A large national study of schoolchildren aged 6-18 years was conducted to assess nutritional and socio-cognitive factors associated with body mass index (BMI). A questionnaire was used to assess nutritional quality of breakfast, importance of physical activity and food variety score, among 4441 students from randomly selected schools in all states…

Locus of control is a construct that reflects an individual's perception of control over his or her own destiny. The thesis is that people adopt either an internal or an external orientation. Internally oriented persons consider success the result of ability and effort. Externally oriented individuals attribute success to luck, fate, or powerful…

The effects of the fifth grade unit of the School Health Curriculum Project (SHCP) were investigated in a multicultural setting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of the purposes of the study was to design and test portions of an evaluation model that could be expanded and used by other school districts which are involved with SHCP. The second paper…

One hundred and thirty final year high school students were administered scales tapping optimism/pessimism, self-esteem, external career barriers, career decision-making self-efficacy, career focus and career indecision. It was hypothesised, first, that cognitive style optimism/pessimism) would predict both internal (self-esteem) and external…

The variables that are related to teachers' use of computers were studied using 2 groups: 170 practicing elementary school teachers and 167 undergraduate education majors (preservice teachers). Computer use was classified into nonuse, utilization, and integration using the Levels of Use Scale developed by the author and others. Expectancy was…

Twelve pupils from each of 13 middle school science classes participated in this study. Findings, among others, indicate that two of nine engagement measures (attending and generalizing), together with formal reasoning ability, were related to process skill, achievement, and retention. (JN)

The relationship between high school students' feelings of efficacy and efforts to study and teachers' classroom testing practices was examined. Questionnaires were administered in four high schools in biology, geometry, English, and United States history classes; a total of 69 classes participated. Some teachers were also interviewed. Students'…

The correlation between specific personality and biographical variables and the grade point average (GPA) of 211 first quarter community college and technical institute students was investigated using the Adult Nowicki Strickland Internal-External scale to determine locus of control, the Post High School Self-Concept of Academic Ability scale, and…

The Efficacy Scale for Creative Productivity (ESCreP) was developed to measure students' convictions that they could be creative producers. Self-efficacy, an individual's estimation of ability to perform a behavior, is based upon performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional or physiological arousal. Three…

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 were used in a study to investigate the relative effectiveness of high school grades and standardized aptitude test scores, together with demographic characteristics, in predicting early postsecondary educational activity of high school seniors. Self concept and locus of…

Relationships between cognitive and affective learner characteristics or "aptitudes" and mathematics achievement for sixth-graders in three instructional treatments in one school district were examined. Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) analyses were performed to test for differential prediction of achievement outcomes among treatments, using…

Using network data from 40 groups, we examine the effect of social context on the gendering of power relations. By modeling reported data on power relations as the result of a stochastic response process that may be gendered, we examine how this gendering is related to group-level contextual factors. We find that much of what appears to be a…

Two studies are described which capitalize on the strengths of the instructional development process for research purposes. Typically, developed courses have carefully-designed learning environment specifications, replicable instructional treatments, and well-proven achievement measures. A battery of questionnaires and rating scales concerning…

Using data from a national study spanning 12 years, I examined the effects of several middle-school and high-school variables on completion versus non-completion of the bachelor's degree. All young people in the study had attended college with the purpose of attaining the bachelor's. Several variables had practically significant effects on degree…