Interviews with seven recent-immigrant Chinese families in Canada examined parental expectations of their children's school performance. Parents' expectations motivated their children to pursue goals with hard work, which enhanced self-efficacy and nurtured good study habits. However, high parental expectations and unwillingness to accommodate…

A study examined career aspirations of 15 girls (ages 14-19) with behavior disorders and the contribution of life experiences. Results indicate participants were highly engaged with their school-supported vocational experiences, family cohesion had a significant effect on career aspirations, and participants believed they had little control over…

Explored the extent to which retrospective reports of childhood emotional bonds with parents and current adult attachment orientations predicted the capacity for constructive thinking within a sample of 145 undergraduate students. Both factors significantly predicted constructive thinking scores, thus linking attachment-related experiences to the…

Examined relationship qualities and perceived social self- efficacy of 12-year-olds. Found that perceived low parental intimate support, high conflict with parents, and lower perceived self-efficacy were related to depression symptoms. Girls reported greater best friend intimate support and less conflict, greater self-efficacy, and stronger…

Tests the effects of Web page design instruction on improving computer self-efficacy of preservice teachers. Various computer experiences, including weekly computer use, weekly Internet use, and use frequencies of word processing, e-mail, games, and presentation software were significantly related to computer self-efficacy. Use frequencies of word…

Describes a study that explored Taiwanese college freshmen students' information searching strategies in Web-based science learning activities and examined the influences of students' self-efficacy on these strategies. Discusses the use of in-depth case studies and comparisons to analyze students' Web-based searching and learning achievement,…

Eighty-six preservice teachers with low or moderate self-efficacy beliefs observed cognitive modeling or direct instruction and two types of attributional feedback to teach children a difficult concept. The combination of observed cognitive modeling and task orientation feedback raised estimates of success for preservice teachers with initial low…

Two studies tested the influence of various types of verbal evaluative feedback on men's and women's self-evaluations of their performance in achievement situations. Results indicate that women's self-evaluations were influenced by both positive and negative evaluative statements, and men were more influenced by positive than negative feedback.…

Undergraduate students were exposed to videotaped lectures that differed on two dimensions: sex of lecturer, and style of presentation (affiliative or instrumental). Analyses revealed that students' perceptions of lecturers are dependent largely on lecturing style. Affiliative lecturers were seen as more effective as well as more confident,…

This article describes a new curriculum for reversing self-defeating tendencies in secondary level youth with disabilities by building skills in areas such as communication, self-understanding, creative thinking, and problem solving. The curriculum, Self Determination: The Road to Personal Freedom, focuses on development of eight skills. (DB)

Grade-level and achievement-level differences were studied in control-related beliefs and relations between students' beliefs and their reading and writing achievement for 364 students in grades 4, 7, and 10. Results suggest that beliefs characteristic of particular achievement levels are not simply reflections of age or grade level. (SLD)

This article reviews research on the Schoolwide Enrichment Triad Model, which combines the previously developed Enrichment Triad and Revolving Door Identification Models of gifted education. Research reviewed addresses: model effectiveness, creative productivity, personal and social development, underserved populations, self-efficacy, curricular…

Recommendations are offered for enhancing the achievement motivation of elementary students with mild disabilities. Recommendations address five areas: learner control, rewards, student interest, classroom structure, and self-efficacy and attributions. A process for implementing these recommendations in the classroom is also provided. (JDD)

The purpose of this study is to substantiate the construct of science teacher self-efficacy with qualitative data and further investigate the validity of the science teacher self-efficacy Likert instrument. Results suggest that self-efficacy is a feasible construct for examining student beliefs and behaviors in science education. (LZ)

Studied 137 smokers who were assessed on 12 predictor variables and then randomly assigned to social support or self-control treatment. Social support treatment was more effective than self-control treatment for participants with high baseline self-control orientation scores and participants with high self-efficacy scores. Implications are…