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This research pioneered the investigation of the statistically predictive power of academics' research agendas for their organizational commitment--beyond age, gender, academic rank, and academic discipline. Three hundred and thirty-two academics from nine research-oriented comprehensive universities in Zhejiang province and Shanghai, mainland China, responded to the "Multi-Dimensional Research Agendas Inventory-12 Items" (MDRAI-12) and the "Organizational Commitment Inventory." Three main findings were obtained. First, the MDRAI-12 was confirmed to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the research agendas of academics in mainland China. Second, both academics' research agendas and their organizational commitment varied as a function of demographics. Third and most importantly, when age, gender, academic rank, and academic discipline were put under control, three of the four trailblazing research agendas (scientific ambition, collaboration, and discovery) predicted the three adaptive organizational commitments (affective, normative, and ideal), whereas the two cohesive research agendas (convergence and conservative) chiefly contributed to the two maladaptive organizational commitments (economic and choice). These findings have shed new light on the literature concerning research agendas and that on organizational commitment. At the same time, the findings have practical implications for university academics and senior managers in their respective efforts to promote innovative research and adaptive organizational commitment among academics.

This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study 1) and explores the factors that potentially influence the use of and change in learning approaches through a qualitative research method (Study 2) in a Chinese cultural context. In Study 1, 439 Chinese university students participated in the pre-test, and 352 of them also participated in the post-test 9 months later. The results of repeated measures MANOVA show that students' deep learning approach did not change, but they increasingly used surface learning approach during their studies. In Study 2, 26 students from Study 1 joined focus group interviews. The results of content analysis indicate that assessment requirements, quality of teachers, students' interests, and perceived peer influence affected learning approaches. These influences could also explain the differences in learning approaches based on academic disciplines and year of study. Theoretical and practical implications in education are discussed.

Introduction: The present research pioneered the effort in assessing adolescents' coping with visual impairment through adapting the Brief COPE in an eastern context. The first study preliminarily explored the applicability of the Brief COPE to Chinese adolescent students with visual impairments. Based on the results, the Brief COPE was modified and renamed, COPE-Revised. The second study tested the internal psychometric properties and the criterion-related validity of the COPE-Revised. Criterion-related validity was obtained through investigating the correlation between coping and self-esteem. Method: The first study involved 176 adolescent students with visual impairments, comprising a survey using the Brief COPE and follow-up interviews. In the second study, another cohort of 170 adolescent students with visual impairments responded to the COPE-Revised together with an inventory assessing self-esteem. Results: The COPE-Revised showed adequate psychometric properties. Three higher-order factors, namely self-directed, other-directed, and relinquished-control coping, were identified. The way in which self-esteem was correlated with these three dimensions of coping provided evidence for the criterion-related validity of the COPE-Revised. Discussion: The findings indicate that the COPE-Revised has sound psychometric properties among adolescents with visual impairments. Limitations regarding the sample-selection bias and the means of questionnaire survey among visually impaired adolescents are noted. Implications for practitioners: This research tailored a coping inventory for educators, counselors, and researchers who are interested in investigating adolescents' ability to cope with visual impairments. The relationship between coping with visual impairment and self-esteem found in this research has reference significance for educational and counseling services for visually impaired adolescents.

Whether or not styles are malleable is one of the major controversial issues in the field of intellectual styles. Taking thinking styles (one of the intellectual style constructs) as the theoretical basis, the present study aimed at clarifying the issue by examining the change of thinking styles over one year from multiple perspectives. Seven hundred and forty-three university students completed the same questionnaire assessing demographic factors and thinking styles twice with a one-year interval. Results revealed different levels of change and stability in thinking styles in terms of mean-level change, rank-order consistency, individual stability, and ipsative consistency. Research findings indicated that thinking styles are stable state, but still changeable. Implications of the research findings are discussed.

The main objective of the present study was to explore the role of the forces in the context external to the setting of a specific vocational setting (i.e., an academic major in a university) in the congruence-satisfaction relationship. Four hundred and fifty-three Chinese university students responded to the Career Personality Styles Inventory, the revised Contextual Supports and Barriers Scale, and the Academic Major Satisfaction Scale. Results indicated that the congruence between individual vocational interests and their academic majors (for brevity, congruence) and two types of external forces (external barriers and support from social relations) were significant predictors of students' satisfaction with their academic majors. In comparison, the predictive power of external forces for students' satisfaction with their academic majors was far beyond that of congruence. Moreover, external barriers were a marginally significant moderator in the relationship between congruence and satisfaction. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.

The article describes the development and validation of the Career Personality Styles Inventory (CPSI). The CPSI comprehensively assesses Holland's career personality styles with only 22 items. Based on a series of 3 studies, we found satisfactory internal consistency, factor structure, and criterion validities of the newly constructed CPSI.

