Self‐Concepts, Domain Values, and Self‐Esteem: Relations and Changes at Early Adolescence

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97452/1/j.1467-6494.1989.tb00484.x.pd

Book reviews

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45632/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00287406.pd

Secondary School Transition and the Use of Different Sources of Information for the Construction of the Academic Self‐concept

This study focuses on processes involved in students' academic self‐concept constructions before, during, and after secondary school transition. The study is based on a four‐wave longitudinal dataset (N = 1953). Structural equation modeling showed that during school transition, the impact of grades on students' academic self‐concepts in Math and English decreased whereas the effects of maternal competence perceptions increased. After the transition, the effects of grades increased, while the effects maternal competence beliefs decreased again. The results are interpreted in terms of differential emphasizing of sources of information for students' self‐concept construction. During school transition, elementary school grades lost informational value for self‐evaluations due to the changed frame of reference. To secure stable and valid self‐assessments, students emphasized other sources than grades; in this, case information obtained through parental competence appraisals. After transition, when valid grades were available for the students' constructions again, the temporarily heightened parental influence decreased again.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92444/1/j.1467-9507.2011.00635.x.pd

Intrapsychic factors influencing career aspirations in college women

A 300-item questionnaire designed to assess the relationship and relative importance of several factors for women's career aspirations was answered by 169 female college juniors and seniors. Regression analyses showed that women with high career aspirations were satisfied with their lives; confident of their career plans; willing to postpone marriage; nontraditional in their values and behaviors; generally external in orientation, believing that discrimination is responsible for many of women's failures and that organized pressure rather than individual action is necessary to combat this discrimination; certain that women's demands for equality are justified and that most men agree with them; likely to have had a working mother who was perceived as being dissatisfied with her own life; and if planning to marry soon, endorsing dual role compatability. When all variables were considered simultaneously, attitudinal factors were found to best predict career aspirations, while socialization variables were relatively unimportant.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45615/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00287286.pd

Sex differences in attributions and learned helplessness

This investigation assessed the hypothesis that girls are more likely to be learned helpless in math than boys. Students in grades 5 through 11 completed questionnaires assessing their causal attributions for success and failure in mathematics, their self-concepts of math ability, and their expectations for both current and future success in math. Results indicated that sex differences in attributions depended on the type of methodology used (open-ended or rank-ordered questions). The most consistent difference involved the differential use and ranking of ability, skills, and consistent effort. No sex differences were found in either students' perceptions of their own math ability or in their current achievement expectations. Girls, however, rated their future expectations slightly lower than did boys. Taken together, these results provide little support for the hypothesis that girls are generally more learned helpless in mathematics than are boys.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45648/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00287281.pd

Parent perceptions and attributions for children's math achievement

From junior high school on, girls report lower estimations of their math ability and express more negative attitudes about math than do boys, despite equivalent performance in grades. Parents show this same sex-typed bias. This paper examines the role that attributions may play in explaining these sex differences in parents' perceptions of their children's math ability. Mothers and fathers of 48 junior high school boys and girls of high, average, and low math ability completed questionnaires about their perceptions of their child's ability and effort in math, and their causal attributions for their child's successful and unsuccessful math performances. Parents' math-related perceptions and attributions varied with their child's level of math ability and gender. Parents credited daughters with more effort than sons, and sons with more talent than daughters for successful math performances. These attributional patterns predicted sex-linked variations in parents' ratings of their child's effort and talent. No sex of child effects emerged for failure attributions; instead, lack of effort was seen as the most important, and lack of ability as the least important, cause of unsuccessful math performances for both boys and girls. Implications of these attributions for parents' influence on children's developing self-concept of math ability, future expectancies, and subsequent achievement behaviors are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45585/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00289840.pd

Expectancy-Value Models for the STEM Persistence Plans of Ninth-Grade, High-Ability Students: A Comparison Between Black, Hispanic, and White Students

Group differences in the effects of the expectancies and values that high-ability students have for science and mathematics on plans to persist in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) were investigated. A nationally representative sample of ninth-grade students, the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS: 2009; n = 21,444) was used. The analytic sample was 1,757 (48% female, 52% male) Black (13.8%), Hispanic (26.7%), and White (59.6%) students who scored in the top 10% of their race group on the mathematics achievement test. Hierarchical logistic regression models were developed for each race/ethnicity group to examine the relationships of demographic and expectancy-value variables with STEM persistence status. Science attainment value, science intrinsic value, and STEM utility value were predictive of STEM persistence, but these variables operated differently in groups of Black, Hispanic, and White students. Implications for educators include the need for ways to improve perceptions of science identity and awareness of the utility of science and mathematics courses. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Science lives: School choices and ‘natural tendencies’

An analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with university-based scientists and non-scientists illustrates their life journeys towards, or away from, science and the strengths and impact of life occurrences leading them to choose science or non-science professions. We have adopted narrative approaches and used Mezirow's transformative learning theory framework. The areas of discussion from the result have stressed on three main categories that include ‘smooth transition’, ‘incremental wavering transition' and ‘transformative transition’. The article concludes by discussing the key influences that shaped initial attitudes and direction in these people through natural inclination, environmental inspirations and perceptions of science

Until Somebody Hears Me: Parental Voice and Advocacy in Special Education Decision-Making

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The original publication is available at http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1467-8578.2006.00430.x.When a family finds out their child has a disability, they enter the world of special education which has its own terminology, rules, settings and personnel. In addition to grappling with the meaning of their child's special needs, families are also thrown into the role of principle advocate for their child. The research study reported here presents the findings from focus groups conducted in the United States of America with 27 diverse families on their efforts to obtain the best educational outcomes for their children. In this article, Robyn Hess, Amy Molina and Elizabeth Kozleski bring their collective past experiences, as a school psychologist, bilingual counsellor and special education teacher respectively, to bear on this topic and frame the issue from a systemic perspective. They argue that engaging in conversation with families around their needs, as well as assisting them in their efforts to advocate for their child, is the first step in creating more equal partnerships between parents of children with special needs and educational professionals

Women's experiences of anal incontinence following vaginal birth : a qualitative study of missed opportunities in routine care contacts

Objectives This study aimed to explore experiences of women with anal incontinence following a childbirth injury, and to identify areas of missed opportunities within care they received. Design This is a qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews. Setting Participants were recruited via five hospitals in the UK, and via social media adverts and communication from charity organisations. Participants Women who have experienced anal incontinence following a childbirth injury, either within 7 years of sustaining the injury, or if they identified new, or worsening symptoms of AI at the time of menopause. Main outcome measures Main outcomes are experiences of women with anal incontinence following childbirth injury, and missed opportunities within the care they received. Results The following main themes were identified: opportunities for diagnosis missed, missed opportunities for information sharing and continuity and timeliness of care. Conclusions Anal Incontinence following a childbirth injury has a profound impact on women. Lack of information and awareness both amongst women and healthcare professionals contributes to delays in accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment