Why they leave: the impact of stereotype threat on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math and engineering majors

This paper examines the effects of group performance anxiety on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math, and engineering majors. While past research has relied primarily on the academic deficits and lower socioeconomic status of women and minorities to explain their absence from these fields, we focus on the impact of stereotype threat—the anxiety caused by the expectation of being judged based on a negative group stereotype. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, our findings indicate that minorities experience stereotype threat more strongly than whites, although women do not suffer from stereotype threat more than men. Our findings also reveal that stereotype threat has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of women, minorities, and surprisingly, white men leaving science, technology, engineering and math majors.     

La dynamique du système capacitaire Identité, action et projet

This study aims at illustrating the interest of a methodology of exploration of identity dynamics, the IMIS(Zavalloni & Louis-Guerin, 1984), for the elaboration of the professional project. Psychosocial identity is a system of representations of oneself and the world animated by the paradox of being identical and distinct at the same time. This system justifies ways of thought and action, that are retrieved in identity strategies. Action is presented as a medium-term project, endowed with a function of regulation of identity and capability representations that it conveys and validates(Costalat-Founeau, 2008). The project therefore leans upon the cognitive substrate of experience. Action doesn’t follow the project, both are interwoven in a common perspective defined by intentional objectives(Young & Valach, 2006).     

Exploring the effect of therapists' treatment practices on client attendance in community-based care for children

Sustained treatment attendance has been reported to be poor in publicly funded community-based clinic settings serving children and families. Several child and family characteristics have been shown to predict attendance in community-based care, but virtually no research has been conducted to examine how experiences in care, including psychotherapists' within-session practices, influence client attendance. The goal of this exploratory study was to examine how observed practice within sessions, in particular the extent to which therapists delivered elements consistent with evidence-based practices, impacts total number of sessions attended, while accounting for an array of other potential predictors. Participants include 181 children ages 4-13 and their parents entering a new episode of care for disruptive behavior problems in publicly funded clinics. Data sources include administrative billing records on treatment attendance; coded videotaped treatment sessions; and self-reports from children, parents, and therapists. Results indicate that parent education, service funding source, parent alliance with therapist, and therapist experience predicted number of sessions attended; intensity of evidence-based treatment techniques delivered to children was marginally associated with attendance (p = .059). Implications for improving engagement in community-based care are discussed.     

Contract cheating: a new challenge for academic honesty?

‘Contract cheating’ has recently emerged as a form of academic dishonesty. It involves students contracting out their coursework to writers in order to submit the purchased assignments as their own work, usually via the internet. This form of cheating involves epistemic and ethical problems that are continuous with older forms of cheating, but which it also casts in a new form. It is a concern to educators because it is very difficult to detect, because it is arguably more fraudulent than some other forms of plagiarism, and because it appears to be connected to a range of systemic problems within modern higher education. This paper provides an overview of the information and literature thus far available on the topic, including its definition, the problems it involves, its causal factors, and the ways in which educators might respond. We argue that while contract cheating is a concern, some of the suggested responses are themselves problematic, and that best practice responses to the issue should avoid moral panic and remain focussed on supporting honest students and good academic practice.     

The Shift from Monologue to Dialogue in a Couple Therapy Session: Dialogical Investigation of Change from the Therapists’ Point of View

As part of a larger research project on couple therapy for depression, this qualitative case study examines the nature of dialogue. Drawing on Bakhtinian concepts, the investigation shows how the conversation shifts from a monologue to dialogue. Among the findings are: first, the process of listening is integral to the transforming experience. That is, the careful listening of the therapist can evoke new voices, just as the experience of one of the partners’ “listening in” to the conversation between the other partner and the therapist can create movement and new trajectories. The latter is a qualitative difference between dialogic therapy with a couple and that with an individual. Second, the therapist not only acts as creative listener, but as the dialogue unfolds, actively contributes to meaning‐making. Third, the study upholds having a team of researchers as a polyphonic forum and the usefulness of Bakhtinian concepts in clinical research on dialogue in multi‐actor sessions.     

