Parents’ perceptions of driver education: A theoretically guided qualitative investigation

In many jurisdictions with Graduated Driver Licensing systems, such as those in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, parents play an important role in teaching their child how to drive and facilitating their access to formal driver education. This study explored parents’ views on these processes in a theoretically grounded manner using the Goals for Driver Education (GDE) Framework. The GDE framework groups influences on young driver behaviour into four interconnected hierarchical levels: vehicle manoeuvring (Level 1), mastery of traffic situations (Level 2), goals and contexts for driving (Level 3) and goals for life and skills for living (Level 4). Fourteen parents of novice drivers participated in five focus groups held in urban and regional locations in South East Queensland, Australia. A six-step thematic analysis was used consisting of (1) familiarisation with the data, (2) generation of initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes and (6) producing the report. Parents indicated that they were more likely to outsource the teaching of skills at Levels 1 and 2 of the GDE to professional driving instructors as they were concerned that they would pass bad habits onto their child or they were unaware of the road rules that their child was required to follow. Parents believed that they were able to more effectively teach skills located on Levels 3 and 4 of the GDE framework because they had a greater knowledge of their child when compared with professional educators. The study findings can be used to develop an intervention that would support parents to more effectively supervise learner drivers.     

How are children’s perceptions of the malleability of their academic competencies related to their teachers’ and parents’ views?

The study examined children’s and their parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of the malleability of the child’s academic competencies. A total of 103 third- and sixth-graders and their parents and teachers were asked to rate how much the child could improve her/his competencies in mathematics and Finnish. The participants were asked to use intrapersonal and interpersonal criteria in their ratings, i.e., to rate the child’s potential for improvement in comparison with his/her own current competencies and in relation to her/his peers’ competencies. The results showed a tendency that older children’s perceptions were closer to their parents’ and teachers’ views than those of younger children. Children of academically educated parents showed a stronger correlation with their teachers’ and parents’ intrapersonal perceptions than children of vocationally educated parents. The results also suggested that the teachers and parents trusted in boys’ intrapersonal potential in Finnish more than in girls’ but there were no gender-differences in their perceptions concerning mathematics. In all, the children’s intrapersonal perceptions of their improvement potential were the most optimistic, followed by their parents’ and lastly by their teachers’ perceptions.     

The gap between athletes’ and parents’ perceptions of parental practices: The role of gender

ObjectivesThe present study explored the differences between athletes’ and parents’ perceptions of parental practices (i.e., active involvement, directive, pressure, praise, and understanding behaviours implemented by parents in the context of their child’s sport) by considering athletes’ and parents’ gender.Designcross-sectional study.MethodParents (N = 352) and athletes (N = 256, M = 14.72 years) completed a questionnaire to measure their perceptions of parental practices in sport. Zero-order correlations were computed for the entire sample and each sub-group (i.e., father-daughter, father-son, mother-daughter, and mother-son). One-level multilevel model (level 1: respondent) was computed to measure the influence of the respondent on the perceptions of parental practices. Two-level multilevel model (level 1: respondent, level 2: dyad) estimated the impact of the athletes’ gender, parents’ gender, and their interaction on the differences in perceptions.ResultsCorrelations highlighted relatively modest concordance between perceptions of parents and adolescents. Multilevel models showed that compared to athletes, parents reported significantly less frequent use for directive behaviours (β = −0.29) and more frequent use for active involvement (β = −0.18) and praise and understanding (β = 0.27). Correlations and multilevel models showed that the differences between athletes’ and parents’ perceptions of parental practices differed according to gender. The differences in perceptions of the directive behaviours (β = −0.22) and active involvement (β = 0.22) were higher when the father was involved in the dyad compared to the mother.     

