Relationships between pretraining skills, learning, and posttest performance were studied in spatial and verbal tasks for 84 preschool children. The measurement model that fit the data best maintained separate verbal and spatial domains. The best structural model included paths from pretest and learning assessments to posttest performance within…

The Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) was administered to 1,514 elite athletes and nonelite high school students. Physical self-concept was higher for the elite athletes, but gender differences were smaller in this group. Results support the usefulness of the PSDQ and extend understanding of self-concept in school settings. (SLD)

Pairs of genetically unrelated children reared as same-age siblings offer a design for investigating genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Results with 21 pairs support an explanatory model of intelligence that includes genetic factors. Shared environment appeared to have a very small effect on intellectual development. (SLD)

How students develop forms for self-regulating learning is explored. It is suggested that they experiment, bootstrapping newer forms of self-regulated learning from prior forms. Obstacles are obtaining sufficient practice, remembering how learning was enacted, and reasoning about factors that affect learning. (SLD)

A longitudinal study of 248 students followed from sixth to eighth grade was conducted to examine their perceptions of pedagogical caring in relation to their motivation to achieve positive social and academic outcomes. Perceived caring from teachers predicted motivational outcomes. Implications for understanding links between teacher behavior and…

Aspects of reading motivation and the amount and breadth of reading done were studied with 105 fourth and fifth graders. Children's reading was found to be multidimensional, and their motivation predicted reading amount and breadth even when previous amount and breadth were controlled. Intrinsic motivation was a better predictor than extrinsic…

Differences in the motivational beliefs of 154 Asian American and 372 non-Asian ninth graders were studied. Asian Americans' fear of the consequences of academic failure best explained their performance, but this variable least explained results for non-Asian students. Fear of academic failure was a better explanation for Asian Americans than were…

An Importance of Goals Scale was developed from item responses of 230 Australian high school students and validated through administration to 80 delinquent, 90 at-risk, and 90 non-at-risk adolescents. Findings identified differences among the three groups, which are discussed in terms of implications for academic achievement, peer relations, and…

Change over three years in the competence beliefs and subjective task values in the domains of reading, mathematics, instrumental music, and sports was studied with approximately 615 predominantly white, middle-class elementary school children. There was moderate to strong stability in their beliefs. Exceptions and gender differences are…

A multitrait-multimethod study collected measures of social-cognitive flexibility, crystallized social knowledge, and academic problem solving from 169 high school seniors. Results support a division of social-cognitive intelligence into declarative and procedural social knowledge (crystallized) and flexible knowledge application as distinct from…

Two experiments (n=41 and n=166), one in listening and one in reading, examined the relationships among signaling (structural cues), notetaking, and field dependence-independence in college students. Field-independent subjects seemed to use a tacit structure strategy, whereas field-dependent subjects seemed to display structuring skills when…

In two experiments, undergraduates (n=48 and n=50) composed written definitions of concrete and abstract nouns that were matched for frequency of use and meaningfulness. Results support previous research suggesting that common cognitive mechanisms underlie production of spoken and written language as explained by dual coding theory. (SLD)

Achievement-related beliefs and behaviors of parents of 41 economically disadvantaged African American youth and the relations among parental factors and children's academic self-concept and achievement were studied. Significant and positive relations between parental belief and behavior measures are discussed in light of models of family…

Parent and child characteristics, family context, and teacher behavior and attitudes were examined as factors influencing parent involvement in children's schooling for 209 mothers and their children (grades 3 through 5) and 28 teachers. Results and the hierarchical model posited underscore the complexity of factors associated with parental…

Best predictors of overall proficiency in a foreign language were examined in two experiments involving 60 high school female students in a private school and 36 10th graders in a coeducational public school. Best predictors were grade at the end of one year of study of the language and foreign language word decoding. (SLD)