Previous research findings indicate that women suffer a variety of detrimental effects from exposure to violent pornography. This study used an experimental paradigm to examine the effects of a moderate alcohol dose and alcohol expectancies on women's acute reactions to a violent pornographic stimulus. A community sample of female social drinkers…

Suicide attempts and suicidal ideation among adolescents have been increasing faster than those for adults. This study addresses three questions on adolescent suicidal behavior: (1) Why do some adolescents with psychiatric disorders have a history of suicidal behaviors and some do not?; (2) How do intrapsychic and interpersonal underpinnings of…

Develops a path-analysis model of critical variables affecting student enrollment in secondary school physics. A test of the model utilizing state provided data of physics enrollment in New York State resulted in the rejection of the model; however, significant critical variable results were obtained. (SL)

Developed structural equation models of involvement in communication networks in organizations for communication network connectedness and for network integration. A questionnaire was administered to members of a naval training facility (N=125). Models showed acceptable goodness-of-fit for the connectedness model and excellent goodness-of-fit for…

The biasing effects of measurement error in path analysis models can be overcome by the use of latent variable models. In cases where path analysis is used in practice, it is often possible to use parcels as indicators of a latent variable. The purpose of the current study was to compare latent variable models in which parcels were used as…

The research on Tourette's disorder (TD), a neuropsychological disorder consisting of motor and phonic tics, has largely focused on individuals with TD and not on the caregivers of children with TD. We investigated the effects of several variables on caregiver strain of caregivers of children with TD, including perceived social support, caregiver…

Literature from organizational and social psychology has suggested that three types of factors influence performance, i.e., cognitive, affective and behavioral. A model was developed to test a set of propositions concerning the relationship between the three kinds of factors, and included attributions, expectancies, general emotional responses to…

A conceptual model of the factors affecting dropout syndrome was develop emphasizing academic, social, and personal outcomes of the selection or socialization of students at a university. The model was estimated using path analysis, and the intervening variables were found to be important predictors of dropout syndrome. (Author/DWH)

A path analytic model is hypothesized and tested to explain the effect of a series of intellective and nonintellective student attributes on high school achievement and college achievement. Patterns of predictability for male and female students are compared. (Author/GK)

The use of path analysis to study the manipulable influences on school learning is illustrated. The path model that was developed tests the importance of various influences on the achievement of high school students using data from a large longitudinal set, the High School and Beyond Study. (SLD)

This study examined the role of language, attention/impulse control, and mother-child play in predicting later peer competence by assessing 252 children at ages 3 and 8 years. Children born term (n = 90) or preterm (n = 162) were included to examine the question of how variability in skills influenced social outcomes and whether relations were…

Examined were several theoretically important relations among motivational characteristics of students that are malleable, or changeable with intervention. The motivational construct identification with academics, which includes perceptions of belonging and valuing within an academic context, was investigated along with intrinsic/extrinsic…

The influence of financial aid on college student persistence was studied using causal modeling. The study population was 227 full-time freshmen, who enrolled in fall 1982 at a liberal arts college at a large commuter institution. All the students received financial aid. The model, which included background and academic variables, accounted for…

Direct and indirect effects in decomposed zero-order correlations among variables in causal models are considered. Under certain circumstances, the components of the decompositions could be interpreted as direct, indirect, and spurious causal effects, plus a component called joint associations. The sum of the direct and indirect effects is the…

Hypothesizes that instrumental media motivation, selectivity, attention, and involvement are positive predictors of satisfaction, parasocial interaction, and cultivation effects from watching daytime television serials; avoidance, distraction, and skepticism were seen as negative predictors. Finds support for these expectations through three path…