The creative skills of culturally and linguistically diverse gifted students

The purpose of this study was to explore the creative abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse students. The relationships among creativity and achievement, intelligence, nonverbal reasoning, and instructional climate were also examined. For the pupils in this study, moderate correlations were found between creativity and intelligence and between creativity and reading achievement. A low correlation was found between creativity and nonverbal‐reasoning skills. Significant relationships were found between creativity and several classroom variables. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of identifying gifted youth from culturally and linguistically different backgrounds.     

Book Review: Rethinking the Trauma of War

Abstract

In this article I will adopt the viewpoint that current social issues, concerns and preoccupations are mirrored to some extent in films, and indeed culture in general - a view which has been expressed by many people in one form or another (see, for example, Caldwell [1996] or Sekoff [1989: 148] who says that ‘film must be understood as potentially embodying, disguising, challenging, containing, exploring, producing and so on the conditions of our cultural and personal lives, as well as the meanings we weave around them’). For example, the depression, unemployment and political polarization of the 1920s and 1930s produced two types of film. There were those which directly mirrored the political developments and social hardship of the times - such as the Charlie Chaplin films - and those which created a fantasy world of make-believe in order to escape the harsh realities of the day - for instance, the Hollywood Busby Berkeley musicals. So what are films telling us about society today?     

Teaching Strategies and Adaptations of Teachers in Multiculturally Diverse Classrooms in Seventh-day Adventist K-8 Schools in North America

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of Adventist teachers—their training, their use of instructional strategies, and the challenges they encounter when teaching students of different cultures. Banks' multicultural paradigms was the theoretical framework from which a survey was developed and sent to all K-8 Adventist teachers in the United States and Canada. Strategies relating to the self-concept development and ethnic additive paradigms were used most frequently by Adventist teachers while those associated with the language paradigm were used the least. Almost half of the teachers subscribed to the goal that “students are individuals with distinct personalities regardless of their background” while about 10% of the teachers considered the goals relating to “protection of diverse groups” the most important. Their strategy use was not related to their most important goals (Nels) for multicultural education. Forty percent of the teachers had no training in multicultural education and the study recommends training so that Adventist teachers will have more effective strategies for relating to diverse students.     

The stability of structural measures derived from repertory grids

Although the use of repertory grids in psychological research has proliferated, studies of their psychometric properties are relatively rare. For this reason, we studied the reliability and convergence of several measures of cognitive structure derived from grids, including intensity, percentage of variance accounted for by the first component, cognitive complexity, ordination, extremity of ratings, self-ideal discrepancy, and self-other discrepancy, as well two measures of rating stability, construct consistency and factor loading consistency. Eighty-two Spanish (Catalan) and American participants completed small and large grids on each of four occasions, which enabled exploratory analyses of the impact of grid size and subject characteristics on the structural scores obtained. Results indicated that the majority of scores showed impressive test-relest reliability (modal r = .85 for periods up to 1 month), but also suggested a gradual tightening effect across subsequent administrations. In general, scores intercorrelated in theoretically anticipated ways, converging on the assessment of cognitive differentiation and discrimination of elements within construct dimensions. The results have implications for the reactivity of structural scores to variations in grid format, as well as for use of grids in the study of sex differences and cross-cultural comparisons.     

A Meta-Theoretical Framework for Counselling People of African Ancestry: An Ecologically Oriented Response to the Special Section Articles

This article is a review of the preceding six articles included in the Special Section related to the subject of counselling people of African ancestry. The major objective was to ascertain whether any recurring themes might be identified, and whether these might contribute to developing a meta-theoretical perspective for counseling people of African ancestry. Two theoretical strands common to the six articles have been identified: (a) the ecological-transactional model and (b) the self-determination theory. A multicultural perspective appears to best characterize effective counseling practice in African settings.     

