Role of self-efficacy beliefs as a mediator and moderator of the relation between the home environment and well-being was examined for both European American and African American adolescents. Found that self-efficacy beliefs sometimes mediate the relation between experiences in the home environment and measures of adolescent development. Effects…

A modified version of the Illinois Department of Public Health Tobacco Use Survey was used to assess smokeless tobacco consumption among students attending a state university in New Mexico. Respondents included 65 male and 83 female Mexican-Americans, as well as 59 male and 118 female Anglo-Americans. Ages ranged from 16 to 67; subgroup median…

Focuses on cognitive style trends within a generational cross section of Mexican American children and compares their differences in field independence to a group of Anglo American children; eighty elementary school students randomly selected from four populations--(first, second, and third generation Mexican Americans, and Anglo Americans),…

Students come to the classroom with theories that they have actively constructed from their everyday experiences. However, some of these theories are incomplete half-truths. Although such misconceptions interfere with new learning, students are often emotionally and intellectually attached to them. Some common mathematical misconceptions involve:…

One hundred twenty young adult females, half Anglos and half Mexican-Americans, were administered Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS), Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and Bender Gestalt Tests. Half of each ethnic group were classified by the public schools as learning disabled and half were in regular classes. The WAIS Verbal IQ,…

The cultural universal hypothesis of cognitive development theory, as developed by Piaget and elaborated by Kohlberg, assumes that all individuals, regardless of culture, progress through the same series of six invariant stages in the development of moral judgment. The stages of moral development are transformations in the form of structure of…

Semantic differential scales rating the concepts "Most women are . . ." and "Most men are . . ." were administered to black and white, male and female, university freshmen. White females were the only group to rate the opposite sex more positively than their own sex. Black females were the only group to rate men as significantly more unreliable…

The article discusses the literature dealing with Chicano poverty and the Chicano population in comparison to Whites and Blacks in the Southwest. It also identifies the Chicano poor, their population, and what is happening to them. (NQ)

The effects of culture on the development of logical thinking and degree of emotional disturbance in normal children were investigated. Results show significantly higher amounts of disturbed thinking and anxious and hostile response content in Anglo-American than in Mexican children. Results are interpreted in light of cultural differences.…

Psychological distress is investigated in a sample of elderly Mexican Americans and Anglos residing in a four-census tract area in southwest San Antonio. Comparisons of the two ethnic groups using the Computer Derived Mental Health Rating as the measure of psychological distress show that Mexican Americans exhibit more distress than Anglos. This…

The validity of a behavioral rating scale for identifying gifted and creative students was investigated for three ethnic groups by socioeconomic status. These groups were mid to high socio-economic status (SES) Anglo, low SES Anglo, and low SES Hispanic. The Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS) was studied…

Twenty subjects from the United States and nineteen from India read letters describing a typical Indian and a typical American wedding and recalled them following interpolated tasks. Among the findings were that subjects read the native passage more rapidly, recalled a larger amount of information from the native passage, produced more culturally…

The curious association between romance and adverse circumstances is based on an extension of emotional attribution theory, which postulates that romantic notions are evoked when nonspecific physiological arousal is attributed to another person or to an interpersonal relationship. Data from a survey on stressful life events was examined to…

The English language portions of appropriate levels of the Language Assessment Scales (LAS) were administered to 193 English-speaking monolingual elementary school students. The students were aged 5-14, and had average reading achievement scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. On the basis of the publisher's norms, maturational trends in scores…