Cynthia A. Rohrbeck

A Meta-Analytic Review of Social, Self-Concept, and Behavioral Outcomes of Peer-Assisted Learning

Meta-analysis was used to examine social, self-concept, and behavioral effects of peer-assisted learning (PAL) interventions with elementary school students. An electronic search of PsycINFO and ERIC databases resulted in 36 relevant PAL studies. Overall, effect sizes were small to moderate across the 3 outcome variable domains. Both social and self-concept outcomes were positively correlated with academic outcomes. Specific PAL components--student autonomy, individualized evaluation, structured student roles, interdependent group rewards, and same-gender grouping--were related to effect sizes. PAL interventions were more effective for low-income versus higher income, urban versus suburban-rural, minority versus nonminority, and Grades 1-3 students versus Grades 4-6 students. Results suggest that PAL interventions that focus on academics can also improve social and self-concept outcomes.

Adolescent Risk Taking and Self-Reported Injuries Associated with Substance Use

Objective: To examine the incidence of adolescent substance use at the time of injury and its relation to risk-taking behavior. Method: A total of 643 male and 782 female 9th through 12th grade students at three high schools anonymously completed surveys on any injuries that had occurred in the prior 6 months associated with substance use and risk-taking behavior. Results: Males reported a higher incidence of injuries related to alcohol or other drugs than females (17.3% vs. 13%). The 17 year olds reported more injuries related to substance use than 14 or 15 year olds (20.2% vs. 14.4% and 15%, respectively). A logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds of a substance use–related injury increased approximately sixfold when adolescents reported engaging in risk-taking behavior. Conclusion: A significant portion of adolescents (approximately 15%) reported injuries associated with substance use. Adolescents who reported a history of risk-taking behaviors were much more likely to report substance use–related injuries.

Employment of Adolescents while in High School: Employment Intensity, Interference with Schoolwork, and Normative Approval

Prior research documenting a negative relationship between intense parttime employment and grade point average among high school students has failed to address whether the students themselves perceive a negative relationship, and if so whether parents, teachers, and other school officials are perceived as discouraging intense employment by low-achieving students who want to go on to college. Based on the responses of 457 randomly sampled students intending to attend college who held fast food jobs during high school, the results of this study suggest that degree of perceived interference of the job with schoolwork is correlated with level of employment intensity, and that teachers (and other school personnel) are perceived as discouraging intense employment by low-achieving students while parents are not. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Social influence and cognitive-motivational effects on terrorism preparedness: A hurdle model:

Objectives: The identification of factors which influence peoples’ preparation for health safety risks posed by natural and man-made disasters is a central concern in health education. Prior studies have generally approached this issue from either a cognitive or a social influence perspective, and have failed to recognise the increased importance of terrorism-related concerns in motivating health safety preparedness behaviour. The purpose of this study was to develop a unified social cognitive framework for understanding peoples’ preparations for health safety risks, focusing on terrorism-related cognitive and social influences. Design/Method/Approach: Participants in the National Survey of Disaster Experiences and Preparedness reported preparedness actions they had taken since 2001, their appraisals of terrorism-related threat and coping, and whether they knew others who had taken preparedness actions because of terrorism. Using a logistic binomial hurdle statistical model, number of actions taken was regressed on terrorism-related vulnerability, severity, response efficacy, self-efficacy, and informational social influence. Simultaneous models both of taking any action and of the number of actions taken were tested. Findings: After controlling for demographic variables, both taking any action and the number of preparedness actions taken were positively related to terrorism-related informational social influence, response efficacy, and self-efficacy; effects of terrorism-related vulnerability and severity appraisals were much smaller. Compared to cognitive factors, terrorism-related informational social influence had a substantially larger effect on taking any action, and a moderately larger effect on the number of actions taken. Conclusion: Terrorist-related informational norms were more salient than cognitive factors in influencing peoples’ preparation for health safety risks. Participants who knew someone who had taken one or more emergency preparedness actions because of terrorism were significantly more likely to take any preparedness action, and to take more preparedness actions, themselves. These findings are consequential in developing future educational initiatives.