Dissonance et engagement : comparaison de deux voies d’intervention visant à réduire les ressources énergétiques au sein d’une collectivité territoriale

This Action Research was ordered by the Energy Department's head of a southern France local authority who wanted to reduce civil servant's overconsumption behaviors in public swimming pools. The aim was to compare two methods coming from psychosocial theories: cognitive dissonance implemented by induced hypocrisy paradigm, and commitment implemented by submission without pressure paradigm. Both methods and a “classical” condition, were assigned to three independent groups of swimming pool employees (n = 21). The processes targeted the level of behavioral intentions and the effective behavioral change, as dependant variables. These elements were measured through the type of behavioral intention, and the swimming-pools’ consumption bills. Results show that induced hypocrisy reveals a higher behavioral intention's level than a classical condition, whereas the effective behavioral change is higher in the commitment condition. Moreover, we can see a decisive role of context's organizational characteristics beyond the experimental variables induction. Theoretical and managerial consequences of the results are discussed relatively to the methodological limits enforced by the characteristics of the field.     

Use of the "Mental Health Inventory - 5" with Portuguese 10-15 years old

The present study describes the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Mental Health Inventory-5 for use with young adolescents. A sample of 367 Portuguese students (aged 10-15 years) completed the Portuguese-language versions of Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5; Berwick et al., 1991), Children's Hope Scale (CHS; Snyder et al., 1997), Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS; Huebner, 1991a), and Global Self-Worth Sub-scale (Harter, 1985). Analysis of readability, reliability (internal consistency and 1-year stability), factor structure, and criterion-related validity suggested that the MHI-5 can be appropriately used in this age group. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Social cognitive predictors of the interests and choices of computing majors: Applicability to underrepresented students

In a replication and extension of earlier research, we examined the explanatory adequacy of the social cognitive choice model (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) in a sample of 1404 students majoring in a variety of computing disciplines at 23 historically Black and 27 predominantly White universities. Participants completed measures of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, goals, and social supports and barriers relative to the pursuit of computing degrees. The social cognitive model generally provided adequate fit to the data across two academic year cohorts (2006, 2007), gender, institutional setting, racial/ethnic groups (European and African Americans), and educational level (beginning and advanced undergraduates). Outcome expectations, however, did not contribute uniquely to the predictive model. Implications for further research on social cognitive theory in the context of science and technology fields are discussed.     

The contributions of parental attachment bonds to college student development and adjustment: a meta-analytic review

We report findings from a meta-analysis of 156 studies conducted between 1987 and 2009 (N = 32,969) that examined the relationship between self-reported parental attachment and multiple adjustment outcomes and developmental advances during the college years. Overall, a small-to-medium relationship was found between indicators of parental attachment quality and favorable adjustment outcomes (r = .23). Effect sizes were of similar magnitude for mother and father attachment relationships, for male and female students, and across ethnicity and nationality of the sample. The attachment-adjustment relationship varied somewhat according to the developmental task being investigated in the study, showing the strongest association for the task of separation-individuation. Additionally, we found stronger attachment-adjustment links for students residing away from their parents when compared with students living at home during college.     

The impact of nontraditionalism on the malleability of gender stereotypes in Spain and Germany

Gender stereotypes and inequalities are based on and sustained by people's perception of gender roles. The evolution of these gender roles, however, might be substantially different depending on cultural and social evolution in different countries. In a study, we investigated stereotypes in Germany and Spain, where residents might have different beliefs about gender roles due to their different social evolution after the Second World War and their economic and social advances. Results showed that in both countries people's expectations of differences in masculine characteristics between men and women were less noticeable than perceptions in the past or present. We also demonstrated that people perceive an increase in masculinity in women. This increase is more evident in Spaniards than in Germans. In estimations about the past, present, and future, Spaniards also perceived an increase of gender-stereotypic feminine characteristics more in men than in women. Our results are consistent with the predictions of social role theory, as gender stereotypes can include dynamic aspects and the content of these stereotypes is rooted in social roles.