bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Psychometric Comparability of the English-and Spanish-Language Versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
Authors: Novy Diane M. , Nelson David V. , Smith Kevin G. , Rogers Patricia A. , Rowzee Robert D.
Published: March 2007

The psychometric adequacy of the English-and Spanish-language versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was compared across English-speaking Latino American women (n = 17) and men (n = 18) and Spanish-speaking Latino American women (n = 10) and men (n = 14) who were experiencing stressful and potentially anxiety-producing situations associated with physical pain. Subjects were administered the STAI as well as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) in their preferred language. Psychometric comparisons of language group and gender revealed nonsignificant differences in (a) mean scores on the STAIscales, (b) internal consistency for the STAI scales, and (c) correlations between the STAI scales and MMPI scales. Item analyses identified several salient screening itemsfor the Spanish-speaking men; several items with low item-remainder correlations were revealedfor the English-and Spanish-speaking women. Overall, results attest to the psychometric strengths of the English-and Spanish-language versions of the STAI.
Latina Mothers and Their Toddlers' Behavioral Difficulties
Authors: La Roche Martin J. , Turner Castellano , Kalick S. Michael
Published: March 2007

This research explores the relationships among the following variables: toddlers'behavioral difficulties, mothers'depression, mothers'self-efficacy, and mothers 'social support. Assessments were made of26 mothers and their 26 toddlers at two times, 3 months apart. The results of thefirst assessment were used as independent variables, and the results of the second assessment were used as the dependent variables, in a longitudinal panelanalysis model. Sixteen relationships were tested through four regression equations. These 16 relationships are inclusive of all associations among the variables. It wasfound that mothers'social supports predicted mothers'depression level, but depression did not predict mothers'social support. Mothers'social support was shown to be an important variable for the well-being of Latino mothers and toddlers.
Perceived Leisure Freedom and Activity Involvement among Mexican American Adolescents
Authors: Guinn Bobby , Semper Tom , Jorgensen Layne
Published: March 2007

This study examined the influence of perceptions of freedom in leisure on Mexican American adolescents' activity involvement. Subjects, 121 boys and 169 girls, ranged in age from 14 to 17 years and were drawn from a predominantly Mexican American population located in South Texas. Data were gathered through a self-report survey instrument consisting of a perceived freedom in leisure scale and an activity index. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between less perceived freedom to choose and participation as well as gender differences in perception of freedom from constraints to participating. Among boys, inability to satisfy intrinsic needs emerged as the strongest explanation of nonparticipation, whereas for girls lack of competence was.
Woman Abuse, Assimilation, and Self-Concept in a Rural Mexican American Community
Authors: Champion Jane Dimmitt
Published: March 2007

This study proposed to describe the effect of assimilation on self-concept and abuse in a rural, minority population of Mexican American women. Ethnic language translations were developed to enable investigation with a rural, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American population. Reassessment of reliability and validity of both English and Spanish translations of instrumentation for a rural population was performed. Data were collected through convenience sampling from both rural battered women's shelters and rural community service centers. Significant differences were found between groups of abused (n = 85) versus non-abused (n = 84) women on dimensions of self-concept. Assimilation variables found to be significantly correlated with self-concept for abused and non-abused Mexican American women included language, attitudes toward traditionalfamily structure, and values. Significant differences werefound between abused and non-abused Mexican American women in attitudes toward traditional family structure and sex-role identification.
The Role of Occupational Attainment, Labor Market Structure, and Earnings Inequality on the Relative Earnings of Mexican Americans: 1986-1992
Authors: Pagan Jose A. , Cardenas Gilberto
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes how the 1990-1991 recession and recent changes in U.S. immigration laws may have affected the employment and earnings of Mexican Americans. Using data from the 1986 and 1992 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (n = 2,091), the authors attempt to explain the decline in real earnings experienced by Mexican Americans during this period. The relative earnings of Mexican American males (females) fell from 92.41% (7767%) in 1986 to 82.54% (74.71%) in 1992. Although Mexican Americans seem to be relatively concentrated in low-paying occupations, recent changes in the U.S. wage structure may have worked to offset the observed decrease in relative earnings.
Mothers' and Fathers' Questions to Their Child in Mexican-Descent Families: Moderators of Cognitive Demand During Play
Authors: Tenenbaum Harriet R. , Leaper Campbell
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the cognitive demand in the questions directed to Mexicandescent children by theirmothers andfathers during play with three sets of toys. Nineteen boys and 18 girls were videotaped separately with each parent while playing with a feminine-stereotyped toy set (toy foods and plates) and a masculine-stereotyped toy set (toy track and cars). Both mothers and fathers asked more questions overall during the feminine-stereotyped play setting than during the masculine-stereotyped setting. Mothers asked proportionally more conceptual questions than did fathers. Other analyses revealed that child gender, language spoken, and education were significant predictors of mothers' question asking in either the feminine-or the masculine-stereotyped play setting. Attitudes toward gender equality predictedfathers' use of questions during the feminine-stereotyped setting. The findings are interpreted in relation to ecological and sociocultural models of parenting, gender, and child gender development.
Self-Assessment of Linguistic Skills by Bilingual Hispanics
Authors: Delgado Pedro , Guerrero Gabriela , Goggin Judith P. , Ellis Barbara B.
Published: March 2007

