Student,home, and school socio-demographic factors: links to school,home, and community arts participation

This study explored the role of student (e.g., age, language background, gender), home (e.g., parent/caregiver education), and school (e.g., school type, size) socio-demographic factors in students’ school (e.g., in-school arts tuition, arts engagement), home (e.g., parent/caregiver–child arts interaction), and community (e.g., arts attendance, arts tuition) arts participation. The sample comprised 1172 elementary and secondary school students from 15 schools. Findings revealed that student and home socio-demographic factors were the most salient in predicting arts participation across school, home, and community contexts. Age, gender, and prior achievement were the key student socio-demographic factors, while parent/caregiver education and occupation were also associated with students’ arts participation. Implications for practice and intervention pertinent to young people’s arts participation are discussed.     

Distance learners' interactions with text while studying

This paper reports part of an investigation into how tertiary‐level distance students use and learn from textual materials during actual study sessions. Methods used provided biographical data on students and students' perceptions of their study approaches and access to the moment‐by‐moment thinking of students during study. Close‐ups of students at work provided by analysis of these data were not flattering. They revealed that students were satisficers, processed text at a rate consistent with a surface approach, avoided in‐text questions and activities wherever possible and made limited use of aspects of the text's access structure. Reasons for the poorer‐than‐expected study performances are considered as well as ways of improving text design to enhance the quality of learning.     

Attachment,Communication, and Relationship Functioning Among College Student Veterans and Nonveterans

This study examined attachment processes of college student veterans and nonveterans and further examined how veteran status and attachment style directly and indirectly predict relationship functioning. Results indicated that student veterans were more often dismissing in their attachment style but less often preoccupied than nonveteran students. Veteran status moderated the association between attachment style and dyadic consensus. The contributions of attachment and communication processes to overall relationship adjustment differed for student veterans and nonveterans.