Joint storybook reading measured with children's book title checklist and the children's language development in early childhood

In the present study we examined the relationship between parental educational level, joint storybook reading and children's language competence. Our sample included 123 5-year-old children attending one of the Slovenian preschools. Frequency of parent-child joint storybook reading was measured indirectly with the children's book title checklist, which was used in the Slovenian language environment for the first time, and which, in comparison with the parents' report about how often they read to their children, represents a more objective measure of storybook exposure. By using checklist we avoid socially desirable responses, which parents give because they think that reading is important for children's language development. We found out that parental education is positively related to the parental familiarity with the titles of books for children. Furthermore, the results show that storybook exposure is, regardless of parental educational level, a factor of home environment which makes an important contribution to the development of children's language competence

School grade: how much of it can be explained with the adolescent's individual characteristics and how much with the variables of the family environment

Our paper presents results of a research of factors of the academic achievement of the ninth-grade elementary school students. Four hundred twenty-seven adolescents participated, among them 225 girls and 202 boys. We attempted to determine the extent in which the academic achievement (evaluated by means of national examinations and teachers' marks) in Slovene, mathematics and biology can be predicted by students' individual characteristics (language competence, intellectual abilities and personality dimensions) and some variables related to the family environment (parents' educational level, parental pressure on adolescent's learning, number of books at home, parents' wishes concerning the continuation of adolescent's education). By means of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) we found rather small across-schools differences in average students' achievement; the proportion of the school-level variance ranged between 0% and 9%. On the other hand, variation between students within schools was larger; the proportion of the student-level variance in achievement ranged between 91% and 100%. The variables related to the student and the family environment explained between 37% and 63% of the variance in achievement evaluated by means of national examinations, and between 56% and 62% of the variance in achievement evaluated by means of teachers' marks, respectively. The most important predictors of the achievement were language competence, intellectual abilities, personality dimensions conscientiousness and openness/intellect, two components of parental influence to the school work, namely parental pressure and help with the school work, and the parents' educational level. We further tried to determine the extent in which schools differ with regard to the evaluated individual characteristics of adolescents and to the family environment variables. We found out that the across-school variation of adolescents' intellectual abilities, parents' educational level and certain components of parental influence on the student's school work is larger than the across-school variation of students' achievement, with the exception of the national examination in biology

Factors of children's school readiness

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of preschool on children's school readiness in connection with their intellectual abilities, language competence, and parents' education. The sample included 219 children who were 68 to 83 months old and were attending the first year of primary school. Children were differentiated by whether or not they had attended preschool before starting school. Children's intellectual ability was determined using Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM; Raven, Raven, & Court, 1999), language competence using the Lestvice splošnega govornegarazvoja–LJ (LSGR–LJ, Scales of General Language Development; Marjanovič Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja in Bajc, 2004), and school readiness with the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo (PPŠ, Test of School Readiness; Toličič, 1986). The results indicate that children's intellectual ability and language competence have a high predictive value for the school readiness — they explained 51% of the variance in children's scores on the PPŠ. Preschool enrollment has a positive effect on school readiness for children whose parents have a low level of education, but not for those whose parents are highly educated

The effect of psychological factors and parental education on adolescents' academic achievement

The aim of our research was to check the assumed path model of causal relationships between adolescent's psychological characteristics (language competence, intellectual ability, and personality dimensions), parental education, and adolescent's academic achievement. Adolescents (N = 427; among them 225 girls and 202 boys), who were attending the ninth grade of elementary school in the school year 2005/2006, and their parents participated in the study. Adolescent's academic achievement was assessed by the results of national examinations in Slovene and mathematics, teachers' marks in Slovene and mathematics, and adolescent's general school success. The results of structural equation modelling showed a good fit of the assumed path model if it included the direct effect of adolescent's psychological characteristics and parental education on adolescent's academic achievement and also the indirect effect of parental education and three personality dimensions (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness/Intellect) through the adolescent's language competence and general intelligence. The fit of the adopted path model was acceptable regardless of the way in which academic achievement was assessed and regardless of the sex of the participants. The most important predictors of the academic achievement were language competence, general intelligence, and personality dimensions Conscientiousness and Openness/Intellect. With the assumed path model of casual relationships we could explain between 53% and 63% of differences in adolescents' academic achievement

A mini-TGA protein modulates gene expression through heterogeneous association with transcription factors

TGA (TGACG-binding) transcription factors, which bind their target DNA through a conserved basic region leucine zipper (bZIP) domain, are vital regulators of gene expression in salicylic acid (SA)-mediated plant immunity. Here, we investigated the role of StTGA2.1, a potato (Solanum tuberosum) TGA lacking the full bZIP, which we named a mini-TGA. Such truncated proteins have been widely assigned as loss-of-function mutants. We, however, confirmed that StTGA2.1 overexpression compensates for SA-deficiency, indicating a distinct mechanism of action compared with model plant species. To understand the underlying mechanisms, we showed that StTGA2.1 can physically interact with StTGA2.2 and StTGA2.3, while its interaction with DNA was not detected. We investigated the changes in transcriptional regulation due to StTGA2.1 overexpression, identifying direct and indirect target genes. Using in planta transactivation assays, we confirmed that StTGA2.1 interacts with StTGA2.3 to activate StPRX07, a member of class III peroxidases (StPRX), which are known to play role in immune response. Finally, via structural modeling and molecular dynamics simulations, we hypothesized that the compact molecular architecture of StTGA2.1 distorts DNA conformation upon heterodimer binding to enable transcriptional activation. This study demonstrates how protein truncation can lead to distinct functions and that such events should be studied carefully in other protein families