This study examines the ability of bilinguals to judge their linguistic competence. Participants evaluated their Spanish and English language skills both before and after administration of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey, which provided an objective measure of these skills. Self-assessments were more accurate for Spanish than for English and, in the case of English, varied with the skill being rated. Feedback from the objective test improved self-rating accuracy more for Spanish than for English. There was little support for the conclusion that the language in which the self-assessments are presented influences bilinguals’ self-ratings of their linguistic skills. Implications for the use of self-assessments in applied situations are discussed.
Mexican American Women’s Definitions of Rape and Sexual Abuse
Authors: Lira Luciana Ramos , Koss Mary P. , Russo Nancy Felipe
Published: March 2007

Focus group approach was used to explore concepts related to rape and sexual abuse among 17 Mexican immigrant women living in rural Arizona. The women discussed definitions of various forms of unwanted sexual experiences, their personal knowledge of someone who had been raped or sexually abused, and their perceptions of the roots of sexual abuse. Distinctions between rapto and violación, child versus adult rape (including marital rape), motivations for rape, and social factors contributing to victim silencing were identified. The meaning and perceived impact of rape reflected the gender relations of the culture. Keeping silent was a consistent theme, underscoring the difficulties of accurately assessing rape prevalence in Latinas. Research, prevention, intervention, and treatment programs need to recognize the social context and impact of rape and be designed accordingly. Participants reported many rape experiences, suggesting that underreporting is a major problem in estimating rape prevalence for Latinas.
The Impact of Different Information Sources on Idea Generation
Authors: GRAESSER ARTHUR C. , HOPKINSON PATRICIA L. , LEWIS ERIC W. , BRUFLODT HANK A.
Published: March 2007

College students wrote compositions that elicited their technical knowledge of economics, cancer, or growing flowers. They later completed a questionnaire that assessed which information sources had contributed to their knowledge about these topics. We analyzed the extent to which the number and the quality of the ideas generated could be predicted by four major information sources: formal education, mass media, social interaction, and direct experience. Most of the ideas generated were true, culturally familiar, and unsophisticated. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of some cognitive theories of the writing process.
The Politics of Meaning
Authors: WINTEROWD W. ROSS
Published: March 2007

The social sciences and humanities bring different attitudes and methods to the problem of meaning. From the “scientismic” point of view, meaning is quantifiable and is largely what Tulving called “verbal” knowledge. The scientismic view, however, is flawed in three ways: its failure to account adequately for “episodic” knowledge, to view language as an event, and to understand modes. The literarist view of meaning is equally flawed. However, the scientismists have most of the political power; hence, the literarists are losing the battle for their set of values and their versions of literacy. A realignment of literary studies under the aegis of rhetoric is necessary.
Toward an Understanding of Context in Composition
Authors: BRANDT DEBORAH
Published: March 2007

Contradictory approaches to context and written language have clouded understanding of the nature and role of context in composition. This article treats writing within a larger framework of context and language use in general to suggest important interrelationships among writer, context, and text. Implications for writing-process research are examined.
Becoming a Writer
Authors: HIMLEY MARGARET
Published: March 2007

This study is a phenomenological reading, or documentary account, of one child's early experiences as a writer. Through narrative, explication, and argument, I attempt to analyze Samantha's activity as a writer within a fuller portrayal of her as a person, by embedding her early literacy practices within the broader context of her expressive needs, social interactions and interests, and learning patterns in both formal and informal settings.
The Stases in Scientific and Literary Argument
Authors: FAHNESTOCK JEANNE , SECOR MARIE
Published: March 2007

