bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The validity of physical aggression in predicting adolescent academic performance
Authors: Loveland James M. , Lounsbury John W. , Welsh Deborah , Buboltz Walter C. 
Published: September 2006

Background. Aggression has a long history in academic research as both a criterion and a predictor variable and it is well documented that aggression is related to a variety of poor academic outcomes such as: lowered academic performance, absenteeism and lower graduation rates. However, recent research has implicated physical aggression as being predictive of lower academic performance.Aims. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits of agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion and physical aggression in predicting the grade point averages (GPA) of adolescent students and to investigate whether or not there were differences in these relationships between male and female students.Sample. A sample of 992 students in grades 9 to 12 from a high school in south‐eastern USA as part of a larger study examining the students' preparation for entry into the workforce.Method. The study was correlational in nature: students completed a personality inventory developed by the second author with the GPA information supplied by the school.Results. Results indicated that physical aggression accounts for 16% of variance in GPA and it adds 7% to the prediction of GPA beyond the Big Five. The Big Five traits added only 1.5% to the prediction of GPA after controlling for physical aggression. Interestingly, a significantly larger amount of variance in GPA was predicted by physical aggression for females than for males.Conclusions. Aggression accounts for significantly more variance in the GPA of females than for males, even when controlling for the Big Five personality factors. Future research should examine the differences in the expression of aggression in males and females, as well as how this is affecting interactions between peers and between students and their teachers.
Using a multitrait‐multimethod analysis to examine conceptual similarities of three self‐regulated learning inventories
Authors: Muis Krista R. , Winne Philip H. , Jamieson‐Noel Dianne 
Published: September 2006

Background. A programme of construct validity research is necessary to clarify previous research on self‐regulation and to provide a stronger basis for future research.Aim. A multitrait‐multimethod (MTMM) analysis was conducted to assess convergent and discriminant validity of three self‐regulation measures: the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI; Weinstein, 1987), the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993) and the Meta‐cognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI; Schraw & Dennison, 1994). Method bias across all three inventories was also examined.Sample and method. Three hundred and eighteen undergraduate university students (255 female, 61 male, 2 did not specify) were recruited from various courses to participate in research on perceptions about studying and study methods. Participants spent 30–60 minutes completing all three inventories.Results. Evidence for convergent validity was found at the matrix level, but was attenuated when examined at the individual parameter level. Evidence for discriminant validity among traits was modest, and common method bias was evident across all three measures.Conclusions. Results revealed the three inventories yielded different results, which suggests that researchers should be selective in the inventory they use to assess self‐regulated learning (SRL).
Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Cognitive effects at 10–12 years
Authors: Topping K. J. , Trickey S. 
Published: September 2006

Background. Debates about the modifiability of cognitive ability have been largely resolved by reports of successful ‘thinking skills’ interventions. However, such interventions are very diverse and generalization of effects relatively little explored.Aims. This study investigated whether a thinking skills intervention involving collaborative interactive dialogue could lead not only to gains in measured verbal cognitive ability but also generalization to non‐verbal and quantitative reasoning ability.Sample. Randomly selected intervention children were aged 10 at pre‐test (N = 105, four classes/schools). Controls followed a normal curriculum (N = 72, three classes/two schools).Method. Intervention children engaged in collaborative enquiry for 1 hour per week over 16 months. The control group received normal classroom experiences. The Cognitive Abilities Test was administered before and after the intervention.Results. Intervention pupils showed significant standardized gains in verbal and also in non‐verbal and quantitative aspects of reasoning, consistent across intervention schools. Boys and girls made significant gains. The highest quartile of pre‐test ability showed the smallest gains. Controls did not gain in any aspect.Conclusions. Philosophical enquiry involving interactive dialogue led not only to significant gains in measured verbal cognitive ability but also generalization to non‐verbal and quantitative reasoning ability, consistent across schools and largely irrespective of pupil gender and ability. The effect sizes from this large‐scale field trial in one local authority exceeded those reported in the literature. Implications for theory building, replicability and sustainability are addressed.
Bullies and victims at school: Are they the same pupils?
Authors: Solberg Mona E. , Olweus Dan , Endresen Inger M. 
Published: September 2006

