A Family Focused Intervention Influences Hippocampal-Prefrontal Connectivity Through Gains in Self-Regulation

The stressors associated with poverty increase the risks for externalizing psychopathology; however, specific patterns of neurobiology and higher self-regulation may buffer against these effects. This study leveraged a randomized control trial, aimed at increasing self-regulation at ~11 years of age. As adults, these same individuals completed functional MRI scanning (M_age = 24.88 years; intervention n = 44; control n = 49). Functional connectivity between the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex was examined in relation to the intervention, gains in self-regulation, and present-day externalizing symptoms. Increased connectivity between these brain areas was noted in the intervention group compared to controls. Furthermore, individual gains in self-regulation, instilled by the intervention, statistically explained this brain difference. These results begin to connect neurobiological and psychosocial markers of risk and resiliency.     

How large is the course effect? A note on Romney's course effect vs. teacher effect on students' ratings of teacher competence

Romney (1977) presented data from which he concluded that within student ratings of college instruction, the course that an instructor teaches is as important a determiner of resulting ratings as the instructor himself. Reanalysis of his data indicates that the course effect is actually quite small, a result that is consistent with earlier studies.     

The Graduation Efficiency Index: Validity and Use as an Accountability and Research Measure

Legislatures and coordinating boards are looking for efficiency measures as greater numbers of students wish access to higher education. We propose the Graduation Efficiency Index (GEI) as an efficiency measure that is more valid and useful than elapsed time from matriculation to degree (time to degree). The index is computed by subtracting the number of transfer credits from the minimum credits required for the degree, then dividing the remainder by the sum of the enrollment census day credits in which the given student has enrolled while in college. Research is reported in which this index is applied to data from 1993–94 University of Washington bachelor-degree recipients. Among the results, nontransfers were found to graduate with more efficiency than transfers and B.A.-degree recipients with more efficiency that B.S. recipients. The GEI correlated only modestly with time to degree and part-time vs. full-time enrollment status, and correlations with admissions data were quite small.     

Media Policy

FCC: THE UPS AND DOWNS OF RADIO-TV REGULATION by William B. Ray (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1989—$24.95, ISBN 0-8138-0227-X, 214 pp.)

ACTUAL MALICE: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER TIMES v. SULLIVAN by W. Wat Hopkins (New York: Praeger, 1989—$39.95, ISBN 0-275-93246-X, 226 pp.)

CASES AND MATERIALS ON MASS MEDIA LAW by Marc A. Franklin and David A. Anderson (Westbury, NY: Foundation Press, 1990 price not given, ISBN 0-88277-778-5, 951 pp.)

MASS COMMUNICATION LAW: CASES AND COMMENT by Donald Gill mor, Jerome Barron.Todd Simon and Herbert Terry (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1990 $52.00, ISBN 0-314-56267-2, 947 pp.)

THE COPYRIGHT BOOK: A PRACTICAL GUIDE by William S. Strong (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990 $17.95, ISBN 0-262-19292-6, 249 pp.)

SOCIAL RESEARCH IN COMMUNICATION AND LAW by Jeremy Cohen and Timothy Gleason (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990—$9.95, paper, ISBN 0-8039-3267-7, 140 pp.)