Effect of role choice on vocational high school students

This study was an attempt to determine whether the role choice dimension of Holland's theory was applicable to vocational high school students. The results of the study indicate that students with a clear role choice have significantly higher mean achievement scores, are more satisfied with their training program and have a lower attrition rate than students with an unclear role choice. These results seem to suggest that school counselors should listen to what students say they want to do in their work role.     

Personal and vocational development in high school students

The purpose of this research was to test the effectiveness of a high school psychology course (16 weeks) in promoting positive personal and vocational development. One hundred ten junior students who were enrolled in a psychology course (4 sections) served as experimental subjects (Ss). Ninety-nine juniors and seniors from study halls were used as control Ss. Criterion measures consisted of the Personal Orientation Inventory and the Vocational Maturity Scale. Besides pre- and postdata, a three-month followup was also included. The statistical analysis consisted of a multiple linear regression model. Restrictions (sex, aptitude, and gpa) were imposed upon the model to control statistically for sources of variances affecting the relationship between treatment and criteria. Significance was set at or beyond the .05 level of probability. The findings suggest that the students in the psychology course showed more positive mental health and more vocational maturity than students in the control group. The change in the treatment conditions for the three criterion measures continued in the expected direction after a three-month period of time.     

Personal therapy for family therapy graduate students

This study explores students' attitudes about personal therapy as a component of training and assesses the effects of providing a list of community therapist who were willing to see family therapy graduate students at a reduced fee on students' behaviors. Students' personal therapy experiences and attitudes about faculty involvement in their personal lives were also investigated. Most students believe that student therapists should have personal therapy sometime during their training, and the majority of students had al-ready been in therapy. Individual issues and relationship problems were the most frequently cited reasons for starting personal therapy.     

Survival skills and ethics training for graduate students: A graduate student perspective

Graduate students in the sciences must develop practical skills geared toward scientific survival and success. This is particularly true now, given the paucity of research funds and jobs. Along with more elementary skills, research ethics should be an integral part of students’ scientific training. Survival skills include research skills, communication skills, general efficiency, and preparation for post-graduate work. Ethics training covers guidelines for use of animal and human subjects, data treatment, disclosure, credit issues, conflicts of interest, and response to misconduct. The objective of this paper is to describe, from a graduate student’s perspective, the need for survival and ethics training in graduate programs and to raise both faculty and student awareness of the possibilities for explicit instruction of these skills. Many survival skills and ethical practices will be learned without explicit direction and some are already part of standard training; but, this is not the case for all students or for all skills, so specific instruction is a necessity. Research faculty can use their own experience to help students to develop the proficiencies they will need to succeed.     

A point contingency for homework submission in the graduate school classroom

We explored the effects of points versus no points on the submission of homework assignments and quiz performance in a graduate-level course. Students were more likely to submit homework assignments during points weeks, but quiz scores were relatively unaffected.     

Suitability of published neuropsychological test norms for urban African secondary school students in South Africa

Variations in neuropsychological test performance as a function of ethnic/cultural group membership, socioeconomic and educational status are widely documented. In South Africa, issues of cultural difference, sociopolitical disadvantage, cognitive and educational limitations, are of particular relevance. Accordingly, this study investigated the performance on a neuropsychological test battery of urban African high school students. A group of 100 Soweto students in Grades 8–12, and a second group of 152 sixth grade Soweto students aged 13–15 years, scored significantly lower on most of the measures than their American counterparts, as reflected in published norms. Results also demonstrated a significant difference in test performance as a function of educational grade. The findings confirmed the need for using norms and approaches which are appropriate to a given population when interpreting and addressing neuropsychological test performance.     

