Purpose: This study examined the generalizability of a previously validated model concerning how student perceptions of school culture affect student achievement. Design/methodology/approach: Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data were collected from 1,026 eighth-grade students in secondary schools on the island of Cyprus.…

This study investigated students' conceptions of constructivist learning activities in a problem-based learning (PBL) and a traditional curriculum. We examined whether students who have chosen for a problem-based curriculum have different conceptions of constructivist assumptions compared to students who have chosen to be enrolled in a…

Objective: The Level of Stability Index for Children (LSIC) is a multidimensional, self-report, rapid assessment instrument for assessing emotional and behavioral tendencies children may exhibit toward self or others. The LSIC describes children's propensity toward depression, suicidal ideation, anger, and aggression. Method: Self-report survey…

The factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory--18 (BSI-18; L. R. Derogatis, 2000) was investigated in a sample of adult survivors of childhood cancer enrolled in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS; N = 8,945). An exploratory factor analysis with a randomly chosen subsample supported a 3-factor structure closely corresponding to the 3…

The specific aim of this investigation was to map cultural factors associated with aggressive behavior in Latino adolescents. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 481 foreign- and U.S.-born Latino adolescents living in North Carolina and Arizona. Structural Equation Modeling was used to validate a conceptual model linking adolescent and…

In this study 149 kindergarten children were assessed for knowledge of letter names and letter sounds, phonological awareness, and cognitive abilities. Through this it examined child and letter characteristics influencing the acquisition of alphabetic knowledge in a naturalistic context, the relationship between letter-sound knowledge and…

Structural equation modeling was used to test [Sandler, "American Journal of Community Psychology" 29: 19-61.] a theoretical model of risk and resilience in an urban sample of African American and European American adolescents. The aims of the present study were to examine whether self-system processes (i.e., competence, self-esteem, and coping…

This study examines how task characteristics (the number of visual chunks and the amount of planning time) and test-taker characteristics (graph familiarity) influence the perceptual and cognitive processes involved in graph comprehension, the strategies used in describing graphs, and the scores obtained on the graph description task in a…

Background: Research indicates that achievement goals influence cognitive engagement, which, in turn, influences academic achievement. We believe that there are other individual difference variables in the realm of personal epistemology that may also directly or indirectly influence cognitive engagement; specifically, epistemological beliefs and…

Background: This study seeks to identify the cornerstones of personal bests (PBs) in the educational setting. Aims: The study proposes a multidimensional PB model in which students are most likely to attain PBs on tasks/goals that are (1) specific, (2) challenging, (3) competitively self-referenced, and (4) self-improvement based. Sample: The…

The relationship between afterschool staff and students is very important for encouraging and promoting longevity in school. The primary goal of this study was to examine the connection between perceptions of staff-student relationships and the educational values, future aspirations, and engagement of LA's BEST students. To this end, we…

Poor social skills and behavioral problems are a major component of ADHD. The different explanations offered so far, such as cognitive deficits and deficient self regulation, have not been able fully to account for the various aspects of the social dysfunction, suggesting that other mechanisms might underlay this impairment. Our study sought to…

This study aimed to investigate the family, school, peer and psychological factors that contribute to adolescent suicidal ideation. The participants were 1,358 (680 boys and 678 girls) Hong Kong Chinese adolescents who were divided into younger (12.3 years, n = 694) and older (15.4 years, n = 664) age groups. By using structural equation modeling,…

Some extant theory and empirical research suggests that youth problem behaviors, such as substance abuse and delinquency, reflect a single underlying dimension of behavior, whereas others suggest there are several different dimensions. Few studies have examined potential international differences in the structure of problem behavior, where…

Research in structured equation modeling (SEM) suggests that nonnormal data will invalidate chi-square tests and produce erroneous standard errors. However, much remains unknown about the extent to which, and the conditions under which nonnormal data can affect SEM application, especially when excessive skewness and kurtosis are present in data.…