Self-Regulation and (Pre-)Academic Performance of Children and Young Adults in Germany and Iran

Self-regulation is a multidimensional construct that is defined as the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and is positively related to academic achievement. Moreover, self-regulation is context-sensitive, suggesting that self-regulation abilities displayed by individuals might differ across different contexts. Germany and Iran provide two different contexts with distinct cultural characteristics that may affect self-regulation. In addition, up to this point, self-regulation has been mainly studied in Western countries with similar cultural contexts and there is a lack of research exploring self-regulation and its associations with academic performance in non-Western countries. Hence, the present dissertation investigated self-regulation and its association with (pre)academic performance in Germany and Iran with the aim of contributing to the better understanding of the context-sensitivity of self-regulation. The development of self-regulation in college students as young adults is deeply embedded in the context in which they grew up, besides they are yet engaged in education and academic performance. However, although the relation of self-regulation and academic performance is well established for children, studies investigating this relationship in adults are rather scarce, hence requiring further research. Accordingly, in the first step, Study 1 examined the relation of different aspects of self-regulation and mathematics performance in young adults. In the second step, Study 2 compared the relationship between self-regulation and mathematics performance in young adults in two different countries (i.e., Germany and Iran). Therefore, Study 1 and Study 2 are best considered in conjunction. Furthermore, the results of longitudinal studies in Western countries revealed that academic performance can be predicted by a child’s self-regulation abilities at preschool age. Considering dissimilar effects of different contexts on the development of self-regulation, these results suggest that there might be differences between German and Iranian children at preschool age with respect to self-regulation abilities, which could influence their academic performance in the future. Accordingly, in the third step, Study 3 investigated self-regulation abilities of German and Iranian children at preschool age before the start of their formal education. Study 1 aimed to investigate the relationship between self-regulation and mathematics performance in young adults. In Study 1, different aspects of self-regulation and mathematics performance were tested in 40 undergraduate German students aged between 19 and 21, of whom 33 were female. The findings showed that behavioral self-regulation did not predict mathematics performance, however, self-control, as an aspect of self-regulation, had a significant positive relationship with the mathematics performance. The results suggested that the college students with greater self-control abilities might have a greater ability to concentrate on the task and suppress unwanted thoughts or distracting information, and hence responded faster to the mathematic problems. Altogether, the findings demonstrated that the previously discovered positive relationship between self-control and mathematics performance in children is also valid in young adults. Study 2 aimed to investigate the relationship between self-regulation and mathematics performance in young adults in two different countries (Germany and Iran). Self-regulation and mathematics performance were assessed in 44 Iranian college students and the results were compared with Study 1, which examined the same relationship in German college students. Self-regulation was assessed by the same measure used to assess self-control, as an aspect of self-regulation, in Study 1. Mathematics performance was measured by the same mathematics task used in Study 1. Moreover, the field of study of the students was also considered in this study. The findings of this study showed that self-regulation predicted mathematics performance only in German students and not in Iranian students. However, when the field of study was taken into account for Iranian students, self-regulation also predicted mathematics performance in the subgroup of Iranian students studying Human Sciences. Moreover, the relationship between self-regulation and mathematics performance in German students did not differ significantly from the whole Iranian group nor from the Iranian students of Human Sciences. In sum, the main results indicated that the relationship between self-regulation and mathematics performance is similar between German and Iranian college students when the effect of the field of study is considered. Study 3 aimed to investigate the self-regulation abilities of German and Iranian preschool children in a delay of gratification task. Self-regulation ability was assessed in 100 Iranian and 48 German preschool children. Self-regulation ability was operationalized both as performance and strategies (i.e., focusing, withholding, distracting) used by children in a delay of gratification paradigm (Mischel, 1989). Children’s behaviors while performing a delay of gratification task were video recorded and rated later with respect to the strategies that direct attention towards a reward and away from it. The results showed that German children waited longer than their Iranian peers in the delay of gratification task. Focusing strategies that directed attention towards the reward undermined the performance in the delay of gratification task in German but not Iranian children. Moreover, German children used more withholding strategies than their Iranian peers to stop themselves from touching the reward. These results suggest that self-regulation abilities in children might vary between different countries at preschool age. Altogether, these findings provide empirical evidence for the acknowledgment of the context-sensitivity of self-regulation, which has so far been little investigated. The results showed that self-regulation abilities differed between German and Iranian preschool children. However, the association between self-regulation and mathematics performance of young adults was similar in these countries when the field of study was taken into account