Seventh-grade students at-risk for school failure

This study was designed to assess the effects of failure on the subsequent test performance in school of young adolescents. Fifty-one seventh-grade students, identified as at-risk for future school failure, were compared to 51 randomly selected classmates on individually administered measures of intelligence, self-concept, problem-solving ability, coping ability, attribution, and locus of control. Teachers' ratings, mathematics ability, and grades of the two groups were also compared. Students with a history of school failure, although of normal intelligence, were found to be significantly less intellectually, academically, and affectively competent than their more successful peers and were rated by their teachers as significantly less able to deal adaptively with normal school stress. A discriminant analysis separated the groups with 93% accuracy. On two equivalent mathematics tests, one given under relaxed conditions, and the other under normal school test-like conditions, approximately thirty percent of both the at-risk and the otherwise normal students got lower scores when they thought they were taking a test. Implications of these results for the understanding and remediation of stress-depressed school performance are discussed.     

初中生函数概念发展的研究

本研究通过测验法对北京市六所中学的802名初一至初三的学生进行调查,考察了初中学生函数概念的发展水平。结果表明,初中生函数概念的发展存在着较为特殊的年龄特征;学生所接受的学校教育内容显著地影响其函数概念的发展水平。但是,初中学生进行正与反、肯定与否定之间相互转化的辩证思维能力还较差;还有很大一部分(将近一半)的学生不能用运动、变化的观点来看待问题;初二是学生函数概念发展的一个转折点。从初二以后,学生无论是进行文字信息、还是图形信息加工的能力都有明显的增强,但将文字信息与图形信息进行转换的能力水平还很低;考察同类问题间的联系时,学生还不能脱离开问题的实际内容,概括化地理解抽象的数量关系。     

The influences of stage of leaving school on vocational maturity and realism of vocational choice

Cross-sectional data were provided by 1484 male high school pupils drawn from grades seven to twelve. All subjects completed either the Otis Intermediate Test or the Otis Higher Test, Crites' Vocational Development Inventory (VDI), and the author's Student Survey. Major findings were that: (1) subjects' anticipated stage of leaving school was significantly related to realism of vocational choice-those boys who expected to leave school prior to grade twelve showed higher levels of realism than those going on, in spite of the fact that they tended to be lower in both maturity of vocational choice attitudes (VCA) and intelligence; (2) IQ exercised a complicated mediatory effect on both VCA and realism; and (3) in general, both VCA and realism were linearly related to grade. Taken together, these findings indicated the need to distinguish carefully between VCA and realism as aspects of vocational development. Implications for further research in vocational development are discussed.     

Effects of individualized incentives on norm-referenced IQ test performance of high school students in special education classes

The effects of student-specific material incentives on the norm-referenced IQ test performance of 485 high school students from 19 special education classes were examined. Students from a given special education class were randomly assigned to a control group (CG) or an incentive group (IG). Students in the CGs and IGs were retested using the same test, test level, and test form used to obtain their initial diagnostic IQ scores. The number of students in the CGs and IGs was 64 and 65 for the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test, 74 and 73 for the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, and 105 and 104 for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. The results show that the IG students, as compared with the CG students, obtained significantly higher verbal, performance, and full IQ scores and suggest that norm-referenced tests as diagnostic placement aides must be used with caution.     

Ethical considerations in the supervision of applied sport psychology graduate students

Abstract

Some of the most important relationships that a sport psychologist experiences in his or her career are between the supervisor and supervisee in applied practica and internships. These relationships may become models for future professional and ethical behavior with colleagues, students, and clients, and thus deserve careful examination. Ethics form a foundation for practice, and while classroom discussions of ethical issues help educate graduate students, the supervisor-supervisee relationship may provide a hands-on experience of ethical dilemmas and ethical problem solving. Ethics in supervisor-supervisee relationships cover at least two broad areas. First, there is the supervisor's monitoring and mentoring of ethical considerations in the supervisee's relationship with the athlete-client. Second, ethical questions arise in the relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee. The present paper includes discussion of general supervisory issues (e.g., modeling ethical behavior, helping develop counseling skills) and explores the specific ethical problems of referring for counseling, intimacy, and exploitation. Also, three case examples illustrate ethical concerns that may appear in the process of applied sport psychology supervision. Broadening education in ethical issues in supervision for both psychology and exercise science graduate programs may help future practitioners better serve their clients.