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1. Engineer identity and degree completion intentions in doctoral study

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20516  

   Bahnson, Matthew ; Satterfield, Derrick ; Perkins, Heather ; Parker, Mackenzie ; Tsugawa, Marissa ; Cass, Cheryl ; Kirn, Adam ( March 2023 , Journal of Engineering Education)

   Degree completion rates for doctoral engineering students remain stagnant at levels lower than necessary to meet national and global workforce needs. Increasing degree completion can improve opportunities for individuals and provide the human resources needed to address engineering challenges.

   In this work, we measure the association of engineering identity variables with degree completion intentions for students who have persisted in doctoral study. We add to existing literature that suggests the importance of advisor and peer relationships, and the number of years in the doctoral program.

   We use data collected via a national cross‐sectional survey of doctoral engineering students, which included measures of social and professional identities, graduate school experiences, and demographics. Surveys were collected from 1754 participants at 98 US universities between late 2017 and early 2018. The analyses reported here use multiple regression to measure associations with engineering doctoral degree completion intentions.

   Research interest and scientist performance/competence are individually associated with degree completion intentions in students who are persisting in doctoral study. Overall, graduate engineering identity explains significant portions of variation in degree completion intentions (9.5%) beyond advisor and peer relationship variables and the number of years in graduate programs.

   Researcher interest and scientist performance/competence may be key opportunities to engage doctoral student engineering identity to improve degree completion rates. Accordingly, institutions can foster students' interest in research and build their confidence in their scientific competence to support students as they complete the doctoral degree.

    

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2. Contextualizing Bicultural Competence Across Youths’ Adaptation From High School to College: Prospective Associations With Mental Health and Substance Use

   https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026231159667  

   Gusman, Michaela S. ; Safa, M. Dalal ; Grimm, Kevin J. ; Doane, Leah D. ( March 2023 , Clinical Psychological Science)

   Bicultural competence, the ability to navigate bicultural demands, is a salient developmental competency for youths of color linked with positive adjustment. In this study, we investigated how discrimination experiences informed developmental trajectories of behavioral and affective bicultural competence across youths’ adaptation from high school to college and how these biculturalism trajectories predicted later adjustment (i.e., internalizing symptoms and binge drinking). Data were collected between 2016 and 2020 and included 206 U.S. Latino youths (mean age = 17.59 years, 64% female, 85% Mexican origin, 11% first-generation immigrants, and 62% second-generation immigrants). Linear latent growth analyses revealed that youths who experienced greater time-varying discrimination demonstrated lower concurrent behavioral and affective bicultural competence. Higher behavioral bicultural competence intercepts were associated with fewer internalizing symptoms in the third college year. No other significant associations emerged for internalizing symptoms or binge drinking. These findings have implications for mental-health equity among Latino youths during a critical period of psychopathology onset.

    

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3. Sociosexual behavioral patterns involving nulliparous female orangutans ( Pongo sp.) reflect unique challenges during the adolescent period

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23058  

   O'Connell, Caitlin A. ; Susanto, Tri Wahyu ; Knott, Cheryl D. ( October 2019 , American Journal of Primatology)

   The primate adolescent period is characterized by a series of changes in physiology, behavior, and social relationships. Orangutans have the slowest life history and the longest period of dependency of all primates. As members of a semisolitary species with high levels of sexual coercion, adolescent female orangutans face a unique combination of challenges when achieving independence from their mother. This study examined the mating behavior of adolescent female orangutans and compared it with that of adult females to assess whether mating behavior reflects distinct strategies at these different points in the life cycle. Data were collected in Gunung Palung National Park on the island of Borneo over 20 years. Mating events from adolescent (n = 19) and adult females (n = 26) were scored and compared. Adolescent female mating events had significantly higher mating scores (indicating more proceptivity) than those of adult females (β = 1.948,p = .001). Adolescent females also engaged in elaborate sociosexual interactions with different flanged males, behaviors that were never observed during mating events of adult females. These interactions involved characteristic behavior on the part of both the adolescent females and the flanged males. Given these findings and the documentation of similar accounts of adolescent female–flanged male mating from the island of Sumatra, we propose that adolescent female orangutans display distinctive behavioral repertoires throughout the genusPongowhich serves to overcome male ambivalence toward nulliparous females, establish familiarity, and evaluate coercive tendencies in flanged males. We suggest that these behavioral patterns are an integral part of female social development in a female philopatric, but highly dispersed species where consistent social support is absent after ranging independence is achieved.

