Rashmi Garg

A Structural Model of Educational Aspirations

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model to predict educational aspirations of Canadian adolescents. Participants were a national sample of 4,034 students from grades 8-13 (2,037 males, 1,973 females). Results of a modified structural model included three sets of influences: a) a background factor comprised of parental occupation and education; b) a family involvement factor consisting of parental personal and school-based involvement with adolescents; and c) a personal factor with school marks, school and course perceptions, extracurricular reading and parental educational expectations as indicator measures. Educational aspirations was the main outcome variable. Results indicated that the personal factor had a strong direct influence on educational aspirations (β = 1.17, p <.001, R2= .76). The effects of the background and family involvement factors on educational aspirations were mediated through the personal factor. Additional analyses performed in order to test the relationships obtained in the model, revealed several significant interactions amongst the three predictor factors and educational aspirations. The findings emphasize the importance of efforts to enhance the educational aspirations of adolescents through targeted change of modifiable environmental and personal factors.

ACADEMIC AND NONACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPTS: INFLUENCE OF RECENT LIFE-CHANGE EXPERIENCES AND DEMOGRAPHIC, SOCIAL, AND HEALTH VARIABLES

For 150 undergraduate students (50 men, 100 women) the influences of demographic, social, health, and recent life-change experiences were examined on four facets of academic self-concept and nine facets of nonacademic self-concept. Multiple regression analyses showed that, in general, past academic performance, family structure, and family satisfaction were important predictors of academic self-concept. Family structure, family satisfaction, social satisfaction, mental stress associated with recent life-change experiences, and health factors in general were important predictors of nonacademic self-concept. Recent life-change experiences and mental health were significantly associated, more prominently among subjects who were low on emotional self-concept than those who scored high.

Psychometric Properties of Snyder's Self-Monitoring of Expressive Behavior Scale

Responses of 228 subjects were factor analyzed. The analyses identified three independent factors. Analyses of variance, Cronbach alpha coefficient, and K-R-20 formula for estimation of reliability show the scale to be reliable and homogeneous. Domain sampling method for the estimation of reliability is very low for the full scale and moderate for the three independent scales. Item analyses and criteria validity are also reported. Taking gain in income as a criterion of success, the criterion validity of the scale is zero.

Moral realism in adults' judgments of responsibility

Abstract To explore the occurrence of moral realism in the moral practice of adults, students were asked to respond to storylines describing an actor, child or adult, involved in an action leading to slight or severe accidental damage. Objective responsibility was the criterion for moral realism. Subjects rated how responsible the actor was for the damage and how angry they would be with the actor, and they selected consequences appropriate for the offender. Results indicated that degree of responsibility attributed to the offender, anger experienced by the victims, and expectations of repayment or compensation increased with severity of damage. The view of adult moral judgment as based only on logic is questioned, and the influence of emotion on moral judgment is considered.

Perceived Psychosocial Benefits Associated with Perceived Restorative Potential of Wilderness River-Rafting Trips

Analysis of the restorative experiences and psychosocial benefits of wilderness river rafting trips of varying difficulty with 186 Canadian participants of different ages supported the restorative potential of natural settings for all age groups as measured by the Perceived Restorativeness Scale. The two-factor structure (General Restorativeness and Coherence) was confirmed. Significant associations were found between scores on the General Restorative subscale and perceived psychosocial benefits (relaxation, nature appreciation or kinship, and physical fitness or achievement) and positive affect. However, the findings associated with the Coherence subscale were not conclusive.

RIDGE REGRESSION IN THE PRESENCE OF MULTICOLLINEARITY

The ordinary least squares solution is generally applied to multiple regression problems in social sciences. When the intercorrelations among predictor variables are close to one, the estimates of regression coefficients obtained from ordinary least squares are very unstable. This situation is often referred to as near multicollinearity. When there is a problem of near mulricollinearity, the ridge regression provides an alternative to the ordinary least squares method. The ridge estimates are biased but more stable from sample to sample. The purpose of this article is to describe the method of ridge regression in a simple form and to provide examples of its application.