Maturational changes in Canadian adolescents' cognitive attitudinal structure concerning marijuana

Thirty-four items concerning marijuana use were administered three times to a cohort of Canadian high school students between Grades 11 and 13, in 1977 (n = 439), 1978 (n = 419), and 1979 (n = 167). These items were designed to measure four distinct constructs: attitude, perceived peer approval or disapproval, concern about risks, and symbolic protest against conventional society. A cross-sectional factor analysis of the Grade 13 data supported the hypothesized factor structure, as had earlier work with college students. However, analogous analyses on the Grade 11 and Grade 12 data contradicted the hypothesized factor structure. Most notably, separate factors for positive and negative attitude appeared in the Grade 11 and 12 analyses. The data were interpreted primarily in terms of maturational changes, largely through elimination of alternative interpretations by internal analyses and previous findings. Implications were discussed for adolescent cognitive-attitudinal development, attitude theory, and analysis of panel data.     

Choice of Weapon or Weapon of Choice? Examining the Interactions between Victim Characteristics in Single‐victim Male Sexual Homicide Offenders

As most studies report that the majority of sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) prefer to kill with their own hands, research has largely neglected to examine the choice of weapon by these offenders. The US Supplementary Homicide Reports show that although a large number of SHOs murder their victim using personal weapons (e.g. bare hands and manual or ligature strangulation), the majority use an alternative weapon (e.g. edged weapons, contact weapons, and firearms). The present study hypothesises that the choice of weapon is in part influenced by victim characteristics. To identify specific combinations and interactions between victim characteristics and the choice of a personal or edged weapon during the commission of a sexual homicide, a combination of exhaustive chi‐square automatic interaction detector and conjunctive analysis is used on a sample of 2,472 single‐victim male SHOs from a 36‐year period of Supplementary Homicide Report data (1976–2011). Findings show that SHOs choose their weapon according to some victim characteristics. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of police suspect prioritisation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mixed‐methods Evaluation of the Good Behaviour Game in English Primary Schools

Inclusivity of all children in education and within educational settings is an important value and goal. Yet, where settings and practices are not oriented for inclusivity and engagement, some children can struggle with academic tasks and are often marginalised and exhibit disruptive behaviours. The study reported here addresses the social nature of school as a community for learning through a mixed‐methods concurrent triangulation evaluation of the implementation of the Good Behaviour Game (GBG) in six primary (elementary) schools with 10 classes and 222 children in Oxfordshire, England. The Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptations ‐ Revised (TOCA‐R) was administered in individual interviews with class teachers. Additionally, individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted with teachers, coaches and head teachers (n = 22). In a pre–post design, improvements in child adaptation were observed on all TOCA‐R subscales. In an integrative analysis that brought together quantitative and qualitative findings, pupil improvement was identified in three major areas: inclusion and social participation, behaviour, and concentration. Interview results also highlighted the substantial practical challenges associated with implementing and using the GBG in schools in the UK. Overall, the results of this study support the idea that social relationships within the school community, between pupils and between pupils and teachers, provide an important context for learning and social development. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multiple case study of teachers referring to their own religious beliefs in mathematics teaching

There is a need to integrate religious education and spiritual education across school curriculum. This paper reports one of the few empirical studies on bridging the intention-practice gap in classrooms. Six school teachers deliberately designed and implemented mathematics lessons which referred to their own religious beliefs in teaching. It unfolds teachers’ intention to enact their religious beliefs in mathematics classroom teaching. Different modes were identified. Implications to religious education in schools are offered.     

Re‐construing politics: The dual impacts of abstraction on political ideology

The influence of construal level on political ideology is unclear. Some research says that abstraction polarizes political attitudes by making liberals more liberal and conservatives more conservative. Other research instead argues that an abstract construal causes people to exhibit similar political attitudes as each other. The current research presents two experiments in which abstraction polarizes political attitudes on issues of social inequality. However, abstraction also increases traditionalism, and so it increases a preference for maintaining the societal status quo, such as by increasing one's disagreement with or opposition to homosexuality. The dual impacts of abstraction parallel the two distinct dimensions of political ideology (i.e., acceptance of social inequality and preference for the status quo), both of which prior research on construal level has not yet considered. Overall, the current findings indicate that the effects of construal level and the dimensions underlying political ideology need to be teased apart to fully understand the exact relationship between the two.     

The Role of Parent-Child Interaction in Community-Based Youth Relationship Education

This study sought to answer whether there is an association between parent-adolescent relationship processes and adolescents' awareness of unhealthy relationships. Adolescent awareness of unhealthy relationships was measured using a retrospective pre/post survey after participation in a relationship education (RE) program that has been adapted for use with youth. Supportiveness in the parent-child relationship was measured at pre-test. The sample consisted of 6984 adolescents aged 11–18. The sample was fairly representative of the areas from which it was drawn: 54% European American, 36% African American. Results revealed significant improvement in awareness of unhealthy relationships after program participation. Greater supportiveness predicted greater change in the outcome. This suggests that RE programs targeted at youth should specifically inform parents of goals so that they may be reinforced in parents' interactions with their adolescents.     

The situational effects on haptic perception of rod length

Three experiments were conducted to investigate situational effects (manipulation, range, and prior experience) on the haptic perception of rod length. Each rod was held between its two ends with one hand. In Experiment 1, 32 participants judged length of rods using different manipulations. Perceived lengths were found to be dependent on manner of manipulation and not necessarily equal to actual lengths. Different parameters were detected in different manipulations. In Experiment 2, 8 participants judged rod lengths by wielding rods of two ranges: long and short. Perceived length was found to be affected by the range of rods evaluated successively in a single set. In Experiment 3, 9 participants judged rod lengths after an experience of handling dense or light rods. Perceived length was found to be affected by prior experience. Results are discussed in terms of how rod lengths can be perceived accurately by haptic modality without involving direct perception.     

Developing Measures of Basic Job-Relevant English Proficiency for the Prediction of Job Performance and Promotability

The present study is an attempt to devise reliable and valid measures of job-relevant basic English proficiency to be applied in the prediction of job performance and promotability in an entry-level manual labor job dominated by workers whose native language is not English. An audio test and a reading test were developed to assess the ability to understand spoken English and written English respectively using job relevant material. Results showed that both tests demonstrated high predictive validity for the criteria of supervisory assessments of incumbents' English proficiency on the job, overall job performance, and promotability. In predicting ratings of overall job performance and promotability, each test provided incremental validity over the predictability provided by the other test. In addition, the tests also provided incremental validity in predicting promotability over the predictability provided by overall job performance.     

Haptic perception of partial-rod lengths with the rod held stationary or wielded

Three experiments on the haptic perception of partial-rod lengths are reported. The rods were gripped between the two ends and held horizontal. The subjects held the rods stationary; the distribution of mass of the segment in front of the hand was fixed, while the distribution of mass of the segment behind the hand was varied. Perceived forward length was found to be significantly affected by the distribution of mass of the backward segment. Similar results were obtained when the rods were wielded. The results indicated that partial-rod lengths are specified by functions of mechanical perturbations acting on the hand, and not ay the breaking up of the first moment of mass or the moment of inertia of the rod by attention as suggested previously by others. The results are also discussed with respect to invariant detection and attention.