3,204 U.S. youth and young adults were interviewed twice, six months apart. Sixteen beliefs about the benefits and costs of smoking cigarettes are compared with regard to their percentage to gain (calculated from cross-sectional data) and their ability to account for subsequent cigarette use. A belief’s cross-sectional percentage to gain is substantially associated with its ability to predict subsequent behavior change (r = .53, p < .05).     

HOW MUCH HOPE IS ENOUGH? LEVELS OF HOPE AND STUDENTS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SCHOOL FUNCTIONING

This study investigated the characteristics of students who report extremely high levels of hope. A sample of 682 students (ages 11–17) completed measures of hope, school engagement, life satisfaction, self‐worth, and mental health. Academic achievement was obtained from students’ school records. Based on their hope scores, students were divided into three groups: “extremely low” (bottom 10% of the distribution), “average” (middle 25%), and “extremely high” (upper 10%). Results indicate that students in the extremely high hope (EHH) group differed from students with average (AH) and extremely low hope (ELH) on all measures. Further, EHH and AH are associated with mental health benefits that are not found among students reporting comparatively ELH levels. Taken together, the findings support the notion that EHH in students is associated with adaptive psychological and school‐related functioning. Overall, given the superior adjustment profile, perhaps ‘‘enough hope’’ should be defined as “EHH.”     

Children’s cognitive ability and their academic achievement: the mediation effects of parental expectations

It is generally accepted that cognitive ability predicts academic achievement, and that parental involvement and expectations form part of the constellation of factors that predict their children??s academic achievement, particularly for families within the Chinese-heritage Cultures. Although a number of interactions between these parental factors have been proposed, the mediation effects of parental expectations on their children??s cognitive ability in predicting academic achievement are yet to be established. Data from 780 students from one primary school in Hong Kong and their parents were used to generate structural equation models to test the hypothesis that parental affective factors, as indicated by parental home and school involvement, parental beliefs of their children??s ability and parental expectations of their children??s academic scores, mediate the effects of student IQ score in predicting school achievement in English, Chinese and Mathematics. The results support the hypothesis that parents help their children to actualize their cognitive ability by directly communicating their academic expectations to their children.     

International trends in health science librarianship Part 8: the UK and the Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland

This is the 8th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship with a focus on the UK and Ireland in the first decade of the 21st century. The invited authors are from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Future issues will track trends from Scotland and Wales. JM