Cooperative-competitive social orientation and school achievement among Anglo-American and Mexican-American children

Researchers have suggested that the relatively poor academic performance of Mexican-American compared to Anglo-American children may result from cultural differences in cooperative-competitive social orientation. To test the relative contribution of cooperative-competitive social orientation as a personality predictor of school achievement, the cooperativeness-competitiveness, field independence, locus of control, self-esteem, and school achievement of 45 Anglo-American and 125 Mexican-American fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children were assessed. The results indicate (1) competitiveness is positively related to school achievement among the Anglo-American children but not the Mexican-American children; (2) among the Anglo-American children competitiveness is a better predictor of school achievement than field independence, locus of control, and self-esteem; (3) the personality variables are moderately but not independently related to school achievement within both cultural groups; and (4) the between-culture variance in the personality variables does not account for the between-culture variance in school achievement. Implications of the present results for understanding within- and between-group differences in school achievement are discussed.     

Reliability of interviewers using the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall

The Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall interview is commonly used in epidemiologic research, but the methods of training and certifying interviewers have not been studied or standardized. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall interviews after a structured training program. Twenty-one volunteer interviewers participated in a five-session group training program that targeted standardized interview techniques and scoring procedures. Interviewers scored eight videotaped interviews on two occasions to assess scoring skills. Across all videotapes and interviewers, the test-retest reliability was .99. Two interviewers independently interviewed the same person on the same day, and the reliability of kilocalorie expenditure across interviewers was .86. It was concluded that naive individuals can be taught to reliably conduct and score the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall interview in a brief training program.     

Postsecondary education for students with learning disabilities

Increasingly, students with learning disabilities are attending community colleges and traditional 4-year colleges and universities. This article presents the results of a review of the literature on services available or recommended for students with learning disabilities. The results suggest that postsecondary institutions have begun to provide a wide array of services to these students. There is little empirical evidence, however, on the effectiveness of those services. An agenda for future research is also discussed.