University students' engagement: Development of the university student engagement inventory (USEI)

Student engagement is a key factor in academic achievement and degree completion, though there is much debate about the operationalization and dimensionality of this construct. The goal of this paper is to describe the development of an psycho-educational oriented measure – the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI). This measure draws on the conceptualization of engagement as a multidimensional construct, including cognitive, behavioural and emotional engagement. Participants were 609 Portuguese University students (67 % female) majoring in Social Sciences, Biological Sciences or Engineering and Exact Sciences. The content, construct and predictive validity, and reliability of the USEI were tested. The validated USEI was composed of 15 items, and supported the tri-factorial structure of student engagement. We documented evidence of adequate reliability, factorial, convergent and discriminant validities. USEI’s concurrent validity, with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Survey, and the predictive validity for self-reported academic achievement and intention to dropout from school were also observed

Adolescents' Commitment to Developing Talent: The Role of Peers in Continuing Motivation for Sports and the Arts

The role of peer relationships in supporting or hindering adolescents' talent development has received little research attention, despite the importance of peers in adolescents' lives. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 41 adolescents talented in sports or the arts, and their parents, to investigate (a) the role of peer relationships in adolescents' continued involvement in their talent activities, (b) possible differences in this role by activity domain, and (c) possible gender differences. Thematic analysis indicated that peers typically played a positive function in supporting the continued involvement of talented adolescents in their talent activities. There were differences in opportunities for peer relationships and social satisfaction between in-school and out-of school activities, but not between activity domains. Both males and females mentioned equally social benefits of such involvement. However, females mentioned receiving negative peer attention more frequently than males, and more often cited social dissatisfaction as a significant contributor to decreased involvement or quitting.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45286/1/10964_2004_Article_411240.pd

University student engagement inventory (USEI): psychometric properties

Academic engagement describes students’ investment in academic learning and achievement and is an important indicator of students’ adjustment to university life, particularly in the first year. A tridimensional conceptualization of academic engagement has been accepted (behavioral, emotional and cognitive dimensions). This paper tests the dimensionality, internal consistency reliability and invariance of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI) taking into consideration both gender and the scientific area of graduation. A sample of 908 Portuguese first-year university students was considered. Good evidence of reliability has been obtained with ordinal alpha and omega values. Confirmatory factor analysis substantiates the theoretical dimensionality proposed (second-order latent factor), internal consistency reliability evidence indicates good values and the results suggest measurement invariance across gender and the area of graduation. The present study enhances the role of the USEI regarding the lack of consensus on the dimensionality and constructs delimitation of academic engagement.Jorge Sinval received funding from the William James Center for Research, Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT UID/PSI/04810/2013). Leandro S. Almeida and Joana R. Casanova received funding from CIEd – Research Centre on Education, projects UID/CED/1661/2013 and UID/CED/1661/2016, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT. Joana R. Casanova received funding from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) as a Doctoral Grant, under grant agreement number SFRH/BD/117902/2016.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Girl -friendly family contexts: Socialization into math and sports.

This dissertation examined the effect of the family context in elementary school on children's motivation over time in two traditionally male dominated domains (math and sports). In this set of four studies, I tested the hypothesis that mothers and fathers positively influence their children's beliefs and participation in math and sports by being a role model, by holding high expectations, and by providing encouragement and opportunities in the home. Specifically, I examined differences in the relation between parent socialization and children's motivation by gender of the parent and gender of the child. Data for the four studies are drawn from a large longitudinal study of Child and Adolescent Development. In the first study, a series of statistical techniques (hierarchical regressions, logistic regressions, and structural equation modeling) were used to examine bi-directional longitudinal relations between mothers' and fathers' role-modeling, beliefs, and practices and children's motivation. Parents' ratings of their children's abilities and interests were strongly related to children's self and task beliefs, participation in organized sports activities, and math course-taking over time. In the second study, hierarchical linear modeling was used to chart changes in children's perceptions of competence, interest, and importance in math and sports from first to twelfth grade. Children's self and task beliefs in math and sports declined over time. Gender and parents' ratings of children's abilities helped to explain variations in children's trajectories over time. In the third study, a cumulative score was created for each family based on the number of factors in the home that positively support children's motivation. In both math and sports, the greater the number of factors the higher children's self and task perceptions and participation over time. Finally, in the last study, in-depth interviews with adolescents selected from the larger longitudinal study who were highly involved in sports and their parents were presented. The qualitative analysis indicated that parents support children's involvement by participating in athletics themselves, by holding high expectations, and by providing emotional and instrumental support. In sum, the results indicate that the early family environment can positively influence children's motivation in math and sports over time.Ph.D.Developmental psychologyEducationEducational psychologyIndividual and family studiesMathematics educationPhysical educationPsychologyRecreationSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132132/2/9959758.pd

Developmental Benefits of Extracurricular Involvement: Do Peer Characteristics Mediate the Link Between Activities and Youth Outcomes?

