Examining students' retrospective memories of strategy development.

Two studies were conducted to assess students' self-reported use of cognitive study strategies. Both studies used a written survey to assess where and when students were introduced to their preferred study strategies. The 1st study compared high school and university students. The 2nd study compared university students' recollections of strategy use in high school with their present study behaviors. Results from the 2 studies were consistent. All groups, at all times in their education, regardless of course difficulty, preferred repetition strategies. Students were aware of other more sophisticated strategies but used them to a lesser extent. What was most compelling was students' indication that strategy instruction was a late addition to their educational experience, with many indicating high school as their 1st encounter with strategy instruction. These reports suggest that students' dependence on repetition strategies may be a product of the lack of familiarity and flexibility in the execution of more sophisticated strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College students' theory of note-taking derived from their perceptions of note-taking.

In this ethnographic interview study, college students' theory of note-taking emerged after 4 phases. The theory was confirmed in a 5th interview phase. The students' theory includes conclusions consistent with ones already in the note-taking literature, but also many insights into note-taking dynamics that have not been identified in previous research. The amalgamation of previous note-taking theory and empirical outcomes with the students' theory provides a more complete theory of self-regulated note-taking than existed previously. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College students' help-seeking preferences.

136 undergraduates completed a questionnaire indicating the relative likelihood that they would turn to 7 potential helpgivers with 11 personal or 5 career problems. For personal problems, Ss indicated they would be more likely to turn to a close friend for help. For career problems, Ss stated that they would be more likely to seek help from an academic advisor, instructor, close friend, or close relative. A total of 36% and 26% of the Ss said they would seek help from a professional counselor for a personal or career problem, respectively. The extent to which these findings replicate previous research is discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recollection rejection: How children edit their false memories.

A new methodology is presented for studying children's ability to suppress memory reports of false-but-gist-consistent events, one that measures children's use of a specific editing operation (recollection rejection) that suppresses false reports by accessing verbatim traces of true events. Children make memory reports under 2 instructional conditions, verbatim and gist, and the data are analyzed with fuzzy-trace theory's conjoint-recognition model. Application of the new methodology in studies of children's false memory for narrative events revealed that (a) false-memory editing increases dramatically between early and middle childhood, (b) even young children spontaneously edit their false memories, (c) measures of children's false-memory editing react appropriately to experimental manipulations, and (d) developmental reductions in the incidence of false-memory reports are primarily due to developmental improvements in verbatim memory ability (rather than to decreases in the formation of false memories). Implications for child forensic interviewing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multiplant factor analysis of employees' attitudes toward their company.

Is an attitude questionnaire designed to measure a specific attitude unifactorial? If not, what is the nature of the factors? 735 mailed questionnaires, representing a 50% return, were analyzed. Although designed to measure one thing, attitude toward the company, it was found to contain a large general factor of general attitude or bias toward the company. 1 of the other 3 factors found was respect for personal rights; the 3rd was opportunity for self improvement. The factorial structure of employees' work attitudes may be more complex than previously thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delinquents' perceptions of their parents.

The Parent-Child Relations questionnaire was administered to 30 delinquent boys, mean age 15 yr., and to a matched group of nondelinquents. The 1st hypothesis concerning a significant difference between the delinquent and nondelinquent boys in their perceptions of their parents, with the latter group holding more favorable attitudes, was clearly confirmed. The 2nd hypothesis concerning greater difference between the 2 groups in their perceptions of their fathers than their mothers was also confirmed. The unfavorable attitude of the delinquents toward their fathers was especially marked on the Rejecting and Neglecting scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A pattern analysis of students' achievement goals.

Cluster analysis procedures were used to classify 257 5th- and 6th-grade students on basis of their mastery, ego, and work-avoidant goal orientations. The results identified 3 clusters of students with different achievement profiles in science. Students who exhibited a pattern in which mastery goals were stronger than the other 2 goals, showed the most positive achievement profile. In contrast, students who were high on both mastery and ego goals did not perform as well academically; students low on both mastery and ego goals showed the most negative achievement profile. Additional analyses revealed that the cluster analysis provided a more distinctive and internally consistent set of findings than did pattern analyses that were based on median split procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenia outpatients' perceptions of their parents: Is expressed emotion a factor?

The factors that mediate the association between expressed emotion (EE) and relapse in schizophrenia patients are still unknown. Many researchers hypothesize that interactions with high-EE individuals are stressful for patients, leaving them vulnerable to relapse. It would be useful to investigate whether patients perceive interactions with high-EE parents as stressful. In this study, associations were examined between levels of EE in parents and the types of personal memories patients had about these parents. EE ratings were obtained for both parents of 27 schizophrenia outpatients, and patients were asked to describe "happy, nonstressful" memories and "unhappy, stressful" memories during 2 interviews. Patients recounted fewer nonstressful memories and more stressful memories about high- versus low-EE parents. Implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents who assault their parents: A family systems approach to treatment.

Presents a conceptualization of the problem of adolescent parent abuse from a family systems perspective. Five patterns are common in these families: relationships become organized around the violence, family members neglect other aspects of their lives, the adolescent is labeled as the problem in the family, complementarity of biased perceptions, and conditional acceptance. Four key therapeutic strategies are suggested to help the family break free from symptomatic patterns, end the violence, repair broken relationships, and facilitate the development of each other's strengths and talents. These strategies involve support of parental authority, repair of dislocated relationships, containment of conflicts, and discovery and support of competence. Illustrations of these principles are provided from a case study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnic stereotypes: Determinants in children and their parents.

Administered a questionnaire to Canadian 9-17 yr olds (n = 157) and their parents (n = 106) to assess stereotypes about English Canadians, French Canadians, and Canadian Indians. In general, results indicate that as children grow older, their stereotypes become more consensual, less evaluative, and more similar to those in the adult community. Factor analyses of reactions to each ethnic-group label conducted separately on the children and adult samples demonstrates independent stereotype and attitude factors. Evidence was obtained which suggested 2 components of ethnic stereotypes, 1 informational and the other evaluational. Implications of this 2-factor model of ethnic stereotypes for understanding their development and change are discussed. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College students' perceptions of the value of psychological services: A comparison with APA's public education research.

The American Psychological Association's (APA) public education campaign, "Talk to Someone Who Can Help," was professionally researched and developed to educate the public about the availability and value of psychological services. What about its application to the 12 million college students poised to become the future consumers of our health and mental health services? By sampling this population, the authors sought to extend the application of APA's public opinion research to college communities and their providers of psychological services. Results and comparisons are presented in this article, along with implications for educating and serving this specialized client population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reconstructing memories of abuse: A theory-based approach.

Describes a process for reconstructing traumatic memories based on M. J. Horowitz's (1986) theory of stress response syndromes. Recovery from trauma requires that the emotions and imagery attached to the trauma be integrated into the victim's self structure. The history of intrusive symptoms can be used to develop a projective device to help the client anticipate the nature of the trauma. Ongoing intrusive experiences bring memory fragments to the surface that can be used to build the client's emotional tolerance. Cognitive restructuring can be started while the memories are still tentative, and the client can begin to develop coping skills and supportive relationships that will be needed as the memories return. Case materials illustrate the process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beliefs of foster parents regarding the children in their care and their natural parents

The propagation of pluripotential mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells is sustained by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) or related cytokines that act through a common receptor complex comprising the LIF receptor subunit (LIF-R) and the signal transducer gp130. However, the findings that embryos lacking LIF-R or gp130 can develop beyond gastrulation argue for the existence of an alternative pathway(s) governing the maintenance of pluripotency in vivo. In order to define those factors that contribute to self-renewal in ES cell cultures, we have generated ES cells in which both copies of the lif gene are deleted. These cells showed a significantly reduced capacity for regeneration of stem cell colonies when induced to differentiate, confirming that LIF is the major endogenous regulatory cytokine in ES cell cultures. However, self-renewal was not abolished and undifferentiated ES cell colonies were still obtained in the complete absence of LIF. A differentiated, LIF-deficient, parietal endoderm-like cell line was derived and shown to support ES cell propagation via production of a soluble, macromolecular, trypsin-sensitive activity. This activity, which we name ES cell renewal factor (ESRF), is distinct from members of the IL-6/LIF family because (i) it is effective on ES cells lacking LIF-R; (ii) it is not blocked by anti-gp130 neutralizing antibodies; and (iii) it acts without activation of STAT3. ES cells propagated clonally using ESRF alone can contribute fully to chimaeras and engender germline transmission. These findings establish that ES cell pluripotency can be sustained via a LIF-R/gp130-independent, STAT-3 independent, signaling pathway. Operation of this pathway in vivo could play an important role in the regulation of pluripotency in the epiblast and account for the viability of lifr -/- and gp130 -/- embryos.     

