Studies stresses, strains, and coping mechanisms of 87 black students at predominantly white colleges and universities. The survival kit of coping responses of these students is presented for five primary stress areas: (1) academic, (2) financial, (3) time management, (4) black population, and (5) racism. (SLD)

Examined the relationship between depression rates, IQ, knowledge of the finality of death, exposure to suicidal behavior and knowledge of suicide methods. Found that the effect of these factors differed between suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatrically hospitalized children and developmentally delayed adolescents. Also found that the factors had…

Item response theory (IRT) is used to develop a form of adjusted cumulative grade point average (GPA) for use in predicting college academic performance appropriately for males and females. For 1,564 students at Stanford University (California), the IRT-based GPA was more predictable from preadmission measures than the cumulative GPA. (SLD)

Four sources of efficacy (achievement, modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional response) with regard to high school math, locus of control, and math self-efficacy were assessed for 97 male and 66 female Japanese undergraduates. Men reported significantly higher math self-efficacy. Of the four sources, only verbal persuasion did not make a…

Reviews two areas of cross-cultural research (sociolinguistic research on oral interaction and the applied linguistic research area of contrastive rhetoric). Makes recommendations for using collaborative peer response groups successfully with multicultural classes. (MG)

Three individuals with multiple severe disabilities were taught an appropriate response to problem behaviors, but the response was less efficient than the problem behavior on physical effort, schedule of reinforcement, or stimulus-reinforcer time delay. The response did not compete successfully with the problem behaviors until a new, more…

Maintains that, rather than simply assuming patience is a virtue, early childhood teachers can use feelings of patience or impatience as cues to examine their expectations and alter their situation so that they can respond in supportive, appropriate, effective, and educational ways. (BB)

A two-year study of preschoolers attempted to identify emotions and prosocial behaviors that reliably predict teachers' ratings of young preschoolers' affective and behavioral social-emotional competence. Results showed that observed emotion, especially anger and sadness, often predicted teacher ratings of social-emotional competence in…

Presents results of a study of adolescents' responses to being touched. Breaks downs findings by status and sex of toucher, age and sex of subject, and type of touch and part of body being touched. Concludes that effective use of touch depends on conforming to expectations in terms of how, where, and by whom child is touched. (DK)

Explores the effects of the use of aesthetic and efferent stances in response to literature with 43 fourth graders, 47 sixth graders, and 40 eighth graders. Finds use of an aesthetic stance is associated with higher levels of personal understanding and the level of understanding increases with grade level. (MG)

Factor analysis of scores on the 30-item Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC) of 455 seventh and eighth graders supports previous findings of a 4-factor structure. Item response theory analysis suggests that the TASC is a continuum defining an academic anxiety construct of clusters of commonly related items. (SLD)

This study, involving 4 children (ages 6 and 11) with autism, demonstrated that a self-management technique was effective in improving responsiveness to verbal initiations from others and in extending responsiveness to settings (community, home, and school) without the presence of a treatment provider. Concomitant reductions in disruptive behavior…

Forming the matching variable for the Mantel-Haenszel differential item functioning (DIF) procedure through use of the total score as the matching variable (thin) and forming the matching variable by pooling total score levels (thick) were compared in a Monte Carlo study. Reasons thick matching is superior are discussed. (SLD)

About 21% of all U.S. public school students attend schools equipped with multimedia computers, videodisc players, and other software designed to combine text, graphics, and sound in interactive applications. Multimedia software products can nurture the seven multiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardner, if properly implemented.…

This paper illustrates how, in the item-response theory framework, collateral information about test items can augment or replace examinee responses when linking or equating new tests to established scales, using data from the Pre-Professional Skills Test for approximately 40,000 examinees. Collateral information can predict item operating…