In this article, we test: (a) the relation between school-based extracurricular participation and indicators of positive and negative development across a range of activity contexts, and (b) a mediation model linking activity participation, prosocial peers, and development. Extensive survey information was collected from a predominately White sample of middle class adolescents in 9th, 10th, and 12th grades. Extracurricular participation was related to more favorable academic, psychological, and behavioral adjustment; the pattern of findings differed by activity and outcome. In addition, we documented some support for the hypothesis that the link between extracurricular participation and positive adjustment is partly a function of associating with a prosocial peer group. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are presented. KEY WORDS: extracurriculars; peers; youth development. Adolescents in the United States spend more than half of their waking hours in leisure activities (Larson and Varma, 1999). Both scholars and youth policy advocates argue that participation in extracurricular activities, such as sports, the arts, and school clubs, are a productive use of this leisure time and can provide distinct opportunities for growth and development (Eccles and Gootman, 2002; Larson, 2000). These contexts share several features that are directly linked to positive development, including regular participation schedules, direction by an adult leader, emphasis on skill development, and involvement that requires sustained attention, opportunities for meaningful participation, and clear feedback (Eccles and Gootman

Family socialization, gender, and sport motivation and involvement

Enquête par questionnaire sur l'influence du père et de la mère sur l'activité sportive, les motivations et les croyances relatives à la pratique sportive de leurs enfants. Effet du modèle de rôle parental (pratique sportive des parents), des perceptions par les parents de l'aptitude sportive de leurs enfants, de leur conception de l'importance de la pratique sportive, du temps consacré par les parents à l'activité sportive des enfants, de leurs encouragements, de leurs achats d'équipement sportif sur la perception par les enfants de leur propre compétence sportive, sur leurs perceptions de l'utilité du sport, sur leur degré de participation sportive. Incidence des stéréotypes liés au genre concernant la pratique, les convictions et attentes des parents

CD30 Expression Is Associated With Decreased Survival In Patients With Acute and Unfavorable Chronic Types Of Adult T-Cell Leukemia-Lymphoma

Abstract Background Adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATLL) is a rare malignancy caused by the human T-lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-I) which has a dismal prognosis, urging development of new therapeutic strategies. ATLL is commonly encountered in Miami due to its proximity to the Caribbean, where HTLV-I is endemic. CD30, a well-known marker of activated T-cells that participates in regulating memory cells, has been reported to be positively expressed at variable frequencies in ATLL cells, with positive expression rates ranging from 21- 50% of cases. The variation in reported CD30 expression rates is likely due to the heterogeneous nature of this neoplasm and inclusion of different ATLL subtypes within previous study populations. We hypothesized that the CD30 expression in ATLL was likely to differ based on the subtype of ATLL. Additionally, because CD30 is a molecule involved in multiple cell regulation and activation functions, predominantly through the NFKB signaling pathway, we predicted that CD30 could be a potential marker for prognosis and disease behavior in ATLL. We have conducted this study to evaluate the association that CD30 expression may have with ATLL disease subtype and survival in our population. The availability of targeted therapy (anti-CD30-monomethyl-auristatin-E conjugate brentuximab vedotin) makes identification of the role of CD30 expression in ATLL an important one, particularly as clinical trials using these therapies are currently underway. Design We conducted a historic cohort study of CD30 expression in cases of ATLL including patients of any age and at initial diagnosis. Cases were retrieved from our clinical and pathology information systems (UM/JMH). CD30 expression was evaluated by either immunohistochemistry (IHC) using antihuman CD30 monoclonal mouse antibody, clone Ber-H2, (Dako, Carpinteria, CA; IR602, Dilution: 1:30) performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections or on cytospins prepared from CD4+-enriched peripheral blood leukemic specimens, using 30% expression as a cut-off positive value. We analyzed overall CD30 expression, CD30 expression by sub-type and survival outcome according to CD30 expression. Kaplan-Meier survival curves, log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression where used for survival analysis. An alpha value of 0.1 was used for all statistical tests. Results Sixty-eight ATLL cases (lymphomatous n= 31, acute n=33, unfavorable chronic n=3, smoldering n=1) met inclusion criteria, and had CD30 status and complete clinical data available. The overall proportion of CD30+ ATLLs was 22.1% (95% CI 13.8% – 30.3%). The frequency of CD30 expression for each group is as follows: lymphomatous: 25.8%, acute: 21.2%, unfavorable chronic: 0%, smoldering: 0%. There was no significant difference for CD30 expression between the combined acute/unfavorable chronic (A/UC) subgroup and the lymphomatous subgroup (proportion difference 6.4%; CI 90% -10.52% – 23.24%). Within the A/UC subgroup the median survival for CD30+ patients was 10.1 weeks compared to 33.7 weeks for CD30- patients (P=0.071). CD30 expression was associated with a higher risk of death in patients within the A/UC subgroup (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.6, 90% CI: 1.1 – 6.2) (Figure 1A). Within the lymphomatous subgroup the median survival for CD30+ patients was 63.1 weeks compared to 60.3 weeks for CD30- patients (P=0.260) and there no association of CD30 status with the risk of death in the lymphomatous subgroup (HR: 0.6, 90% CI: 0.2 – 1.3) (Figure 1B). Conclusions Our data show that 22.1% of ATLL is CD30+ and that expression is similar amongst aggressive ATLL subtypes. CD30 could be a marker of prognosis in cases of acute or unfavorable chronic ATLL. CD30+ cases of any subtype are potentially amenable to anti-CD30 therapy. Targeted anti-CD30 therapy may be especially useful in CD30+ acute type ATLL, which carry the worst prognosis. Given the sample size, these results must be validated in a larger cohort. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare