Reading Intervention in Middle and High Schools: Implementation Fidelity,Teacher Efficacy,and Student Achievement

This study investigated teachers’ efficacy and implementation in the context of a supplemental intervention for struggling adolescent readers. It examined teachers’ efficacy at the start of their intervention training and investigated relationships among teachers’ efficacy, implementation, and students’ reading progress. The efficacy and implementation of 9 sixth-grade teachers and 11 ninth-grade teachers were compared, and student achievement gains were explored. Sixth-grade teachers had higher levels of efficacy, while ninth-grade teachers had higher levels of implementation. Findings indicated teacher efficacy was positively related to students’ reading comprehension and overall reading achievement. Implementation was positively related to students’ growth in vocabulary.     

The psychological costs of knowledge specialization in groups: Unique expertise leaves you out of the loop

Knowledge specialization, such as that present in cross-functional teams, produces both positive and negative outcomes. Our research investigated how unique expertise can lead to feelings of ostracism in the form of being out of the loop. Compared to group members with shared expertise, members with unique expertise felt out of the loop and experienced decreased fulfillment of fundamental needs, particularly when their expertise was to be given less weight in the group’s decision. Possessing unique expertise did not inhibit leadership emergence, even when that expertise should not have been used in the decision-making process. So, although knowledge specialization can have positive consequences for teams and task performance, it also has some negative psychological consequences that need to be understood.     

Portrait of a creatively gifted child facing cancer

Creativity can be demonstrated in various ways. The following case study describes how one creatively gifted boy applied creative skills from one dimension of his life to a totally new one. When cancer halted his musical career, he chose to channel his abilities into a new challenge: controlling pain and writing. The results demonstrated a heroism that opens new avenues to our consideration of what constitutes creativity in human lives.     

Book review

Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: the Communist and Post‐Communist Eras, edited by Sabrina Petra Ramet. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1992. x + 441pp.     

Unit Cohesion,Resilience, and Mental Health of Soldiers in Basic Combat Training

Military unit cohesion has been shown to correlate with physical and psychological outcomes. However, little is known about the development of cohesion in the early days of military service during Basic Combat Training (BCT) and how it relates to positive support and the negative stressors of training. The current study assessed the development of unit cohesion across the 10-week BCT period (N = 1,939), and the relation of cohesion to stress, resilience, mental health measures, and BCT outcomes (graduation, passing the Army Physical Fitness Test, and final Basic Rifle Marksmanship scores). The sample was primarily male (62%), under age 25 (88%), and unmarried (88%). All putative mediators showed significant change over time. Unit cohesion increased over time (slope 0.22; p < .001), and these increases were associated with decreases in psychological distress (p < .001), sleep problems (p < .001), and tolerance of BCT stressors (p < .001), as well as increases in resilience (p < .001), confidence managing stress reactions (p < .001), and positive states of mind (p < .001). Unit cohesion was indirectly associated with successful graduation and passing the Army Physical Fitness Test through cohesion-related improvement in psychological distress, resilience, and confidence managing reactions to stress. Sleep problems also mediated BCT graduation. Cohesion effects on the Basic Rifle Marksmanship scores were mediated by psychological distress and tolerance of BCT stressors only. These results suggest that unit cohesion may play a key role in the development of psychological health among new soldiers.     

Role of Group Affiliation and Gender on Attitudes Toward Women in the Military

The current study examined attitudes of West Point cadets (N = 218), Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets (N = 509), and non-military-affiliated students from civilian colleges (N = 598) toward a variety of roles that women may serve in the military. Respondents were queried whether a woman “should” or “should not” serve in the following military jobs: jet fighter pilot, truck mechanic, nurse in a combat zone, typist in the Pentagon, commander of a military installation, hand-to-hand combat soldier, jet transport pilot, air defense gunner, and crew member on a combat ship. A metric based on a sum of approval across all jobs indicated that women were significantly more approving than men; civilian college students were more approving than ROTC cadets; and West Point cadets showed the lowest overall approval.     

Predictors of Support for Women in Military Roles: Military Status,Gender, and Political Ideology

The repeal of combat restrictions by gender raises the importance of understanding factors related to the acceptance of women serving in the full range of military jobs. Previous research shows military affiliated cadets, especially males, are substantially less approving of women serving in military jobs, especially those involving exposure to direct combat or command positions, than are other college students. The current study extends these findings by considering political ideology in addition to gender and military affiliation, as related to attitudes toward women’s roles in the military overall and in combat roles in particular. Survey data from Service Academy cadets (n = 3,116), Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets (n = 1,367), and nonmilitary affiliated college students (n = 2,648), provided measures of whether a woman should or should not be allowed to serve in 9 different military job areas. In addition to overall approval, a scale for combat jobs was created from a subset of 4 of the jobs. Regression analysis indicated that once gender, political party, political position (left/right), and attitudes toward mothers in the workforce overall were controlled, type of college did not add to the prediction of acceptance of women in various military roles. In general, nonmilitary affiliated respondents, women, and those identifying as Democrat offered higher approval scores. Our findings suggest more aggressive programs, designed to educate and socialize these future leaders about women’s roles in the military, may require development.     

Personality Factors,Family Structure,and Sex of Drawn Figure on the Draw-A-Person Test

One hundred seventy-four youthful psychiatric inpatients were given the Draw-A-Person Test (DAP) as part of an assessment battery. Sex of person drawn was compared to subject's sex, Achenbach aggression and delinquency scores, and scores on Children's Inventory of Anger and Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale. The sex of the person drawn was also compared to family composition, specifically whether or not the child came from an intact family with both a male and female parent or role model. Results support drawing of a same-sexed individual as normative, regardless of age or sex. Adolescent girls and young boys were the only groups that differed significantly from this norm. Personality measures and family composition were not significantly related to the tendency to draw same versus opposite sex.     

Support for religio‐political aggression among teenaged boys in Gaza: Part I: psychological findings

Politically aggressive militant groups usually rely on support from a larger community, although evidence suggests that only some members of that larger community support that aggression. A major subtype of political aggression is that associated with religious differences—or Religio‐Political Aggression (RPA). Little previous research has explored demographic or psychological factors that might distinguish supporters from non‐supporters of RPA. In an exploratory study, we investigated whether factors previously associated with aggression might correlate with support for RPA in the case of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. During the second intifada, fifty‐two 14‐year‐old Palestinian boys in Gaza completed self‐report measures of life events, emotional status, and political attitudes. Teenaged boys who reported family members having been wounded or killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) expressed greater support for RPA (t(50)=?2.30, P=.026). In addition, boys who felt their group was treated unjustly reported greater support for RPA compared with those who did not (t(50)=?2.273, P=.027). Implications of these preliminary data are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 36:219–231, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.