This article explores the usefulness of identifying the stasis of an argument, that is, whether it concerns an issue of fact, definition, cause, value, or action. The stasis of an argument can be seen as a component that has to be justified. An author must either assume or overtly appeal to the value of addressing a particular audience on a topic in a particular stasis. Once this principle of rhetorical analysis is in place, it is especially useful as an approach in the current enterprise of analyzing the rhetoric of the disciplines. While arguments in public forums naturally exploit the full stases, arguments in disciplinary contexts usually concern only the first two. “Exemplary” arguments in representative issues of Science and PMLA are then analyzed for their stasis and how they justify arguing over the issues they address. While science articles open and reopen questions of fact, classification, and cause while assuming the value of their enterprise, articles in literary criticism are problematic. They concern issues of value that are to a great extent already granted by their audience.
Effects of Group Conferences on First Graders' Revision in Writing
Authors: FITZGERALD JILL , STAMM CAROL
Published: March 2007

Using a single-subjects-with-replicates design, this study investigated conference influence on first graders' knowledge about revision as well as revision activity. Sixteen children participated in group writing conferences with a teacher, in a natural classroom setting, every other week from February through June. Data from three baseline points and seven conference points were summarized. At conference data collection points, students wrote, conferred in groups with a teacher, were interviewed about potential revisions, and revised work in progress. At baseline points, the same events occurred, but there were no conferences. Two main variables were used to evaluate knowledge of the revision process: number of spots suggested for revision and average specificity of suggested changes. The main variable for actual revision activity was total number of revisions made. Final drafts were also rated for quality. Conferences did influence revision knowledge and revision activity for many children. However, the extent of conference influence was mediated by certain entry level student characteristics. Generally, the most positive effects occurred for students who began with the least amount of knowledge about revision, who were initially doing the least amount of revision, and who were initially writing pieces judged among the lowest in quality.
Dialogues of Deliberation
Authors: SPERLING MELANIE
Published: March 2007

Through the use of case study portraits, this article examines naturally occurring one-to-one writing conference conversations between a ninth-grade English teacher and three students in his class. Suggesting a broadened model of effective writing conference instruction, the article considers composing processes that appear to be privileged in the conference context when different students are learning to write. The focus is on the dialogic nature of markedly contrasting conversations, demonstrating that while dialogue wears many guises and while the give and take between teacher and student can be fleeting and “forgettable,” the conversational context contributes to a deliberative process critical to the process of composing. Methodology for the research on which this article is based drew on ethnographic techniques combined with discourse analysis of writing conference conversation.
The Influence of Interpretive Communities on Use of Content and Procedural Knowledge in a Writing Task
Authors: CHOU HARE VICTORIA , FITZSIMMONS DENISE A.
Published: March 2007

In this study, we analyzed how students from different interpretive communities shape their academic texts. Prospective educational researchers, prospective reading specialists, prospective teachers, and prospective nurses read an educational research article from which we had deleted the discussion section. After they had read the article, subjects completed it by writing a discussion section. We analyzed subjects' texts in terms of writers' manipulation of both content and procedural knowledge. Our findings suggest that mere participation in an interpretive community without explicit instruction in its ways of writing can enhance students' ability to write in that community. Our findings also suggest that participation in one interpretive community can facilitate writing in another community, provided the communities share discourse conventions.
Ecological Theories as Cultural Narratives
Authors: JOURNET DEBRA
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the work of two American ecologists of the first half of the twentieth century, F. E. Clements and H. A. Gleason, who differed in terms of their understanding of community succession—that is, how ecological communities change over time. Clements's and Gleason's debate about the nature of ecological communities demonstrates, first, that in considering questions of succession, ecologists are constructing and testing plausible narratives. Second, it suggests that the structures of scientific narratives resemble structures of other cultural narratives in depending, at least to some extent, on cultural assumptions and values. The presence of these competing stories about ecological data thus calls attention to the importance of narrative as an interpretive and rhetorical strategy in scientific discourse.
To Write or Not to Write
Authors: PENROSE ANN M.
Published: March 2007

This study explores the assumption that writing is a way to learn by examining the influence of task interpretation on writing and studying as learning aids. Forty college freshmen performed two tasks: reading-to-write and reading-to-study. Approaches to each task were categorized to test for effects of task interpretation. Students answered passage-specific comprehension questions after each task and gave think-aloud protocols as they worked. To assess learning processes, protocol transcripts were analyzed using a taxonomy of cognitive operations. Writing led to lower scores than studying on two of four comprehension measures. Writing and studying led to different patterns of cognitive operations when students worked with a fact-based source passage, but (a) these differences interacted with task interpretation, and (b) virtually no effects of task were observed on a more abstract passage. Results indicate that task interpretation and the nature of the material to be learned are important mediating variables in the relationship between writing and learning.
When the Messenger is the Message
Authors: HATCH JILL A. , HILL CHARLES A. , HAYES JOHN R.
Published: March 2007

