Using DNA From Mothers and Children to Study Parental Investment in Children’s Educational Attainment

This study tested implications of new genetic discoveries for understanding the association between parental investment and children’s educational attainment. A novel design matched genetic data from 860 British mothers and their children with home-visit measures of parenting: the E-Risk Study. Three findings emerged. First, both mothers’ and children’s education-associated genetics, summarized in a genome-wide polygenic score, were associated with parenting—a gene–environment correlation. Second, accounting for genetic influences slightly reduced associations between parenting and children’s attainment—indicating some genetic confounding. Third, mothers’ genetics were associated with children’s attainment over and above children's own genetics, via cognitively stimulating parenting—an environmentally mediated effect. Findings imply that, when interpreting parents’ effects on children, environmentalists must consider genetic transmission, but geneticists must also consider environmental transmission.     

An investigation of the need for sign language assessment in deaf education

The attitudes of educators of the deaf and other professionals in deaf education concerning assessment of the use of American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign systems was investigated. A questionnaire was distributed to teachers in a residential school for the deaf in California. In addition to questions regarding the availability of sign language assessment at their schools, participants responded to items concerning their motivation to use a test for sign language measurement. Of the 100 distributed surveys, 85 were completed and returned. Results showed overwhelming agreement among respondents concerning the importance of sign language assessment, along with the need for tools that appropriately measure signing skills.     

Conversations with Five Highly Successful Female Educational Psychologists: Patricia Alexander,Carol Dweck,Jacquelynne Eccles,Mareike Kunter,and Tamara van Gog

Educational Psychology Review - Previous studies have investigated the characteristics, influencing factors, and working strategies of highly successful educational psychologists. These studies,...     

A study of the relationship between American sign language and English literacy

This article presents the findings of a study of the relationship between American Sign Language (ASL) skills and English literacy among 160 deaf children. Using a specially designed test of ASL to determine three levels of ASL ability, we found that deaf children who attained the higher two levels significantly outperformed children in the lowest ASL ability level in English literacy, regardless of age and IQ. Furthermore, although deaf children with deaf mothers outperformed deaf children of hearing mothers in both ASL and English literacy, when ASL level was held constant, there was no difference between these two groups, except in the lowest level of ASL ability. The implication of this research is straightforward and powerful: Deaf children's learning of English appears to benefit from the acquisition of even a moderate fluency in ASL.     

Gladiatorprinzip und Tribüneneffekt

The intention of this contribution is to show that training and doping in competitive sports may be considered as two implementations of economic paradoxes of concurrence. They are based on the interaction of the gladiator principle and a tribune effect. According to this terminology, training is related to the classical paradox whereas doping is related to Marx’s paradox (Stützel, 1979, Paradoxa der Geld- und Konkurrenzwirtschaft. Aalen: Scientia; Grass & Stützel, 1983, Volkswirtschaftslehre. München: Vahlen). In the paper, against this background, training and doping in elite sports are evaluated concerning their efficiency and fairness. As a result highly commercialized elite sports with an extreme win orientation turns out to be problematic.     

Rankings as coordination games: the Dutch Top 2000 pop song ranking

The Dutch Top 2000 pop song ranking has been broadcast each year since 1999 between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. As a nationwide event, it receives cult status in the Netherlands. In this paper, it is argued that rankings are coordination games. To demonstrate this, statistical methods are applied, first to analyze the extent to which competition prevails between pop songs. While conventional charts collect pop song rankings on a commercial basis, the Top 2000 ranking is voted on once a year. Moreover, a very wide range of songs is allocated to 2000 positions. The ranking displays tremendous stability among the top five songs over the years and demonstrates the importance of superstardom. Moreover, a detailed statistical analysis provides evidence that there is hardly any competition among the most liked 100–150 songs. The empirical distribution of these songs follows a Pareto distribution, whereas the songs up to rank 1500 are exponentially distributed. These different distributions may be explained by two different voting strategies, namely voting for the individually most liked songs and voting to maximize the social value of the Top 2000 by taking account of the assumed preferences of other voters. In this manner, superstardom acts as a coordination device in a large-scale coordination game.     

Estimating the value of national sporting success

The sporting success of athletes and national teams is associated with a feel-good-factor among the population. These positive social effects can be regarded as public goods that entail a certain value for the population. The value of public or non-market goods can be estimated using the contingent valuation method (CVM). A theoretical model is developed based on the consumption capital theory. This model explains the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for winning the 2010 Football World Cup as a function of sport-related and football-specific consumption capital as well as intangible and socio-economic factors. Within a survey of German citizens (n = 3049), the value of winning the 2010 Football World Cup is assessed using CVM. The model is tested using regression analyses to identify the significant determinants of WTP. The results reveal half of the respondents stated a WTP that amounted to €26 on average. The findings of a mixed-effects logistic as well as an alternative Tobit regression model show that intangible factors such as identification with the country and with the national team as well as individual and national importance of a good result significantly influence individuals’ WTP. Based on the findings of this study, it can be recommended that policy makers invest in national teams and athletes as national sporting success can generate a feel-good-factor among the population and make people happier. Additionally, it can impact on peoples’ perceptions and expectations about current and future economic situations which in turn determine macro-economic outcomes. Moreover, such estimations could be integrated into cost-benefit terms that are carried out for sport events.