Factors associated with concussion-symptom knowledge and attitudes toward concussion care seeking in a national survey of parents of middle-school children in the US

Background:Developing appropriate concussion prevention and management paradigms in middle school(MS)settings requires understanding parents’general levels of concussion-related knowledge and attitudes.This study examined factors associated with concussion-symptom knowledge and care-seeking attitudes among parents of MS children(aged 10-15 years).Methods:A panel of 1224 randomly selected U.S.residents,aged ≥18 years and identifying as parents of MS children,completed an online questionnaire capturing parental and child characteristics.The parents’concussion-symptom knowledge was measured using 25 questions,with possible answers being“yes”,“maybe”,and“no”.Correct answers earned 2 points,“maybe”answers earned 1 point,and incorrect answers earned 0 point(range:0-50;higher scores=better knowledge).Concussion care-seeking attitudes were also collected using five 7-point scale items(range:5-35;higher scores=more positive attitudes).Multivariable ordinal logistic regression models identified predictors of higher scores.Models met proportional odds assumptions.Adjusted odds ratios(aORs)with 95%confidence intervals(95%CIs)(excluding 1.00)were deemed statistically significant.Results:Median scores were 39(interquartile range:32-44)for symptom knowledge and 32(interquartile range:28-35)for care-seeking attitude.In multivariable models,odds of better symptom knowledge were higher in women vs.men(aOR=2.28;95%CI:1.71-3.05),white/non-Hispanics vs.other racial or ethnic groups(aOR=1.88;95%CI:1.42-2.49),higher parental age(10-year-increase aOR=1.47;95%CI:1.26-1.71),and greater competitiveness(10%-scale-increase aOR=1.24;95%CI:1.13-1.36).Odds of more positive care-seeking attitudes were higher in white/non-Hispanics vs.other racial or ethnic groups(aOR=1.45;95%CI:1.06-1.99)and in older parental age(10-year-increase aOR=1.24;95%CI:1.05-1.47).Conclusion:Characteristics of middle school children’s parents(e.g.,sex,race or ethnicity,age)are associated with their concussion-symptom knowledge and care-seeking attitudes.Parents’variations in concussion knowledge and attitudes warrant tailored concussion education and prevention.     

Cycles of Research and Application in Education: Learning Pathways for Energy Concepts

ABSTRACT— We begin this article by situating a methodology called developmental maieutics in the emerging field of mind, brain, and education. Then, we describe aspects of a project in which we collaborated with a group of physical science teachers to design developmentally informed activities and assessments for a unit on energy. Pen-and-paper assessments, called teasers , were employed, along with interviews, to study how students learned about the physics of energy. Results were used to describe students' learning pathways and to design a scoring rubric for teacher use. We hypothesized that (a) teasers, by themselves, could be used effectively to evaluate the developmental level of students' reasoning about energy and (b) teachers could employ the scoring rubric with minimal instruction. Encouraged by our findings, we went on to create a freely available online version of the energy teaser , including a new rubric designed to improve the accuracy with which teachers can assess the developmental level of students' energy conceptions.     

Aiding or Dissuading? The Effects of Reducing Lifetime Eligibility Limits for Need-Based Aid on Bachelor’s Degree Attainment and Time to Completion

Research in Higher Education - Little is known about the effects of need-based financial aid disbursed late into college and how students respond when they approach lifetime limits for receiving...     

The Relationship between Parenting Types and Older Adolescents' Personality, Academic Achievement, Adjustment, and Substance Use

The purpose of the present study was to examine Baumrind's T3 conceptual framework using a multiple informant design and an older adolescent population. With 178 college students and their families as participants, the present study found many of the predicted relations between parents' child-rearing style (Authoritative, Democratic, Nondirective, Nonauthoritarian-Directive, Authoritarian-Directive, and Unengaged) and their adolescent children's behavior in the 4 domains assessed: personality, adjustment, academic achievement, and substance use. The differences between parenting types on the criterion measures were not as large as reported in Baumrind's study, and significant effects were predominantly due to the poor scores from children with Unengaged and Authoritarian-Directive parents. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the Authoritative parenting type, the utility of using a typology, and areas for future research.     

Why Do Students Misbehave? An Initial Examination of Antecedents to Student Misbehavior

The current study utilized constant comparative thematic analysis to uncover antecedents of student misbehavior from the perspective of collegiate instructors. Results indicated nine distinct antecedents of student misbehavior that were classified into three distinct categories: deficiency antecedents, belief antecedents, and external antecedents. These findings extend previous research on antecedents of student misbehavior by forwarding a more nuanced classification structure that centers on attribution theory as an explanatory mechanism. Overall, by understanding the potential reasons that underlie student misbehavior, educators can create more meaningful and enriching experiences for students by thoughtfully addressing these problematic behaviors and the underlying conditions that promote them.