Maternal social support as a predictor of mother-child stress and stimulation

There is increasing interest in the role of social support in determining risk for child abuse and neglect. The present study assessed the relationship between maternal social support and two areas: stress in the mother-child relationship: and level of stimulation provided in the home. Maternal social support was assessed prenatally and at a two-year follow-up, while the latter variables were compiled at the two-year follow-up. The data were obtained from 38 urban, low SES (80% on public assistance) mothers and their 2-year-old children. Maternal social support correlated positively with level of stimulation and negatively with level of mother-child stress, and was the best predictor of both, relative to any SES, mother or child variables. In addition, high stress, low support mothers provided significantly less stimulation to their children. The theoretical implications for social support as a mediator variable as well as its implications for early identification and prevention efforts in abuse and neglect are discussed.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE EQUATING OF PARALLEL FORMS IS POPULATION-INDEPENDENT

Linear conversions were developed relating scores on two recent forms of the homogeneous GRE Quantitative Test (GRE-Q) and the specially constituted heterogeneous GRE Verbal-plus-Quantitative Test (GRE-V+Q), using randomly equivalent groups of about 13, 000 taking each form. Specially defined homogeneous subpopulations were then identified, and conversions between scores on the two forms were again calculated, this time based on l000-case samples drawn at random from the subpopulations. Finally, in order to develop empirical measures of equating error, I00 samples of 1, 000 cases each were drawn at random from the two total groups and used to calculate 100 conversions between scores on the two forms. The conversions based on the specially selected subpopulations were then compared with the total-group conversions and evaluated in terms of the empirical standard errors. The results showed that the conversions for the subpopulations agreed with the total-group conversion quite satisfactorily for the GRE-Q and almost as well for the GRE-V+Q. It was concluded that the data clearly support the assumption of population independence for homogeneous tests, but not quite so clearly for heterogeneous tests.     

The US-preexposure effect in honeybees

Signaled avoidance was studied in individual honeybees that visited the laboratory regularly to take sucrose solution from a target set on the sill of an open window. During feeding, substrate vibration or airstream was used to signal a brief shock that could be avoided by breaking off contact with the food for a few seconds. Aversive conditioning of the context was measured in terms of return time (the time between successive visits). In Experiment 1, experience with unsignaled shock was found to lengthen return time—which experience with signaled shock did not—and to impair performance in subsequent avoidance training with signaled shock (the US-preexposure effect). In Experiment 2, experience with unsignaled shock given after signaled avoidance training lengthened return time but had no effect on response to the signal in a subsequent extinction test. These results closely resemble the results obtained in analogous experiments with vertebrates.     

Video Presentations that have to Teach

To be successful, an instructional video presentation needs to be effective, valued, liked and efficient, and educationalists and designers should strive (explicitly and implicitly) to satisfy these criteria. In the interests of optimum teaching effect, a didactical distinction is recommended between video presentations that have to ‘instruct’, ‘explain’, ‘tell’ and ‘let encounter’. A schema or frame of reference is proposed, the use of which (it is claimed) can help to optimise communication between video producer, teacher and instructional designer     

Concurrent validity of the test of nonverbal intelligence with learning disabled children

Results of the TONI, WISC-R, and WRAT were compared for a sample of 66 learning disabled children: 51 males (32 white, 19 black) and 15 females (9 white, 6 black) whose mean age was 9–5 (SD = 1–10). The mean score of the TONI was significantly different from the Performance IQ. Nonsignificant differences were found between the TONI and Full Scale IQ and between the TONI and Verbal IQ. Correlation coefficients between the TONI and WISC-R ranged from a low of .35 for the Verbal IQ to .44 for both the Full Scale and Performance IQs. The correlation coefficients between the TONI and standard scores of the WRAT were .38, .27, and .23, for Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic, respectively. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Are mastery learning strategies beneficial for developing problem solving skills?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate instructional methods appropriate for developing problem solving skills (PSS) in a paramedical course. Three instructional methods were compared: Frontal Lecture Strategies (FLS), Mastery Learning Strategies (MLS) and Experiential Mastery Learning Strategies (EMLS) in which feedback corrective procedures were embedded within experiential learning situations. Results showed that FLS produced the highest scores on Lower Mental Process subtest while EMLS yielded the highest scores on all measures of problem solving skills. Several implications of this study for future research are suggested and discussed.     

Do infants see emotional expressions in static faces?

To determine whether young infants discriminate photographs of different emotions on an affect-relevant basis or on the basis of isolated features unrelated to emotion, groups of 17-, 23-, and 29-week-olds were habituated to slides of 8 women posing either Toothy Angry, Nontoothy Angry, or Nontoothy Smiling facial expressions and were then shown 2 new women in the familiarized expression and in a novel Toothy Smiling expression. At all 3 ages, recovery to the novel Toothy Smiling faces occurred only after habituation to Nontoothy faces (whether smiling or angry), not after habituation to Toothy Angry faces, indicating that infants had been responsive to nonspecific features of the photographs (presence or absence of bared teeth) rather than to affectively relevant configurations of features. In a second experiment, 2 older age groups (35 and 41 weeks) also proved to be insensitive to affect-related aspects of still faces, though more so for angry than for happy expressions. It is suggested that the young infant's difficulty in extracting emotional information from static stimuli may be attributable to the absence of the critical invariants (dynamic, multimodally specified) that characterize naturalistic expressions of emotion.     

Evidence for confounding in computer-based instruction studies: Analyzing the meta-analyses

A thirty percent sample of the computer-based instruction (CBI) studies meta-analyzed by Kulik et al was examined for evidence of confounding. The purpose of the analysis was to explore the validity of competing claims about the contribution of the computer to measured achievement gains found in CBI studies. Some of these claims propose that CBI effects are overestimated and others argue that CBI effects are underestimated. The result of the analysis strongly suggests that achievement gains found in these CBI studies are overestimated and are actually due to the uncontrolled but robust instructional methods embedded in CBI treatments. It is argued that these methods may be delivered by other media with achievement gains comparable to those reported for computers. Construct validity cautions are offered for those who wish to use meta-analytic results as evidence for implementing CBI in schools and for the design of future CBI research.     

School Effects in Scottish Secondary Schools

The present paper examines whether there is significant variation in schooling outcomes between Scottish secondary schools, and if so, how much is associated with pupil intake, and how much is associated with the schools they attend. It also examines whether schools vary in their effectiveness for different types of pupils, and whether schools tend to be superior, or inferior, across three different outcome measures. The study employed a subsample of data from the 1977 Scottish School Leavers Survey on over 700 pupils from 15 schools in one administrative division. These data were linked to data on the verbal reasoning quotients of the pupils, derived from a test administered to them before they entered secondary school. For each of the 15 schools we estimated the expected scores on measures of English, arithmetic and overall attainment for pupils with below average, average, and above average ability, controlling for pupils’ verbal ability, gender, prestige of father's occupation, mother's education, and number of siblings. The study shows there was wide variation in schooling outcomes between secondary schools in the division, even after controlling for family background characteristics and pupil ability prior to entering secondary school. There were few schools that were particularly effective for low ability pupils, but not high ability pupils and vice versa. Schools tended to be effective, or ineffective, across all three outcome measures.