This paper examines the effect of a student's own school adjustment as well as the contextual level of school adjustment (the normative level of school adjustment among students in a school) on student's self-reported use of alcohol. Using a dataset of 43,465 male and female 8 th grade students from 349 schools across the contiguous United States who participated in a national study of substance use in rural communities between 1996 and 2000, multilevel latent covariate models were utilized to disentangle the individual-level and contextual effects of three school adjustment variables (i.e., school bonding, behavior at school, and friend's school bonding) on alcohol use. All three school adjustment factors were significant predictors of alcohol use both within and between schools. Furthermore, this study demonstrated a strong contextual effect; students who attended schools where the overall level of school adjustment was higher reported lower levels of alcohol use even after taking their own school adjustment into account. The results demonstrate the importance of both a student's own level of school adjustment and the normative level of school adjustment among students in the school on an adolescent's use of alcohol. Differences in school adjustment across schools were quite strongly related to an adolescent's own alcohol use, indicating that school adjustment is an important aspect of school climate. Initiatives aimed at improving school climate may have beneficial effects on students' alcohol use.

Web-based lecture technology (WBLT) allows students access to recorded lectures delivered live to the classroom any time and to any device with internet. This technology has become standard across universities. This study of Australian undergraduate psychology students explored many important questions related to WBLT. About 75% of students surveyed utilised recorded lectures. Qualitative responses allowed students to explain many reasons for using WBLT, including to study for exams, regular study throughout the semester, to catch up on lectures they missed attending, and to clarify specific parts of the lecture. Four types of students were identified. Those who: (1) attended lectures regularly and did not access recordings; (2) attended most or all lectures and also accessed recordings to reinforce learning and for exams; (3) attended lectures but when they missed class accessed recordings; also accessed to reinforcing learning and for exams; and (4) did not attend lectures (by choice or due to personal circumstances) and only accessed lecture recordings. No differences in final grades were found based on higher/lower lecture attendance or higher/lower access of lecture recordings. It is concluded that WBLT is flexible, allowing students to apply it in different ways and the different patterns are related to similar academic achievement.

No abstract

No abstract

A neurocognitive, developmental framework was used to examine the effectiveness of Early Head Start (EHS) programs. Evidence has shown that caregiver variables impact early brain development. This study aimed to better understand this relation. Results showed that the EHS program made no significant impact, and at 3 years old, children were significantly behind population norms in language development, partially replicating previous findings with children from poverty backgrounds. EHS and parental depression were significant predictors of language and cognitive stimulation; however, depression and stimulation, but not involvement in EHS, were significant predictors of vocabulary. Implications for EHS programs are discussed, such as addressing caregiver variables (e.g., depression) and increasing focus on services to expectant families. Future directions also are discussed, such as understanding how young children's stress, within the context of caregiver variables, is related to neurocognitive outcomes.

First‐in‐family (FiF) university students—or first generation students—are recognised to have disadvantages and lack social and cultural capital compared with non‐FiF students. The challenges FiF students encounter at university are well understood, however, their journey begins while still in high school. We call this high school cohort prospective FiF (PFiF) students and young people whose parents never attended university. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of 10 high school educators from Melbourne, Australia about the barriers and supports PFiF students encounter as they navigate the path to university. Participants identified that family inexperience, unsupportive attitudes at home and at school, lack of financial capacity and invisibility represented barriers. However, participants also explained that PFiF students can be resilient and motivated, especially when combined with appropriate support from schools, family, and university programmes. The findings highlight the challenges for PFiF and bring much‐needed attention to their challenges and needs in the early transition to higher education.

No abstract

Aims: Community leadership programs have the potential to positively impact many aspects of young people's development, as well as the community. This study, therefore, aims to understand the experiences of the young people, particularly rural youth, involved with the Western Bulldogs Youth Leadership Project (WBYLP), a 7-month program for Year-9 and Year-10 students, and if the developmental assets are a good framework to inform future program development.Method: A transformative mixed-methods design was used and included surveys with 96 participants at two time points, and semistructured interviews with eight participants.Results: Quantitatively leadership significantly increased, particularly due to increases in the domains of understanding self and decision-making skills. Social competencies increased, though total developmental assets did not. Interviews identified four primary themes: Perspective taking, self-efficacy, community awareness, and decreased isolation.Conclusions: These results indicate that participants developed both individual skills relating to leadership and social skills. The participants also developed their awareness of the issues in their community.