Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Academic Performance”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,009 records · Page 56Linked to original sources

Predictors of resourcefulness in school-aged children.

Children need to develop appropriate cognitive-behavioral repertoires to maintain mental health and prevent depression. Resourcefulness is learned throughout life in the context of one's environment. However, environmental or situational factors and individual factors in children's development of resourcefulness have not been studied. This study examined the effects of the situational factors of family context (one or two parents, and number of siblings) and maternal characteristics (employment, learned resourcefulness, and adaptive functioning), and individual (child) factors (gender, academic performance, and automatic thoughts) on learned resourcefulness in school-aged children. A convenience sample of 122 fifth and sixth graders was recruited from four public schools. The child's automatic thoughts and maternal resourcefulness were predictors of child's resourcefulness. Further research is needed to examine additional factors that may promote resourcefulness in school-aged children, so that appropriate nursing strategies can be implemented.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Electrophysiological evidence of lateralized disturbances in children with learning disabilities.

This study used an electrophysiological measurement operation to investigate lateralized processing deficits associated with academic learning-disability subtypes. Fast frequency EEG activity in the 36-44 hertz (Hz) band was recorded from reading-disabled (RLD), arithmetic-disabled (ALD), and nondisabled control children engaged in verbal and nonverbal cognitive tasks. The control group, but neither LD group, exhibited a task-dependent shift in lateralization of 40 Hz EEG; the RLD subjects generated proportionately less left-hemisphere 40 Hz activity than control or ALD subjects during the verbal task; and the ALD subjects generated proportionately less right-hemisphere activity than control or RLD subjects during the nonverbal task. These results indicate that lateralized processing deficits are associated with different types of disabilities, and provide external validation of learning-disability classifications based on academic performance patterns.

Adolescent↗

Parental report of occurrences and consequences of traumatic brain injury among delinquent and non-delinquent youth.

Completed questionnaires from parents of youths attending a public middle school or high school and parents of youths admitted to an institution for juvenile delinquents provided information about incidents of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in their children. Results revealed that approximately 40% of the non-delinquent youth and 50% of the delinquent youth had sustained one or more TBIs during their childhood or youth. The majority of injuries appeared to be mild and had no permanent consequences. However, the parents of more than one-third of the delinquent youth with TBI histories reported long-term effects on academic performance, behavior and emotional control, activity level, and/or interactions with friends and family members; parental reports of long-term effects occurred significantly less frequently among the non-delinquent youth. The most common causes of TBI differed between the two adolescent populations. Non-delinquent youth sustained TBIs most frequently from blows to the head during sporting events, and delinquent youth sustained TBIs with approximately equal frequency from sporting events, fall, motor vehicle accidents and fights.

Accidental Falls↗

The role of value orientations in curricular decision making: a rationale for teachers' goals and expectations.

This research examined the role of value orientations in curricular decision making from the perspective of high school physical education teachers and students. Educational value orientations served as the theoretical base for the research. Teachers who exhibited one of two paired orientations, disciplinary mastery/learning process (DM/LP) or ecological integration/social reconstruction (EI/SR), were interviewed to examine the extent to which their value orientations influenced their stated (a) goals for student learning, and (b) expectations for academic performance and behavior. Students were also interviewed to investigate the extent to which they acknowledged these goals and expectations. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results suggested that goals and expectations of DM/LP and EI/SR teachers were distinctly different and that comments from students in the EI/SR teachers' classes did not reflect their teachers' goals and expectations. Dynamical system theory was used to conceptualize value orientations as attractors within the educational ecosystem. Teachers working from weak EI/SR value attractors may be limited by learner, instructional, and contextual constraints.

Curriculum↗

Sleep habits and patterns of college students: a preliminary study.

The negative effects of sleep difficulties have been well documented. However, the prevalence of such problems among US college students has not been well studied. Design difficulties are common in the limited number of existing investigations, making it difficult to estimates the prevalence and types of disturbance studied. The authors describe the use of a quantitative-based assessment instrument to provide an initial indication of students' sleep problems and to serve as a means of addressing some of the deficiencies in the literature. In their sample of 191 undergraduates at a rural southern university, they found that most of the students exhibited some form of sleep disturbance and that women, in general, reported more sleep disturbances than men did. They suggest how colleges and university officials can alter procedures to minimize students' sleep disturbances and reduce the deleterious effects of sleep problems on academic performance.

Adolescent↗

Prevalence of allergy symptoms and associated medication use in a sample of college seniors.

The authors surveyed a random sample of college seniors at a university in Boston to determine the prevalence of allergy symptoms and the students' use of medications to relieve symptoms. Of the 400 individuals queries, 58.2% reported some symptoms during the previous year, and 63.0% of that group said their symptoms were moderate to severe. Just over 93.8% of the student respondents used medications to treat symptoms; 91.1% used over-the-counter (OTC) medications, and 55.5% used prescription medications. More than one third had used OTC antihistamines before taking an examination during the previous year. Allergy-like symptoms and associated medication use are common among college-aged students. The authors call for further research to determine whether these OTC and prescription medications affect academic performance.

Adult↗

The college student-athlete: psychological considerations and interventions.

This article reviews the literature dealing with problems brought by student-athletes to college counseling and mental health centers. Among the issues discussed are fear of success; identity conflict; social isolation; poor athletic performance; academic problems; and career or vocational concerns. In addition, the authors examine the paradox that although athletes experience as much or more psychological distress as nonathletes, research indicates that athletes use professional services less often than nonathletes. Finally, the authors review approaches to psychological intervention, including short-term psychotherapy, very brief interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, and career/vocational counseling, and discuss special considerations for conducting therapy with athletes.

Adolescent↗

Voices of experience: making students the experts.

A poster campaign targeting 1st-year students was developed on the basis of responses of student focus groups to the following questions. 1. What are the major problems faced by incoming students regarding academic performance, alcohol use, relationships, attitudes toward their appearance and/or weight? 2. What are some of the ways in which you, or people you know, have coped with these problems effectively? An evaluation found that 89% of 1st-year students had read the posters and that 56% had used at least 1 of the tips. The campaign followed guidelines for promoting behavioral change suggested by the research of Prochaska on stages of change and Bento's social marketing model.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Characterization of memory impairment following closed-head injury in children using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT).

Memory impairment following closed-head injury (CHI) in children is well documented. Characterization of the memory deficits of children with CHI could contribute to the prediction of academic performance and rehabilitation of these children. Twenty-five children who sustained closed-head injury and 25 matched controls were administered the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). The advantage of this memory test is that a number of memory components are measured simultaneously, thus enabling us to study the relations between different aspects of memory within the same patient sample. The findings indicate that the Rey AVLT is a good test for characterization of impaired verbal memory in children following CHI. Transformation of scores derived from the Rey AVLT to Z-scores enables us to determine the relative effect of CHI in children on different memory scores. Raw scores were more vulnerable than relational ones, derived as the difference between two raw scores (e.g., learning, Trial 5 - 1), to closed-head injury in children, and scores reflecting word span were the least vulnerable. The results are discussed in terms of the possible contribution of the frontal lobes, which are frequently affected in closed-head injuries, to memory performance.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Neurodevelopmental liabilities in schizophrenia and affective disorders.

There is now considerable evidence that both schizophrenia and affective disorders have their origin at least in part in events that occur during early pre- and post-natal development. In the case of schizophrenia, many observations, for example, increased risk for schizophrenia in the offspring of mothers who had influenza A during their second trimester of pregnancy and evidence for abnormal neuronal migration in the cerebral cortex of post mortem tissue from schizophrenic patients, suggest that a second trimester insult may have occurred and that this insult may have increased the risk for the development of schizophrenia in late adolescence or early adulthood. Animal studies have found that rats that undergo exocitotoxic damage to the ventral hippocampus on postnatal day 7 develop exaggerated sensitivity to dopamine-stimulating drugs or to stressful stimuli that becomes apparent after sexual maturity but not before, providing a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia. Similarly, post-weaning social isolation leads to enhanced responses to dopaminergic drugs and to stress that emerges after sexual maturity. These animal models are proving to be valuable tools to study the neurobiological mechanisms mediating the influence of early insults to the nervous system on later behavioural functions. In the case of affective disorders, although the evidence is not as strong, a number of the same observations have been made suggesting that an insult during early ontogeny may lead to the development of affective disorders later in life. For example, retrospective studies of people with affective disorders showed that they were more likely to have attained motor milestones at a later age and to have had poorer academic performance as children. There is a wealth of evidence suggesting hyperfunctioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in affective disorders. Animal studies have shown that early maternal deprivation can lead to lasting changes in the reactivity of the HPA axis to stressful stimuli, providing another link from early experience to adult psychopathology. Continued studies of the effects of pre- and early post-natal events on the development of the nervous system and the relationships of these events to schizophrenia or affective disorder will provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying these common neuropsychiatric illnesses.

Journal Article↗

Skull fracture during infancy: a five-year follow-up.

A group of 19 children, who had received a skull fracture during infancy, were assessed at least 5 years following injury. The majority of the group (89%) had received a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), with the remaining two (11%) having a moderate injury. The neuropsychological, academic, and psychosocial functioning of the TBI group was compared to that of 20 orthopedic subjects. The two groups were matched on the variables of gender, age, and socio-economic status. The TBI group was impaired on tests of visual attention and memory for faces. The two groups did not differ significantly on measures of language, sensorimotor functions, or visuospatial functioning. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups on academic performance, or parent and teacher reports of psychosocial functioning. It is concluded that while there is an absence of deficits in the vast majority of functions, skull fracture in infancy can result in enduring impairment in specific cognitive skills related to the processing of complex nonverbal stimuli.

Attention↗

Development and standardization of single and double dichotic digit tests in the Malay language.

Single and double dichotic digit tests in Malay language were developed and standardized as an initial attempt to incorporate tests of auditory processing within the scope of audiology practice in Malaysia. Normative data under free recall, directed right-ear first, and directed left-ear first listening conditions were determined using 120 Malay children between the ages of 6 and 11 years old with normal hearing and normal academic performance. Test-retest reliability was assessed in 15 of the study subjects. In general, the double dichotic digit test produced greater differences in scores between age groups, and a greater right-ear advantage than the single dichotic digit test. In addition, the double dichotic digit test also had higher test-retest reliability. These findings suggest the double dichotic digit test is more clinically applicable.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Drug abuse treatment outcome study of adolescents: a comparison of client characteristics and pretreatment behaviors in three treatment modalities.

OBJECTIVES: The present study presents background and pretreatment characteristics of adolescent substance abuse treatment clients, and it provides a mechanism for describing perhaps the largest research sample of adolescents who were in drug treatment in this decade. METHODS: The sample was 3382 subjects who presented for treatment from 1993 to 1995 in 37 programs in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania: Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Maine; and New York City, New York. Informed permission for the youth to participate was obtained from the subject's custodial parent/guardian, and both the youth and the youth's parents or guardians provided informed assent if they agreed to participate as subjects. Adolescents then were interviewed privately and confidentially by a trained professional interviewer who was independent of the treatment programs. The interviews queried subjects about their background, including education and employment; physical and mental health; use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs; sexual experiences; legal problems: religious beliefs; and treatment experience. RESULTS: The long-term residential treatment modality was the least gender balanced of the modalities and had the most African-American and Hispanic clients. This modality was distinguished by the proportion of clients who were referred to treatment by the juvenile or criminal justice system. Compared with other clients in other modalities, short-term inpatient clients were more likely to be female and white. Inpatient clients also reported more indicators of psychiatric impairment. Outpatient clients were slightly younger than clients in the other modalities, and more of them were attending school at the time of admission to treatment. Outpatient clients had the least criminally involved lifestyles, their rates of (regular daily or weekly) drug use were also the lowest of the three modalities for all drugs assessed, and they had the least drug treatment experience. CONCLUSIONS: These results merit several recommendations. One is the need for more community-based adolescent substance abuse treatment programs. An additional recommendation is for more substance abuse treatment programs in facilities that serve incarcerated youth. Finally, and perhaps most critically, it is recommended that programs be designed to address such specialized issues as comorbid substance abuse and psychiatric problems, family dysfunction, physical and sexual abuse, gender and ethnic differences, and academic performance.

