Admissions processes for health professions programs result in students entering these programs academically homogeneous. Yet some students have great difficulty with the programs. Research has shown a limited ability of traditional academic indicators to predict successful outcomes for health professions education. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between learning motivation and academic outcomes for students in health professions programs. The Modified Archer Health Professions Motivation Scale (MAHPMS) and a demographic survey were administered at orientation to 131 medical and 29 physician assistant students at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in the fall of 2005. At the end of the semester, the same version of the MAHPMS was administered, and final course grades and semester averages were collected. Descriptive statistics were analyzed for all the study variables. Analysis of variance was utilized to examine within subjects and between subjects differences for the learning motivation scores among programs and demographic categories. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between learning motivation scores and end-of-semester grades. And finally, logistic regression was performed to explore the ability of the motivation scores to predict academically high-risk students. Approximately three-fourths of the students indicated a preference for …

Interactional and contextual models have been conceptually proposed in understanding parental influences on children. Yet, empirical model testing has been limited. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of parenting style on child social competence using structural equation modeling in a sample of 544 Chinese families with 6-9 years old children, mainly singleton, residing in Nanjing, China. Five latent models were tested: (a) the direct model between parenting style and child social competence, (b) child temperament as a moderator, (c) parent-child relationship as a mediator, (d) the interaction model between parenting style and family functioning, and (e) bidirectional models of parenting style concurrently with parent-child relationship, and family functioning predicting child social competence. Findings showed: (a) The direct relationship between parenting style and child social competence was significant in both parents with authoritative parenting style on the positive direction, whereas authoritarian and permissive parenting styles on the negative direction; (b) child temperament did not moderate parenting style on child social competence; (c) father-child relationship mediated paternal parenting style on child social competence, whereas maternal parenting style did not; (d) family functioning neither moderated nor mediated the relationship between parenting style and child social …

This study examined what differences in resiliency traits, if any, exist between successful and non-successful first and continuing-generation college students through the use of a survey. For the purposes of this study, first-generation students were those students whose parents have never attended college and continuing-generation college students were those students whose parents have attended some college. For the purposes of this study, the term successful was defined as those students who after being enrolled during fall 2005 re-enrolled for the spring 2006 semester and the term non-successful is defined as those students who after being enrolled fall 2005 semester failed to re-enrolled for the spring 2006 semester. A sample of 164 students was surveyed by collecting demographic data, resiliency traits, attitudinal characteristics, level of familial support, and reasons for dropping out of college. A sub-sample of 40 students participated in a face-to-face, in-depth interview. This study found that successful first-generation community college students possessed certain common qualities or resilient characteristics that include: 1) social competence, 2) problem-solving skills, 3) critical consciousness, 4) autonomy, and 5) sense of purpose. Through the face-to-face interviews common themes emerged. Many of the students used similar words to describe their feelings and experiences about beginning, …

From the socially conservative 1950s to the permissive 1970s, this project explores the ways in which insanity in women has been linked to their femininity and the expression or repression of their sexuality. An analysis of films from Hollywood's post-classical period (The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Lizzie (1957), Lilith (1964), Repulsion (1965), Images (1972) and 3 Women (1977)) demonstrates the societal tendency to label a woman's behavior as mad when it does not fit within the patriarchal mold of how a woman should behave. In addition to discussing the social changes and diagnostic trends in the mental health profession that define “appropriate” female behavior, each chapter also traces how the decline of the studio system and rise of the individual filmmaker impacted the films' ideologies with regard to mental illness and femininity.

Analysis of a particular north-central Texas public high school revealed a strong representation of Hispanic females in advanced academic programs, i.e., AP and GT in proportion to their representation in the overall student population. Research seems to indicate that a progressive approach to academic-potential identification; culturally effective mentoring, traditional Hispanic values, and newly emerging personal and social characteristics all seem to be contributing factors. This study seems to indicate that a new type of Hispanic female is emerging who is more assertive academically, more visible in the classroom, and less marriage-and-family oriented as might be believed by teachers, society, their peers, and perhaps even their parents.

Over the years there has been significant discussion of the connection between principal's leadership qualities and teacher efficacy. Students come to the classroom from stable, traditional, supportive home environments as well as from unstable, broken, and homeless situations. Teachers are asked to teach a classroom full of students with a wide range of learning abilities as well as a varied range of learning disabilities. The confidence to do this for the measure of a teacher's career takes a strong sense of efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' sense of efficacy and teachers' perceptions of their principals' leadership qualities that enhance and/or diminish the teachers' sense of efficacy. This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods to study the effects of leadership qualities on teacher efficacy. Quantitative data was acquired utilizing the teacher sense of efficacy scale and the principal leadership questionnaire. Qualitative data was gathered through a focus group meeting of teachers with measurably strong efficacy to identify principal practices that affect teachers' efficacy. The study's outcomes reported that total respondent data indicates a generally positive relationship between these two variables. Subgroup analysis revealed varying results with diminishing relationships measured from elementary …

Although several guidelines are available for designing observational procedures in both basic and applied settings, few researchers have experimentally examined and compared different direct observation methods. Such methods may have a direct impact on practitioners' ability to effectively assess strengths and challenges, set treatment goals, adjust intervention procedures, and monitor progress. The current study compared 1 and 5 min observations to 10 min observations throughout baseline and intervention phases of a parent training program for toddlers with autism. Results showed similarities with regards to variability, level, and trend in the 5 and 10 min data samples; however, clear differences were seen in the 1 min data sample, which typically showed very low occurrences of responding and displayed steady and flat trends. The findings have implications for the development of time-efficient direct observation procedures utilized in parent training programs for children with autism.