English as a foreign language (EFL) homework diaries: evaluating gains and constraints for self-regulated learning and achievement

Although homework completion is said to be rather important to achievement, nowadays there is a growing concern of educators about the increasing number of students who do not engage properly on doing the homework tasks and the subsequent impact on school failure rates. Focusing on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and using a sample of 591 Portuguese fifth and sixth graders, the present study analyses the role played by a number of homework variables on students' achievement (proximal and distal), and their mediating role on the use of self-regulated learning strategies and perceived self-efficacy in the domain. Data confirm the indirect effect of homework on school achievement, by means of the referred cognitive and motivational variables (use of self-regulated learning strategies and self-efficacy). These findings are further discussed in order to highlight the significant role homework completion can play on fighting school failure.     

Longitudinal Modeling of Adolescents' Activity Involvement, Problem Peer Associations, and Youth Smoking

Longitudinal associations among different types of organized activity involvement, problem peer associations, and cigarette smoking were examined in a sample of 1040 adolescents (mean age = 15.62 at baseline, 16.89 at 15-month assessment, 17.59 at 24 months) enriched for smoking experimentation (83% had tried smoking). A structural equation model tested longitudinal paths between three categories of involvement (team sports, school clubs and activities, and religious activities, measured at baseline and 15 months), problem peer associations (baseline and 15 months), and cigarette smoking behavior (baseline and 24 months). Multi-group analyses indicated pathways differed by type of activity and adolescent gender. Boys' baseline team sports and religious involvement predicted lower levels of smoking at 24 months via continued activity involvement at 15 months. Girls' involvement in school clubs and activities and religious activities indirectly predicted lower levels of smoking at 24 months via reduced exposure to problem peers at 15 months.     

Implementation of training programs in self-regulated learning strategies in Moodle format: results of a experience in higher education

This paper tests the efficacy of an intervention program in virtual format intended to train studying and self-regulation strategies in university students. The aim of this intervention is to promote a series of strategies which allow students to manage their learning processes in a more proficient and autonomous way. The program has been developed in Moodle format and hosted by the Virtual Campus of the University of Oviedo. The present study had a semi-experimental design, included an experimental group (n=167) and a control one (n=206), and used pretest and posttest measures (self-regulated learning strategies' declarative knowledge, self-regulated learning macro-strategy planning-execution-assessment, self-regulated learning strategies on text, surface and deep learning approaches, and academic achievement). Data suggest that the students enrolled in the training program, comparing with students in the control group, showed a significant improvement in their declarative knowledge, general and on text use of learning strategies, increased their deep approach to learning, decreased their use of a surface approach and, in what concerns to academic achievement, statistically significant differences have been found in favour of the experimental group.     

Prevalence, symptoms and distribution of oppositional defiant disorder

The purpose of this work was to determine the epidemiological evolution of the Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in adolescents, using a sample of Secondary School students of the region of Campo de Gibraltar (Cadiz). The students' age ranged from 12 to 16 years old. Two evaluations were completed, the first one during the school year 2001-2002 and the second one in the school year 2006-2007. The sample comprised 2310 students in the first study and 2351 students in the second one. We used a comparative-selective approach. The results of the comparison revealed a prevalence ranging from 3.77% to 3.83% of students with this disorder, maintaining the main symptoms and with some changes in its distribution as a function of the school grade. Indeed, the data showed more cases in the final courses (1st study) in contrast with a higher concentration of cases in the initial courses (2nd study). With regard to the frequency of ODD by sex, we found that whereas in the earlier study (2001-2002), the relationship between boys and girls was 3.5:1, in the school year 2006/2007, the number of boys with ODD quadrupled the number of girls.     

Internal attribution of outcome moderates the cortisol response to a cooperative task in women

Several ethological reports have indicated that cooperative behaviors play an adaptive role. However, research has focused on competition in men, and there have been few studies on cooperation. This study aims to analyze the cortisol and psychological responses in women to a cooperative situation compared with a competitive situation in a laboratory context. The sample was distributed into four groups depending on the task and the outcome obtained: Positive cooperation, negative cooperation, competition with victory, and competition with defeat. Our results show that, in comparison with competition, cooperation produces different effects in cortisol, but not in psychological states. Nevertheless, these effects occur only when the task outcome and its appraisal are considered. Only the participants who cooperated and obtained a positive outcome and those who competed and lost showed significant decrements of cortisol. Internal attribution was higher in groups with more stable cortisol levels, suggesting a possible modulator effect of controllability in the way the situation was experienced. These results could be generalized to situations in which negotiation, mediation, and cooperative strategies are relevant for making decisions and/or solving problems.     