Background. The reported prevalence of bully‐victims and aggressive/provocative victims varies quite considerably in previous research, and only a few studies have reported prevalence rates across grades. There is also a lack of detailed analyses of the extent to which victims are also bullies, and bullies are also victims.Aims. To study the prevalence of male and female bully‐victims across grade/age and to establish the degree of overlap or relative size of the bully‐victim group by relating them to all victims, all bullies and all involved students.Samples. Participants in Study 1 were 5,171 pupils in grades 5–9 from 37 schools. Study 2 comprised 12,983 pupils in grades 4–10 from 66 schools.Methods. The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was administered to the pupils in their ordinary classrooms.Results. The prevalence of bully‐victims was low and mainly declined across grades. There were far more boys than girls in the bully‐victim group. Bully‐victims resembled victims only (pure victims) in terms of age‐trends and bullies only (pure bullies) in terms of sex composition. The overlap of bully‐victims with the total victim group was fairly small (10–20%) in all grades. In primary grades, bully‐victims constituted about 30–50% of the total bully group, whereas in higher grades these proportions were considerably lower.Conclusion. Our analyses and overview of previous research suggest that the bully‐victim group is small, and that the large variations across studies are mainly due to differences in choice of cutoff point. Bully‐victims should generally be seen and treated statistically as a distinct subgroup. The relatively larger proportion of bully‐victims in lower grades should be explored further.
Stereotype threat in classroom settings: The interactive effect of domain identification, task difficulty and stereotype threat on female students' maths performance
Authors: Keller Johannes 
Published: September 2006

Background. Stereotype threat research revealed that negative stereotypes can disrupt the performance of persons targeted by such stereotypes. This paper contributes to stereotype threat research by providing evidence that domain identification and the difficulty level of test items moderate stereotype threat effects on female students' maths performance.Aims. The study was designed to test theoretical ideas derived from stereotype threat theory and assumptions outlined in the Yerkes–Dodson law proposing a nonlinear relationship between arousal, task difficulty and performance.Sample. Participants were 108 high school students attending secondary schools.Method. Participants worked on a test comprising maths problems of different difficulty levels. Half of the participants learned that the test had been shown to produce gender differences (stereotype threat). The other half learned that the test had been shown not to produce gender differences (no threat). The degree to which participants identify with the domain of maths was included as a quasi‐experimental factor.Results. Maths‐identified female students showed performance decrements under conditions of stereotype threat. Moreover, the stereotype threat manipulation had different effects on low and high domain identifiers' performance depending on test item difficulty. On difficult items, low identifiers showed higher performance under threat (vs. no threat) whereas the reverse was true in high identifiers. This interaction effect did not emerge on easy items.Conclusions. Domain identification and test item difficulty are two important factors that need to be considered in the attempt to understand the impact of stereotype threat on performance.
Predicting academic self‐handicapping in different age groups: The role of personal achievement goals and social goals
Authors: Leondari Angeliki. , Gonida Eleftheria. 
Published: September 2006

Background. Academic self‐handicapping refers to the use of impediments to successful performance on academic tasks. Previous studies have shown that it is related to personal achievement goals. A performance goal orientation is a positive predictor of self‐handicapping, whereas a task goal orientation is unrelated to self‐handicapping.Aims. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between academic self‐handicapping, goal orientations (task, performance‐approach, performance‐avoidance), social goals, future consequences and achievement in mathematics. An additional aim was to investigate grade‐level and gender differences in relation to academic self‐handicapping.Sample. Participants were 702 upper elementary, junior and senior high school students with approximately equal numbers of girls and boys.Results. There were no grade‐level or gender differences as regards the use of self‐handicapping. The correlations among the variables revealed that, when the whole sample was considered, self‐handicapping was positively related to performance goal orientations and pleasing significant others and negatively to achievement in mathematics. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that, in upper elementary and junior high schools, the association between achievement in mathematics and self‐handicapping was mediated by performance‐avoidance goals. In senior high school, only task goal orientation was a negative predictor of self‐handicapping.
Future goal setting, task motivation and learning of minority and non‐minority students in Dutch schools
Authors: Andriessen Iris , Phalet Karen , Lens Willy 
Published: September 2006

Background. Cross‐cultural research on minority school achievement yields mixed findings on the motivational impact of future goal setting for students from disadvantaged minority groups. Relevant and recent motivational research, integrating Future Time Perspective Theory with Self‐Determination Theory, has not yet been validated among minority students.Aims. To replicate across cultures the known motivational benefits of perceived instrumentality and internal regulation by distant future goals; to clarify when and how the future motivates minority students' educational performance.Sample. Participants in this study were 279 minority students (100 of Turkish and 179 of Moroccan origin) and 229 native Dutch students in Dutch secondary schools.Methods. Participants rated the importance of future goals, their perceptions of instrumentality, their task motivation and learning strategies. Dependent measures and their functional relations with future goal setting were simultaneously validated across minority and non‐minority students, using structural equation modelling in multiple groups.Results. As expected, Positive Perceived Instrumentality for the future increases task motivation and (indirectly) adaptive learning of both minority and non‐minority students. But especially internally regulating future goals are strongly related to more task motivation and indirectly to more adaptive learning strategies.Conclusion. Our findings throw new light on the role of future goal setting in minority school careers: distant future goals enhance minority and non‐minority students' motivation and learning, if students perceive positive instrumentality and if their schoolwork is internally regulated by future goals.
Thirty years on – a large anti‐Flynn effect? The Piagetian test Volume & Heaviness norms 1975–2003
Authors: Shayer Michael , Ginsburg Denise , Coe Robert 
Published: September 2006