Although social psychologists have studied how people form impressions of others either through viewing them, listening to them speak, or reading written descriptions of them, researchers have not looked extensively at the ways in which readers form impressions of writers' personalities while reading their texts. This article reports on a series of studies in which different groups of readers were asked to respond to essays written by high school students applying for college admission. Our findings suggest that independent readers' impressions of writers' personalities overlap far more than would be expected by chance, that readers' impressions of writers' personalities can have practical consequences for writers, and that texts can be revised so as to influence, in predicted ways, the types of personality traits that readers are likely to infer.
Invention and Writing in Technical Work
Authors: WINSOR DOROTHY A.
Published: March 2007

Traditionally, invention has been regarded as relatively unimportant in technical writing because of the widely held notion that technologists generate their ideas prior to writing. It has recently been argued, however, that studies of situated writing encounter difficulties due to restricted ideas of writing and text. For instance, if writing means only transcribing extended pieces of prose, then it is difficult to account for the way invention is performed in technical writing. The wider idea of writing allows us to look differently at this instance of situated writing. Using this wider idea, a study of 3 engineering students engaged in a real-world project shows that the technical work of the project and invention for the students' final report were actually simultaneous rather than sequential activities. Moreover, writing in the form of notes and lists contributed to technical work and served to make knowledge communal among group members. In the technical writing examined here, invention for writing, invention through writing, and technical invention itself heavily overlapped.
Effects of Training for Peer Response on Students' Comments and Interaction
Authors: Zhu Wei
Published: March 2007

This project investigated the effects of training for peer response in university freshman composition classes over the course of one 15-week semester. Eight sections of composition (total n = 169) participated. Students in the experimental group, composed of four sections, were trained via teacher-student conferences in which the teacher met students in groups of three to develop and practice strategies for peer response. Students in the control group, also four sections, received no systematic training aside from viewing a video example. The experimental and the control groups were compared with respect to the quantity and quality of feedback generated on peer writing as well as student interaction during peer response sessions. Analyses of data indicated that training students for peer response led to significantly more and significantly better-quality peer feedback and livelier discussion in the experimental group.
Conceptual Metaphor as Rhetorical Response
Authors: EUBANKS PHILIP
Published: March 2007

Writing studies has been all but silent on the subject of metaphor because no theory has sufficiently forged a connection between the way metaphor works and what we actually say and write. Even the best accounts of metaphor put forward by proponents of conceptual metaphor do not consider important patterns of variation that concrete data reveal. Presenting findings from a study of the conceptual metaphor trade is war, the author offers a reconsideration of metaphor that refutes the standard Aristotelian view of metaphor and substantially expands upon current understandings of conceptual metaphor. Like all language, metaphors are fundamentally responsive. They are therefore implicated in a rhetorically constituted give and take among related groupings of metaphors and literal concepts. Moreover, metaphors are inflected by speakers' and writers' social commitments and are constrained by a concomitant rhetorical etiquette.
Continuous Learning Through the Educative Community: an Exploration of the Family- Educational, the Sequential-Unit, and the Complementary-Functional Systems
Authors: Essert Paul L. , Spence Ralph B.
Published: March 2007

The authors propose a definition of the educative community and identify three major component systems: the family system; the sequential-unit system, which includes schools, colleges, and uni versities ; and the complementary-functional system, which pro vides systematic learning not learned or inadequately learned in the other two systems. The paper analyzes the elements, resources, and needs of the educative community; discusses the implications for program planning; and suggests some of the responsibilities of adult educators to the three systems of the educative community. The writers conclude that continuous learning has become a crit ical necessity and will be achieved most effectively when all the educational activities in the community work to enhance it.
Information Sources, Dogmatism, and Judgmental Modifications
Authors: Long Huey B.
Published: March 2007

Teachers of adults, supervisors, personnel directors, and others are often concerned with the relative influence of the status of information sources upon the behavior of individuals. Therefore, this study was designed to provide an experimental situation wherein this question could be explored through the manipula tion of differing variables. Accordingly 36 Ss were divided among three treatments with each treatment group further sub-divided into two groups.

