Dimensions of manifest anxiety and their relationship to college achievement.

Investigated the hypothesis regarding the multidimensionality of the MA scale and the relationships between the emerged dimensions and college achievement. The scale was administered to 153 male and 107 female freshman undergraduates using a 5-point response scale. The Pearson product-moment correlations were factor analyzed for males and females separately. Factors common to both sexes are tension-anxiety, personal inadequacy, and agitation. Factors for males are hysteria and psychosomatic fitness. Factors for the females are interpreted to be inner tension and betrayal of inner self. Factor scores were correlated with GPA for 123 males and 90 females. Only the correlation between psychosomatic fitness and grades for males was significant. The multiple correlations between the optimal combination of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th factors and grades were .325 and .263 for males and females, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Styles of engagement with learning: Multidimensional assessment of their relationship with strategy use and school achievement.

Examined ways in which student beliefs and goals distinguish different styles of engagement with learning and how such styles are associated with both the strategies students report using when preparing for exams and school achievement. Cluster analysis was used to identify groups of students with similar patterns of beliefs about their own learning. Within a cohort of 137 female 11th-grade students, 6 styles of engagement were identified. Analysis of the influence of these styles on strategies adopted for exam preparation indicated differences in the strategies reported. Styles of engagement were also significantly related to school achievement. Findings are discussed in terms of insights achieved through adopting methods of analysis that preserve the multidimensional character of student engagement with learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Naturally acquired learned helplessness: The relationship of school failure to achievement behavior, attributions, and self-concept.

Monitored personality and behavioral consequences of learned helplessness in children who had experienced extensive failure in school. Controlling for sex, race, age, and IQ, 3 groups of 20 9–12 yr old males (failing, average, and remedial) performed an experimental task and responded to questionnaires on self-concept and attributions for success and failure. To compare the predictive quality of learned helplessness theory with that of value expectancy theories, Ss were assigned to 1 of 2 reinforcement conditions (prediction of academic success and this prediction plus monetary reward) on a maze task. As predicted by value expectancy theories, failing Ss were significantly more persistent in the monetary reward condition than in the prediction of academic success condition. In agreement with learned helplessness theory, low self-concept was predicted independently and significantly by school failure, internal attributions for failure, and external attributions for success. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manifest anxiety and school achievement of adolescents.

Investigated the nature of relationships between manifest anxiety and school achievement of 700 Indian adolescents. An anxiety scale was administered under nonstress conditions about 4 mo. before the final examination. The achievement scores in the final examination included the scores obtained by the same Ss in a similar examination held a yr. earlier by the same university. The eta coefficients for the whole group and for the boys were significant beyond the .01 level, while the eta coefficient for the girls was significant at the .05 level. It is concluded that: (a) the relationship between these 2 variables is curvilinear, thus supporting the inverted U hypothesis, and (b) this relationship holds for both males and females. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teacher–student interactions and their relationship to student achievement: A comparison of Mexican-American and Anglo-American children.

J. E. Brophy and T. L. Good's (1969) teacher–child dyadic interaction system was used to record 5 teachers' interactions with 40 Mexican-American (MA) and 59 Anglo-American (AA) 4th and 5th graders in 5 classrooms. 14 interaction variables were subjected to an Ethnicity?×?Sex?×?Classroom ANOVA. The correlation between these interaction variables and students' achievement was computed separately for MAs and AAs. Results show that AAs received more teacher affirmation following correct responses than MAs. Teacher affirmation was also significantly related to achievement for MAs but not AAs. Overall, teacher interaction variables showed a stronger relationship to achievement for MAs. A significant main effect of sex revealed that girls initiated more work-related contacts with teachers. There were no Ethnicity?×?Sex interactions. Findings indicate that even after controlling for potentially confounding variables, ethnicity still affects teacher–student interactions. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity tests and achievement in high school science.

This study investigated the relative validities of a battery of "creativity tests" and an IQ tests for predicting several indices of achievement in high school science. Criteria included grade-point average in science courses, percentile rank on the STEP Science Achievement Test, teacher rating of overall scientific potential, number of high school science courses taken, and a measure of involvement with science. Results indicated that the creativity tests did have considerable predictive validity against each criterion for each sex and that the criterion variance accounted for by the creativity tests is to a substantial degree independent of IQ. Contrary to findings of other investigators, teachers did not discriminate against highly creative pupils in their ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role problems and the relationship of achievement motivation to scholastic performance.