Adolescents' self-acceptance and perceptions of their parents.

Measures of self-acceptance, adjustment, perceived acceptance by parents and identification with them were correlated with 10 sub-tests of a parent-child relations questionnaire. Ss were 44 college freshman with a mean age of 18 yr. Adolescents high in self-acceptance and adjustment perceived their parents as loving and not as neglectful or rejecting. Ss' self-regard was more closely related to their mothers' than their fathers' child-rearing attitudes. Correlations between self-regard measures and evaluation of parents' child-rearing attitudes were higher for boys than for girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term memory for the terrorist attack of September 11: Flashbulb memories, event memories, and the factors that influence their retention.

More than 3,000 individuals from 7 U.S. cities reported on their memories of learning of the terrorist attacks of September 11, as well as details about the attack, 1 week, 11 months, and/or 35 months after the assault. Some studies of flashbulb memories examining long-term retention show slowing in the rate of forgetting after a year, whereas others demonstrate accelerated forgetting. This article indicates that (a) the rate of forgetting for flashbulb memories and event memory (memory for details about the event itself) slows after a year, (b) the strong emotional reactions elicited by flashbulb events are remembered poorly, worse than nonemotional features such as where and from whom one learned of the attack, and (c) the content of flashbulb and event memories stabilizes after a year. The results are discussed in terms of community memory practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of students' evaluations of college teaching: A multitrait–multimethod analysis.

College instructors in 329 classes evaluated their own teaching effectiveness with the same 35-item rating form used by their students. There was student–instructor agreement in courses taught by teaching assistants (r?=?.46), undergraduate courses taught by faculty (r?=?.41), and graduate level courses (r?=?.39). Separate factor analyses of the student and instructor ratings demonstrated that the same 9 evaluation factors (e.g., work load, organization, interaction) underlay both sets of ratings. A multitrait–multimethod analysis supported convergent and divergent validity of these rating factors. Not only were correlations between student and instructor ratings on the same factors statistically significant for each of 9 factors, but correlations between their ratings on different factors were low. Findings demonstrate student–instructor agreement on evaluation of teaching effectiveness, support the validity of student ratings for both graduate and undergraduate courses, and emphasize the importance of using multifactor rating scales derived through the application of factor analysis. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Twelve-month-olds and their parents: Interaction in a laboratory playroom.

19 12-mo olds were observed interacting with both parents in a standardized situation. In an initial episode with both parents present, Ss directed more distal-affiliative behaviors to their fathers but showed no preference for either parent in the display of proximal-attachment behaviors. The same was true when Ss were alone with either parent. However, the entrance of a stranger combined with boredom or fatigue to produce a shift in the Ss' social behavior toward their mothers. More proximal-attachment behaviors were directed to mothers, while there was no preference for either parent in the display of distal-affiliative behaviors. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical psychology graduate students' perceptions of their scientific and practical training: A Canadian perspective.

The scientist-practitioner model is the most commonly used training modality in Canadian clinical psychology graduate programmes. Despite pervasive endorsement throughout Canadian psychology programmes, there is a paucity of data available on Canadian student opinions of the model's implementation. The current study assessed 134 students from 9 provinces with a 38-item questionnaire developed by the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology for assessing students' perceptions about the quantity, quality, and breadth of science training in their clinical psychology doctoral programmes. Most students described their programs as providing a mix of research and clinical focus, with slightly more weight given to research. Science training was reported as very important to students, with indications they receive a good amount of high-quality training in science. Moreover, there was a high level of agreement between desired levels of science training and the science training received. Implications for future research and training are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lesbians choosing motherhood: A comparative study of lesbian and heterosexual parents and their children.

Compared 15 lesbian couples and the 3- to 9-yr-old children born to them through donor insemination with 15 matched, heterosexual-parent families. A variety of assessment measures were used to evaluate the children's cognitive functioning and behavioral adjustment as well as the parents' relationship quality and parenting skills. Results revealed no significant differences between the 2 groups of children, who also compared favorably with the standardization samples for the instruments used. In addition, no significant differences were found between dyadic adjustment of lesbian and heterosexual couples. Only in the area of parenting did the 2 groups of couples differ; lesbian couples exhibited more parenting awareness skills than did heterosexual couples. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)