Australian speech-language pathologists’ experiences and perceptions of working with children who stutter: A qualitative study

PurposeEffective early intervention is recommended to ameliorate the potential long term negative effects of stuttering. Efficacious treatments are available, but speech-language pathologists (SLPs) report finding implementation to be challenging due to a range of clinician, client and clinical context factors. Previous survey-based research has found that SLPs lack self-efficacy working with CWS, however the reasons contributing to this are not well understood. This study presents the first in-depth analysis of the current practices and perceptions of SLPs working with children who stutter (CWS).MethodsIn this qualitative study 18 Australian SLPs who provide services to CWS were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsThe thematic analysis identified four themes: (1) A stronger sense of self-efficacy is needed in stuttering management compared to other areas of clinical practice; 2) SLPs’ sense of self-efficacy in stuttering management is influenced by early career experiences, client factors and the practice context; 3) Professional development and collaboration strengthen self-efficacy; and 4) Parental involvement and engagement are crucial to treatment success.ConclusionSLP self-efficacy for working with CWS appears a critical factor in the provision of effective management for this population. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the role of SLP self-efficacy and the factors that influence it.     

Some cognitive and social correlates of children’s fluency in riddle-telling

Cognitive and social correlates of riddle-telling were investigated in a matched-pairs design. Fluent riddle-tellers from two age groups (six to eight years and eight to eleven years) were matched with their peers who told few riddles or none at all. The children’s cognitive abilities were measured on nine verbal and four nonverbal tasks, and their social adjustment estimated by teacher reports and sociometric tests. Riddle-tellers in the younger age group were further advanced cognitively and less well-adjusted socially than their peers who did not know any riddles. Only cognitive correlates of riddle-telling were found for children in the older age group. The results suggest the need for future investigations of riddle-telling to consider both cognitive and social factors and to expect different patterns of correlates according to children’s degree of experience in riddle-telling.     

A consequence of school grade labels: preservice teachers’ interpretations and recall of children’s classroom behavior

This study investigated whether preservice teachers’ attitudes surrounding school grade labels influenced interpretations and recall of children’s classroom behavior using the automatic attitude activation model (Fazio, In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior, 1986) as a theoretical framework. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: The expectation of viewing a video of children in schools labeled as “A,” “F,” or “typical” as a result of the school’s aggregated student performance on standardized tests. Results indicated that participants who believed that they were viewing a video of an “F” classroom recalled more negative and fewer positive behaviors compared to the “typical” classroom. Likewise, there was a trend for participants to recall more negative and fewer positive behaviors when viewing a video of an “F” compared to an “A” school. Therefore, negative attitudes about a school label of “F” biased preservice teachers’ perceptions and memories of children’s classroom behaviors.

Family socio-economic status and children’s executive function: The moderating effects of parental subjective socio-economic status and children’s subjective social mobility

Family socio-economic status (SES) is significantly related to disparities in children’s executive function. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds perform worse on executive function tasks than their peers from high-SES families. The protective factors in the relationship between SES and executive function have not been sufficiently investigated, especially from the perspective of parents’ and children’s perceptions and expectations regarding SES. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether parental subjective SES and children’s subjective social mobility separately moderated the relationship between family SES and children’s executive function among 885 participants aged 9–13 years. The results showed that family SES was positively related to the three components of executive function (cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory). Moreover, the relationship between SES and cognitive flexibility was weak among the children with a high level of subjective social mobility or those whose parents had high levels of subjective SES. Among children from families with economic hardship, subjective social mobility is a potential protective factor mitigating the negative effects of low family SES on their cognitive flexibility.     

The role of parents’ autonomy support and psychological control in sibling relationship functioning through children’s need-based experiences

This study aimed to examine whether parents’ autonomy support and psychological control during sibling conflict would relate to children’s need-based experiences and relationship functioning within the sibling relationship. Two siblings (M_age = 8.61 years, SD = 0.91 and M_age = 10.50 years, SD = 0.94) of 205 families filled out questionnaires. Results showed that parental autonomy support related positively to siblings’ relationship satisfaction via children’s need satisfaction. Additionally, fathers’ psychological control related negatively to provided autonomy support and positively to provided psychological control from one sibling to the other (as reported by the other sibling) and negatively to satisfaction with this relationship via need frustration. These findings highlight the importance of the quality of parents’ involvement during sibling conflict.     

