Parental homework-help profiles throughout grades 6-9 : Relations to motivation and mathematics skills

This study aimed to examine how parental profiles during homework help (supportive versus controlling) for children in Grades 6 and 9 change over time and relate to children's motivation and math skills. Participants included 719 mother-child dyads. Children's perceptions of parental help and math skills were assessed in both grades; children's math-related self-concept, interest, and mother-rated task persistence were assessed only in Grade 6. Three similar profiles of parental help appeared in both grades. Most mothers and children belonged to the Average support and control profile (around 60% in both grades); 29-33% belonged to the Average support, high control profile; and 8-11% belonged to the Low support, below average control profile. Profiles differed based on children's self-concept, task persistence, and math skills in Grade 6. Transitions of parental homework help predicted children's math skills in Grade 9. These findings help to conceptualize parental homework help as a multidimensional construct that may manifest in three different profiles which differentially relate to the child's skills and motivation.Peer reviewe

Young adults' personal concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland : an issue for social concern

Purpose This study focuses on how young adults face the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating their personal concerns about mental well-being, career/studies and economic situation. The authors investigated how young adults' (aged 18-29) personal concerns differ from older people's concerns (aged 30-65) and which person- and context-related antecedents relate to personal concerns. Design/methodology/approach Data of Finnish young adults aged 18-29 (n = 222), who participated in the "Corona Consumers" survey (N = 1,000) in April 2020, were analyzed by path analysis and compared to participants aged 30-65 by independent samples t-test. Findings Young adults were significantly more concerned about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental well-being, career/studies and economic situation than older people. Females were more concerned about their mental well-being than males. Among youth, lower life satisfaction was related to concerns about mental well-being, and lower satisfaction with financial situation was related to concerns about career/studies and economic situation. Young adults' predisposition to avoid difficult situations was related to more frequent concerns in all domains, whereas generalized trust and education were not. Research limitations/implications Due to cross-sectional data, causal COVID-19 interpretations should be made cautiously. Practical implications Strong youth policies are needed for youth empowerment, mental health and career advancement in the pandemic aftermath. Originality/value The study highlights the inequality of the effects of COVID-19: The pandemic has radically influenced young adults as they exhibit significant personal concerns in age-related life domains.Peer reviewe

Financial Behaviour Under Economic Strain in Different Age Groups: Predictors and Change Across 20 Years

The present study examined the multiple micro- and macro-level factors that affect individuals’ financial behaviour under economic strain. The following sociodemographic and economic factors that predict financial behaviour were analysed: age group, year of data gathering, and attitudes towards consumption (economical, deprived, and hedonistic). Subjective financial situations and demographic characteristics were controlled for. Finnish time series data that consisted of five cross-sectional nationally representative surveys were used (n = 10 043). The analyses revealed four types of financial behaviour: cutting expenses, borrowing, increasing income, and gambling. Young adults aged 18–25 reported the lowest frequency of borrowing and gambling and the highest frequency of increasing income (together with young adults aged 26–35). Participants aged 66–75 scored the lowest in cutting expenses and increasing income in comparison to all other age groups. Financial behaviour under economic strain in 2019 can be characterized by lower instances of borrowing than in 2004 and 2009 and higher frequencies in increasing income in comparison to all other years of data gathering. Finally, strong attitudes towards saving were related to lower frequency of borrowing and gambling, whereas stronger hedonistic attitudes were related to lower frequency of cutting expenses and more frequent borrowing. The research results provide tools for consumer policy, consumer education, and consumer regulation.Peer reviewe

Effects of DDT and malathion on rat mammary tumors and leukemia induced by dimethylbenz(a)anthracene.

Dept. of Biological Sciences. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1975 .S46. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1975

Atomic layer deposition of the conductive delafossite PtCoO₂

The first atomic layer deposition process for a ternary oxide is reported, which contains a metal of the platinum group, the delafossite PtCoO2. The deposition with the precursors trimethyl-Pt-methylcyclopentadienyl, Co-bis(N-t-butyl-N′-ethylpropanimidamidate), and oxygen plasma results in a process with a nearly constant growth rate and stoichiometric composition over a wide temperature window from 100 to 320 °C. Annealing of the as-deposited amorphous films in an oxygen atmosphere in a temperature window from 700 to 800 °C leads to the formation of the delafossite phase. Very thin films show a pronounced preferred orientation with the Pt sheets being almost parallel to the substrate surface while arbitrary orientation is observed for thicker films. The conformal coating of narrow trenches highlights the potential of this atomic-layer-deposition process. Moreover, heterostructures with magnetic films are fabricated to demonstrate the potential of PtCoO2 for spintronic applications

Zadovoljavanje osnovnih psiholoških potreba i autonomna motivacija u kontekstu škole: testiranje aditivne, sinergističke i hipoteze ravnoteže

