Previous studies in education have inspected the relations between students' autonomous versus controlled motivation and relevant outcomes. In most of those studies a global index of self-determined motivation was created. The purpose of this article was to examine (a) how the different types of motivation proposed by Self-Determination Theory…

Based on a framework emphasizing the social nature of learning, this research examines a model of how social constructs affect satisfaction within online learning using path analysis for students in higher education. The social constructs evaluated in this study include sense of community (SOC), social ability (SA), perceived ease of use (PEU) and…

Federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) programs provide marriage education as well as other services to low-income diverse individuals and couples at many points along the marital continuum with improving children's well-being as the overarching purpose. These programs need appropriate measures of healthy marriage for couples with…

The present study focuses on motivational constructs and their effect on students' academic achievement within an existing statistics course. First-year Health Sciences students completed a questionnaire that measures several motivational constructs: dimensions of causal attributions, outcome expectancy, affect, and study behaviour, all with…

Purpose: According to the "reserve perspective" on cognitive aging, individuals are born with or can develop resources that help them resist normal and disease-related cognitive changes that occur in aging. The reserve perspective is becoming more sophisticated, but gaps in knowledge persist. In the present research, we considered three…

The current study longitudinally examines the effects of child maltreatment, parenting, and disadvantaged neighborhood on victimization, delinquency, and well-being via running away and school engagement among a sample of 360 high-risk adolescents. Results of a path analysis revealed that parenting was associated with school engagement, running…

The present study investigated the role of low academic competence in the emergence of depressive cognitions and symptoms. Structural equation modeling was conducted on a longitudinal sample of African American boys (n = 253) and girls (n = 221). Results supported the hypothesized path models from academic competence in 1st grade to depressive…

Effective school leaders work to assist students and staff alike in feeling safe within the school environment. Educators need to feel safe in order to successfully carry out their professional responsibilities. Historically and presently, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) educators have felt unsafe in school settings, even though…

Methods for the path analysis of complex (i.e., not fully recursive) causal models are briefly discussed. A computer program which simplifies analysis of such models and provides an option for automatically deleting marginal paths is described. (Author)

The authors review the use and interpretations of path analyses in articles published in The Journal of Educational Research from 1992 to 2002 and discuss related issues. This article provides (a) a brief introduction to path analysis, (b) suggested guidelines and recommendations for reporting results, (c) a sample of a model path analysis, (d)…

English language learners (ELLs) often find themselves marginalized with respect to learning mathematics in U.S. schools due, in part, to language barriers and gaps in prerequisite math knowledge and skills. The goal of this study was to use Sen's (1980, 1992, 1999) capabilities approach model as a lens through which to analyze the relationship…

Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), we developed and empirically tested a conceptual model to assess the longitudinal impact of school-based athletic participation and parental involvement, along with other factors, on the college-bound behaviors of male high school seniors attending public schools in the U.S. The…

This paper reports on an assessment of knowledge of SDL in primary (elementary) South Australian school students, fifty-six of whom were assessed to be high reasoning. The goals of the study were to identify the effectiveness of teaching and assessing knowledge of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) in high reasoning students, investigate whether there…

Background: Earlier studies of young people with Down's syndrome have investigated a relatively limited range of variables which may influence their academic attainment. The relative strength of such influences and how they may vary during the school career, has also been under-researched. Aims: The aim of the paper is to identify the contemporary…