This paper discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during self-regulated learning, the process whereby students' cognitions manifest themselves in behaviors systematically oriented toward the attainment of academic learning goals. The conceptual focus derives from A. Bandura's social cognitive learning theory. A model of cognitive skill…

This paper, one of several written for a comprehensive policy study of early childhood education in Illinois, examines and summarizes the literature on the problems of young children in adjusting to starting school full-time and describes the nature and extent of their difficulties in relation to statewide educational policy. The review of studies…

Smith reviews a book based on an analysis of at least 11 distinct data sets from empirical studies on intergenerational mobility and status attainment. A few key themes of more than general interest are discussed from each chapter. First, chapters 3-6 are discussed, which Smith considers the best of the book and which trace the main paths of…

The literature found in current journals, periodicals, theses, books and other media was reviewed to study the use/abuse of drugs as an indicator of the bilingual/bicultural assimilation difficulties of Mexican Americans as they coped with the Anglo-American mainstream. Three areas were emphasized: (1) the general characteristics of the drug…

The current stage in an on-going research program of student learning is summarized. With two more years to run, provisional research provides the beginnings of a model of student learning which is neither static nor mechanistic. Recent research has placed emphasis on describing how students learn and how learning is affected by the academic…

Describes a study that identified both technical aptitudes and personality characteristics that are related to academic orientation variables previously found to predict information retrieval performance. It is argued that individual characteristics should be described so that they can be accommodated through design and training. (74 references)…

Presents two studies articulating the features of everyday conceptions of masculinity and femininity and determines the dimensions that underlie these constructs. Results show that conceptions of masculinity and femininity do exist, that they can be articulated, that lay conceptions of masculinity and femininity are multidimensional, and that…

Computed separate meta-analyses for 11 acculturation and adjustment classes: extroversion, self-esteem, locus of control, career, addiction, affective disorders, field independence, family conflict, anxiety/stress, intelligence, and psychosocial/health. Situation-specific associations were interpreted by integrating several models. Contains…

This paper examines the evidence for two explanatory propositions for the striking similarity found between verbal descriptions of the written language of deaf students and descriptions of their personalities. The proposition that language difficulties invalidate the diagnostic process for deaf students is supported. (Author/DB)

Compares the career choices and interests, personality issues, and values of high-achieving, expected-achieving, and low-achieving high school and college students. States that the emphasis on individualism may encourage students to "make the grade" rather than commit to larger causes. Argues for the reassessment of achievement values and…

Two studies are reviewed that have uncovered how the motivational patterns of resilient African American and Hispanic adolescents differ from their nonresilient counterparts. The first study found that resilient African American adolescents differed from their nonresilient counterparts in having a stronger cognitive motivational pattern of the…

In recent decades, the incidence of eating disorders has sharply increased. This paper reviews literature published between 1969 through 1992 which addresses personality characteristics of individuals with anorexia nervosa, restrictor subtype, utilizing the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-I). The current literature and research…

A program of theoretical and empirical research focusing on the ability determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition is reviewed. An integrative framework for information-processing and cognitive ability determinants of skills is reviewed, along with principles for ability-skill relations. Experimental manipulations were used to…

Over the past 15 years a number of studies and official statements have considered characteristics and competencies of effective middle/junior high school teachers. Thirty-eight items found to be present in several studies were used to form a questionnaire, sent to 500 members of the National Middle School Association, about the importance of…

Loneliness, one of our least satisfactorily conceptualized phenomena, has been relegated to philosophy and sociology, and when confronted in the therapy session, has been subsumed under depression and treated as if it were depression. However, loneliness is a separate entity with unique characteristics that need to be identified and treated…