Wide-Field InfrarRed Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets WFIRST-AFTA 2015 Report

This report describes the 2014 study by the Science Definition Team (SDT) of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission. It is a space observatory that will address the most compelling scientific problems in dark energy, exoplanets and general astrophysics using a 2.4-m telescope with a wide-field infrared instrument and an optical coronagraph. The Astro2010 Decadal Survey recommended a Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope as its top priority for a new large space mission. As conceived by the decadal survey, WFIRST would carry out a dark energy science program, a microlensing program to determine the demographics of exoplanets, and a general observing program utilizing its ultra wide field. In October 2012, NASA chartered a Science Definition Team (SDT) to produce, in collaboration with the WFIRST Study Office at GSFC and the Program Office at JPL, a Design Reference Mission (DRM) for an implementation of WFIRST using one of the 2.4-m, Hubble-quality telescope assemblies recently made available to NASA. This DRM builds on the work of the earlier WFIRST SDT, reported by Green et al. (2012) and the previous WFIRST-2.4 DRM, reported by Spergel et. (2013). The 2.4-m primary mirror enables a mission with greater sensitivity and higher angular resolution than the 1.3-m and 1.1-m designs considered previously, increasing both the science return of the primary surveys and the capabilities of WFIRST as a Guest Observer facility. The addition of an on-axis coronagraphic instrument to the baseline design enables imaging and spectroscopic studies of planets around nearby stars.Comment: This report describes the 2014 study by the Science Definition Team of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission. 319 pages; corrected a misspelled name in the authors list and a typo in the abstrac

A Study of the Third Space, Hybridity, and Colonial Mimicry in Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa!

South Africa, like many other Eastern countries, was a victim of the brutal phenomenon called colonialism. Its people suffered a lot but did not give up protesting against it. Literature was often used as a means to demonstrate the problems and realities of the society. Therefore, the literary texts can be considered an effective weapon in this battle. One of these influential people is Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard who is known for his anti-apartheid plays. This article scrutinizes the relation between the colonizer and the colonized in Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa! based on Homi Bhabha’s ideas. According to him, the relation between the whites and the blacks becomes reciprocal in the third space of enunciation. Despite their differences, they try to live peacefully. The mimicry strategy is employed by the colonized to prevent total resemblance. They are dependent on each other notwithstanding their opposition, and both are aware of this, which makes them stick together

Prosoziale Motivation und Verhalten bei Kindern mit und ohne türkischen Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland sowie türkischen Kindern in der Türkei

The present study compares prosocial motivation and prosocial behavior of children with a Turkish immigrant background in Germany (n = 44) to German children living in Germany (n = 50) and Turkish children living in Turkey (n = 68). Only girls living in Germany with Turkish immigrant background were found to achieve high levels of prosocial motivation and behavior. Whereas boys with Turkish migrant background and German children without immigrant background showed low levels of prosocial motivation and prosocial behavior. In contrast, Turkish children without immigrant background were high in prosocial motivation but low in prosocial behavior. (DIPF/Orig.)Die vorliegende Studie untersucht prosoziale Motivation und prosoziales Verhalten von deutschen Kindern ohne Migrationshintergrund (n = 50) und Kindern mit einem türkischen Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland (n = 44) sowie türkischen Kindern ohne Migrationshintergrund in der Türkei (n = 68). Nur Mädchen mit einem türkischen Migrationshintergrund weisen sowohl ein hohes Level an prosozialer Motivation als auch an prosozialem Verhalten auf. Jungen mit türkischem Migrationshintergrund und deutsche Kinder ohne Migrationshintergrund zeigten weder prosoziale Motivation noch prosoziales Verhalten. Dagegen zeigten türkische Kinder ohne Migrationshintergrund prosoziale Motivation, jedoch kein prosoziales Verhalten. (DIPF/Orig.

