Determinants of institutional attractiveness to bright,prospective college students

This article examines the institutional characteristics which affect the attractiveness of colleges and universities to bright, prospective students. The dependent variable was formed by using the expressed college preferences of the highest scoring third of all students taking the National Merit Scholarship Exam in 1964–65 and 1972–73. Twenty-eight independent variables were factor analyzed and selected variables entered into a stepwise multiple regression. Low tuition, well-credentialed faculty, research orientation, and fiscal strength appear as the important factors in raising institutional attractiveness.     

Early communication strategies: using video analysis to support teachers working with preverbal pupils

Carolyn Anderson is a speech and language therapist who is currently working as a senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde. In this article she provides an early account of her ongoing research into communication between teachers and pupils with severe and complex learning disabilities. Video recordings were made of teacher-pupil interactions. The recordings were then analysed in terms of the numbers of turns taken by pupils and teachers; the strategies teachers and pupils used to initiate and respond in interactions; and the numbers of information carrying words teachers used with pupils with different levels of language comprehension. Carolyn Anderson's findings will help teachers who want to develop their own awareness of the role they play in communicating with pupils. This research will also support staff who are trying to encourage pupils with learning difficulties to become more actively involved in interactions and teaching and learning opportunities.     

Childhood sexual abuse history and role reversal in parenting

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the main and interactive effects of sexual abuse history and relationship satisfaction on self-reported parenting, controlling for histories of physical abuse and parental alcoholism. METHOD: The community sample consisted of 90 mothers of 5- to 8-year-old children. The sample was limited to those mothers currently in an intimate relationship, 19 of whom reported a history of childhood sexual abuse. Participants completed the Child Behavior Checklist, the Parenting Stress Inventory, the Family Cohesion Index, and questions assessing parent-child role reversal, history of abuse and parental alcoholism, and current relationship satisfaction. RESULTS: Results of analyses and multivariate analyses of covariance suggested that sexual abuse survivors with an unsatisfactory intimate relationship were more likely than either sexual abuse survivors with a satisfactory relationship or nonabused women to endorse items on a questionnaire of role reversal (defined as emotional overdependence upon one's child). Role reversal was not significantly predicted by histories of physical abuse or parental alcoholism or child's gender. While parenting stress was inversely predicted by the significant main effect of relationship satisfaction, neither parenting stress nor child behavior problems were predicted by the main effect of sexual abuse history or by the interaction between sexual abuse history and relationship satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the unique relevance of sexual abuse history and relationship satisfaction in the prediction of a specific type of parent-child role reversal--namely, a mother's emotional overdependence upon her child.