The findings reported in the study have been interpreted as sug gesting that peer group information may be assimilated and con formed with more readily than similar information from a superior in the employment situation; and dogmatism may not be a de pendable variable in conforming judgmental decisions. The experi ment data were analyzed by an analysis of variance technique extended to include a 2X3 factional analysis using the q statistic.
Analysis of the Performance of Adult Women in Missouri On Three General Examinations of the College Level Examination Program
Authors: Fagin Margaret C.
Published: March 2007

Between September, 1967 and February, 1968, three of the Gen eral Examinations of the College Level Examination Program were administered to 319 Missouri women, aged 25-73, for the purpose of comparing their test performance with that of regularly enrolled freshman and sophomore college women, and of developing norma tive data for adult women. Personal data provided several vari ables which were analyzed to determine which ones were signifi cantly related to satisfactory performance on these tests. Recency of formal enrollment in school or college was significant at the 5% level only for the Natural Sciences test. These and other find ings have important implications for counselors of adults, college admissions officers, and employers of mature women.
A Multi-Phasic Motivational Paradigm for Adult Education
Authors: Berry Dick
Published: March 2007

This essay analyzes motivational factors which influence managers from business and industry in their selection and attendance in management development programs. A multi-phasic motivational paradigm is generated. The paradigm relates the motivational forces evolving from a person's basic drives, job-related knowledge needs, and dynamic motivation in an ultimate educative situation.
The Cloze Procedure: a New Tool for Adult Education
Authors: Robinson Richard D.
Published: March 2007

This study presents the results of an investigation into the use of the cloze procedure using a group of adults with limited reading ability. Several segments of this problem were studied. The re search sought to test three types of cloze construction as predictors of a standardized reading test. The cloze procedure was also evalu ated in relation to several readability formulas in ranking seven prose passages. In addition, information was gathered on the opinions of cloze held by the population. Multiple regression analyses indicated that 1-5 cloze deletion was a significant pre dictor of a standardized reading test. A rank order correlation between the ranking of seven passages by cloze as compared with rankings using readability formulas was not significant. The results of the cloze opinion survey indicated a positive feeling toward the cloze procedure.
The Relationship Between Group Process Training and Group Problem Solving
Authors: Pankowski Mary L. , Schroeder Wayne L. , Jahns Irwin
Published: March 2007

The study was designed to investigate the relationship be tween group process training and group effectiveness.

The sixteen individuals who registered for Program Develop ment and Evaluation at The Florida State University during the winter quarter of 1972 constituted the sample selected for this study. Registrants were matched and randomly assigned to two groups of eight members each based on their scores on Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale, Form E, a questionnaire regarding their previous group process training and/or experience in groups, and a Pre- Test of Program Development and Evaluation.

The experimental group received twelve hours of group pro cess training from an experienced trainer over a two-day period prior to their beginning work on the problems submitted to them.

The group process data were collected by two trained raters from the tape recordings and transcriptions of the group meetings using Jahns' Performance Rating Instrument. The quality of the problem solutions as evidenced in the group products was assessed by two professors of Adult Education at Florida State University.

Statistical tests of the data revealed a significantly greater dis tribution of participation among the members of the trained group; the trained group made a significantly smaller percentage of self- oriented contributions and a higher percentage of group oriented contributions than did the untrained group. With the exception of one product, the group which received the group process train ing produced significantly higher quality solutions to problems sub mitted to it.
Learning Orientations and Participation in Self-Education and Continuing Education
Authors: Dickinson Gary , Clark Kathleen M.
Published: March 2007

This study explored the nature of the relationship between learning orientations and participation by adults in learning activi ties. The typology suggested by Houle and extended by others provided the framework for the investigation of learning orienta tions. The categories of self-education and continuing education suggested by Verner and others were used to analyze learning activities. The theoretical framework proposed that different learn ing orientations would be associated with varying levels of partici pation in self-education and continuing education.

Six research hypotheses derived from the theoretical frame work were tested with a sample consisting of 220 female registered nurses. The instruments used were Sheffield's Continuing Learning Orientation Index and two eleven-item measures of participation in self-education and continuing education. The factors identified from the Sheffield instrument were similar to those found in other applications of the same instrument and consistent with the Houle typology. The factor named "learning orientation" was clearly related to participation both in self-education and continuing education, but there was a mixed pattern of relationships with respect to the other learning orientations. It was concluded that there was still a need to determine more accurately the utility of learning orientations as predictors of participation in different types of learning activities.
The Hidden Role of Fraternal Organizations in the Education of Black Adults: Prince Hall Freemasonry as a Case Study
Authors: Muraskin William
Published: March 2007

Among middle class blacks, people whose aspirations for suc cess and status have been strong but whose economic and occu pational base for achievement has been weak, the desire for edu cation, broadly conceived, including manners and social graces, intellectual and practical business skills, citizenship training, and moral instruction has been overpowering. One of the places they have received the education they have desired has been from a multi-faceted institution not normally associated with learning; one that performs educational tasks outside a formal institutional framework: Prince Hall Freemasonry, the black branch of the international Freemasonic Order. The fraternity's continuous role as "educator" for the last 200 years is discussed.
Effects of Increased Ged Score Requirements: The Wisconsin Experience
Authors: Martin Larry G.
Published: March 2007

