(Press-News.org) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to a new study, American, but not Chinese, children's sense of responsibility to their parents tends to decline in the seventh and eighth grades, a trend that coincides with declines in their academic performance.
The study, in the journal Child Development, found no difference between American and Chinese students' feelings of responsibility to their parents at the beginning of the seventh grade. The American children's sense of obligation to their parents and desire to please them by doing well in school declined over the next two years, however, while the Chinese students generally maintained their feelings of obligation and increased their motivation to please their parents with their academic achievements.
"These different trends are notable because when children were able to maintain a sense of responsibility to their parents, they were not only more motivated and engaged in school, but also earned better grades over time," said University of Illinois psychology professor Eva Pomerantz, who led the study. "Chinese children's maintenance of a sense of responsibility to their parents may protect them against the decline so common among American middle schoolers in their engagement and achievement in school."
The study, which also included researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Beijing Normal University, involved 825 students in suburban Chicago and suburban Beijing.
In four sets of surveys given over two years beginning in the seventh grade, researchers asked the students about their attitudes toward parents and school. The researchers also tracked the students' grades.
"These findings are important because they suggest that one reason American children become less engaged in school during adolescence is that they do not feel a sense of commitment to their families," Pomerantz said. "Because of the benefits for children academically, we need to identify how parents can foster a sense of responsibility in children."
INFORMATION:
Editor's notes: To reach Eva Pomerantz, call: 217- 244-2538; e-mail: pomerntz@illinois.edu.
The paper, "Changes in Early Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility to Their Parents in the United States and China: Implications for Their Academic Functioning," is available from the U. of I. News Bureau.
US, Chinese children differ in commitment to parents over time
2011-05-11
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New IRS Whistleblower Rules on Reporting Taxpayer Fraud
2011-05-11
Qui tam actions provide incentives for individuals to expose deceptions intended to defraud the federal government, from military contract fraud and Medicare fraud to misuse of federal stimulus funds. Similar laws are designed to punish fraud against state government agencies in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and most other states. A person who has inside knowledge and discloses previously unknown information that leads to legal action to punish fraudulent dealings with the government is eligible for considerable financial rewards.
One type of whistleblower action that is ...
Cryoablation used to successfully treat atrial fibrillation at the Montreal Heart Institute
2011-05-11
Montreal, May 11, 2011 – The electrophysiology team at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) used cryoablation (ablation using cold) to treat a patient suffering from atrial fibrillation, the
most common form of cardiac arrhythmia, and one associated with significant morbidity. The procedure was performed by Dr. Peter Guerra, Chief of Electrophysiology, and Dr. Marc Dubuc, cardiologist and specialist in electrophysiology. This was a first in Canada following the approval of the Arctic Front device by Health Canada.
A Canadian technique using cold as a new form of energy
The ...
New project will collect vital knowledge about tree genetic resources to support conservation
2011-05-11
NAIROBI (5 May 2011)— A workshop in Nairobi, Kenya last week saw representatives from 43 African nations participate in an ambitious project to document the status of the world's forest genetic resources; a vital step in conserving and sustainably managing forests.
"Forest genetic resources are unique and irreplaceable; from plants that provide timber and essential nourishment when crops fail to those that may be used in future medicines," explains Oudara Souvannavong, Senior Forestry Officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and coordinator ...
Weizmann Institute scientists show: How adversity dulls our perceptions
2011-05-11
Adversity, we are told, heightens our senses, imprinting sights and sounds precisely in our memories. But new Weizmann Institute research, which appeared in Nature Neuroscience this week, suggests the exact opposite may be the case: Perceptions learned in an aversive context are not as sharp as those learned in other circumstances. The findings, which hint that this tendency is rooted in our species' evolution, may help to explain how post-traumatic stress syndrome and other anxiety disorders develop in some people.
To investigate learning in unfavorable situations, Dr. ...
New York City Bicycle Accidents: Will More Bike Lanes Provide Solutions?
2011-05-11
The mayor's recent announcement of an initiative to increase dedicated bicycle lanes on streets in Manhattan, Brooklyn and other boroughs came as welcome news to cycling advocates such as Transportation Alternatives. In a recent Quinnipiac poll, a solid majority of New Yorkers supported an expansion of bike lanes "because it's greener and healthier for people to ride their bicycles." Yet while New York City has 6,000 miles of streets that cater to cars, taxis and, for the most part, trucks and buses, a modest expansion of bike lanes by 255 miles in recent years ...
Drought tolerance in crops: Shutting down the plant's growth inhibition under mild stress
2011-05-11
Gent - VIB/UGent researchers have unveiled a mechanism that can be used to develop crop varieties resistant to mild droughts. For years, improving drought tolerance has been a major aim of academic and industrial research, thereby focusing on effects of extreme drought stress. However, translating this research to the field has proven to be problematic. In a set of papers in Nature Biotechnology and the Plant Cell, the team of Dirk Inzé at the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology, UGent now shows that the focus should be on mild drought stress instead. It turns out that ...
Watching how cancer patients interact online could help clinicians provide better services
2011-05-11
Men who visited a major online support group after being diagnosed with prostate cancer were most likely to seek advice on therapy and treatment, together with emotional support, according to research in the May issue of the urology journal BJUI. But, surprisingly, they went to great lengths to avoid using the word "cancer".
Researchers studied 501 threads posted during a 32-month period on Germany's largest prostate cancer forum, run by an umbrella group of organisations covering the disease. They analysed 1,630 posts on 82 threads started by men who had just been ...
Florida Considers Changes to Mandatory Sentencing for Drug Crimes
2011-05-11
Incarceration of individuals convicted of non-violent crimes comes at a great cost to society. In the case of a person found guilty of a drug-related offense who would be best served by treatment for addiction, the criminal justice system often just perpetuates a problem. But the Florida legislature is giving strong consideration to getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences for defendants convicted of sale of controlled substances.
Senate Bill 1334 also seeks to encourage the Department of Corrections to place non-violent offenders into paid community service employment ...
Resettlement is a positive move for homeless people
2011-05-11
Resettlement services over the last few years have helped many homeless people make positive changes in their lives. The largest study in the UK of the resettlement of single homeless people has found that four-in-five (81 per cent) of a large representative sample were still living independently 18 months after being re-housed.
The FOR-HOME study followed up 400 single homeless people who were moved from hostels and other temporary accommodation into independent housing in London, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire to determine the long-term outcomes of resettlement. It ...
How to recognize at an early stage whether a new cancer therapy prolongs life
2011-05-11
Great hopes are always placed in new cancer therapies. However, whether new surgical techniques, drugs or radiation therapies actually prolong the life of cancer patients, or even cure them, can often only be reliably assessed after several years' of testing. Researchers are therefore looking for proxy markers ("surrogate endpoints") that after initiation of cancer therapy can reliably predict as quickly as possible whether the treatment has a benefit.
A rapid report published by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) summarizes the findings ...