Maternal Negativity and Children's Externalizing Behavior

Maternal negativity in parent-child interactions related to both the presence and persistence of child externalizing behavior problems. We examined how behavior of 120 mothers and their children in an interaction task at preschool related to assessments of child behavior problems at preschool, first grade, and third grade. At preschool and first-grade, children were assigned to three groups: comparison, moderate externalizing, and pervasive externalizing; at both timepoints the pervasive externalizing group had greater maternal negativity assessed at preschool. Maternal negativity was predicted, beyond the child's disruptive behavior in the task, by two variables: mother's perception of low spousal agreement and support related to child problems and depression. At third grade, child symptoms and diagnoses of ADHD and ODD were predicted by mothers' commands and repeat commands, though not negativity, in the preschool interaction task. Implications of these findings for early family intervention are discussed.     

An Exploratory Study of Teachers' Beliefs Regarding the Implementation of Constructivism in Their Classrooms

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

A culture of assessment: A bioecological systems approach for early and continuous assessment of deaf infants and children

Even today, with all of the hearing technology and bilingual programs available, many Deaf children arrive at school with severe language delays. With a renewed focus on having Deaf children kindergarten-ready, assessment of language milestones becomes critical as seen in the campaign Child First and the legislation referred to as Language Equality & Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K). Here, a strategy is proposed to ensure that Deaf children are kindergarten-ready. The focus is on a re-evaluation of the epistemologies of the social and individualized medical models of health, as well as Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems approach, to assess all components that impact a Deaf child's ecology to permit maximizing their developmental potentials.     

Development and field validation of an omni-domain power-duration model

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To validate and compare a novel model based on the critical power (CP) concept that describes the entire domain of maximal mean power (MMP) data from cyclists.

Methods: An omni-domain power-duration (OmPD) model was derived whereby the rate of W? expenditure is bound by maximum sprint power and the power at prolonged durations declines from CP log-linearly. The three-parameter CP (3CP) and exponential (Exp) models were likewise extended with the log-linear decay function (Om3CP and OmExp). Each model bounds W? using a different nonconstant function, W?eff (effective W?). Models were fit to MMP data from nine cyclists who also completed four time-trials (TTs).

Results: The OmPD and Om3CP residuals (4 ± 1%) were smaller than the OmExp residuals (6 ± 2%; P < 0.001). W?eff predicted by the OmPD model was stable between 120–1,800 s, whereas it varied for the Om3CP and OmExp models. TT prediction errors were not different between models (7 ± 5%, 8 ± 5%, 7 ± 6%; P = 0.914).

Conclusion: The OmPD offers similar or superior goodness-of-fit and better theoretical properties compared to the other models, such that it best extends the CP concept to short-sprint and prolonged-endurance performance.     

Using Rhetorical/Relational Goal Theory to Examine College Students’ Impressions of Their Instructors

Guided by rhetorical/relational goal theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether students’ impressions of their instructors’ credibility, attraction, and homophily are influenced by four specific rhetorical and relational communication behaviors that instructors use when communicating with their students in the classroom. Participants were 193 undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of introductory communication courses at a large mid-Atlantic university. Using a series of multiple regression analyses, it was found that (a) clarity emerged as the sole indicator of instructor competence, trustworthiness, and task attraction; (b) clarity and confirmation emerged as indicators of goodwill; and (c) humor and confirmation emerged as indicators of social attraction and attitude homophily.     

Students’ Self-Determination as a Consequence of Instructor Misbehaviors

The study applied self-determination theory to examine detrimental effects of instructor misbehaviors in the college classroom. Participants were 223 undergraduate students who reported on their instructor’s antagonism and lecture misbehaviors in a course, along with their basic psychological need fulfillment (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) and intrinsic motivation to learn. Results indicated that (a) lecture misbehaviors were more detrimental to students’ competence and relatedness than antagonism misbehaviors; and (b) students’ intrinsic motivation to learn was influenced by students’ basic psychological needs and instructor misbehaviors.     

Socialization and pre-career development of public relations professionals via the undergraduate curriculum

We interviewed racially/ethnically diverse, early career public relations practitioners. By asking participants to reflect on their collegiate social and educational development, we unearth contributing factors to these individuals’ success both in college and in their professions to date. Respondents desired much more in-school training and technical skill acquisition than they were provided. Respondents also alluded to ways that the female/male composition of the undergraduate classroom affected their educational environment and student learning experiences. Findings are used to address the extent to which the educational/prepare-students-for-industry dialectic should be addressed by communication faculty and administrators.