Race Gaps in School Trust: Where They Come from and How to Resolve Them

Trust in American institutions varies widely among adults from different racial-ethnic backgrounds. This brief, from PRC faculty research associate David Yeager and colleagues, demonstrates that unjust treatment causes minority adolescents to lose trust in school, but a respectful "wise feedback" intervention can repair distrust.Population Research Cente

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

A meta-analysis of teacher autonomy support and control

A meta-analysis of 184 correlational studies and 25 experimental studies examined the relationships between teacher autonomy support and student academic and psychosocial outcomes. The results indicated that 1) teacher autonomy support was positively associated with desirable student academic and psychological outcomes (e.g., autonomous motivation, autonomy, and academic performance), 2) teacher control was negatively associated with desirable student outcomes, and 3) teacher autonomy support interventions enhanced desirable student outcomes. Moderator tests revealed several factors that explained the variation in teacher autonomy support relationships for certain outcomes. 1) The relationships of teacher autonomy support with students’ optimal outcomes were stronger when teacher autonomy support included multiple dimensions than when it included a single dimension. 2) The relationships of teacher autonomy support with students’ optimal outcomes were stronger for middle school students than for high school and college students. 3) The relationships of teacher control with students’ optimal outcomes were also stronger for middle school students than for students from other grade levels. 4) The teacher autonomy support correlations with proximal outcomes (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) were stronger than those with distal outcomes (i.e., engagement and academic performance). Implications for theory and future research were discussed.Educational Psycholog

Self-control, social integration, and bullying behavior : an application of structural equation modeling (SEM)

The current study examined the longitudinal relations among self-control problems, social integration in school, bullying behavior, and later aggression. Latent growth models showed that self-control problems decreased while bullying behavior increased from 3rd grade to 6th grade. A parallel growth model demonstrated the longitudinal relationship between self-control problems and bullying behavior over time. Furthermore, the initial status and the decrease in self-control problems were associated with social integration, which in turn influenced students’ proximal (i.e., 6th bullying behavior) and distal outcomes (i.e., aggression at age 15). Moreover, the initial status and the decrease in self-control problems influenced proximal and distal outcomes indirectly through their influence on social integration. The findings suggested that intervening to promote students’ feelings of social integration in the school context could have important and lasting effects on bullying and aggressive behaviors.Statistic

Loss of Institutional Trust Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Adolescents

Data and syntax for Yeager et al. paper in Child Developmen

Teacher Math Anxiety Relates to Adolescent Students’ Math Achievement

Elementary school teachers’ math anxiety has been found to play a role in their students’ math achievement. The current study addresses the role of teacher math anxiety on ninth-grade students’ math achievement and the mediating factors underlying this relationship. Using data from the National Mindset Study, we find that higher teacher math anxiety is associated with lower math achievement. This relationship is partially mediated by the students’ perception that their teacher believes not everyone can be good at math and is not explainable by teachers’ usable knowledge to teach mathematics. In subsequent analyses, we find that higher teacher math anxiety relates to a reduction in process-oriented (as opposed to ability-oriented) teaching practices, which in turn predict students’ perception of teacher mindset. We argue that math anxious teachers and their use of particular teaching strategies have the potential to shape students’ math achievement and their perceptions of what their teacher believes about math

Effect of once-yearly zoledronic acid on the spine and hip as measured by quantitative computed tomography: results of the HORIZON Pivotal Fracture Trial.

Changes in bone mineral density and bone strength following treatment with zoledronic acid (ZOL) were measured by quantitative computed analysis (QCT) or dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). ZOL treatment increased spine and hip BMD vs placebo, assessed by QCT and DXA. Changes in trabecular bone resulted in increased bone strength. INTRODUCTION: To investigate bone mineral density (BMD) changes in trabecular and cortical bone, estimated by quantitative computed analysis (QCT) or dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and whether zoledronic acid 5 mg (ZOL) affects bone strength. METHODS: In 233 women from a randomized, controlled trial of once-yearly ZOL, lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck, and trochanter were assessed by DXA and QCT (baseline, Month 36). Mean percentage changes from baseline and between-treatment differences (ZOL vs placebo, t-test) were evaluated. RESULTS: Mean between-treatment differences for lumbar spine BMD were significant by DXA (7.0%, p < 0.01) and QCT (5.7%, p < 0.0001). Between-treatment differences were significant for trabecular spine (p = 0.0017) [non-parametric test], trabecular trochanter (10.7%, p < 0.0001), total hip (10.8%, p < 0.0001), and compressive strength indices at femoral neck (8.6%, p = 0.0001), and trochanter (14.1%, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Once-yearly ZOL increased hip and spine BMD vs placebo, assessed by QCT vs DXA. Changes in trabecular bone resulted in increased indices of compressive strength