Background. Volume & Heaviness was one of three Piagetian tests used in the CSMS survey in 1975/76. However unlike psychometric tests showing the Flynn effect – that is with students showing steady improvements year by year requiring tests to be restandardized – it appeared that the performance of Y7 students has recently been getting steadily worse.Aims. A sample of schools sufficiently large and representative was chosen so that the hypothesis of worsening performance could be tested, and estimated quantitatively.Sample. Sixty‐nine Y7 school year groups containing pupil data on the Volume & Heaviness test and the University of Durham CEM Centre MidYIS test were located giving a sample of 10, 023 students covering the years 2000 to 2003.Method. Regression of the students' school mean on Volume & Heaviness on the schools' mean MidYIS 1999 standardized score, and computing the regression at MidYS = 100 allows comparison with that found in 1976.Results. The mean drops in scores from 1976 to 2003 were boys = 1.13 and girls = 0.6 levels. A differential of 0.50 standard deviations in favour of boys in 1976 had completely disappeared by the year 2002. Between 1976 and 2003 the effect‐size of the drop in the boys' performance was 1.04 standard deviations, and for girls was 0.55 standard deviations.Conclusion. The idea that children leaving primary school are getting more and more intelligent and competent – whether it is viewed in terms of the Flynn effect, or in terms of government statistics on performance in Key Stage 2 SATS in mathematics and science – is put into question by these findings.
Severity of Alzheimer's disease and effect on premorbid measures of intelligence
Authors: McFarlane Jean , Welch John , Rodgers Jacqui 
Published: September 2006

Objectives To assess the robustness of the National Adult Reading Test (NART), Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR), Cambridge Contextual Reading Test (CCRT), Spot the Word (STW), and a demographic regression equation in estimating premorbid ability in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD).Design A cross‐sectional multiple measures design.Method Sixty‐six probable AD participants were classified into stages of severity according to their Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (minimal 24 to 28; mild 14 to 23). Their scores on the NART, WTAR, CCRT, STW and a demographic equation were compared with 32 healthy age matched controls.Results Significant between‐group differences were found for the tests of reading ability (NART, WTAR and CCRT). The mild group made significantly more errors than the control and minimal groups. For the mild group, there was an advantage of putting the NART words into context (CCRT), but this group still made significantly more errors than the control and minimal groups. The NART was compared with the demographic estimate and there was a significant difference for the mild group with the demographic estimate providing a higher estimate. This was not the case for the control or minimal groups. There was no significant difference between the groups on the lexical decision task (STW).Conclusion Reading of irregular words is compromised in AD for those with a MMSE score in the range of 14 to 23. A lexical decision task may provide a more accurate estimate of premorbid intelligence in those with mild AD. Further research is needed to provide evidence of STW's correlation with current ability.
The effectiveness and quality of routine child and adolescent mental health care outreach clinics
Authors: Day Crispin , Davis Hilton 
Published: September 2006

Objectives Little evidence has been available about the functioning and outcomes of child mental health services operating at the primary care interface. This study investigated the effectiveness and quality of one particular model of outreach clinic.Design The study used a quasi‐experimental design comparing outcomes of children attending the outreach clinics with a waiting list comparison. The intervention group (n=88) was assessed at referral, four months and twelve months later. The comparison group (n=99) completed measures at referral and four months.Method The main carers of participant children completed self‐report measures of problem severity, impact, burden, parental stress and parent satisfaction. Clinicians provided clinical activity information.Results There were significant reductions in children's problem severity, distress and impairment, particularly for behavioural difficulties. In contrast, the results showed no effect upon the outcomes of children's emotional problems or parental stress. High ratings of satisfaction were obtained for many aspects of care.Conclusions The children receiving care through this system of decentralised, outreach clinics derived clinical benefits that were maintained over time. The outreach clinics received strong consumer support suggesting the service offered a high level of acceptability to parents.
The role of clinical and social cognitive variables in parasuicide
Authors: O'Connor Rory C. , Armitage Christopher J. , Gray Lorna 
Published: September 2006

