Language characteristics of mexican-american children: Implications for assessment

We have described the language features that characterize the speech of the Mexican-American child and have examined them with respect to their deviations from acceptable standards in both Spanish and English—acceptability in terms of how well he functions in each of the two language settings in which he lives. We have pointed out the magnitude of the most critical of his problems, the loss of lexical and grammatical signals through underdeveloped perception of English phonology and have demonstrated how this faulty perception vitally affects, not only his lexical and grammatical failings, but also his ability to learn as fast or as efficiently as the monolingual English-speaking child in every area of learning. We have then suggested assessment considerations which might more accurately evaluate his actual language abilities and which might provide more specific bases for planning improved educational programs for these children. We recognize, at the same time, the existence of additional considerations, such as socioeconomic environment, educational level of the parents, child rearing practices, test-orientedness, etc., which may also influence the scores they receive, and that these factors should also be considered in interpreting test statistics and in planning and designing school programs.     

On the interaction of the subject and the experiment in the matching model

Two types of matching designs, static and dynamic, are differentiated. While all matching designs are logically the same in terms of the probability model which determines chance level of performance, an attempt is made to demonstrate that there is an interaction between the tactics, strategies, and actual knowledge ofS and the type of design used which will, in turn, lead to different results even whenS's knowledge is held constant. It is suggested that analogous situations may exist within the framework of the traditional psychometric model.The work reported in this paper was supported by a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participation Grant (NSF-G15797) to the senior author. The authors are indebted to Joel E. Greene for his advice and criticism.     

Discrimination and Eating Disorder Psychopathology: A Meta-Analysis

Eating disorders occur in diverse populations, and discrimination may be a specific factor that is related to higher eating disorder psychopathology among marginalized individuals. To evaluate the current evidence on this topic, a meta-analysis was used to quantitatively synthesize the literature on discrimination and eating disorder psychopathology across a heterogeneous range of studies. Searches were conducted in peer-reviewed journals and accessible unpublished dissertations of all years through January 2020. Studies were coded by two authors using a tailored coding form, and zero-order bivariate correlations were used as effect size measures. There were 55 cross-sectional studies extracted for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Results showed a small-to-medium association between discrimination and eating disorder psychopathology that was consistent across domains. Effect sizes were typically higher for weight discrimination. For binge eating and general eating disorder pathology, effects were smaller in studies that had larger proportions of women, and for binge eating only, effects were higher in college samples. These findings could suggest that discrimination represents a contributory factor related to eating disorder psychopathology across types of discrimination and eating disorder psychopathology. Implications are discussed for future research on discrimination and psychopathology including possible mechanisms.     

Racial‐ethnic Identity in Context: Examining Mediation of Neighborhood Factors on Children's Academic Adjustment

Research consistently shows that neighborhood socio‐demographic characteristics and residents’ neighborhood perceptions matter for youth well‐being, including a positive sense of racial‐ethnic identity. Although elementary‐school children are likely in the earlier phases of identity formation, the authors examined whether objective and subjective neighborhood characteristics are related to their racial‐ethnic identity and, in turn, their academic adjustment. A diverse sample (30.4% African American, 35.2% White, 12.3% Latino, & 22.0% Other) of 227 children in Grades 2 through 5 were surveyed in afterschool programs. Bivariate correlations showed that youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods reported more barriers due to their race‐ethnicity, but these barriers were not related to their sense of academic efficacy. Residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood was unrelated to youth's academic self‐efficacy. However, path analyses showed that positive neighborhood perceptions were associated with a stronger sense of race‐ethnicity (i.e., affirmation and belonging), which was in turn related to greater academic efficacy. These results suggest that neighborhood connection provides a source of affirmation and value for young children, helping them to understand who they are as part of a racial‐ethnic group and helping to foster a sense of future achievement opportunities. This study provides additional evidence that along with other important proximal contexts (e.g., family, school), young children's neighborhood context is important for development. Results are discussed to highlight environmental influences on young children's awareness of race‐ethnicity and the implications of the combined impact of neighborhood and racial‐ethnic identity on psychosocial adjustment.     

Staff and Boarders Perspectives of the Boarding Environment

This research provides support for a direct comparison between the home and boarding environments, the inference being that boarding staff who fulfil an in loco parentis role have an integral part to play in the developmental outcomes of adolescents (boarders). Research in the area of family functioning has found that adolescents tend to view the family environment more negatively than their parents and that these discrepant perceptions have been linked to both internalising and externalising disorders in adolescents. In an attempt to further clarify the influence of the parenting role of boarding staff and of the boarding environment in general, 121 staff and 415 boarders from schools in Queensland, Australia, were asked to rate the boarding environment on levels of conflict, social support and climate. It was found that boarders, like adolescents in the home environment, perceived significantly higher levels of conflict and lower levels of social support and positive climate than did staff. These findings lend further support to the conceptualisation of the boarding environment as a home away from home. The implications of these findings for boarders’ developmental outcomes are discussed.