Chronic dysfunction after complicated grief is not rare and emphasizes the need to identify bereaved individuals at risk. Three months following bereavement, self-reported psychiatric and general health of 153 relatives of 74 suicides was worse than of 70 relatives of 39 natural deaths. Moreover, the felt need for professional help was higher…

The authors investigated the development of metacognitive skill (MS) of 43 children from preschool to the 2nd grade (6-8 years of age) in a problem-solving situation. The children's skill to direct, guide, and monitor their performance in a play-like problem-solving context was evaluated in 3 experimental groups of preschool children with high,…

This research examined component processes that contribute to performance on one of the new, standards-based reading tests that have become a staple in many states. Participants were 60 Grade 4 students randomly sampled from 7 classrooms in a rural school district. The particular test we studied employed a mixture of traditional (multiple-choice)…

Researchers have suggested the presence of a self-serving attributional bias, with people making more internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events than for negative events. This study examined the magnitude, ubiquity, and adaptiveness of this bias. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 266 studies, yielding 503 independent…

Classroom teachers' beliefs and attitudes regarding the role and significance of individual differences have received relatively little attention in the literature to date, notwithstanding the well-documented importance both of teachers' beliefs and factors of individual difference for the learning and teaching process. The purpose of this study…

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to determine if a history of greater exposure to different types of adverse and/or abusive experiences in childhood would influence coping strategies used by undergraduate women to deal with new stressful events in young adulthood. Method: A sample of 828 women undergraduates from a New England state…

Attention acts as the mind's "gatekeeper" by regulating and prioritizing the stimuli processed by the central nervous system. It is essential for cognitive performance, memory, and behavior, and we know that even slight deficiencies in attention compromise learning. Basic neuroscience research further indicates that attention consists of (fairly)…

Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory describes how learners see and interpret information. Past studies have analyzed learning styles of certain professions and majors. This study evaluated whether student learning styles differ by major. The Marshall and Merritt Learning Style Inventory was completed by 531 students. Differences were found in…

Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) is an intervention programme conducted during Years 7 and 8 in the United Kingdom (aged 11-13 years), which has reported remarkable success in enhancing cognitive development and in raising academic achievement. Critics, however, have questioned whether a purely cognitive mechanism can…

Standardized testing has been implemented in most school districts as part of an effort to improve student achievement in mathematics, reading, science, and English. There have been heated debates as to the effects of these improvement efforts on student achievement. In studying these issues, it is important to examine longitudinal growth patterns…

Personally important autobiographical memories are the smallest unit of the life story, which begins to emerge in adolescence. This study examined 2 features of self-defining memories in late adolescence, the meaning made of the memories to garner an understanding of the narrative construction of identity as a life story and how those memories…

What aspects of emotional competence help protect people from stress, anxiety, and depression, and help to promote positive affect? A total of 163 university students completed a two wave study that involved measuring emotional competence and emotional well-being at 1-year intervals. As expected, Time 1 measures of emotional competence predicted…

Clinical views of neuroticism-linked distress often make reference to the perseverative sorts of mental processes that reinforce such experiences. The goal of the present 7 studies, involving 488 undergraduate participants, was to directly examine such perseverative processes. Individual differences in response perseveration were operationalized…

The authors offer a new, integrative conceptualization of the relational self based on a synthesis of recent approaches to the self and significant others. This conceptualization provides a sharper and fuller definition of the relational self than does any existing approach alone and a common framework to interpret findings from separate…

Two types of behaviours shown in children--those reflecting social impairment and nonsocial obsessive repetitive behaviours--are central to defining and diagnosing autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Parent and teacher data on social and nonsocial behaviours were obtained from a community sample of greater than 3000 7-year-old twin pairs. Social and…