In Wisconsin, the status of the GED as a "high school equivalency diploma" was recently challenged and subsequently higher score requirements were adopted. Currently Wisconsin has the most rigorous score requirements in the United States. This article reports the findings of an ex post facto study which investigated the effects of the increased standards on GED examinees. The study utilized both test and demographic data from a sample of 960 examinees: 480 of whom took the tests before the new standards were implemented and 480 who took the tests after they were operationalized. Statistically significant positive and negative effects were observed regarding academic preparation and performance, GED status, and academic and economic benefits of passing the tests experienced by examinees who took the tests after the higher standards were imposed.
The Centrality of Meaning-Making in Transformational Learning: How HIV-Positive Adults Make Sense of their Lives
Authors: Courtenay Bradley C. , Merriam Sharan B. , Reeves Patricia M.
Published: March 2007

At the heart of transformational learning is meaning-making—the act of "making sense" of an experience. A review of the literature on adult and transformational learning, adult development, and counseling revealed that there are few detailed descriptions of the process of meaning-making. The purpose of this study was to understand how meaning is constructed in the lives of those diagnosed as HIV-positive. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a sample of 18 HIV-positive men and women. Using the constant comparative method, an inductive analysis of the data revealed a process for meaning-making that involves a period of initial reaction to the diagnosis, a catalytic experience that sets into motion the meaning-making process, and three distinct yet interrelated phases of reflection and activity. The findings not only provide a clearly delineated description of the meaning-making process, they also reveal unique contributions that underscore the centrality of meaning-making in transformational learning.
Divorce/Divorce Potential and Interparental Conflict: The Relationship to Early Adolescent Social and Cognitive Functioning
Authors: Forehand Rex , Brody Gene , Long Nicholas , Slotkin Jerry , Fauber Robert
Published: March 2007

In the present study early adolescent social and cognitive performance was examined as a function of interparental conflict, divorce potential, and divorce. Fifty-six 11-15 year old adolescents served as subjects. Mothers completed measures of interparental conflict and, for those who were married, divorce potential. Adolescents and their social study teachers completed measures of social and cognitive functioning. Each adolescent's grade point average was also calculated. A series of 2x3 analyses of covariance with two between-subject factors (conflict: low and high; marital status/divorce potential: married with low divorce potential, married with high divorce potential, and divorced) revealed no significant effects on adolescent-completed measures. Teacher-completed measures and grade point average, however, indicated that the adolescents in the Divorced/High Conflict group were functioning less well than those in the other groups. Divorce potential did not significantly impact adolescent functioning. The results were discussed in terms of adolescents' perceptions of their functioning and in terms of divorce and interparental conflict serving as stressors.
Pregnancy Risk Taking among Adolescents
Authors: Philliber Susan , Namerow Pearila Brickner , Kaye Jacqueline Williams , Kunkes Claudette Hammer
Published: March 2007

This research tests the utility of Kristin Luker's cost-benefit theory for adding to explanations of pregnancy risk taking among teenagers. The data come from interviews with 425 teen women in New York. The findings offer support for the Luker model since in an equation also including background variables and level of ego development, four of the six Luker variables (the subjective probabilities of pregnancy and abortion and the disadvantages of pregnancy and birth control) were significantly related to pregnancy risk taking. The most parsimonious model to explain risk taking includes five Luker variables, as well as welfare history, a measure of previous risk taking, and level of ego development.
The Importance of School in the Life Course: Results from the Bielefeld Study on School-Related Problems in Adolescence
Authors: Hurrelmann Klaus
Published: March 2007

This paper reports the results of a seven-year longitudinal case study that analyzes the biographic importance of school for the life course of adolescents in West Germany. First, an overview of the German school system and its social-status implications is given. The results of our empirical study clearly show that adolescents' educational and occupational expectations are related to their place in the Federal Republic of Germany's stratified system of secondary schools. Our panel study was undertaken to learn how 40 adolescents aged 14 at the first wave and 21 at the last wave of questioning perceive the social and structural changes in their living conditions, in particular their educational and vocational opportunities, and how they rate their school time in relation to their individual biographies. The findings reveal that school is primarily judged to be of instrumental value, useful for acquiring the marks of adult status. Especially students with low achievement levels are at risk of showing problem behavior if they perceive their time at school as a wasted time and find it difficult under these unfavorable conditions to plan their future lives. Finally, some implications for improving the quality of school as a socializing setting and for improving the social support function of schools are discussed.
Adolescent Males' Sexual Behavior and Contraceptive Use: Implications for Male Responsibility
Authors: Pleck Joseph H. , Sonenstein Freya L. , Swain Scott O.
Published: March 2007

