James Ralph Scales : a case study of sixteen years of university leadership

The purpose of this research was to identify factors in the leadership of James Ralph Scales during his presidency at Wake Forest University, 1967-1983. The identification of these factors was made through a historical and biographical case study. A second purpose was to compare Scales' leadership factors with those of five selected leadership frameworks. The case study analysis identified Scales' leadership factors as (1) constancy of "fit" between his style, values, and personal history and the style, values, and history of the institution; (2) an unmistakable commitment to the faculty as central to academic excellence; (3) a persistent articulation of the core values of an intellectual community; (4) a tolerance for situations requiring the management of ambiguity; (5) a spirit of magnanimity; (6) an active promotion of a climate of "possibility" through debate and personal initiative; (7) a sense of humor and an attractive physical presence; (8) a habit of person centered communication; and (9) a willingness to take risks because of a trust in the institution's resources

Observed parenting behaviors interact with a polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene to predict the emergence of oppositional defiant and callous–unemotional behaviors at age 3 years

Using the Durham Child Health and Development Study, this study (N = 171) tested whether observed parenting behaviors in infancy (6 and 12 months) and toddlerhood/preschool (24 and 36 months) interacted with a child polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene to predict oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and callous–unemotional (CU) behaviors at age 3 years. Child genotype interacted with observed harsh and intrusive (but not sensitive) parenting to predict ODD and CU behaviors. Harsh–intrusive parenting was more strongly associated with ODD and CU for children with a methionine allele of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene. CU behaviors were uniquely predicted by harsh–intrusive parenting in infancy, whereas ODD behaviors were predicted by harsh–intrusive parenting in both infancy and toddlerhood/preschool. The results are discussed from the perspective of the contributions of caregiving behaviors as contributing to distinct aspects of early onset disruptive behavior

The legal aspects of corporal punishment in American public schools

Corporal punishment is a highly emotional and often litigated issue in public schools. Constitutional issues have involved Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment and Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of due process. The purpose of this study is to provide educational decision makers with appropriate information, in order that they will be able to make sound decisions in developing school board policy regarding corporal punishment in American public schools

Judicial and statutory definition of authority : selected case studies of the Burger court

Student willful misconduct is one of the major concerns of school officials. The loss of a day's Instruction because of student misconduct or because of discipline for misconduct impacts upon individual students, the school, and society. Teachers, administrators, and legislators have sought and continue to seek solutions to these problems. This study has investigated willful student misconduct and the punishments inflicted because of this misconduct. The researcher examined corporal punishment and exclusion from school as punishments for several acts of misconduct. The research included a close examination of eight cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States while Warren Burger was Chief Justice. The purpose of this examination was to ascertain current school officials' authority over students as it was defined by the Burger Court

Parental Behaviors and Beliefs, Child Temperament, and Attachment Disorganization

This research examined alternative mechanisms in the etiology of attachment disorganization. The authors hypothesized that negative intrusive parenting would significantly predict children's attachment disorganization at age 12 months within a diverse community sample. Of more substantial interest, the authors tested moderational mechanisms in the association between negative intrusive parenting, parental strong belief in discipline and control, child difficult temperament, and children's attachment disorganization. Using a multiple regression analytic approach, this research found that negative intrusive parenting significantly predicted children's attachment disorganization. This prediction was more significantly related to children's levels of attachment disorganization when it was paired with stronger rather than weaker parental beliefs in discipline and control. In contrast, when children had difficult temperament at 6 months, it was only when parents held very weak beliefs in discipline and control that children were at higher risk for attachment disorganization. Implications of the findings were discussed accordingly

Members of boards of trustees of North Carolina community colleges : their selected personal characteristics and attitudes toward institutional role and governance