The role of race and teachers’ cultural awareness in predicting low-income,Black and Hispanic students’ perceptions of educational attainment

Demographic shifts in the United States have resulted in similar demographic shifts between K-12 teachers and their students, resulting in important implications for the educational outcomes of traditionally marginalized students and educators’ cultural awareness required in teaching diverse classrooms. Using data from the Three-City Teacher Study, this study examined students’ (N = 207; 55 % female; 52 % non-Hispanic Black, 48 % non-White Hispanic; mean age = 16.70 years, SD = 1.67) and teachers’ (N = 202; 71.5 % female; 64.3 % white; mean years of experience = 13.80 years, SD = 10.83) agreement on the potential educational attainment of the student. Specifically, we explored the probability that teachers had lower, matched, or higher perceptions of educational attainment compared to their low-income Black and Hispanic students’ perceptions of attainment while accounting for teachers’ and students’ reports of school connectedness, teachers’ cultural awareness, and moderating effects of students’ race. Results from multinomial logistic regressions found that teachers were more likely to have lower perceptions of educational attainment for Hispanic students compared to Black students. Teachers were also more likely to have lower perceptions when they perceived students to have low school connectedness. For Black students, teachers’ cultural awareness attenuated this association; that is, teachers were more likely to have higher perceptions of educational attainment for Black students when they reported higher cultural awareness. The reverse was true for Hispanic students. These results enhance our understanding of how teacher and student perceptions shape expectations of educational attainment with implications for teacher education and professional development domestically and internationally.     

A social mind: The context of John Turner’s work and its influence

We review John Turner’s contribution to social psychology and his ongoing influence on the field. We provide an account of his research and theorising framed by the two major theoretical frameworks which he developed: social identity theory (together with Henri Tajfel) and self-categorisation theory. We elaborate the contribution of his work in developing an understanding of intergroup relations (in social identity theory) and specifying the social nature of the self, the salience of social identities, and of the importance of social identity for social influence, stereotyping, power, and leadership (within self-categorisation theory). We then locate these research programmes within Turner’s broader meta-theoretical goal of addressing major problems, issues, and themes within social psychology. These centre on (a) a critique of the pervasive anti-collectivism within much of social psychology, (b) a normative/political agenda for social change, and (c) a commitment to the social nature of the individual mind. These themes explicitly or implicitly infused his research and continue to inspire much of the work in the theoretical tradition that he pioneered.     

‘Journey in the world of professions and work’: A career intervention for children

A structured ten-unit training was devised to stimulate some career adaptability resources such as optimism and hope toward the future, curiosity, career exploration, and occupational knowledge in children. Ten classes, for a total of 154 children (79 boys and 75 girls) with a mean age of 10.65 years (SD = 1.24), were randomly assigned to either the experimental, who was the focus of the intervention, or control group. At post-test the experimental group held significantly more hope, optimism, curiosity, career exploration, occupational knowledge, information, planning, and time perspective than the control group. The pattern of effect sizes strengthens the idea that the training enhanced experimental participants’ some career adaptability resources.     

‘The teachers put effort into teaching us about life,and what’s right and what’s wrong’: values and moral education in publicly-managed schools in Ireland

In light of cultural and demographic changes in the Republic of Ireland, there is an important and urgent need for research on the articulation of values education in Irish publicly-managed schools. This article reports the findings from a research project on the moral, religious and spiritual values and traditions of staff and students in publicly-managed schools. Data was collected from 18 second-level schools throughout the country, using a mixed methods approach involving the named values of participants’ school, as well as the policies and practices employed within the schools to support these named values. Findings show that both teachers and students identify positive values such as respect and well-being, equality and inclusion, and describe values education in practice. However, some differences emerging in the findings highlight the vacuum left by the lack of sectoral guidance. The implications of this vacuum are discussed, as it provides an opportunity for dialogue and consensus-building on values, and also for schools to develop their own context-relevant set of values.     

Addition in kindergarten: The role of mothers’ and teachers’ language

Data from a longitudinal investigation were used to examine the effects of mothers’ and teachers’ language on children’s developing mathematical competencies during the kindergarten year. Specifically, 1) mothers’ use of metamemory talk, or references to the process of remembering, and 2) teachers’ use of cognitive processing language (CPL), or instruction that encourages deep levels of processing and metacognition, were related to students’ addition skills in kindergarten. The findings indicated that while maternal metamemory talk was associated with children’s mathematical competencies at school entry, teachers’ use of CPL was associated with the amount of growth that students demonstrated across the year, especially regarding strategy use. The results highlight the need for additional research that examines students’ academic trajectories longitudinally as a function of the language to which they are exposed at home and school.     