In data from the 1979 National Survey of Young Men, slightly under a fifth (17. 1%) of never married 17-21 year old metropolitan-area males reported using a condom at first intercourse, and almost the same propor tion (15.5%) reported condom use at most recent intercourse. In addi tion, withdrawal was also frequently reported as a contraceptive method (10.0 and 7.4%). Condom use had both positive and negative correlates. It was associated with being older at first intercourse, having higher actual or aspired education, having a closer relationship with the partner, and believing the male has sole contraceptive responsibility. At the same time, in their current sexual behavior, condom users tended to be youn ger, and not to believe in shared responsibility for contraception. These data may be interpreted as indicating that adolescent males abdicate responsibility for contraception as they become more sexually experi enced. Alternatively, these data may show that condom use is develop mentally a transitional phenomenon, and that male responsibility takes different forms later (compared to earlier) in adolescent males' sexual experience.
Student Goals for Out-of-School Learning Activities
Authors: Bergin David A.
Published: March 2007

This study used a goal-oriented motivation framework. The goals that high school-age adolescents held for their out-of-school learning activities were investigated. Two different approaches to goals were examined: (a) goal setting-the process of specifying desired outcomes and a self-regulated learning strategy, and (b) goal content -the life aims that people have that direct their behavior. Sixty-six students were interviewed. Few of the adolescents used goal-setting techniques effectively; only eight had a plan or series of subgoals necessary for achieving their major goal. Goal content categories that were mentioned most often were affective (feel good), self-assertive (competition), and integrative (social). The two specific goals mentioned most often were belongingness and superiority. However, when students ranked their goals by importance, affective and cognitive goals were equally common. Implications for schooling are discussed.
Social Supports and Living Arrangements of Adolescent and Adult Mothers
Authors: Wasserman Gail A. , Brunelli Susan A. , Rauh Virginia A.
Published: March 2007

Social support may buffer the potenttial stresses of childrearing, which may be most acute among adolescent mothers because of their increased likelihood of poverty and single motherhood. The present study examined amount, type. and sources of support, associations with living arrangements, and the qualitv of the child-rearing environment among 144 adolescents (age 5 18 years) and 139 adults (age a 20 years) matched for SES and ethnicity. Current living arrangements included liv ing with partner, own mother, other adults, or alone with children. Postpartum and 12 months later, adolescent mothers reported more of all types of support and received more supportfrom their own mothers than did the adult new mothers. Household composition affected all aspects of social support. regardless of maternal age. Finally, older mothers anid those living with partners prov ided more optimal home environments. The patterni for adolescent mothers, that of remaining with their own mothers following childbirth, provided increased support but mas not foster an optimal child-rearing environment.
Varieties of Identity Diffusions and Foreclosures
Authors: Archer Sally L. , Waterman Alan S.
Published: March 2007

According to Eriksoniani theory, the healthy formnulation of an identity requires a moratorium. Several decades of research reveal, however, that a majority of individuals from adolescence through aduilthood have addressed identity concerns through commitment without exploration of alternatives (foreclosure), or have simply lacked engagementt in identity activiy (diffusiont). In this article, subcategories of these two unsophisticated identity statuses are described. Diffusion is subdivided into precrisis, apathetic, alienated, pathological, marginally involved, and commitment-avoiding types. Subcategories of foreclosure include open, closed, premature, late developing, and appropriated types. Possible relationships between the postulated subcategories and the preadolescenit psychosocial stages discussed by Erikson, as well as the part-conflicts of the identity task are explored. These subcategories have the potential to expand one's untderstantding of the pathways of identity formation and may be useful in the development of educational and countselinig research strategies.
Family Decision Making and Academic Performance in a Diverse High School Population
Authors: Dornbusch Sanford M. , Ritter Philip L. , Mont-Reynaud Randy , Chen Zeng-yin
Published: March 2007

This article reports the relation betweenfamily decision-making behaviors and academic performance as measured by student effort and grades among a sample of youths from diverse family structures and socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. Youths and a subset of their parents reported on how families made decisions on adolescent issues. Granting adolescents too-early autonomy in decision making was associated with lower levels of effort and lower grades, while joint decision making was associated with more effort and higher grades for youth of both sexes, regardless of ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Parents and youths had quite different perceptions of their roles in family decision making; greater disagreement was associated with lower school grades. The occasional departures from the general findings are explained in terms of the cognitive interpretations that shape youths'perceptions.
Social Network Influences on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors
Authors: Treboux Dominique , Busch-Rossnagel Nancy A.
Published: March 2007

