Defining maltreatment according to substantiation: distinction without a difference?     

Hussey JM  Marshall JM  English DJ  Knight ED  Lau AS  Dubowitz H  Kotch JB 《Child abuse & neglect》2005,29(5):479-492

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether children with substantiated maltreatment reports between 4 and 8 years of age differ from children with unsubstantiated reports on any of 10 behavioral and developmental outcomes. METHOD: Longitudinal data from 806 children and their adult caregivers collected in four US study sites were pooled and analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the mean scores of children with unsubstantiated and substantiated maltreatment reports filed between 4 and 8 years of age for any of the 10 behavioral and developmental outcomes. In the multivariate analysis, substantiation status was not significantly associated with any of the 10 outcomes after adjusting for prior functioning, prior maltreatment status, and sociodemographic characteristics. Findings from within-site analyses were generally consistent with the pooled analyses in finding no association between substantiation status and the outcomes examined. CONCLUSIONS: In this high-risk sample, the behavioral and developmental outcomes of 8-year-old children with unsubstantiated and substantiated maltreatment reports filed between ages 4 and 8 were indistinguishable. Future research should attempt to replicate these findings on probability samples that represent the full range of childhood maltreatment risk and with models that control for the impact of social services.  相似文献   

Measuring the severity of child maltreatment     

Litrownik AJ  Lau A  English DJ  Briggs E  Newton RR  Romney S  Dubowitz H 《Child abuse & neglect》2005,29(5):553-573

OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to identify different operational definitions of maltreatment severity, and then to examine their predictive validity. METHOD: Children and their primary caregivers participating in a consortium of ongoing longitudinal studies were interviewed when they were approximately 4 and 8 years of age to assess behavior problems, and developmental and psychological functioning. Four different severity definitions were identified and applied to 519 children who were reported for alleged maltreatment between Birth and the Age 8 interview. A taxonomy for defining maltreatment characteristics (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993) was applied to Child Protective Service records to define severity as (a) Maximum Severity within each of five maltreatment types, (b) Overall Maximum Severity across the five types, (c) Total Severity or the sum of the maximum severity for each of five types, and (d) Mean Severity or the average severity for those types of maltreatment alleged, during each of two time periods-Birth to Age 4, and Age 4 to Age 8. RESULTS: Regression analyses that controlled for socio-demographic factors, early maltreatment (Birth to Age 4), prior functioning (Age 4), and site revealed that (a) all four severity definitions for maltreatment reports between Age 4 and Age 8 predicted Age 8 behavior problems, (b) Maximum Severity by Type and Mean Severity predicted adaptive functioning at Age 8, and (c) only Maximum Severity by Type was related to anger, at Age 8. Follow-up regression analyses indicated that only Maximum Severity by Type, specifically physical abuse, accounted for outcomes, beyond maltreatment occurrence versus non-occurrence. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that maltreatment severity definitions that preserve ratings within types of maltreatment may be the optimal approach to measure the severity of children's experiences.  相似文献   

Modelling the determinants of school leaders' perceptions of beginning teachers' efficacy     

Sylvia Chong  Jerome Rotgans  Wai Mun Loh  Mabelene Mak 《Educational Research and Evaluation》2013,19(3):231-244

The school and especially the school leader's perceptions of a teacher's efficacy have influence on aspects of teaching ratings and performance, and this may facilitate or hinder beginning teacher success. This study examines the school leaders' perceptions of their beginning teachers' efficacy. The study's scope of teacher efficacy is multidimensional to include the beginning teachers' Teaching Competencies, sense of Professionalism, and Professional Identity. Of interest is the interconnectedness of these variables that contribute to the school leaders' perception. A total of 256 school leaders responded to a survey on beginning teachers' efficacy. A hypothesized model was tested. According to the analysis, while Teaching Competencies and Professional Identity did not have a significant direct impact, they each did have a significant indirect effect on perceived efficacy.  相似文献   

Writing quality in Chinese children: speed and fluency matter     

Cathy Ming Wai Yan  Catherine McBride-Chang  Richard K. Wagner  Juan Zhang  Anita M. Y. Wong  Hua Shu 《Reading and writing》2012,25(7):1499-1521

There were two goals of the present study. The first was to create a scoring scheme by which 9-year-old Chinese children??s writing compositions could be rated to form a total score for writing quality. The second was to examine cognitive correlates of writing quality at age 9 from measures administered at ages 6?C9. Age 9 writing compositions were scored using a 7-element rubric; following confirmatory factor analyses, 5 of these elements were retained to represent overall writing quality for subsequent analyses. Measures of vocabulary knowledge, Chinese word dictation, phonological awareness, speed of processing, speeded naming, and handwriting fluency at ages 6?C9 were all significantly associated with the obtained overall writing quality measure even when the statistical effect of age was removed. With vocabulary knowledge, dictation skill, age, gender, and phonological awareness included in a regression equation, 35% of the variance in age 9 writing quality was explained. With the variables of speed of processing, speeded naming, and handwriting fluency additionally included as a block, 12% additional variance in the equation was explained. In addition to gender, overall unique correlates of writing quality were dictation, speed of processing, and handwriting fluency, underscoring the importance of both general automaticity and specific writing fluency for writing quality development in children.  相似文献   

The dilemma of case‐based teaching and learning in science in Hong Kong: Students need it,want it,but may not value it     

Carmel McNaught  W. M. Lau  Paul Lam  Mark Y. Y. Hui  Peter C. T. Au 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(9):1017-1036

The paper reports a study for determining a suitable process for converting traditional surface science courses into case‐based learning ones in two universities in Hong Kong. In this preparative study, a set of baseline data was collected on the current level of students’ conceptual understanding and also students’ perceptions about the traditional courses. The student data (from 38 students) came from examination results, the Study Process Questionnaire, a course‐end survey and a focus group meeting; teachers also kept reflective journals. This set of baseline data revealed factors that both support and inhibit case‐based learning. On the one hand, students demonstrate a motivation to be able to solve practical problems in this field; on the other hand, they show an unwillingness to take up a personal responsibility for learning. This finding strengthens our resolve to take into account students’ expectations and beliefs in the implementation of case‐based teaching and learning.  相似文献   

Validation of a 'spurning scale' for teachers: the Chinese sample     

Wai H. Cheuk  Sidney Rosen  Kwok S. Wong 《Educational research; a review for teachers and all concerned with progress in education》2013,55(3):289-297

The present study represents our continuing effort to validate a 'spurning scale' for teachers, based on a model of spurned helpers' reactions. Three approaches were used to examine the construct validity of the scale: the spurning scores of teachers working with more achieving students versus the scores of teachers teaching less achieving students; the relationships between the spurning scores and job satisfaction and turnover scores; and the relationships between the spurning scores and scores indicative of stress arising from interactions with one's students, and with one's supervisor. Serving teachers in Guangzhou (China) responded to a questionnaire containing the variables of interests. Overall, the results provided further evidence for the validity of the scale.  相似文献   

Involving parents in paired reading with preschoolers: Results from a randomized controlled trial     

Shui-fong Lam  Kamfung Chow-Yeung  Bernard P.H. Wong  Kwok Kiu Lau  Shuk In Tse 《Contemporary educational psychology》2013

A paired reading program was implemented for 195 Hong Kong preschoolers (mean age = 4.7 years) and their parents from families with a wide range of family income. The preschoolers were randomly assigned to experimental or waitlist control groups. The parents in the experimental group received 12 sessions of school-based training on paired reading in 7 weeks. They were required to do paired reading with their children for at least four times in each of these 7 weeks. At the end of the program, the preschoolers in the experimental group had better performance in word recognition and reading fluency than their counterparts in the control group. They were also reported as more competent and motivated in reading by their parents. More importantly, the program had many favorable effects on parents. Parents in the experimental group had higher self-efficacy in helping their children to be better readers and learners. They also reported that they had better relationships with their children. Their changes in relationships and self-efficacy were found to mediate the program impact on some of the child outcomes. However, family income did not moderate the effectiveness of the program. Families with high and low income both benefited from the program alike.  相似文献   

Reading motivation,perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount: a comparison of junior and senior secondary students in Hong Kong     

Kit‐Ling Lau 《Journal of Research in Reading》2009,32(4):366-382

This study examined the relations between students' reading motivation, perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount, together with grade differences, in a Chinese educational context. A total of 1,146 students from 19 secondary schools in Hong Kong voluntarily responded to a questionnaire that measured these three sets of variables. The study's findings indicated that students' intrinsic motivation was most strongly related to their reading amount. Students' perceptions of the reading instruction they received in their Chinese language class were significantly related to their reading motivation, but were only indirectly related to their reading amount, being mediated through reading motivation. Consistent with previous studies, significant grade differences were found in all types of reading motivation, students' perceptions of reading instruction and students' reading amount. The findings indicated that junior secondary students had better self‐efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and social motivation than senior secondary students. The largest grade difference was in students' self‐efficacy. Junior secondary students also perceived the reading instruction in their Chinese language class as more mastery‐oriented and read more frequently than senior secondary students. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' reading motivation and for planning effective reading instruction to enhance their motivation are discussed.  相似文献   

Exploring the effects of gender and learning styles on computer programming performance: implications for programming pedagogy     

Wilfred W. F. Lau  Allan H. K. Yuen 《British journal of educational technology : journal of the Council for Educational Technology》2009,40(4):696-712

Computer programming has been taught in secondary schools for more than two decades. However, little is known about how students learn to program. From the curriculum implementation perspectives, learning style helps address the issue of learner differences, resulting in a shift from a teacher-centred approach to a learner-focused approach. This study aims to investigate the effects of gender and learning styles on computer programming performance. The Gregorc Style Delineator (GSD) was employed to measure learning styles. A test was administered to assess students' programming performance. Two hundred and seventeen secondary school students of age from 14 to 19 participated in this study. Results indicated that no gender differences in programming performance were found after controlling for the effect of student ability. Academic ability had a differential effect on programming knowledge. Sequential learners in general performed better than random learners. These results suggest the importance of the ordering dimension of the GSD in influencing programming performance. Implications of the findings in relation to programming pedagogy are discussed in this paper.  相似文献   

Constructing mathematics in an interactive classroom context     

Paul Ngee-Kiong Lau  Parmjit Singh  Tee-Yong Hwa 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》2009,72(3):307-324

  相似文献