College Students' Religious Beliefs, Knowledge of Evolution, and Science Literacy : Comparisons by Sex, Discipline, and Point of College Career

Color poster with text, graphs, and tables.If being in college promotes science literacy and critical, evidence-based thinking, then college seniors should demonstrate higher levels of scientific knowledge and lower levels of religious belief than should freshmen. Among seniors, those in Math & Natural Sciences should score higher in science literacy than should those in other disciplines. The current study was designed to test these predictions.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Emerging Adults' Plans for Work and Family : a Freshman-Senior Comparison

Color poster with text and graphs.Social constructionists have argued that sex differences in plans for combining work and family are a manifestation of societal pressures; under this logic, differences between men and women in work-family plans should be ameliorated by progression through four years of a liberal education that emphasizes gender egalitarianism. This study tests this idea.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Authoritative parenting and parental stress in parents of pre-school and older children with developmental disabilities

Background Rearing a child with a developmental disability is associated with increased parental stress. Theories of stress and adjustment and bi-directional theories of child development suggest that parenting could influence these negative outcomes. Methods Relationships between parenting approaches and stress in parents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) (N = 53) were examined across two age groups, 3-5 years and 9-11 years and compared with a contrast group of typically developing children (TD) (N = 60). Measures used were the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form and Rickel and Biasatti's modification of Block's Child Rearing Practices Report, classified into Baumrind's parenting styles using Reitman and Gross's method. Results Parents in the older DD group used Authoritative parenting less than parents in the younger DD group, while the opposite developmental pattern was seen in the TD group. Multivariate analysis of variance showed a significant group × parenting style interaction for Parental Distress, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Difficult Child. Stress measures were higher for the DD group and seemed to be associated with Authoritative parenting approaches, an effect that was not observed in the TD group. Conclusions Findings suggest that the well-established effect of group on stress may be moderated by parenting style. Authoritative parenting may be highly stressful for parents of children with DD to implement, resulting in a decrease in its use across the two age groups