Adolescent↗

Trends in inhalant use among high school students in Illinois: 1993-1995.

Data were analyzed from two years (1993 and 1995) of a statewide survey of high school students on drug use. Changes in the rates of inhalant use, and associations between inhalant use and sociodemographic variables, were examined across the two survey years. Measures of inhalant use included lifetime use, past year use, and past month use. Analyses showed no significant difference in the rates of inhalant use across years. Associations with sex, ethnicity, and age were partly consistent with previous research findings. Both lifetime and recent inhalant use were more prevalent among males than females. Blacks were less likely to use inhalants (lifetime and recent) than other racial/ethnic groups in both survey years. Native Americans showed elevated rates of recent inhalant use in 1993, but not in 1995. While age trends in the 1993 survey were consistent with expectations, age trends in the 1995 survey were not. Recent inhalant use was constant across age groups in the 1995 sample. Also contrary to expectations, inhalant use was not more prevalent in low-income or high-poverty areas. The associations of inhalant use with family intactness and academic performance varied by race/ethnicity. Family intactness was a significant protective factor only for whites and Hispanics. Poor grades were not a significant predictor of lifetime inhalant use for blacks, and the protective effect of high grades was found only for whites. Poor grades were highly predictive of lifetime inhalant use for Asians.

Administration, Inhalation↗

Outcomes of a federally funded program for alcohol and other drug prevention in higher education.

This paper presents the results of the Nationwide Campuses Study that measure the impact of programs supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) for collegiate alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention efforts. Outcomes were measured by using standardized pre- and post-program items on the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey and adjusted prevalences of AOD use. Although student awareness of AOD prevention programs increased during the funding period, there also were increases in the desire for drugs at parties and in the frequencies of arrests for driving while intoxicated or under the influence and of poor academic performance. Adjusted prevalences of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine use among students increased, while tobacco use decreased. Curriculum infusion, administrative response, and faculty and community activities most clearly were associated with favorable outcomes. Overall, however, FIPSE funding had limited short-term impact on AOD use and its consequences in higher education.

Adolescent↗

Adolescent marijuana use and adult occupational attainment: a longitudinal study from age 18 to 28.

This report uses data from a nationally representative longitudinal sample to examine the relationship of marijuana use by high school seniors to occupational attainment 10 years later. Analyses were conducted separately by gender, with and without controlling for other variables. Control variables, all measured when respondents were seniors, were: academic performance, educational aspirations, and occupational aspirations. Results indicate that the influence of marijuana use on occupational attainment is considerably different for males and females.

Adolescent↗

Diversion from the juvenile justice system: the Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center Post-Arrest Diversion Program.

Many arrested youth present with multiple problems, including substance use and mental health problems, poor academic performance, and often come from violent homes and neighborhoods. These problems are directly associated with delinquent behavior and status offenses, presenting challenges to justice agencies, which must respond to these factors to support youths' resources and resiliencies and to reduce the probability of recidivism. The Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center implemented a diversion program for first-time, nonviolent youth. The Post-Arrest Diversion (PAD) program provides systematic, standardized screening and assessment, individualized case planning, an extensive referral service, and case management and follow-up.

Adolescent↗

Lack of correlation between thyroid size and body growth in an area of endemic goiter.

There is conflicting information in the literature about the relationship between thyroid size and body growth in endemic goiter. This study reports data from highland Bolivia where 408 children were examined for thyroid size, height, weight, head circumference, and academic performance, the latter as measured by teacher evaluation. The presence or size of goiter showed no consistent correlation with height, weight, or head circumference. School performance was significantly correlated with all other variables in boys and not in girls, but there are severe limitations involved in the use of school grades alone for assessment of intelligence. Height and weight were less than for normals in the United States at each age level, but did not differ from those of other Quechuan children in neighboring Peru who were reportedly nongoitrous. Our data support the conclusion that there is no clear relationship between thyroid size and body growth in areas of endemic goiter.

Adolescent↗