The purpose of this study was to determine for the State of North Carolina: (l) the personal characteristics of local community college board members, (2) the attitudes of board members toward functions of the local community college, and (3) the relationships between personal characteristics and attitudes. The population potential of this study included 178 board members serving in the State of North Carolina during the spring of 1973• A total of 152 board members, or 85.29 per cent, responded to a questionnaire designed to obtain the necessary data. The study revealed that in the spring of 1973 the typical board member serving North Carolina community colleges was a white male about 55 years old and a resident of a small town or rural area. He had earned at least a bachelor's degree and a median family income between $25,001 and$32,000, with almost one-half reporting a family income of more than $32,001. He was active in a professional or managerial occupation and reported a parental status of one to three children. The majority of board members reported that they had resided in the county where the college he served was located for over 30 years and had two to three years experience on public school boards. Over 90 per cent had over three years experience on community college boards

Systems Theory and Cascades in Developmental Psychopathology

In the wake of prominent theoreticians in developmental science, whose contributions we review in this article, many developmental psychologists came to endorse a systems approach to understanding how the individual, as it develops, establishes functional relationships to social ecological contexts that from birth to school entry rapidly increase in complexity. The concept of developmental cascade has been introduced in this context to describe lawful processes by which antecedent conditions may be related with varying probabilities to specified outcomes. These are understood as processes by which function at one level or in one domain of behavior affect the organization of competency in later developing domains of general adaptation. Here we propose a developmental sequence by which the developing child acquires regulative capacities that are key to adjustment to a society that demands considerable control of emotional and cognitive functions early in life. We report empirical evidence showing that the acquisition of regulative capacities may be understood as a cascade of shifts in control parameters induced by the progressive integration of biological, transactional, and socioaffective systems over development. We conclude by suggesting how the developmental process may be accessed for effective intervention in populations deemed “at risk” for later problems of psychosocial adjustment

An Examination of the Parent Report Version of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Community Sample of First-Grade Children

Background. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits is a self- and other report questionnaire of callous-unemotional behaviors that is increasingly widely used in research and clinical settings. Nonetheless, questions about the factor structure and validity of scales remain. Method. This study provided the first large-scale (N = 1,078) investigation of the parent report version of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a community sample of school-age (first-grade) children. Results. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a two-factor model that distinguished empathic-prosocial (EP) from callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors provided the best fit to the data. EP and CU were moderately to strongly correlated with each other (? = -.67, p < .001) and with oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder (ODD/CD) behaviors (?ODD/CD, EP = -.55; ?ODD/CD, CU = .71, ps < .001). Individual differences in EP and CU behaviors explained unique variation, beyond that attributable to ODD/CD behaviors, in peer-, teacher-, and parent relationship quality. Moreover, whereas EP moderated the effects of ODD/CD in the prediction of student–teacher relationship quality, CU moderated the effects of ODD/CD in the prediction of peer and parent relationship quality. Conclusions. Results are discussed with respect to the use of the ICU with school-age children

Child Care and Cortisol Across Early Childhood: Context Matters

A considerable body of literature suggests that children’s child-care experiences may impact adrenocortical functioning in early childhood. Yet emerging findings also suggest that the magnitude and sometimes the direction of child-care effects on development may be markedly different for children from higher risk contexts. Using data from a large population-based sample of families from predominantly low-income backgrounds in rural communities, we tested the degree to which links between children’s child-care experiences (at 7–36 months) and their subsequent cortisol levels (at 48 months) were moderated by their level of cumulative environmental risk. Our results provided evidence of a crossover interaction between cumulative risk and child-care quantity. For children from low-risk contexts, greater weekly hours in child care were predictive of higher cortisol levels. In contrast, for children facing several cumulative risk factors, greater hours in child care per week were predictive of lower cortisol levels. These effects were robust after adjusting for several controls, including children’s cortisol levels in early infancy. Child-care quality and type were not predictive of children’s cortisol levels, and neither mitigated the conditional effect of child-care quantity on cortisol. These findings suggest that links between child care and children’s development may differ as a function of children’s broader ecologie