82 2nd and 72 5th graders were asked questions concerning the expectations of their friends and teacher regarding their behavior as students. A measure of sociometric status was also obtained. It was hypothesized that role variables condition the relationship between achievement motivation and scholastic performance. In support of the hypothesis, a positive relationship between a socially based projective measure of achievement motivation and scholastic performance (grades and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills or Metropolitan Achievement Test) was found for upper graders who experienced low role conflict and also for upper graders who were high in sociometric status. It was also found that among upper graders, autonomously based achievement motivation related most strongly to the performance of children low in sociometric status. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competition and school achievement among Anglo-American and Mexican-American children.

Tested the hypothesis that the less competitive orientation of Mexican-American children is related to their lower school achievement. 230 Anglo-American and Mexican-American children attending kindergarten, Grades 1–2, 4, and 6 of a semirural low-income school were administered individual measures of competition, individualism, field independence, and school achievement (California Achievement Tests, Cooperative Primary Tests, and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills). Results indicate significant effects of culture, sex, and age, but competition and individualism were not significantly correlated with each other and were not consistently related to field independence and school achievement. Results support the general conclusion that the less competitive social orientation of Mexican-American children as measured by experimental games is not necessarily a disadvantage with regard to school achievement. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct versus projective measurement of achievement motivation.

Tested the predictive validity of 3 techniques for measuring need for achievement (n Ach): (1) TAT projection (scored in 2 ways), (2) Ss' self-reports on a rating scale, and (3) 2 self-peer ranking measures. Ss were 72 male undergraduates. In the self-peer ranking measures, each S listed 10 of his friends and then rated himself in relation to each friend. The criterion measures were class grades and 2 short laboratory tasks. Neither the scores derived from the TAT protocols nor the rating scale self-reports were related to any criterion measure. Both of the self-peer ranking scores were significantly correlated with grades. It was concluded that n Ach was conscious and subject to direct self-report if the means of responding is made specific. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive styles, spatial ability, and school achievement.

Studied the interrelationships of intelligence, field independence, analytic cognitive style, and spatial and perceptual abilities among 201 males, age 10-11 yrs. The contribution of cognitive style to the prediction of differences in attainment in English and mathematics was also investigated. Substantial overlap was confirmed between field independence and intelligence, but there were significant residual correlations between field independence and mathematics and haptic perception after intelligence was held constant. Analysis of covariance confirmed the significance of differences between field-independent, intermediate, and field-dependent males in mathematics and haptic perception. Principal components analysis indicated the separability of cognitive style from factors of general ability, spatial ability, and perceptual speed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A structural model of science achievement and attitude: An extension to high school.

A previous structural model of Walberg's theory of educational productivity (A. J. Reynolds and H. J. Walberg, 1991) was tested with a national probability sample of 2,535 10th graders for science achievement and attitude. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, a 3-wave design incorporated information from students, teachers, and parents. Results indicate that a revised mediated-effects model fit the data best and accounted for substantial variance in Grade 11 science achievement (56%) and attitude (44%). The variables prior achievement, home environment, exposure to mass media through reading, and instructional time had the greatest total effects on science achievement. Prior attitude, home environment, motivation, and prior achievement made the greatest total contributions to science attitude. Although there were different weightings of the factors between the present study and Reynolds and Walberg (1991), both studies support a mediated-effects model of educational productivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual model for nonintellectual behavior and its relationship to early reading achievement.

Develops a rationale for a 3-dimensional model of nonintellectual behavior of children and supports the rationale with a review of relevant theoretical and empirical work. An investigation was conducted with 1st graders in 17 classrooms in 4 schools representing a wide range of socioeconomic and ethnic variation. Dimensions derived from a cluster analysis of the Pupil Behavior Rating Scale support the conceptual model by defining an adaptation and an interpersonal and an intrapersonal dimension. The adaptation and intrapersonal dimensions made important contributions to both 1st- and 2nd-grade reading performance even when the effects of sex, socioeconomic status, and ethnic status were controlled. Implications for beginning reading instruction are discussed. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Practicing of meditation by school children and their levels of field dependence-independence, test anxiety, and reading achievement.

