How to Measure and Explain Achievement Change in Large-Scale Assessments: A Rejoinder

In this rejoinder, we discuss substantive and methodological validity issues of large-scale assessments of trends in student achievement, commenting on the discussion paper by Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, Robitzsch, Treffers, and Köller (2009). We focus on methodological challenges in deciding what to measure, how to measure it, and how to foster stability. Next, we discuss what to do with trends that are found. Finally, we reflect on how the research findings were received.     

Diamonds in the Rough: Bridging Gaps in Supports for At-Risk Immigrant and Refugee Youth

Immigrant youth come to Canada with enormous potential to make a significant, positive contribution to the future of their adopted country. In many cases, this potential is realised; in others, it is not. The ease with which immigrant youth and their families integrate into Canadian society has a strong impact on their futures; those who become marginalised during this process risk becoming alienated or involved with the criminal justice system. Interviews were conducted with 12 stakeholders (including representatives from social service agencies, community groups and the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems) who frequently come into contact with immigrant and refugee youth involved in criminal and/or gang activity. Based on the family, individual, peer, school and community risk and protective factors reported to have an influence on immigrant and refugee youth, recommendations are made for bridging gaps in programming and policy initiatives to support at-risk youth.     

Risky sexual behaviors in immigrant adolescent girls from the former Soviet Union: Role of natal and host culture

In recent years, schools have been increasingly involved in youth's health-related behavior, particularly risky health behaviors (e.g., HIV/AIDS and pregnancy prevention programs). This study examined how acculturation processes among adolescent girls who are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) affect their practices of risky sexual behavior (RSB), defined as behavior that leads to increased risk for unplanned pregnancy or HIV infection. The study used an ecological perspective to understand how families and peers play a pivotal role in these acculturation processes. The results highlight the protective role of natal culture for RSB for this group of recent immigrants. The study also indicates that a higher level of acculturation to American culture is related to increased RSB in these recent immigrants. Thus, the study challenges the notion that biculturalism is always advantageous. School-based and after-school activities that incorporated Russian culture were found to play a protective role. The intergenerational discrepancies between adolescent girls and their parents and between peers and parents were predictive of RSB. Practical implications for practice of school professionals are discussed.     

Adherence to exercise prescriptions: effects of prescribing moderate versus higher levels of intensity and frequency.

Sedentary adults (N = 379) were randomly assigned in a 2 x 2 design to walk 30 min per day at a frequency of either 3-4 or 5-7 days per week, at an intensity of either 45%-55% or 65%-75% of maximum heart rate reserve. Analyses of exercise accumulated over 6 months showed greater amounts completed in the higher frequency (p = .0001) and moderate intensity (p = .021) conditions. Analyses of percentage of prescribed exercise completed showed greater adherence in the moderate intensity(p = .02) condition. Prescribing a higher frequency increased the accumulation of exercise without a decline in adherence, whereas prescribing a higher intensity decreased adherence and resulted in the completion of less exercise.     

Managerial motivational profiles: Composition,antecedents, and consequences

Using a person-centered approach, we identified managers' (N = 321) motivational profiles and tested a model of the antecedents and consequences of these profiles. The profiles were based on four motivational types delineated by self-determination theory (i.e., external, introjected, identified, intrinsic). Latent profile analysis revealed six distinct motivational profiles. One of these was a self-determined profile (high identified and intrinsic motivation, moderately low introjected motivation, and low external motivation). Four other profiles combined average levels of external motivation with either very low, low, moderately low, or high internal (i.e., introjected, identified, and intrinsic) motivation. The final profile involved moderately high levels of all four motives. The antecedents of profile membership examined were perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational politics. The career-related outcomes of profile membership were work attitudes and promotability. The self-determined and high internal motivation profiles were associated with the most favorable work attitudes, followed by the moderately high motivation profile. The low internal motivation profiles were associated with the least favorable attitudes. Promotability did not differ across the profiles. With respect to the antecedents, low levels of supervisor support and high levels of politics increased the odds that a manager would exhibit profiles that were less desirable than the self-determined profile. Our findings provide initial information about managers' motivational profiles, as well as the antecedents and consequences of these profiles. Further, these results demonstrate the promise of a person-centered approach for advancing motivation research and management development.     

Bilinguals Show Weaker Lexical Access During Spoken Sentence Comprehension

When bilinguals process written language, they show delays in accessing lexical items relative to monolinguals. The present study investigated whether this effect extended to spoken language comprehension, examining the processing of sentences with either low or high semantic constraint in both first and second languages. English-German bilinguals, German-English bilinguals and English monolinguals listened for target words in spoken English sentences while their eye-movements were recorded. Bilinguals’ eye-movements reflected weaker lexical access relative to monolinguals; furthermore, the effect of semantic constraint differed across first versus second language processing. Specifically, English-native bilinguals showed fewer overall looks to target items, regardless of sentence constraint; German-native bilinguals activated target items more slowly and maintained target activation over a longer period of time in the low-constraint condition compared with monolinguals. No eye movements to cross-linguistic competitors were observed, suggesting that these lexical access disadvantages were present during bilingual spoken sentence comprehension even in the absence of overt interlingual competition.     

Socialization of prosocial behavior: Gender differences in the mediating role of child brain volume

Evidence has been accumulating for the impact of normal variation in caregiving quality on brain morphology in children, but the question remains whether differences in brain volume related to early caregiving translate to behavioral implications. In this longitudinal population-based study (N = 162), moderated mediation was tested for the relation between parental sensitivity and child prosocial behavior via brain volume, in boys and girls. Both maternal and paternal sensitivity were repeatedly observed between 1 and 4 years of age. Brain volume was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging measurements at age 8, and self-reported prosocial behavior of children was assessed at 9 years of age. Parental sensitivity was positively related to child brain volume, and to child prosocial behavior at trend level. Child brain volume was negatively related to child prosocial behavior. A significant gender-by-brain interaction was found, illustrating that daughters of sensitive parents were more prosocial and that less prosocial behavior was reported for girls with a larger total brain volume. Child gender significantly moderated the indirect effect of parental sensitivity on prosocial behavior via total brain volume. A significant indirect pathway was found only in girls. The results warrant replication but indicate the importance of considering gender when studying the behavioral implications of differences in brain volume related to early caregiving experiences.     

The flexible nature of everyday reciprocity: reciprocity,helping, and relationship closeness

Motivation and Emotion - Past research on gratitude assumes that norms of reciprocity are incompatible with personal relationships as they are based on the rigid normative expectations...     

Audio-Visual Interactions during Emotion Processing in Bicultural Bilinguals

Motivation and Emotion - Despite the growing number of bicultural bilinguals in the world, the way in which multisensory emotions are evaluated by bilinguals who identify with two or more cultures...