Within a socialization paradigm, a model was developed and tested to examine social network influences on adolescent sexual behavior and contraceptive use. It was hypothesized that the social network influences of parents and peers would affect the contraceptive knowledge and premarital sexual attitudes of adolescents. In turn, knowledge and attitudes were expected to influence sexual behavior and contraceptive use. The sample comprised 161 male and 200 female high school students. Results from the LISREL analyses indicated that the model was a good fit to the data and that the model differed significantly between males and females and between virgins and nonvirgins. Approximately 50% of the variance was explainedfor virgin and nonvirgin females, and for virgin males. Parents were more influential for males, whereas friends were more important for females. The transition to nonvirginity seems to produce a greater change in the social environment offemales than of males.
Older Adolescents' Perceptions of Communication Problems with Their Parents
Authors: Vangelisti Anita L.
Published: March 2007

The transition from adolescence to adulthood involves a relational renegotiation that, at least in part, is reflected in communication. This study describes the communication difficulties that older adolescents felt they had experienced with their parents and explored whether those communication problems or the perceived qualities of the problems are more strongly associated with relational satisfaction. Results indicated that the most frequent type of current communication problem involved personal criticism. Past problems were more likely to focus on parent-adolescent tensions related to behavioral restriction. There were few significant differences between very satisfied and dissatisfied adolescents in terms of the types of difficulties reported. However, older adolescents' attributions for their past and present communication problems significantly predicted their current satisfaction. Particularly notable is the finding that the specific type of problem experienced by adolescents may contribute substantially less to their satisfaction with parents than the ways they interpret the problems.
Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents
Authors: Stern Marilyn , Alvarez Aracelly
Published: March 2007

This study comlpared pregnant adolescents intending to relinquish their infants, pregnant adolescents intending to parent, and parenting adolescents on measures of coping and psychosocial adjustment. Comparisons were also made either to a group ofnonpregnant adolescents or to norms. Pregnant adolescents intending to relinquish their infants showed better overall levels of self-image than pregnant adolescents intending to parent, and parenting adolescents. Parenting adolescents showed significantly more disruption in specific areas of psychosocial adjustment than pregnant adolescents intending to parent. These differences were discussed as target areas for intervention. The parenting experience also affected the types of coping strategies used by adolescents. Both groups, pregnant adolescents and nonpregnant adolescents, were more likely to use less active coping strategies than parenting adolescents. A negative relationship found between these less active forms of coping and psychosocial adjustment underscored the importance of targeting individual differences in adolescents' responses to the stressors of pregnancy and parenthood.
Ethnicity and Effects of Age Gap between Unmarried Adolescent Mothers and Partners
Authors: Fernandez Marilyn , Ruch-Ross Holly S. , Montague Anne P.
Published: March 2007

This article examines ethnic differences in the effects of the age gap between unmarried adolescent mothers and their partners. Effects are identified bothfor unmarried adolescent mothers and their children who, between 1986 and 1988, had participated in programs for pregnant and parenting adolescents located in poor, resource-deprived communities across Illinois. Partners of one out offive Black adolescents were at least 5 years older than the unmarried adolescent; an age gap this large was reported by one out offour White mothers. Examination of multivariate logit models suggested that the effects of large age gaps between unmarried adolescent mothers and their partners were potentially positive for children but negative for mothers. These results, however, held for White but not for Black adolescents and their children. The findings highlight the necessity for interventions that simultaneously address the needs of the unmarried adolescent mother, her partner, and their child.
AIDS-Related Items for Developing an AIDS Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents
Authors: Paniagua Freddy A. , O'Boyle Michael , Wagner Karen Dineen , Ramirez Sylvia Z. , Holmes William D. , Nieto J. Felipe , Smith Eric M.
Published: March 2007

This study presents a pool of AIDS-related items that researchers and clinicians could use to develop self-report AIDS questionnaires for children and adolescents. A total of 352AIDS-related itemsfrom 18AIDSsurvey studies involving children and adolescents, ranging in age from 10 to 21 years, were submitted to content analysis. Unique items with 85% agreement among raters, and items with the higher percentage of agreement (85% or above) among repeated items, were selected. On the basis of these criteria, 164 AIDS-related items were identified AIDS-related items were integrated intofwve mutually exclusive, theoretically defined groups: (a)factual knowledge, (b) misconceptions, (c) attitudes, (d) perceived susceptibility, and (e) perceived self-efficacy. Selection of itemsfrom these groups could lead to the development of a comprehensive and uniform self-report AIDS questionnaire for children and adolescents, and to meaningful comparisons of AIDS surveys by researchers and clinicians using similar items.