ObjectivesThe central aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which social cognitive variables could mediate the effects of past self‐harm behaviour and clinical variables on intentions to engage in deliberate self‐harm (DSH) and suicidality in the next three months. In addition, we aimed to extend the application of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) beyond distal health outcomes to a behaviour that is proximal and extreme.Design and methodA prospective study design was employed. Ninety parasuicide patients admitted via accident and emergency to a general hospital completed measures of hopelessness, depression, anxiety, past self‐harm behaviour, standard TPB and group identity measures within days of an overdose. Three months later, participants were asked to complete a measure of suicidal thinking and behaviour.ResultsThere was clear evidence that the social cognitive variables were significant predictors of intention to engage in DSH and suicidality three months later. Depression was the only clinical variable which remained significant when all variables were entered into the final model to predict intentions. Attitudes, self‐efficacy and intention mediated the clinical variables‐suicidality relationship.ConclusionsThe TPB is a useful framework for understanding suicidal behaviour. The results extend the application of the TPB beyond distal health outcomes to a behaviour that is both proximal and extreme. Future research should explore the implications for screening assessment and suicide prevention.
The effectiveness of computerized cognitive behavioural therapy in routine care
Authors: Cavanagh K. , Shapiro D. A. , Van den Berg S. , Swain S. , Barkham M. , Proudfoot J. 
Published: September 2006

Objectives and design The efficacy of a Computerized Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CCBT) package, Beating the Blues, has been demonstrated in a large randomized controlled trial. The current study tests the generalizability of this finding in a naturalistic non‐randomized trial.Method 219 patients with anxiety and/or depression were recruited to receive CCBT in routine care. The Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation‐Outcome Measure (CORE‐OM) and Work and Social Adjustment scale (WSA) were administered pre‐treatment, immediately on completing treatment and at 6 months post‐treatment. Single‐item self‐report measures of anxiety and depression were also collected during each treatment session.Results Completer and intention‐to‐treat analysis demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvements on the CORE‐OM, WSA and in self‐reported anxiety and depression. Intention‐to‐treat analysis indicated an average 0.29‐point drop on the CORE‐OM, equating to an uncontrolled pre‐post effect size of 0.50. Research completers achieved an average 0.61‐point drop equating to an uncontrolled pre‐post size of 1.00 on the same measure. Where data was available (18%), these benefits were maintained at week 32 (6 months follow‐up).Conclusion CCBT can be an effective first line tool within a stepped care framework for the management of common mental health problems.
A pilot study to investigate the effectiveness of emotion recognition remediation in schizophrenia using the micro‐expression training tool
Authors: Russell Tamara A. , Chu Elvina , Phillips Mary L. 
Published: September 2006

Objective Emotion recognition impairments are a common feature of schizophrenia. This pilot study investigates the effectiveness of the ‘micro‐expressions training tool’ (METT) to help improve this skill.Method Twenty patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy matched control participants completed the assessment, training and practice subsections of the METT. They were additionally evaluated pre‐ and post‐training on an emotion‐matching task (EMT).Results Both groups improved with METT training; patients with schizophrenia improved to a level that did not distinguish them from pre‐trained controls (on both METT and EMT assessments).Conclusions Patients with schizophrenia make significant improvements in emotion recognition following training with this tool, suggesting that brief remediation therapy may be a valuable adjunct to existing treatment programmes.
Perceived non‐shared environment, personality traits, family factors and developmental experiences in bulimia nervosa
Authors: Lehoux Pascale M. , Howe Nina 
Published: September 2006

Objective The role of perceived non‐shared environmental influences and personality traits in the risk of developing bulimia nervosa (BN) was compared in 40 women with BN and their non‐eating disordered sisters.Methods The two sisters were compared for (a) eating pathology, (b) perceived non‐shared environmental factors (differential family relationships, developmental teasing, traumatic experiences), (c) personality traits (impulsivity, affective instability, narcissism), and (d) psychopathology (anxiety, depression).Results Specific perceived non‐shared risk factors (e.g. perceptions of teasing), non‐specific non‐shared risk factors (e.g. insecure paternal attachment) and personality traits (e.g. narcissism) distinguished women with BN from sisters. In the final logistic regression, insecure paternal attachment predicted the risk for BN, while trends were apparent for narcissism and developmental teasing after controlling for psychopathology.Conclusions Our correlational cross‐sectional design does not allow for investigation of direction of effects. However, it is an important first step in identifying possible perceived non‐shared environmental influences and personality traits that may constitute vulnerability factors predisposing individuals to the development of BN. Findings are discussed in the light of existing models of risk factors for the etiology of BN.