The purpose of this study was to test a model of the relations between specific academic enablers (motivation, interpersonal skills, engagement, and study skills) and mathematics achievement. Using teacher judgments of academic enablers and achievement, we examined the fit of this model for primary (Grades K-2) and intermediate (Grades 3-6)…

This study examined the structural relationships between (a) the latent independent constructs of orthographic and lexical knowledge and phonological sensitivity and (b) the effect of these constructs on the latent construct of literacy manifested by reading aloud and spelling regular and exception English words in 156 Cantonese-speaking Chinese…

The cross-ethnic measurement equivalence of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; L. S. Radloff, 1977) was examined using a subsample of adolescents (N=10,691) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Configural and metric invariance, as well as functional and scalar equivalence, were examined for Anglo…

In this article, a maximum likelihood approach is developed to analyze structural equation models with dichotomous variables that are common in behavioral, psychological and social research. To assess nonlinear causal effects among the latent variables, the structural equation in the model is defined by a nonlinear function. The basic idea of the…

This research investigates the relative importance of vocabulary and oral reading fluency as measurement dimensions of reading comprehension as the student passes from elementary to high school. Invariance of this model over grades 4 through 8 is tested using two independent student samples reading grade-level appropriate passages. Results from…

In this paper, a model is set forth relating (a) overall life satisfaction of children to children's values and (b) children's values to parents' values. Using confirmatory factor analysis models three dimensions of values (materialistic values, capacities and knowledge values and interpersonal relationship values) consistently emerged in 5…

This study tests the generalizability of the factor pattern, structural parameters, and latent mean structure of a multidimensional, hierarchical model of physical self-concept in adolescents across gender and grade. A children's version of the Physical Self-Perception Profile (C-PSPP) was administered to seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade high…

Guided by family stress theory, relations among neighborhood stress, maternal psychological functioning, and parenting were examined among 123 low-income, urban-dwelling, African American single mothers. Using a longitudinal design, structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesis that neighborhood stress results in poorer…

Using data from the 1998 High School National Census from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Argentina, the present study examines relationships between school composition, some characteristics of schooling (such as institutional culture and climate), and students' achievement in Mathematics in the last year of high school. The study applies…

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate and expand the goal-orientation model of depression vulnerability proposed by B. M. Dykman (1998), which posits that a performance orientation creates a vulnerability to depression through repeated failure. This hypothesis was tested in 5 studies with students in Grades 5 and 6. A…

Two studies investigated the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC), adult age, and the resolution of conflict between familiarity and recollection in short-term recognition tasks. Experiment 1 showed a specific deficit of young adults with low WMC in rejecting intrusion probes (i.e., highly familiar probes) in a modified Sternberg…

This study examined the relation of information processing in 7-month-old preterms ([less than] 1750g at birth) and full-terms to Bayley Mental Development Indexes (MDIs) at 2 and 3 years. The infant measures were drawn from four cognitive domains: attention, speed, memory, and representational competence. Structural equation modeling showed that…

In Western cultures, girls' self-esteem declines substantially during middle adolescence, with changes in body image proposed as a possible explanation. Body image develops in the context of sociocultural factors, such as unrealistic media images of female beauty. In a study of 136 U.K. girls aged 11-16, experimental exposure to either ultra-thin…

In the positive theory of public bureaucracy, the prevailing view is that the structure of public agencies is designed from the top down by political superiors. Faced with bureaucrats who may disagree with them on policy and who are advantaged by private information, superiors choose rules and procedures to try to ensure that agencies do what they…

Objective: To test for gene-environment interaction with depressive symptoms and family conflict. Specifically, to first examine whether the influence of family conflict in predicting depressive symptoms is increased in individuals at genetic risk of depression. Second, to test whether the genetic component of variance in depressive symptoms…