Development of self-perceived ability in elementary school: the role of parents’ perceptions,teacher evaluations,and intelligence

The present study examined the importance of different sources of information for the development of children's self-perceptions of early school-related ability. In a sample of German elementary school children (N = 595) it was demonstrated that the associations between pupils’ ability self-perceptions on the one hand and parents’ perception of their children's ability, pupils’ intelligence and teacher-rated school achievement on the other increased throughout elementary school. In a second step, commonality analyses were employed in two subsamples (N = 416 and N = 145) to partition variance in children's self-perceptions that was specifically explained by either teacher-rated school achievement or parents’ perceptions, or by both variables. The results support the assumption that the importance of teacher evaluations for children's ability self-perceptions increases while the importance of parents’ perceptions decreases during the early school years.     

The role of social support in women’s health and recovery processes

The aim of this study was to assess the psychological state of women who have undergone surgery for breast cancer or cardiac surgery, including examination of the role of social support in both groups. The study included 48 women (mean age: 66.04?±?8.3 years). They were divided into two groups according to diagnosis: 23 women (mean age: 69.2?±?8.6 years) who underwent heart surgery (cardiac group, CG) and 25 women (mean age: 63.2?±?7.0 years) treated for breast cancer and associated with the Women After Mastectomy Club (oncology group, OG). In addition to the assessment of socio-demographic variables, the following self-report questionnaires were administered: Satisfaction with Life Scale, Acceptance of Illness Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory as well as Berlin Social Support Scale. In the CG, the severity of depressive symptoms was two times higher than in OG (p?=?.003). In both groups, there was a high percentage (80%) of women with severe symptoms of anxiety (p?=?.37). In both groups, the level of life satisfaction was similar (p?=?.58), but OG was characterized by a higher level of acceptance of the disease (p?=?.003). The correlation analysis showed that in both groups, social support was related differently to the parameters of emotional state. Women treated for breast cancer were in a better mental condition than women treated for heart disease. The support coming from other women in similar circumstances (Women After Mastectomy Club) seems to be more effective than the support coming from the patient’s immediate environment. The results for social support ought to be interpreted not only through the prism of mean values of received support, but also with regard to the information on the sources of support.     

Maternal involvement and children’s academic motivation and achievement: The roles of maternal autonomy support and children’s affect

Motivation and Emotion - Parents’ level of involvement in children’s schooling is related to children’s academic success; yet, few studies have considered factors that may play a...     

The advantages,shortcomings, and existential issues of Zhuangzi’s use of images

Zhuangzi is considered a creative poet-philosopher because of his use of imaginative images. He used the imaginative images of his system to construct the world of the Dao. He left the essence of material things as they are to speak for the mystery of existence itself, and let them express both the state of and the dream for human freedom. Zhuangzi’s way of using images shows his own lack of the understanding about images, and his lack of adequate assessments. He used images in accord with his own personal preferences and fixed characteristics. He also had a tendency to equate the Dao which he experienced in his mind with the Dao itself. These shortcomings limit his improving and understanding of the Dao, so that his Dao failed to become more open to a wider existence.     

A qualitative method to “make visible” the world of intercultural relationships: the photovoice in social psychology

In recent decades, the study of intercultural relations and the complexity of relationships due to the migration phenomenon have become more important for social scientists to analyze. The aim of this article is to show that photovoice, a methodology that belongs to the field of participatory action research, can be a useful qualitative tool in social psychology to analyze intercultural relationships. This method offers participants the opportunity to discuss and interpret their photographs in a group, involving people in a process of active listening and dialogue that can encourage policy makers to promote social change. Social psychology is encouraged to use photovoice to engage communities facing intercultural challenges; thus, a re-appraisal of the Lewin tradition is necessary. Photovoice could be used to “make visible” and meaningful the world of intercultural relationships, eliciting the transformative power of qualitative research.