Self-concept and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence

This study analyses the relationship between a multidimensional measure of self-concept, Self-concept Form-5 Questionnaire (AF5), and a broad set of adolescents' psychosocial adjustment indicators. From the responses of 1,281 participants (53.7% females) aged 12 to 17 years ( M = 14.98 years, SD = 1.74 years), results indicated that higher self-concept scores corresponded to better psychological adjustment, good personal skills and fewer behavioral problems. Although a positive relationship between social self-concept and drug use was found, this significant relationship disappeared once the adolescent's age and sex was controlled for. These results support the idea that the self-concept is a basic theoretical construct closely related to the psychosocial adjustment in adolescence. Also this study helps explain some contradictory results reported in the literature (i.e., a positive relationship between social self-concept and drug use), by showing how the statistical control of a third variable effect (i.e., age) avoids reaching conclusions based on spurious relationships.     

Emotional and hemispheric asymmetries in shifts of attention: an ERP study

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the larger response time to cued targets appearing at long cue-to-target intervals. Given emotion-attention interactions and associated visual field (VF) asymmetries, we examined the effects of emotions and hemispheric processing on object- and location-based IOR. We expected reduced IOR and right hemispheric bias accompanied by differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) including lack of suppression of cued N1 and enhancement of Nd components for sad targets. Reaction times and ERPs were recorded in an exogenous cuing detection task using happy and sad schematic faces. Results revealed reduced IOR for left compared to right VF with sad faces but no such asymmetry for happy faces. Cued N1 amplitudes were suppressed for happy targets but not for sad targets presented to the left VF. Nd amplitudes were enhanced for right-hemispheric sad faces especially with object-based IOR. The results indicate right-hemispheric advantage in the capture of attention by negative emotion especially with object-based selection.     

Evidence against the myth of adjustment problems of people with high intellectual abilities

Personal and social adjustment of high-ability children and adolescents is a very important issue in the specialized literature. The differences found between data for and against appropriate adjustment in gifted children and adolescents could be explained by conceptual or methodological biases. In this work, the relation between adjustment and high abilities are contrasted in a sample of teenagers from the Canary Islands, using a screening procedure based on their scores in intelligence tests. Results show that, although gifted adolescents differ significantly from their peers in the control group in socio-economic variables and academic performance, there are no differences in personal, social and educational adjustment. We conclude that adjustment problems and high ability are independent variables, and there is no evidence to support that gifted individuals have adjustment problems.     

Sex and ear differences in spontaneous and click-evoked otoacoustic emissions in young adults

Effects of sex and handedness on the production of spontaneous and click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) were explored in a non-hearing impaired population (ages 17-25 years). A sex difference in OAEs, either produced spontaneously (spontaneous OAEs or SOAEs) or in response to auditory stimuli (click-evoked OAEs or CEOAEs) has been reported in infants and children, but healthy young adults seldom have been the target of study. In the current data, a robust sexual dimorphism was confirmed, with women producing more numerous and stronger SOAEs, and CEOAEs with greater response amplitude compared to men. A right-ear advantage was found for the number of SOAEs produced and, in women, for SOAE power. Although handedness did not moderate the ear asymmetry in production, exploratory analyses revealed that departures from strong right hand preference were associated in the present sample with reduced numbers or strengths of OAEs. The results are discussed with respect to differential exposure to androgens during prenatal development.     

Impact of motivation on cognitive control in the context of vigilance lowering: an ERP study

We assessed the effects of time-on-task on cognitive control expressed by the CRN/Nc and the extent to which motivation modulates this relationship. We utilized two groups of participants, who were told that their performance would (evaluation condition) or would not (control condition) be evaluated online. Both groups performed a version of the Eriksen Flanker Task for 60 min. We observed classical vigilance lowering, manifested by a progressive performance decline with time-on-task, in the control, but not in the evaluation, condition. In the latter, performance remained stable throughout the task. ERP analysis indicated the same interaction in our main component of interest, the CRN/Nc, whose amplitude decreased from the first to the last period in the control condition but remained stable over time in the evaluation condition. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the impact of motivation on monitoring processes as indexed by the correct response negativity, in the context of a prolonged task. Vigilance lowering caused by a repetitive and prolonged flanker task, results in compromised response control and compromised control of correct responses. Our results suggest that alterations in ACC functioning may underlie vigilance decline and can be viewed as evidence that the action monitoring functions of the ACC can be positively affected by motivation.