The present study examined the influence of the three basic psychological needs on autonomous motivation in educational settings in the light of additive, synergistic, and balance hypotheses. Participants were 679 high school students (Mage = 16.16, 49.3% girls). The findings supported the additive hypothesis: all three needs had unique effects on autonomous motivation. The synergistic hypothesis was only partially supported: one two-way interaction between autonomy and competence had effect on autonomous motivation. A high level of satisfaction of the need for autonomy led to autonomous motivation regardless of satisfaction of the need for competence. However, competence was positively related to autonomous motivation only when the need for autonomy was low. The balance hypothesis was also supported: balance in needs satisfaction had a significant effect in addition to additive and synergistic effects.U ovom je istraživanju ispitivan utjecaju triju osnovnih psiholoških potreba na autonomnu motivaciju u obrazovnom okruženju s obzirom na aditivnu, sinergističku i hipotezu ravnoteže. Sudionici u istraživanju bili su srednjoškolci, ukupno njih 679 (Mdob = 16,16; 49,3 % djevojaka). Rezultati su išli u prilog aditivnoj hipotezi: sve tri potrebe imaju jedinstven utjecaj na autonomnu motivaciju. Sinergistička hipoteza samo je dijelom potvrđena: jedna dvosmjerna interakcija između autonomije i kompetentnosti imala je utjecaj na autonomnu motivaciju. Visok stupanj zadovoljavanja potrebe za autonomijom vodi autonomnoj motivaciji bez obzira na to je li zadovoljena potreba za kompetentnošću. Međutim, kompetentnost je u pozitivnoj vezi s autonomnom motivacijom samo onda kada je potreba za autonomijom bila mala. Hipoteza ravnoteže je također potvrđena: ravnoteža zadovoljavanja potreba, uz aditivan i sinergistički, ima također važan utjecaj

How do student prior achievement and homework behaviors relate to perceived parental involvement in homework?

This study investigated how students' prior achievement is related to their homework behaviors (i.e., time spent on homework, homework time management, and amount of homework), and to their perceptions of parental involvement in homework (i.e., parental control and parental support). A total of 1250 secondary students from 7 to 10th grade participated in the study. Structural equation models were fitted to the data, compared, and a partial mediation model was chosen. The results indicated that students' prior academic performance was significantly associated with both of the students' homework variables, with direct and indirect results linking achievement and homework behaviors with perceived parental control and support behaviors about homework. Lowachieving students, in particular, perceived more parental control of homework in the secondary grades. These results, together with those of previous research, suggest a recursive relationship between secondary school students' achievement and their perceptions of parental involvement in homework, which represents the process of student learning and family engagement over time. Study limitations and educational implications are discussed.This work has been funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (Spain) under the National Program for Research, Development and Innovation: project EDU2014-57571-P, and from the European Union, through the European Regional Development Funds and the Principality of Asturias, through its Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (grant GRUPIN14-100 and GRUPIN14-053).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Longitudinal Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Parental Difficulties on Reading and Math Development Across Grades 1-9

This study focuses on parental reading and mathematical difficulties, the home literacy environment, and the home numeracy environment as well as their predictive role in Finnish children's reading and mathematical development through Grades 1-9. We examined if parental reading and mathematical difficulties directly predict children's academic performance and/or if they are mediated by the home learning environment. Mothers (n = 1590) and fathers (n = 1507) reported on their reading and mathematical difficulties as well as on the home environment (shared reading, teaching literacy, and numeracy) when their children were in kindergarten. Tests for reading fluency, reading comprehension, and arithmetic fluency were administered to children in Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9. Parental reading difficulties predicted children's reading fluency, whereas parental mathematical difficulties predicted their reading comprehension and arithmetic fluency. Familial risk was associated with neither formal nor informal home environment factors, whereas maternal education had a significant relationship with both, with higher levels of education among mothers predicting less time spent on teaching activities and more time spent on shared reading. In addition, shared reading was significantly associated with the development of reading comprehension up to Grades 3 and 4, whereas other components of the home learning environment were not associated with any assessed skills. Our study highlights that taken together, familial risk, parental education, and the home learning environment form a complex pattern of associations with children's mathematical and reading skills

Homework self-regulation strategies: a gender and educational-level invariance analysis

This study investigates the measurement invariance as a function of gender and educational level of the Homework Behavior Questionnaire (Ktpc), an instrument developed to assess students' homework self-regulation strategies. A sample of 1400 elementary and middle school students was used. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit of the theoretical model composed of three dimensions: planning, execution and evaluation of the homework completion. The results also provided evidence for the existence of metric invariance and partial scalar measurement invariance across boys and girls and across the elementary school and the middle school students. The reliability of the scores in the three dimensions was high. Girls obtained higher scores than boys in planning, execution and evaluation. Middle school students had lower scores in planning compared to the elementary school students. These findings are discussed, and their implications for practice are highlighted.This study was partially conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, through national funds, and co-financed by FEDER, through COMPETE2020, under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). The first author is also supported by grant SFRH/BPD/102549/2014 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio