Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

E Zigler

Publications and source records attributed to E Zigler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Racial identity, academic achievement, and the psychological well-being of economically disadvantaged adolescents.

The relation between racial identity and personal psychological functioning was examined within the framework of the "racelessness" construct proposed by Fordham and Ogbu (S. Fordham, 1988; S. Fordham & J. U. Ogbu, 1986). These researchers have proposed that academically successful African American students achieve their success by adopting behaviors and attitudes that distance them from their culture of origin, resulting in increased feelings of depression, anxiety, and identity confusion. Studies 1 and 2 describe the development of the Racelessness Scale (RS) designed to test these assumptions. Study 2 also investigated Race X Achievement level differences in students' responses to the RS. In Study 3, correlations between the RS and measures of depression, self-efficacy, anxiety, alienation, and collective self-esteem were assessed. The pattern of results in Study 2 suggest that the behaviors and attitudes described by Fordham and Ogbu are common to high-achieving adolescents and not specific to African Americans. However, racial differences in the pattern of associations between the RS and measures of depression suggest that racelessness may have important psychological consequences for African American adolescents.

Achievement↗
PubMed1995

Cognitive and motivational determinants of academic achievement and behaviour in third and fourth grade disadvantaged children.

While most studies on the determinants of learning deal with either cognition or motivation, there is a growing awareness that both should be considered. Our purpose was to examine the relative roles of cognitive and motivational factors for the scholastic achievement and behaviour of disadvantaged children. Cognition was conceptualised in terms of the psychosemantic theory that assesses cognitive processes by characteristics of the individual's meaning assignment (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1987a). Motivation was conceptualised in terms of the cognitive orientation (CO) theory which assumes that cognitive contents guide behaviour (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1982). Participants were 57 third and fourth graders of both genders, recommended for a remedial summer programme. They were administered the Meaning Test assessing cognitive abilities; the CO Questionnaire of Motivation for Learning assessing the disposition to learn; and the Metropolitan Achievement Test and the IOWA tests assessing verbal, mathematical and working skills. Teachers completed the Teacher-Child Rating Scale assessing six scholastic behaviours. Regression analyses showed that all dependent variables were predicted by the cognitive and motivational variables, better by specific than global predictors. Cognitive variables contributed more to the predictions, especially of academic achievements, and more in the case of verbal than mathematical abilities. In girls, motivational factors played a larger role than cognitive factors, absolutely and relative to boys. Implications for promoting scholastic achievements are discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1995

Developmental differences in the symptomatology of psychiatric inpatients with and without mild mental retardation.

The symptomatology of psychiatric inpatients with mild mental retardation was compared with that of a matched sample of inpatients without mental retardation. An integration of the developmental position on mental retardation with the developmental approach to adult psychopathology generated the hypotheses that, compared to patients without mental retardation, patients with mild mental retardation would display (a) more symptoms indicative of turning against others and fewer symptoms indicative of turning against the self, (b) more symptoms involving expression in action rather than thought, and (c) psychotic symptom pictures that more frequently involve hallucinations without delusions and infrequently involve delusions alone. All hypotheses were confirmed.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Mental and chronological age as predictors of age-appropriate leisure activity in children with mental retardation.

Effects of MA and CA on everyday leisure-time behaviors of children with mild and moderate mental retardation were examined by comparing 40 children with mental retardation to groups of 40 MA- and 40 CA-matched children without mental retardation on an adult-reported scale. Child's overall score, highest single behavior performed by the child, and highest behavior not performed because it was considered below the child's level were measured. Children with retardation performed most similarly to their MA-matches and well-below levels of CA-matches. Older children received higher scores in all groups. Late adolescents with retardation performed between MA- and CA-levels on the highest behavior considered too immature. Although MA best predicted overall functioning on leisure-time behavior of children with retardation, CA best predicted both single highest behavior performed and highest behavior considered too immature. Implications for teaching leisure-time behaviors to individuals with mental retardation were discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Early childhood intervention. A promising preventative for juvenile delinquency.

Programs to reduce or prevent juvenile delinquency have been generally unsuccessful. Apparently the risk factors that make a child prone to delinquency are based in too many systems--including the individual, the family, and community networks--to make isolated treatment methods effective. Surprisingly, longitudinal studies of some early childhood intervention programs suggest they may help to reduce future delinquency. These programs take an ecological approach to enhancing child development by attempting to promote overall social competence in the many systems impacting on children. Not engaging in criminal acts is one indicator of competence that is related to others, such as being successful in school and in personal relationships. Evaluators must gather more data to confirm this unanticipated benefit of comprehensive interventions.

Child Abuse↗
PubMed1992

Psychosocial adjustment among intellectually gifted adolescents: the role of cognitive-developmental and experiential factors.

Levels of psychological adjustment were examined among 51 high achieving, intellectually gifted adolescents with a mean age of 14.1 years. These students were compared with older adolescents matched with them on cognitive maturity (n = 30), and with two groups matched with them on chronological age (CA). One of the CA-matched groups contained children not identified as gifted (n = 47), while the other consisted of athletically talented youngsters (n = 39). All participants belonged to upper middle class families. On multiple indices of adjustment, intellectually gifted adolescents were comparable to older adolescents with similar cognitive skills, but differed from both groups of age mates. Differences between the gifted and non-gifted CA-matched groups were stronger than were those between the gifted group and the athletes of the same age. The findings were interpreted in terms of cognitive-developmental and experiential influences on psychological adjustment. The study also revealed gender effects which appeared to be linked with conflicts faced by gifted females between issues of achievement and those of social acceptance.

Achievement↗
PubMed1992

An observational study of the affective concomitants of mastery in infants.

The hypothesis that attempts at motor mastery were accompanied by positive affective responses was tested in an observational study of 9-11-month old infants in a daycare setting. Five infants were observed as they attempted three age-appropriate motor tasks--pulling to stand, standing with support, and taking steps with support. Positive affective responses included smiling, babbling, and laughing. The five infants were observed for a total of 82 hours. The proportion of positive affective behaviors associated with practicing new motor tasks was compared to the proportion associated with well-practiced tasks. The hypothesis that more positive affective behaviors would be associated with attempts at mastering the new motor tasks was confirmed. There was no diminution in the association between the new motor tasks and positive affect as the infants continued to practice and master the three motor tasks. The results are discussed in terms of individual differences in mastery motivation and the often suggested continuity between early mastery motivation and later competencies.

Child↗
PubMed1992

Is outerdirectedness employed in a harmful or beneficial manner by students with and without mental retardation?

Factors affecting the desirability of an outerdirected problem-solving approach were examined in 56 students with mental retardation and 53 MA-matched students without mental retardation in order to determine whether these groups employed outerdirectedness in a useful or detrimental manner. Students without mental retardation were sensitive to characteristics of the criterion task, such as task difficulty and usefulness of the external cue, and used outerdirected approaches in a strategic and beneficial manner. Characteristics of the task did not affect use of outerdirected approaches by students with mental retardation, who relied on all types of external cues, task-relevant as well as incidental and misleading, much more than did students without mental retardation. Yet their greater outerdirectedness was strongly affected by the difficulty of the preceding task. After easy initial tasks, students with mental retardation were no more outerdirected than their counterparts without mental retardation. Implications of the findings for lowering the harmful reliance of students with mental retardation on external cues were discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1991

Vulnerability and competence: a review of research on resilience in childhood.

The developmental psychopathology literature addressing issues of children's resilience and vulnerability in dealing with life stresses is reviewed. The contribution and methodological limitations of research on stress and competence are examined, theoretical concepts of resilience are discussed, and findings with respect to protective mechanisms, as well as data from longitudinal studies, are presented. Directions for further research are outlined.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Self-image and guilt: a further test of the cognitive-developmental formulation.

The cognitive-developmental formulation of self-image disparity holds that an increasing disparity between the real and ideal self-image is due to (a) increasing differentiation of the real from the ideal self with maturity and (b) the increased capacity for incorporation of social mores with a greater propensity for guilt as a result. Guilt and self-image disparity were assessed in 47 young adults in Study 1, and in 108 children, of varying intellectual abilities, in the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades in Study 2. In both studies, guilt was related to self-image disparity. At all age levels, guilt was related to a higher ideal self-image. Guilt was related to a higher real self-image among 5th graders, but not among older individuals. Brighter children had a higher ideal self-image, greater self-image disparity, and marginally more guilt than children of average intellectual abilities. Guilt and self-image disparity were not related to grade level. The pattern of findings indicated that self-image is influenced by both cognitive-developmental and experiential determinants.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

From theory to practice in the care and education of mentally retarded individuals.

Issues related to the care and education of mentally retarded individuals were examined from a historical perspective. Historical analysis shows that institutions and special education services spring from common, although not identical, societal and philosophical forces. The adequacy and implications of the normalization concept were discussed in relation to both deinstitutionalization and mainstreaming, with the conclusion that mental retardation workers must pay more attention to bettering the lives of retarded individuals and less to the "social address" at which interventions take place. Suggestions for the future care and education of retarded individuals were provided, and the proper role of science in the mental retardation field was discussed.

Combined Modality Therapy↗
PubMed1990

Intentional and incidental memory in organically mentally retarded, familial retarded, and nonretarded individuals.

Groups of organically mentally retarded, familial retarded, and nonretarded subjects were compared on two tasks of intentional memory and one of incidental memory. With mental age being covaried, the familial group did better than the organic group on both tasks of intentional memory. However, the performance of both retarded groups was inferior to that of the nonretarded children. The three groups did not differ on incidental learning. The finding of differences between organically retarded and familial retarded persons supports the view that etiology needs to be considered when studying cognitive functioning in mentally retarded persons. The differences between the familial retarded and nonretarded groups appear to be in contradiction to the similar structure hypothesis of mental retardation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Rigidity in mentally retarded and nonretarded children.

The dependence of rigidity on task difficulty was examined. The hypothesis was that mentally retarded subjects would be more rigid than would nonretarded subjects on difficult but not on easy tasks. An intelligence test and seven rigidity tests varying in difficulty were administered to 45 retarded and 45 MA-matched nonretarded subjects. Factor analyses yielded one rigidity factor for the retarded group and two for the nonretarded group. In both groups the rigidity tests were interrelated and formed a Guttman simplex structure in terms of difficulty. The groups did not differ on three easy tests but did differ on four more difficult tests. The results were interpreted mainly in a motivational framework, with implications concerning mental retardation and rigidity as an interactional concept.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

Personality development and the dually diagnosed person.

Researchers in mental retardation have traditionally focused on cognitive aspects of the disorder and ignored social and personality factors. One consequence is that little attention has been paid to the mental health of mentally retarded persons. The argument is made that the personalities of mentally retarded persons are affected by the same factors that impact upon the personalities of nonretarded persons. The life experiences of mentally retarded persons, however have been shown to lead to personalities that are often characterized by overdependency on others, low aspiration levels, and outerdirected problem-solving styles. These personality characteristics are implicated in the high rate of mental unhealth in mentally retarded persons. Finally, the value of extending the developmental approach to the study of psychiatric problems in mentally retarded persons is discussed.

Child↗