Structured or General Enrichment Programmes for Preschool Children?

The burgeoning interest in preschool education is not without its problems. Not least of these are issues relating to an educational philosophy to guide the types of programmes developed in preschools for different groups of children (especially those labelled ‘socio-culturally’ disadvantaged). In addition, there are problems of implementation connected with the financing of the preschool movement, and the provision of adequate numbers of professionally prepared staff. This article attempts to examine critically some of the key issues in enrichment programmes for preschool children, and subsequently to make some policy recommendations.     

Correlational change analysis: Reliability and metric issues

Unless certain metric conditions are met, and unless reliability estimates are available, analyzing change data via correlational techniques is often inappropriate. Although these techniques are useful for problems of practical prediction, the absence of equivalent interval scales and reliability estimates may influence the value of the observed coefficient so as to misrepresent the underlying causal model. The consequences of ignoring reliability estimates and metric equivalences are discussed for each of the three most commonly used correlational techniques: (1) The correlation of crude gain scores with initial scores, (2) The correlation of crude gain scores with third variables, and (3) The correlation of residualized gain scores with third variables.     

Coherent mortality forecasts for a group of populations: An extension of the lee-carter method

Mortality patterns and trajectories in closely related populations are likely to be similar in some respects, and differences are unlikely to increase in the long run. It should therefore be possible to improve the mortality forecasts for individual countries by taking into account the patterns in a larger group. Using the Human Mortality Database, we apply the Lee-Carter model to a group of populations, allowing each its own age pattern and level of mortality but imposing shared rates of, change by age. Our forecasts also allow divergent patterns to continue for a while before tapering off. We forecast greater longevity gains for the United States and lesser ones for Japan relative to separate forecasts.     

An overview of the national EEOC ADA research project

The authors outline the development and scope of the National EEOC ADA Research Project which resulted from a cooperative agreement between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Virginia Commonwealth University. Research questions, the EEOC database, extraction of study data, limitations of the data, the organization of research teams, and the contents of this special issue of WORK are described.     

Misdirection on the road to Shangri-La

Will life expectancy in the United States rise or fall in this century? The implications of either scenario are far reaching. We contend that the rise of childhood obesity in the United States in the past three decades has been so dramatic that it will soon lead to higher than expected death rates at middle ages and a possible decline in life expectancy by midcentury. The most detrimental health and longevity effects will not be seen for decades--a phenomenon that cannot be detected by current methods used to forecast life expectancy or estimate the number of deaths currently attributable to obesity. This scenario contrasts sharply with the views of mathematical demographers who generate forecasts by relying on the assumption that the U.S. pattern of longevity will follow that of other longer lived nations and on the extrapolation of historical trends in life expectancy into the future.     

The relationship between perceived youth exposure to anti-smoking advertisements: how perceptions differ by race

Data on self-reported perceived exposure to anti-smoking messages were collected from 1,608 high school students surveyed through the ASPIRE (A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience) Program in Houston, Texas. Data collection took place between October 2002 and March 2003. Logistic regression identified that African Americans perceived significantly less exposure to anti-smoking advertisements via television (OR = .50, p < 0.05) and posters (OR = .61, p < 0.05) than whites. However, they had nearly twice as much perceived exposure to anti-smoking advertisements at movies (OR = 1.79, p < or = 0.05) and sporting events (OR = 2.1, p < or = 0.05) than their white counterparts. Hispanic youth perceived significantly less exposure to anti-smoking posters (OR = .51, p < or = 0.05) and significantly higher exposure to anti-smoking messages at sporting events (OR = 1.92, p < or = 0.05) and school programs (OR = 3.44, p < or = 0.05) compared to white youth. While the relationships tested in this study are exploratory, they provide initial evidence for an important nexus between race and communication channels that may impact perceived exposure to tobacco advertising.     

The Culture of Poverty and Learned Helplessness: A Social Psychological Perspective*

This paper links the sociological work of Ball on the analgesic subculture-a subculture of Appalachian poverty-with the sociological research of Merton on adaptation, the social psychological research of Seeman on alienation, and the psychological research of Seligman on learned helplessness. We suggest that (1) Ball's cultural explanation work has not been pursued because it has not been integrated with relevant structural and relevant psychological theory and (2) the analgesic subculture of Appalachia is an extreme intensification of the consequences of alienation resulting in a psychology of learned helplessness.     

The Effects of Modeling and Experience on Young Children's Persistence at a Gambling Game

Gambling is common among children and adolescents, but Hide is known about factors initiating or maintaining this behavior. Fifty-one male and 51 female kindergarten and first grade children were invited to play a game involving repeated opportunities to select colored chips from a cup while blindfolded. Children playing for tangible incentives elected to play longer than those who were not (p < .001). Seeing a videotaped model win or fail to win a large prize had no effect on persistence with the game. Playing again one week later, children playing for incentives exhibited a more successful strategy, quitting sooner (p < .04) and with more winnings (p < .03). The parameters of experiential versus observational learning are discussed, with implications for educating children about risk-taking.