    

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4. Exploring the Relationships Among Middle School Students’ Peer Interactions, Task Efficiency, and Learning Engagement in Game-Based Learning

   https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878120907940  

   Moon, Jewoong ; Ke, Fengfeng ( March 2020 , Simulation & Gaming)

   Background. Middle school students’ math anxiety and low engagement have been major issues in math education. In order to reduce their anxiety and support their math learning, game-based learning (GBL) has been implemented. GBL research has underscored the role of social dynamics to facilitate a qualitative understanding of students’ knowledge. Whereas students’ peer interactions have been deemed a social dynamic, the relationships among peer interaction, task efficiency, and learning engagement were not well understood in previous empirical studies.

   Method. This mixed-method research implemented E-Rebuild, which is a 3D architecture game designed to promote students’ math problem-solving skills. We collected a total of 102 50-minutes gameplay sessions performed by 32 middle school students. Using video-captured and screen-recorded gameplaying sessions, we implemented behavior observations to measure students’ peer interaction efficiency, task efficiency, and learning engagement. We used association analyses, sequential analysis, and thematic analysis to explain how peer interaction promoted students’ task efficiency and learning engagement.

   Results. Students’ peer interactions were negatively related to task efficiency and learning engagement. There were also different gameplay patterns by students’ learning/task-relevant peer-interaction efficiency (PIE) level. Students in the low PIE group tended to progress through game tasks more efficiently than those in the high PIE group. The results of qualitative thematic analysis suggested that the students in the low PIE group showed more reflections on game-based mathematical problem solving, whereas those with high PIE experienced distractions during gameplay.

   Discussion. This study confirmed that students’ peer interactions without purposeful and knowledge-constructive collaborations led to their low task efficiency, as well as low learning engagement. The study finding shows further design implications: (1) providing in-game prompts to stimulate students’ math-related discussions and (2) developing collaboration contexts that legitimize students’ interpersonal knowledge exchanges with peers.

    

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5. Development of inhibitory control during childhood and its relations to early temperament and later social anxiety: unique insights provided by latent growth modeling and signal detection theory

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13025  

   Troller‐Renfree, Sonya V. ; Buzzell, George A. ; Bowers, Maureen E. ; Salo, Virginia C. ; Forman‐Alberti, Alissa ; Smith, Elizabeth ; Papp, Leanna J. ; McDermott, Jennifer M. ; Pine, Daniel S. ; Henderson, Heather A. ; et al ( February 2019 , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

   Children with the temperament of behavioral inhibition (BI) face increased risk for social anxiety. However, not all children withBIdevelop anxiety symptoms. Inhibitory control (IC) has been suggested as a moderator of the pathway betweenBIand social anxiety. This study uses longitudinal data to characterize development ofICand tests the hypothesis thatICmoderates associations between earlyBIand later social anxiety symptoms.

   Children completed a Go/Nogo task at ages 5, 7, and 10 years as part of a longitudinal study ofBI(measured at 2–3 years) and social anxiety symptoms (measured at 12 years). To assessICdevelopment, response strategy (criterion) and inhibitory performance (d′) were characterized using signal detection theory. Latent growth models were used to characterize the development ofICand examine relations amongBI,ICparameters, and social anxiety symptoms.

   ICresponse strategy did not change between 5 and 10 years of age, whereasICperformance improved over time.BIscores in toddlerhood predicted neither initial levels (intercept) nor changes (slope) inICresponse strategy orICperformance. However, between ages 5 and 10, rate of change inICperformance, but not response strategy, moderated relations betweenBIand later parent‐reported social anxiety symptoms. Specifically, greater age‐related improvements inICperformance predicted higher levels of social anxiety in highBIchildren.

   ICdevelopment in childhood occurs independent ofBIlevels. However, rapid increases inICperformance moderate risk for social anxiety symptoms in children withBI. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

    

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