Robert M. Carini

A Comparison of International Student and American Student Engagement in Effective Educational Practices.

This study compares engagement of a national sample of international undergraduate students and their American counterparts. Overall, international students were more engaged in effective educational practices, especially during the first year of college. The ethnic/racial background of international students and their density on campus had mixed effects on student engagement.

Institutional Selectivity and Good Practices in Undergraduate Education: How Strong is the Link?

Academic selectivity plays a dominant role in the publics understanding of what constitutes institutional excellence or quality in undergraduate education. In this study, we analyzed two independent data sets to estimate the net effect of three measures of college selectivity on dimensions of documented good practices in undergraduate education. With statistical controls in place for important confounding influences, an institutions median student SAT/ACT score, a nearly identical proxy for that score, and the Barrons Selectivity Score explained from less than 0.1% to 20% of the between-institution variance and from less than 0.1% to 2.7% of the total variance in good practices. The implications of these findings for what constitutes quality in undergraduate education, college choice decisions, and the validity of national college rankings are discussed.

Advancing Age, Advantaged Youth: Parental Age and the Transmission of Resources to Children

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, we identify parental age as influential in the parental provision of economic resources, social capital and cultural capital to adolescents, as well as in parental educational expectations for their children. At the bivariate level, the relationship is curvilinear, suggesting that having comparatively young or old parents is disadvantageous to teenagers, at least with regard to resource allocation. With controls for socioeconomic background and family structure, however, the pattern typically becomes positive and linear: as the age of the parent rises, so too does the transmission of resources to adolescent offspring. These patterns hold for most economic, social and cultural resources, although the pattern is strongest for economic ones and weakest – albeit still significant – for more interactional ones. Although maternal age is the primary focus of this article, supplementary analyses also confirm a generally positive relationship between paternal age and parental resources. These results suggest that parental age may warrant attention similar to that given to family structure, race and gender.

Searching for the Peach Blossom Shangri-La: Student Engagement of Men and Women SMET Majors

This study examined the extent to which women and men majoring in science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET) fields engaged in a broad array of effective educational practices. Women in SMET fields were generally as, or more, engaged in educationally fruitful activities as their male counterparts. The results of this study, when combined with other research, suggest that women may experience greater gender parity in math and science fields in college than in either high school or the post-college SMET workplace.

Where are the female athletes in Sports Illustrated? A content analysis of covers (2000-2011).

We content analyzed more than 11 years of Sports Illustrated (SI) covers (2000–2011) to assess how often females were portrayed, the sports represented, and the manner of their portrayal. Despite females’ increased participation in sport since the enactment of Title IX and calls for greater media coverage of female athletes, women appeared on just 4.9 percent of covers. The percentage of covers did not change significantly over the span and were comparable to levels reported for the 1980s by other researchers. Indeed, women were depicted on a higher percentage of covers from 1954–1965 than from 2000–2011. Beyond the limited number of covers, women’s participation in sport was often minimized by sharing covers with male counterparts, featuring anonymous women not related directly to sports participation, sexually objectifying female athletes, and promoting women in more socially acceptable gender-neutral or feminine sports.

The role of self-transcendence: a missing variable in the pursuit of successful aging?

While successful aging is often defined as the absence of disease and disability or as life satisfaction, self-transcendence may also play an important role. The objective of this research was to test a nursing theory of successful aging proposing that transcendence and adaptation predict successful aging. In this cross-sectional exploratory study, a convenience sample of older adults (N = 152) were surveyed about self-transcendence, proactive coping, and successful aging. Using hierarchical multiple regression, self-transcendence, proactive coping, and all control variables (i.e., sex, race, perceived health, place of residence) together explained 50% of the variance in successful aging (p < 0.001). However, proactive coping alone was not a significant predictor of successful aging. Thus, this study did not support the theory that both self-transcendence and proactive coping predict successful aging. Self-transcendence was the only significant contributor to this multidimensional view of successful aging. Self-transcendence is an important variable in the pursuit of successful aging, which merits further investigation.

Putting (Big) Black Dog Syndrome to the Test: Evidence from a Large Metropolitan Shelter

ABSTRACT Most support for Black Dog Syndrome or Big Black Dog Syndrome is anecdotal or theoretical. Yet some animal shelters/organizations have implemented strategies to address what they believe are lower rates of adoption and/or higher rates of euthanasia for “Big Black Dogs.” This study examines the persistent anecdotes and theories on humans’ preferences and aversions to dogs of various shades, using hierarchical multinomial logistic regression to predict outcomes for an analytic sample of 7,440 dogs from 2010–2011 in an urban, public animal shelter serving Louisville, Kentucky, USA. The relationship between coat shade and dog outcomes was not straightforward; while no relationship existed at the bivariate level, after controls were added, entirely black dogs showed somewhat lower odds of adoption—and higher euthanasia risk—than those characterized as secondarily black or sans black. Breed category, breed size, and purebred status were stronger predictors of dog outcomes than coat shade. Big Black Dog Syndrome was not supported by these data; smaller dogs were more likely to be euthanized if they were partly or wholly black. These findings may offer nuances to adoption strategies employed by shelters/organizations, help make better use of resources, and, perhaps, improve the likelihood of homing or rehoming shelter animals.

Female anglers in a predominantly male sport: Portrayals in five popular fishing-related magazines:

Kim Bain-Moore galvanized public interest as the first female competitor in the 2009 Bassmaster Classic fishing tournament. To examine the extent to which women were depicted by the fishing media during and after this watershed event, as well as how they were portrayed, we analyzed the content of five for-profit, fishing-related magazines from 2009–2012. Female anglers were numerically underrepresented relative to a national estimate of participation in the USA (27%); they were depicted on just 10% of covers and in 9% and 6% of fishing and ‘hero’ images, respectively. Women authored only 1% of feature articles and were often sexualized, noted for physical beauty, or portrayed as obstacles to fishing for men. More positive portrayals included women as experts on fishing or ecology, competent anglers, or valued fishing partners to men. However, the last reinforces fishing as a male-centric activity, particularly when there were virtually no instances of women fishing alone or with other women. Further, the emphasis on the performance ethic in these magazines may dissuade women, who tend to be motivated to fish more by social factors than men. These findings contribute to research on how the media influences the socialization of women in predominantly male sports/leisure.