Thomas M. Reimers

Home Influence on School Learning: Direct and Indirect Effects of Parental Involvement on High School Grades

AbstractCurrent concern with improving student academic progress within American education underscores the need to understand those manipulable influences that can affect academic learning. Parental involvement is considered an important influence on academic progress. Time spent on homework and in leisure TV viewing has an important effect on academic learning. Such time is potentially manipulable through parental effort. Using the massive High School and Beyond data set, the present study examines the direct effects of perceived parental involvement on grades. It also examines the indirect effect of such involvement on grades through TV time and time spent on homework. Parental involvement has an important direct, positive effect on grades. Additionally, parental involvement also leads to increased time spent on homework, which in turn has a positive effect on grades. The effect of parental involvement on grades through TV time appears negligible. In the current push for means to improve student academi...

Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC): Intervention design and participation

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH GROUP IKaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Oregon 97227-1098; 2Division of Epidemiology . and Clinical Applications, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-9125; 3Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35233-0011; 4Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1100; SDepartment of Child Psychiatry, Childrens Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois 60614; 6Department of Medicine, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07107; 7Department of Psychiatry, Childrens Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118; 8Lipid Clinical Unit, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205; and 9Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois 60611

Parental acceptability of treatments for children's hypercholesterolemia

This study examined the acceptability ratings of three alternative treatments applied to case descriptions which varied in their level of problem severity. Evaluations were provided by 40 parents seeking services in a Pediatric Preventive Cardiology Clinic for treatment of their childrens hypercholesterolemia. Results indicated that both diet and diet plus goal setting were rated as significantly more acceptable than medication. Ratings of diet and diet plus goal setting did not vary as a function of problem severity, however, medication was rated as more acceptable when applied to a more severe case example, as opposed to a mild case example. Findings are discussed in relation to the clinical significance of these findings and the need for future research.

Perceptions of Job Satisfaction, Job Stability, and Quality of Professional Life among Rural and Urban School Psychologists.

A survey was conducted of 231 psychologists from a midwestern state. Investigators surveyed perceptions of job satisfaction, job stability, and quality of professional life. Responses of rural and urban professionals were compared. While resembling urban colleagues in most regards, rural psychologists appear more satisfied with working environments and job policies. Discussion is presented on differences between the two groups on a number of variables influencing perceptions.

Personality Inventory for Children-Short Form: Useful for Educational Screening?

The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) has been investigated for its validity in identifying children in school and clinical settings. The current study, an extension of an earlier study, used a sample of 95 children participating in public school programs for the nonhandicapped, the learning disabled, the mentally disabled, and the emotionally disabled to establish the best predictors of placement using the short form of the PIC. Additional analyses relating to the application of the nine scales identified as predictors of group assignment are reported.