College Instructors' Theories of Intelligence and Awareness of Student Dyslexia as Related to the Feedback Provided for the Student's Writing Assignment.

Research indicates that teachers' theories of intelligence (incremental vs. entity) are likely to affect their teaching practices, and some teachers hold lower expectations for students with learning disabilities. This study explored the relationships between college instructors' theories of intelligence and the feedback they provided based on a student's writing sample under two conditions: the student's dyslexia was mentioned versus not mentioned. One hundred and one college instructors completed a survey. Results of path analysis indicated the instructors who endorsed the incremental theory of intelligence gave significantly more encouraging comments than those who endorsed the entity theory. Instructors' theories of intelligence did not predict the grade assigned, the number of weaknesses pointed out, and the number of suggestions provided. The instructors informed of the student's dyslexia gave significantly higher grades than those not informed, but the instructors' feedback did not differ. No significant interaction between instructors' theories of intelligence and awareness of student dyslexia was found.

Mothers' Use of Regulatory Talk with Toddlers in Chile and the US: How Do Cultural Values and Children's Gender Affect Mothers' Regulatory Talk at 12 and 30 Months?

Studies have shown that Chilean and US infants differ in their levels of self-regulation. One of the mechanisms of early socializing is the use of language, particularly mental state language. The current study seeks to deepen our knowledge of the ways in which mental state language is related to socialization processes in early childhood, including the ways both culture and children's gender influence a mothers' use of mental state talk. We used a quantitative and descriptive approach with 109 mothers and their children (64 Chilean and 45 US dyads), measured twice, at 12 and 30 months old. Mental state references related to regulation were coded during a story-sharing task, including positive (calm and patient) and negative (messy and impatient) references to regulating behavior. Chilean mothers generally showed more regulatory references than US mothers, especially if the children were at a younger age (12 month). Frequencies of regulatory references increased in US mothers at 30 months but were still less than in Chilean mothers. At the 12-month measuring point, Chilean mothers showed more negative regulatory attributes than positive regulatory attributes. Finally, US mothers mainly used references to secondary emotions (e.g., pride) and positive regulatory attributes (being obedient, mature and patient) at both ages.

Maternal Monitoring Knowledge Change and Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors in Low-Income African American and Latino Families.

Drawing on a sample of 318 African American and 354 Latino urban, low-income families, we identify maternal monitoring knowledge trajectories and examine which trajectory predicts fewer late-adolescent externalizing problems and which family and neighborhood factors predict trajectories with positive implications for late-adolescent externalizing behaviors. The majority of adolescents in both groups perceived long-term high levels of maternal monitoring knowledge throughout adolescence-stably high for the African American sample and high for the Latino sample. Long-term high levels of knowledge predicted fewer general late-adolescent externalizing problems for both groups and fewer late-adolescent delinquent behaviors for the African American sample. Family routine and mother-adolescent trust predicted long-term high levels of knowledge for both groups. For the African American sample, family routine and neighborhood cohesion predicted stably high levels of knowledge via the mediation of mother-adolescent trust. We discuss implications for improving positive adolescent development and family environments for both groups.

Conflicts and communication between high-achieving Chinese American adolescents and their parents.

Drawing on in-depth interview data collected on 18 high-achieving Chinese American students, the authors examine domains of acculturation-based conflicts, parent and child internal conflicts, and conflict resolution in their families. Their analyses show that well-established negative communication patterns in educational expectations, divergent attitudes toward other races and country of origin, and cultural and language barriers contributed to parent-child conflicts. Their findings also illustrate important internal conflicts both adolescents and parents had along the cultural tightrope of autonomy and relatedness. Finally, the vertical in-group conflict resolution style that was evidenced in youths' accounts raises questions about cultural differences in constructive versus destructive conflict resolution styles.