Third Space, Hybridity, and Colonial Mimicry in Fugard's Blood Knot

Literature, as a branch of Humanities, has a significant role in demonstrating the problems and the realities of a society. Therefore, the literary texts written in South Africa, had a major role in the victory of people against the policy of Apartheid, according to which the whites were segregated from non-whites. Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard is one of the writers, who showed his hatred and dissatisfaction to the world, with his plays. He is known for his deeply rooted and controversial anti-apartheid plays. His Blood Knot (1961) has been chosen in this study, in which the negative implications of colonialism and racism can be explored. Bhabha is one of the influential critics whose works give priority to the agency of colonized people. The relation between the colonizer and the colonized will be scrutinized subsequently according to what Bhabha mentioned in his influential book The Location of Culture

Detection of cut-off point for rapid automized naming test in good readers and dyslexics

Background and Aim: Rapid automized naming test is an appropriate tool to diagnose learning disability even before teaching reading. This study aimed to detect the cut-off point of this test for good readers and dyslexics.Methods: The test has 4 parts including: objects, colors, numbers and letters. 5 items are repeated on cards randomly for 10 times. Children were asked to name items rapidly. We studied 18 dyslexic students and 18 age-matched good readers between 7 and 8 years of age at second and third grades of elementary school; they were recruited by non-randomize sampling into 2 groups: children with developmental dyslexia from learning disabilities centers with mean age of 100 months, and normal children with mean age of 107 months from general schools in Tehran. Good readers selected from the same class of dyslexics.Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.849 for letter naming, 0.892 for color naming, 0.971 for number naming, 0.887 for picture naming, and 0.965 totally. The overall sensitivity and specificity was 1 and was 0.79, respectively. The highest sensitivity and specificity were related to number naming (1 and 0.90, respectively).Conclusion: Findings showed that the rapid automized naming test could diagnose good readers from dyslexics appropriately

Explicit and implicit time estimation

The aim of this study was to compare human time estimation during implicit and explicit timing tasks with short intervals and the same method. A total of 81 adults were divided into 3 groups and completed two tasks with one of three different intervals: 500, 1000, and 2000ms. The results revealed an overestimation for all three intervals of the implicit timing task, while participants overestimated 500ms but underestimated 1000 and 2000ms intervals of the explicit timing task. Moreover, explicit time estimation was more precise than implicit time estimation. We observed the opposite pattern as compared to a few previous studies with long intervals: short intervals were perceived longer in the implicit timing task as compared to the explicit timing task. We concluded that non-temporal contents represent passing time during the implicit timing task but unlike temporal dimension during the explicit timing task. Therefore, even the same method of measurement led to a different performance in implicit and explicit timing tasks

A systematic review on diagnostic procedures for specific language impairment: The sensitivity and specificity issues

Background: Identification of children with specific language impairment (SLI) has been viewed as both necessity and challenge. Investigators and clinicians use different tests and measures for this purpose. Some of these tests/measures have good psychometric properties, but it is not sufficient for diagnostic purposes. A diagnostic procedure can be used for identification a specific population with confidence only when its sensitivity and specificity are acceptable. In this study, we searched for tests/measures with predefined sensitivity and specificity for identification of preschool children with SLI from their typically developing peers. Materials and Methods: A computerized search in bibliographic databases from 2000 to August 2015 was performed with the following keywords: "specific language impairment" or SLI" and "primary language impairment" or ′PLI′ with at least one of the followings: "diagnosis," "identification," "accuracy," "sensitivity," and "specificity." In addition, the related citations and reference lists of the selected articles were considered. Results: The results of reviewing 23 included studies show that the index measures used in studies vary in accuracy with the sensitivity ranging from 16% to 100% and the specificity ranging from 14% to 100%. Conclusion: These varieties in sensitivity and specificity of different tests/measures confirm the necessity of attention to the diagnostic power of tests/measures before their use as diagnostic tool. Further, the results indicate there are some promising tests/measures that the available evidence supports their performances in the diagnosis of SLI in preschool-aged children, yet the place of a reference standard for the diagnosis of SLI is vacant among investigations