School achievement strongly predicts midlife IQ

The relationship between measures of IQ and standardized school achievement tests is well established at around r ≈ 0.5 when the two are measured in close proximity. The current paper examined the stability of this correlation when comparing elementary school achievement (grades 3–8) and midlife IQ. Iowa Adoption Study participants who had standardized school achievement measures (ITBS) on file were given the WAIS-III. Mean age at IQ testing was 44.01 years (SD 6.65 years). The correlation between school achievement and WAIS-III FSIQ was r = 0.64, suggesting substantial life span stability in this relationship. Furthermore, elementary school achievement was substantially correlated with occupational status and household income at midlife. These findings suggest that standardized school achievement data is a useful measure of premorbid IQ.     

Early Childhood Anxious Solitude and Subsequent Peer Relationships: Maternal and Cognitive Moderators

It was hypothesized that the relation between early anxious solitude and subsequent peer relations would be moderated by early relational (maternal sensitivity) and individual factors (child school readiness). Participants were 1364 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Anxious solitude was assessed by child care providers from 2 to 4.5 years, maternal sensitivity was observed during mother–child interactions from 2 to 4.5 years, school readiness was tested at 3 years, children's interactions with a friend were observed at 4.5 years, and friendship quantity and peer rejection were assessed by first grade teachers. Results indicate that anxious solitary children who had experienced high versus low early maternal sensitivity contributed significantly more actively to positive interaction and less actively to negative interaction with a friend at 4.5 years (these results were contingent on school readiness), and had more friends and were less rejected by peers in first grade. Although high school readiness predicted interactive competency and positive peer relationships in children low in anxious solitude, these benefits were suppressed in anxious solitary children.     

Is Personality Related to Assessment Center Performance? That Depends on How Old You Are

Despite compelling arguments that performance in the assessment center (AC) should be related to personality, past research has failed to demonstrate a consistent link between personality and AC performance. This study investigated whether managerial candidates’ age could be moderating, and thus obscuring, specific personality–AC performance relations. A large sample of managers (N = 371) participated in an AC and also completed the leadership relevant personality scales of achievement, dominance, and exhibition from the Personality Research Form-E (PRF-E; Jackson, D. N. (1984). Manual for the personality research form. Port Huron, MI: Research Psychologists Press). Consistent with hypotheses, age moderated the relations of dominance and exhibition with AC performance (p < .05), such that dominance and exhibition were more strongly related to AC performance for older as opposed to younger managers. Results were discussed in terms of their implications for the criterion-related and construct validity of ACs.

Taking Cognitive-Behavior Therapy to School: A School-Based Mental Health Approach

This paper offers an overview using cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) within a school system. In addition to providing services to individual students, this article provides an overview of implementing CBT into a system of school-wide mental health services. Interventions are discussed at three levels—universal school-wide interventions, target interventions with at-risk students, and intensive interventions with students in need. Examples of specific programs or intervention are given for each level.     

Community Influences on Adjustment in First Grade: An Examination of an Integrated Process Model

We examined the impact of neighborhood characteristics both directly and indirectly as mediated by parent coaching and the parent/child affective relationship on behavioral and school adjustment in a sample of urban dwelling first graders. We used structural equations modeling to assess model fit and estimate direct, indirect, and total effects of neighborhood structural and social characteristics on parenting behavior and child outcomes. Observed physical incivilities in the neighborhood were associated with lower levels of parent eliciting behavior and higher levels of child behavior problems. The effects of neighborhood structural characteristics were mediated partially through neighborhood community involvement with children, which had a direct significant impact on parent eliciting behavior and an indirect effect on child behavior problems. Neighborhood community involvement with children was associated with higher levels of parent eliciting behavior and lower levels of child behavior problems. Observed physical incivilities had a significant indirect association with poor school adjustment and a marginally significant association with positive school adjustment to first grade. Neighborhood community involvement with children was more strongly associated with positive school adjustment than poor school adjustment.     

Stereotype threat and test performance: A primer for school psychologists

Ethical guidelines require school psychologists to ensure that their assessment practices are nondiscriminatory, but typical discussions on this topic neglect the possible discriminatory effects of cultural stereotypes on assessment results. Recent research on stereotype threat shows that students' knowledge of stereotype-based negative expectations about their test performance can depress their actual test performance. This paper discusses the range of conditions that promote stereotype threat and identifies important moderators and mediators of the phenomenon. Several practical suggestions are offered for school psychologists to consider when interviewing students, interpreting assessment results, and developing programs to increase schoolwide achievement.     

Early identification of mental health problems in schools: The status of instrumentation

When embedded within a continuum of mental health services including both prevention and treatment, school-based mental health identification programs can promote improved academic and mental health functioning among students. This article describes the scientific status of assessment instrumentation that may be used for early mental health identification in schools. Currently available instruments are described in terms of their ability to accurately detect youth with mental health problems. Implications for selecting mental health screening and assessment instruments and integrating them into schools are discussed. Finally, a range of approaches to early identification in schools as well as some of the broader ethical and practical issues related to the integration of these strategies into a school-wide continuum of services are presented.     

Placing age differences in the context of the Orissa supercyclone: Who experiences psychological distress?

The present study examines the influence of age on anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress of the supercyclone-affected people in Orissa. The data were collected in structured interview sessions 3 months after the disaster struck. Of the 130 interviewees, 65 persons were severely exposed and the rest were mildly exposed to the supercyclone. When the effects of exposure, caste, and gender were controlled, linear effects of age on psychological distress were found to be significant, whereas quadratic effects of age on psychological distress were non-significant. With increasing age, survivors experienced more anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. The elderly people were the most vulnerable.     

SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN THE THEOLOGY OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

The German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer is not widely known for engaging with scientific thought, having been heavily influenced by Karl Barth's celebrated stance against natural theology. However, during the period of his maturing theology in prison Bonhoeffer read a significant scientific work, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker's The World View of Physics. From this he gained two major insights for his theological outlook. First, he realized that the notion of a "God of the gaps" is futile, not just in science but in other areas of human inquiry. Second, he felt that an infinite universe, as considered by science, would be self-subsistent and could exist as if there were no God. Bonhoeffer replaced Barth's radical critique of religion with the even more extreme view that it is a mere passing phase in history that grown-up humanity can dispense with. At the same time Bonhoeffer began an important critique of Barth's reaction, namely, the latter's retreat to a "positivism of revelation." While Bonhoeffer did not go quite as far as one might like, his approach opened up hopeful avenues for an answer to "the liberal question" and even a revived place for some kind of natural theology.     

儿童2～7岁行为抑制性发展对7岁时问题行为、学校适应的预测作用

本研究采用陌生实验室的录像观察考察了中国2~7岁儿童行为抑制性的发展,并且采用教师评价量表报告了儿童7岁时的学校适应,采用父母填写儿童行为调查表CBCL来测查儿童7岁时的问题行为,从而考察了儿童2~7岁的行为抑制性对其7岁时的问题行为和学校适应的预测作用。儿童2岁时,共有208名儿童参加了这项追踪研究,4岁时,由于被试拒绝参加、搬家或失约,共有176名儿童参加了实验室的录像观察。7岁时,共有124名儿童参加了实验室实验和学校教师的评价,并且父母对7岁儿童的问题行为进行了报告。同时参加2、4、7岁研究的儿童为66人,其中男孩为28人,女孩38人。协方差结构模型分析表明:儿童2岁时的抑制性水平越高,7岁时的学习问题越少;儿童4岁时的抑制性水平越高,7岁时的攻击行为越少,挫折耐受力、任务定向能力越强,但同时抑郁问题也越多。而7岁时的抑制性可以边缘显著地预测儿童7岁时母亲所报告的退缩问题,即7岁时抑制性水平越高,母亲所报告的退缩问题越多。而且,本研究还发现女孩7岁的抑制性水平越高,任务定向能力和果断的社交技能越差。男孩2岁的抑制水平越高,任务定向能力越强;男孩7岁时抑制水平越高,攻击行为越多。