Quantity and quality of communication during parental deployment: Links to adolescents’ functioning

ABSTRACT Using an online survey methodology, we examined individual differences in distance communication between 75 adolescents and their deployed parents and found substantial individual differences in both the quantity and quality of their communication. We also examined the statistical associations between these features of distance communication and adolescents’ functioning, including emotional reactions following communication, health-related quality of life, and externalizing and internalizing problems. The quantity of communication of deployed parents with their adolescents was not associated with adolescents’ functioning, but more positive and less controlling communication was statistically associated with adolescents’ higher functioning. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

Psychological resilience: the impact of affectivity and coping on state anxiety and positive emotions during and after the Washington, DC sniper killings

This research examined the impact of affectivity and coping on state anxiety and positive emotions among young adults living in the Washington, DC metro area both during and after the Washington, DC sniper killings. Participants completed questionnaires during three waves of data collection: (1) during the sniper attacks (n=92); (2) within two weeks after the snipers were captured (n=45); and (3) six months later (n=43). Affectivity (measured by neuroticism) was significantly associated with state anxiety and positive emotions during all three time periods. Coping (measured by constructive thinking) predicted state anxiety and positive emotions during the shootings, but was unrelated to either outcome immediately after the attacks, and marginally related to them six months later. Consistent with the Dynamic Model of Affect, state anxiety and positive emotions were more strongly (and negatively) correlated with each other during the killings than they were after the snipers were apprehended. Taken together, these results support transactional models of stress that emphasize the interaction between dispositional and situational influences, and they suggest that affectivity reflects a fundamental set of reactions to ones environment, while coping dispositions result in more stress-specific responses. Additional theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

Peer Relationships, Adolescence

As children enter into adolescence, the amount of time they spend with peers increases. Peer groups become the most important socializing influence on adolescent behavior and values and peer relationships serve as a bridge as adolescents move away from their parents and toward independent adult functioning. In industrialized nations, adolescents spend most of each weekday with age equivalent peers in school, and in the United States, they also spend much out-of-school time together. Indeed, diaries and self-reports suggest that adolescents spend twice as much time with peers as they do with parents and other adults, even ruling out time in the classroom (Larson, Csikszentmihalyi, & Freeman, 1984).

Gender Effects in Self-Management Training: Individual versus Cooperative Interventions.

This study examined gender differences in individual and cooperative (small-group) self-management training programs targeting mathematics performance. It was hypothesized that gender would interact with type of self-management training, such that girls in the individual training condition and boys in the cooperative training condition would improve less than girls in the cooperative training condition or boys in the individual training condition. As expected, girls in the individual training con- dition improved significantly less than both girls in the cooperative condition and boys in the individual condition. In contrast, boys in the cooperative training condi- tion did not differ significantly from either boys in the individual training condition or girls in the cooperative training condition. These results suggest the benefit of more cooperative self-management training interventions for classroom-wide interventions that include both boys and girls. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Disability and disasters: the role of self-efficacy in emergency preparedness

ABSTRACT Although individuals with physical disabilities have special needs regarding preparedness for a natural or human-made disaster, little is known about the factors involved in motivating members of this population to engage in behaviors which reduce the probability of negative health outcomes. This study proposes and empirically tests an integrated theory-based model for individuals with physical disabilities in which perceived self-efficacy for emergency preparedness moderates the relationship between perceived threat and emergency preparedness behaviors. A nationwide convenience cross-sectional sample of 294 adults self-identifying as having a physical disability completed an online survey. The general linear model was used to assess the effects on preparedness of perceived threat, perceived self-efficacy, and their interaction. In addition to the hypothesized moderating effect of self-efficacy, it was found that minimal (if any) relationship exists between perceived threat and preparedness among those who reported low levels of self-efficacy. Results suggest that self-efficacy and perceived threat operate jointly to motivate individuals with physical disabilities to take precautionary steps to reduce the consequential adverse health effects of natural and human-made disasters. These findings have important implications for the design of effective interventions for individuals with disabilities.

Anxiety effects on disaster precautionary behaviors: A multi-path cognitive model:

Previous studies have revealed a negative relationship between anxiety and health-promoting behavior. This study identified three cognitive pathways through which anxiety operates on preparedness behaviors for terrorist attacks. Preparedness was regressed on trait anxiety, perceived threat, and self-efficacy based on data from 306 adults. Mediating paths through perceived threat (positive) and self-efficacy (negative) and an independent negative path were identified. Results suggest that the anxiety/precautionary behavior relationship is more complex than previously thought, involving multiple pathways of competing directionality. Interventions to improve disaster preparedness and thus reduce disaster-related morbidity/mortality would benefit by capitalizing on this multidimensionality.