A case study of an adult male Mandarin learner of English as a Second Language investigated the his writing processes, thinking processes, and quality of writing to ascertain whether using a computer for writing promotes higher-level revisions and improves the quality of compositions. Found computers helped the learner stay on task longer and…

Presents a longitudinal study comparing problem-solving performance for medical students trained using two different approaches to medical education. The first is traditional medical education involving lectures supplemented by laboratory exercises. The second approach is problem-based learning (PBL), where students learn basic concepts in small…

Describes a longitudinal study of college students in the United Kingdom that examined factors affecting computer use. Results show situational factors, including access, training, and time, affect student computer use, but academic staff tend to focus on the needs of their department and should focus more on the student perspective. (Author/LRW)

Tested model of gender's moderating effects on behavior problems among early adolescents. Found that increasing girls' internalizing symptoms were partly explained by greater stability in girls' interpersonal vulnerabilities and greater magnitude in coefficients linking girls' relationships with parents and peers and internalizing problems. Boys'…

This study examined factors associated with relative stability of peer rejection among elementary school-aged children. Results of prospective and retrospective analyses suggested that perceived social status, participation in extracurricular activities, locus of control, and parental monitoring were all positively related to status improvement…

Students completed surveys, including scale assessing perceptions of home-school dissonance, in fifth grade and again the following year. Contrary to hypothesis, African Americans did not report more dissonance that European Americans. High dissonance students were more angry and self-deprecating, had lower self-esteem, were less hopeful, felt…

Reviewed theoretical claims of identity status model and empirical studies on identity development in adolescence/young adulthood. Found support for assumption of a progressive direction in identity development. Examined data from longitudinal study of identity development and psychological well-being in Dutch adolescents; found that stability of…

Examines change capacity within one restructuring Ontario school district, employing the notions of chaos theory and a living organization. Analyzed 5 years of longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data to understand effects of organizational change on the whole school. School leadership teams worked differently, depending on context.…

Provides longitudinal insights into a pattern of drop-out that had previously been identified by tracking educational outcomes among English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) youth in a single, urban school. A comparison of two cohorts suggests that accelerated integration into academic mainstream courses has had a detrimental impact on the educational…

Used data on parenting and family climate gathered six times during childhood and adolescence to predict intergenerational relations between young adult children and parents. Found that more supportive family environments and child-rearing experiences forecasted more positive parent-child relationships in young adulthood. Effects of unsupportive…

Examined long-term effectiveness of the Chicago Child-Parent Center program on rates of high school completion and school dropout by age 20. Found that, compared to nonparticipants and adjusted for covariates, preschool participants had higher rate of high school completion, more years of education, and lower juvenile arrest and violent crime…

In developmental research, the family has mainly been studied through dyadic interaction. Three-way interactions have received less attention, partly because of their complexity. This difficulty may be overcome by distinguishing between four hierarchically embedded functions in three-way interactions: (1) participation (inclusion of all…

This study examines the association between acculturation and subsequent binge drinking among Asian American adolescents and investigates the mediating effect of friends' alcohol and tobacco use. Data from a nationally representative sample of 714 Asian American adolescents in grades 7 to 12 were analyzed. There was no gender difference in terms…

Using a sample of 15,885 adolescents derived from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined (1) unique additive influences of race, family, and community and (2) various multiplicative influences among race, family, and community factors on adolescent distress. Community characteristics such as community poverty and…

Medicine and epidemiology currently dominate the study of the strong association between socioeconomic status and mortality. Socioeconomic status typically is viewed as a causally irrelevant "confounding variable" or as a less critical variable marking only the beginning of a causal chain in which intervening risk factors are given prominence. Yet…