Studied the effects that training in meditation might have on selected aspects of the cognitive and affective functioning of 26 disadvantaged 3rd graders. Ss were given meditation practice over an 18-wk period. 2 control groups were formed. The data indicate that relative to the control groups, Ss who practiced meditation (a) became more field independent, as measured by the Children's Embedded Figures Test, and (b) became less test anxious, as measured by the Test Anxiety Scale for Children. No effect on level of reading achievement was apparent. Results suggest that through meditation practice the individual may learn how to concentrate and to alter volitionally his feeling state by shifting his attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of hope in the future and perceived school climate to school completion.

This study examined the impact of hope in the future and school climate as protective factors in school dropouts and graduates. Participants consisted of 97 students (males and females, aged 14-21 yrs) at risk for not completing school in an urban area. At-risk status was determined by student assignment to a continuation high school, a special placement for students who had had numerous infractions at regular high schools. Retrospectively, dropouts rated perceived school climate significantly lower than graduates, and graduates rated the importance of attending college significantly higher than dropouts. Dropouts and graduates who left school after the study was conducted did not report differences on the risk factors measured, nor did they differ on perceived school climate or the importance of attending college. However, hope in the future significantly predicted dropout versus graduate status for these participants. Results are discussed as describing differences in retrospective versus prospective reports, and as evidence of the utility of the risk/resilience paradigm in school completion research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Matched versus unmatched primary representational systems and their relationship to perceived trustworthiness in a counseling analogue.

Examined R. Bandler and J. Grinder's (1976) statement that trust in a relationship will be enhanced if the counselor matches the client's primary representational system (PRS). The PRS concept was based on the assumption that people organize their experiences of the world in internal representational systems or "maps," which are in turn organized by sensory systems—visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. A further assumption of the model was that people tend to favor one sensory system and that the favored system becomes the PRS. In the present study, an interview was structured with 24 right-handed female undergraduates in which the interviewers either matched or did not match their predicates to the PRS of the Ss. Levels of perceived trustworthiness were assessed by the Counselor Rating Form—Trustworthiness scale. Results show that when interviews matched predicates to S's PRSs as determined through eye-movement observations, levels of perceived trustworthiness were higher. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The longitudinal relations of teacher expectations to achievement in the early school years.

There is relatively little research on the role of teacher expectations in the early school years or the importance of teacher expectations as a predictor of future academic achievement. The current study investigated these issues in the reading and mathematic domains for young children. Data from nearly 1,000 children and families at 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades were included. Child sex and social skills emerged as consistent predictors of teacher expectations of reading and, to a lesser extent, math ability. In predicting actual future academic achievement, results showed that teacher expectations were differentially related to achievement in reading and math. There was no evidence that teacher expectations accumulate but some evidence that they remain durable over time for math achievement. In addition, teacher expectations were more strongly related to later achievement for groups of children who might be considered to be at risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancies, values, and achievement in junior high school.

Many theorists have suggested that students' motivation to achieve in school depends on their expectancies for success and the value they attach to success. There are few data, however, on the relation between expectancies and values or their relative contribution to achievement. To examine these issues, we asked 153 seventh graders to complete multiple measures of academic expectancies and values. We used students' report card grades and academic track placements in English and math as indicators of their achievement. Covariance structure analyses showed that students' expectancies were more strongly related to their achievement than were their values. Nevertheless, both expectancies and values made significant, independent contributions to achievement. In addition, the constructs for expectancies and values were positively correlated. Boys and girls had similar expectancies, but boys appeared to value academic success less than did girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family characteristics and elementary school achievement in an urban ghetto.

Investigated the relationships of sex, father absence, family size, and birth order to factor scores representing "general academic achievement" in a sample of 149 urban black ghetto 5th graders. Significant main effects were found for sex (with girls showing higher achievement levels than boys) and family size (with the highest achievement in small families). A significant Birth Order * Family Size interaction was found: Firstborn Ss did best in small families, lastborn Ss did best in intermediate (4-5 children) families, and there was no birth order differentiation in large families. No significant effect on achievement was found for father absence. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)