A developmental study of the relation between combined learning and performance goals and students' self-regulated learning.

BACKGROUND: Current goal theory models assume that learning goals are adaptive in academic contexts and that performance goals lead to less positive patterns of motivation and self-regulation. These models also implicitly assume that the adaptive nature of these goals is the same at all academic levels. AIMS: The objectives of this study were to examine how combined learning and performance goals are related to self-regulation and academic performance, and whether there is a developmental trend in these relations. SAMPLE: A total of 1072 junior (N = 408, mean age = 11.9), middle (N = 323, mean age = 13.7), and senior (N = 341, mean age = 15.7) high school students were examined. METHOD: They were administered a questionnaire assessing their learning and performance goals and reported their self-regulatory strategies while studying. RESULTS: Analyses showed that whatever their performance goals, having high learning goals promoted younger students' self-regulation. They also showed that, contrary to the findings for younger students, performance goals were related to self-regulation and academic performance at higher school levels. Furthermore, high performance goals were found to alleviate the negative effects of low learning goals for older students. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the adaptive nature of goals could change across development. This could be due to contextual factors such as the increasing importance of obtaining good grades to access higher academic levels. Future research should address this issue.

The relation between accuracy of self-perception and cognitive development.

BACKGROUND: It is now widely recognised that student's self-perceptions of competence have an effect on their behaviours and learning. Previous studies have shown that children only gradually develop the ability to evaluate accurately their own competence. One possible explanation for this is that younger children have not reached a level of cognitive development required to perform such evaluations. AIMS: The objective of these two studies was to examine the hypothesis that children at higher levels of cognitive development should be more accurate in their self-appraisal of competence than children of the same age at lower levels of cognitive development. STUDY 1. SAMPLE: The sample included 173 elementary school children, with almost equal gender representation. Children were first examined in fourth grade (mean age = 10.0, SD = .77) and for the next two years. METHOD: Each child responded to questionnaires of self-perceptions about reading and to a standardised test of reading. Year-end grades in reading were used as a measure of performance. RESULTS: The results show that there was no significant difference between high and low children in grade 6, but that the correlation between self-perceptions and performance was significantly higher among high ability children than among low ability children both in grades 4 and 5. STUDY 2. SAMPLE: The sample included 153 elementary school children in grade 3 (mean age = 9.1, SD = .73) and 185 in grade 5 (mean age = 11.2, SD = .75), with almost equal gender representation. METHOD: Each child responded to questionnaires of self-perceptions about mathematics and to a standardised IQ test. Year-end grades in mathematics were used as a measure of performance. RESULTS: The correlation between self-perception and performance was significantly higher among high IQ children than among low IQ children in grade 3. However, in grade 5, high and low IQ children were similarly accurate in their self-perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the development of accurate self-perceptions is not strictly a matter of age or school level but is also related to cognitive development.

Evaluation of buspirone as an antianxiety agent: buspirone and diazepam versus placebo.

Buspirone has previously been demonstrated to be efficacious in the treatment of anxiety. This four-week double-blind parallel study compared buspirone to diazepam and placebo in the treatment of 119 outpatients diagnosed as having generalized anxiety disorder. After a seven-day placebo washout period, eligible patients were randomized to one of three treatment groups. Buspirone (5 mg) and diazepam (5 mg) were administered BID and individually titrated to an optimal therapeutic dose by the end of week two. Buspirone and diazepam were equally effective in reducing Hamilton Anxiety (HAM-A) total and psychic factor scores from baseline values. Buspirone alone was significantly better than placebo in reducing the HAM-A somatic factor score. Sixty-seven percent of both active treatment groups who were classified as "ill" on the baseline global psychopathology rating scale achieved a "not ill" status by study end. There were no significant differences between treatment groups at endpoint on the 56-item Symptom Checklist self-rating scale. Buspirone was demonstrated to be as effective as diazepam in relieving anxiety in this outpatient sample.

Availability of diazepam from plastic containers.

The effect of plastic intravenous containers and volume-control administration sets on diazepam availability was studied. Solutions of diazepam in dextrose 5% in water and in 0.9% sodium chloride were prepared in plastic burette chambers and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bags. Diazepam concentration was measured spectrophotometrically for (1) samples taken from the burette chamber and from the end of the administration set, (2) samples prepared in glass beakers and then infused through plastic administration sets with 0.5-micron filters, (3) samples prepared in PVC bags, and (4) sections of the PVC bags and volume-control sets in which diazepam solutions were prepared and infused. Two hours after admixture, diazepam concentration was significantly reduced in the burette chamber (p less than 0.05). Diazepam concentration was reduced by about 55% after infusion through administration sets (p less than 0.0005) and after two hours of storage in PVC bags. About 24% of the diazepam concentration was recovered from the volume-control set (none was detected in the filter) and 49-56% was recovered from the PVC bags. Admixture of diazepam solutions in plastic containers and administration through plastic administration sets will significantly reduce their diazepam concentrations.