Self-reports of 250 persons over age 50 confirmed increasing bias toward reporting more youthful age as one ages. Optimistic perceptions of health were maintained in older subjects. Results from two subsets of sample (n=48) indicated that youthful and optimistic bias occurred both in older persons with poorer/failing health and in persons in…

Significant developmental differences were found for student adjustment in a study exploring relations between standardized measures of students' achievement and teacher ratings of student adjustment for K-2 students in mixed-age classrooms. Teacher ratings of student adjustment were significantly lower for kindergartners compared to second…

Examines population change in the High Plains of western Kansas in terms of an internal colonialism-dependency model. Identifies a wide range of colonial dependent characteristics, including long-term population decline, high median age, highly channelized migration flows, and continuing outmigration of the region's most educated inhabitants.…

Links family income, ethnicity, and child's age to child care characteristics. Finds that children from families with incomes at least twice the poverty threshold were more likely than others to be in nonparental care and spent more hours in care. Ethnicity, not poverty, related to relative-care use. Few income, ethnicity, or age differences…

Conducted meta-analysis of preschool and early elementary school self-esteem instruments, using reliability as criterion variable and different aspects of methodology used in testing an instrument as predictor variables. Found that reliability could be predicted by study setting, number of items in the scale, age of children being studied, method…

Addresses intergenerational risk factors affecting individual growth. Discusses how risk factors occurring during a mother's own developmental history can affect the postnatal environment, and how an intergenerational approach can aid in understanding cognitive development. (Author/SD)

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Brief Multidmensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS: Seligson et al., 2003) with elementary school children. The participants included 518 elementary school students in grades three through five in a Southeastern US state. The students completed the following measures: the BMSLSS,…

Health promoting behaviors have become increasingly important as Americans attempt to retain their youth and health. This study collected self-reported data from 559 participants in the Southwest United States using the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II to compare the health promoting behaviors of older adults (60-92 years), middle-aged adults…

There is growing evidence of the wider benefits of learning on non-accredited courses. However, there appears to be a problem on how these benefits can be measured. The Learning and Skills Council consultation "Measuring Success in the Learning and Skills Sector" (2003) confirms that no national measures exist for recognising achievements in…

Over the course of development, the ability to switch between different tasks on the basis of feedback cues increases profoundly, but the role of performance monitoring remains unclear. Heart rate indexes can provide critical information about how individuals monitor feedback cues indicating that performance should be adjusted. In this study,…

This study charts the terrain of research on writing during the 6-year period from 1999 to 2004, asking "What are current trends and foci in research on writing?" In examining a cross-section of writing research, the authors focus on four issues: (a) What are the general problems being investigated by contemporary writing researchers? Which of the…

The study examined the differential contributions on vocabulary and alphabetic skills of three literacy programs: (a) storybook reading program; (b) alphabetic skills program; and (c) a combined program. It was expected that storybook reading would enhance primarily vocabulary while alphabetic skills training would promote primarily alphabetic…

This paper examines the grammar of schooling and educational innovations that were being promulgated transnationally in the 1920s and 1930s. First, the paper explores how some elements of the grammar of schooling such as age grading, year-long courses of study and annual employment contracts for teachers were mediated by local circumstances in…

Empirical evidence of no age-related decline in life satisfaction (LS) in old age contrasts with frequently observed declines in the objective quality of elder people's lives and has therefore been labelled a "paradox" and interpreted in terms of stability of LS in the respective gerontological discussion. However, as this evidence was…

Since publication use of the WHOQOL-Bref has rapidly risen. However, as yet no population norms have been published as a reference point against which researchers can interpret their findings. This study provides preliminary population norms for this purpose. Randomly sampled community residents from two studies were pooled and used to examine the…