Spiritual Integration Predicts Self-Reported Mental and Physical Health

Data from 167 participants were used to establish the psychometric properties of the Reidhead spiritual integration scale, 31-item version (SI-31). Structural equation modeling was used to empirically evaluate influences on perceived health functioning, while accounting for possible confounds. The analyses showed that SI-31 predicted perceived mental and physical health while controlling for life satisfaction, religious variables, mood patterns, depression symptoms, and demographics. The importance of SI as a predictor of health-related outcomes is supported, as is the usefulness of the SI-31 in predicting these outcomes.     

EFFECTS OF A SIGNALED DELAY TO REINFORCEMENT IN THE PREVIOUS AND UPCOMING RATIOS ON BETWEEN-RATIO PAUSING IN FIXED-RATIO SCHEDULES

Domestic hens responded under multiple fixed‐ratio fixed‐ratio schedules with equal fixed ratios. One component provided immediate reinforcement and the other provided reinforcement after a delay, signaled by the offset of the key light. The components were presented quasirandomly so that all four possible transitions occurred in each session. The delay was varied over 0, 4, 8, 16, and 32 s with fixed‐ratio 5 schedules, and over 0, 8 and 32 s with fixed‐ratio 1, 15 and 40 schedules. Main effects of fixed‐ratio value and delay duration were detected on between‐ratio pauses. Pauses were longer when the multiple‐schedule stimulus correlated with a delayed‐reinforcer component was presented, with the longest pauses occurring at the transition from a component with an immediate reinforcer to one with a delayed reinforcer. Pause durations were shortest during immediate components. Overall, both the presence or absence of a delay in the upcoming component, and the presence or absence of a delay in the preceding component affected pause length, but the upcoming delay had the larger effect. Thus changes in delay had similar effects to past reports of the effects of changes in response force, response requirement, and reinforcer magnitude in multiple fixed‐ratio fixed‐ratio schedules.     

Using a Training-of-Trainers Approach and Proactive Technical Assistance to Bring Evidence Based Programs to Scale: An Operationalization of the Interactive Systems Framework’s Support System

Bringing evidence based programs to scale was a major initial impetus for the development of the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF). The ISF demonstrates the importance of the Support System in facilitating the uptake of innovations in the community (the Delivery System). Two strategies that members of the Support System commonly use are training‐of‐trainers (TOT) models and technical assistance (TA). In this article, we focus on the role of the Support System in bringing evidence‐based programs (EBPs) to scale in the Delivery System using a case example, with special attention on two strategies employed by Support Systems—training‐of‐trainers (TOT) and proactive technical assistance. We then report on findings from a case example from the Promoting Science Based Approaches to Teen Pregnancy Prevention project that furthers our conceptualization of these strategies and the evidence base for them. We also report on the limitations in the literature regarding research on TOTs and proactive TA and provide suggestions for future research on TOTs and proactive TA that will enhance the science and practice of support in the ISF. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

A Business Model for Managing System Change Through Strategic Financing and Performance Indicators: A Case Study

This article describes how a system of care operated by a county government agency used a fiscal crisis as the opportunity to reform its children's system. A cross-system response to the crisis is outlined that includes a system of care framework coupled with a business model, inter-departmental collaboration and leadership, the use of strategic reinvestment strategies, and a quality improvement system that focuses on key indicators. Implementation of the system change is described with a specific focus on cross-system entry points, financing strategies that re-allocate funds from deep-end programs to community-based services, and management oversight through the use of performance indicators to monitor and support effectiveness. This article examines the results of the system change, including the diversion of youth from system penetration, the reduction in residential treatment bed days, the re-allocation of these savings to community-based services, and the outcomes of children who were diverted from residential care and served in the community. The article offers a number of recommendations for other communities contemplating system change.