Determines if students' aesthetic involvement would be influenced by the ethnicity of the student or the culture portrayed in short stories. Finds that the level of aesthetic involvement was not significantly influenced by the ethnicity of the student or culture portrayed in the story. Supports the integration of multicultural literature into the…

This study compared the ability of 20 young adults (mean age 29) and 22 older adults (mean age 63) with mild/moderate mental retardation to respond to requests for clarification in conversation. Neither group was as responsive to the requests as would have been predicted from their general cognitive and linguistic functioning levels. Few…

Describes how a computerized environment supplemented traditional undergraduate courses in English literature and composition at the University of Florida, and was developed with a grant from IBM. Highlights include the use of MOO (multi-user, object-oriented) space; student assignments; the client-server setting; and student and teacher…

Examined claim that associations between emotional responses to maternal separation and cognitive performance would change with cognitive development over the first year. Emphasized the measurement of separation and reunion distress. Found that emotional responses and cognitive performance may be linked by individual differences in self-regulation…

Analyzes the development of collective interest in children's moral and physical well-being. Proposes alleviation of the dichotomy between "moral progress" and the "discourse of suspicion" which sees reform as the imposition of one social group over another. Discusses and illustrates trends with data from the Children's Aid Society and the New…

Examined relations of children's regulation and emotionality to their social functioning. Found that resiliency mediated effects of individual differences in attentional regulation on social status and socially appropriate behavior, and that negative emotionality moderated the positive relation between attentional control and resiliency. Also…

Examines ways in which females, as pupils and teachers, are linked, in teachers' accounts, to the educational underachievement of Jamaican boys. Interviews with 47 teachers reveal the crucial role sex/gender identity plays in educational failure. Additionally problematic is the lack of male role models. (GR)

An item-response-theory approach was used to evaluate test and item functioning for the Hare Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (R. D. Hare, 1991) using data from 2,067 North American patients and prisoners. Analyses support the use of the test for diagnosis of psychopathic personality disorder and measures of trait strength. (SLD)

Two experiments involving skilled readers (159 college students) explored the benefits to student attitude and content retention of adding emotional interest, through seductive text, or cognitive interest, through signals for structural understanding, to scientific text. Results support the benefits of cognitive over emotional interest. (SLD)

Examines whether sexually abused children can benefit from learning knowledge and skills thought to assist in preventing or escaping sexual abuse. A personal safety program was taught to 13 previously abused children and 13 children with no abuse history. After program participation, both groups of children (ages 3-7) demonstrated significant…

Examined maternal and infant behaviors, behavioral coordination, maternal response, and nonresponse in relation to security of attachment. Subjects were 40 Euro-American mothers and 39 Central American immigrant mothers studied when their infants were 4-, 8-, and 12-months-old. Found that individual differences on measures of maternal response and…

Investigates whether trainees, tutors, and practicing teachers at a Pakistani teacher-training college felt that training matched the researched factors linked to successful schools. Fewer than half the practicing teachers felt well-prepared; groups could not decide which effectiveness elements should be included. The institution's hidden…

Sixty mediators from British schools for children with mental retardation watched one of five matched videos depicting no self-injury, self-injury maintained by positive reinforcement, self-injury maintained by negative reinforcement, and self-injury unrelated to social events. Self-injury maintained by negative reinforcement was associated with…

Explores the relationship between responses to literature and the complex world views of four bicultural students, three Asian American and one of Jewish and European descent. The focal literary work of the study was the cross-cultural text, "Homesick," by Jean Fritz. Participants were interviewed about their experiences with the text. (Author/VWL)

This study examined the power of nonshared environment to differentiate adolescent monozygotic twin development and the extent to which this power varied across social structural contexts. Findings indicated that differences in maternal closeness, teacher bonding, and religious participation differentiated twins on emotional distress. Family…