The authors explored how thinking styles relate to quality of university life among deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and hearing university students in mainland China. The first of two studies affirmed the validity and reliability of a modified version of the Quality of University Life Measure (QULM; Sirgy, Grezskowiak, & Rahtz, 2007) among 833 university students (366 DHH, 467 hearing). The second investigated relationships between thinking styles and quality of university life; the Thinking Styles Inventory--Revised II (Sternberg, Wagner, & Zhang, 2007) and modified QULM were administered to 542 students (256 DHH, 286 hearing). Students scoring higher on Type I styles (i.e., more creativity-generating, less structured, cognitively more complex) tended toward greater satisfaction with university life; those scoring higher on Type II (i.e., more norm-favoring, more structured, cognitively more simplistic) tended toward less satisfaction. Contributions, limitations, and implications of the research are discussed.

This study investigated the predictive power of thinking styles for academic stress coping. Participants were 563 (280 males, 275 females, 8 gender unspecified) secondary school students in grades 7 through 12 from mainland China. Thinking styles were measured using the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II which was based on the theory of mental self-government. Coping strategies were measured by the COPE-Revised, which was derived from Carver's COPE (1989). Results showed that thinking styles had statistically significant predictive power for academic stress-coping strategies beyond age and gender, largely in the expected directions. Theoretical implications for research on intellectual styles and coping are discussed; and some practical implications for school teachers and students are proposed.

This study was a pioneering attempt to determine the statistical effect of inclusive education teachers' self-efficacy on their work motivation. Five hundred and thirty-four inclusive education teachers in Beijing, China, participated in the study through responding to two inventories: the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices Scale and the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale. Results suggested that age, experience in teaching students with special educational needs, training, and subject taught had statistical influence on teacher self-efficacy but not on work motivation. Teacher self-efficacy made a unique positive contribution to three of the four types of work motivation examined, with efficacy in using inclusive instructions, efficacy in collaboration, and efficacy in managing behaviour demonstrating the strongest predictive effect on introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation, respectively. The findings enrich the literature on self-efficacy and on work motivation in an inclusive education context, and have practical implications concerning teacher preparation for inclusive education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of job crafting in the relationship between self-efficacy in teaching and research (termed 'academic self-efficacy') and organisational commitment among academics. Three hundred and thirty-two academics from nine higher educational institutions in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai, mainland China, participated in this study through responding to three self-report inventories: the Research-Teaching Efficacy Inventory, the Job Crafting Inventory, and the Organisational Commitment Inventory. Results suggested that academic self-efficacy predicted organisational commitment both directly and indirectly through job crafting (especially increasing structural and social job resources) after controlling for age, gender, academic rank, and academic disciplines taught. The findings enrich the literature on self-efficacy, job crafting, and organisational commitment. Furthermore, this study has practical implications for academics and university senior managers in their respective efforts to develop academics' adaptive organisational commitment and enhance the quality of university teaching and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how students' thinking styles are related to their university self-efficacy, by administering the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II and the University Self-Efficacy Scale to 366 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and 467 hearing university students in mainland China. Results showed that, among all participants, those with Type I styles (i.e., more creativity-generating, less structured, and cognitively more complex) had higher levels of university self-efficacy. At the same time, DHH students with Type II styles (i.e., more norm-favoring, more structured, and cognitively more simplistic) had lower levels of university self-efficacy. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the present research are discussed.

This study investigated the extent to which learning approaches can be accounted for by personal factors (i.e., demographics, ability, and personality). The participants were 443 students in a university in mainland China. The Revised Two-factor Study Process Questionnaire, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3, and the short form of Raven's Advanced Progress Matrices were respectively applied to test students' learning approaches, personality, and ability. The results of correlations and structural equation modeling indicated that male students were more likely to be deep learners than female students; relative to Year-one students, Year-three students were more likely to use the surface learning approach and less likely to use the deep learning approach. Openness to experience and conscientiousness had strong positive effects on the deep learning approach. Neuroticism had positive effect, whereas conscientiousness had negative effect on the surface learning approach. Approximately 44 % of the variance in the deep learning approach and approximately 18 % of the variance in the surface learning approach could be explained by the three personal factors. Personality was the strongest predictor of learning approaches, whereas ability was the weakest predictor. The implications of the results were discussed.

This study explores how university students' thinking styles changed over a single academic year by twice administering the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II to 256 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) students and 286 hearing students from art and design academic disciplines in China. Results showed that after having studied at the university for one academic year, hearing students showed increased use of Type I thinking styles (more creativity generated, less structured, and more complex) and less use of Type II thinking styles (more norm favoring, more structured, and more simplistic), whereas DHH students demonstrated increased use of both Type I and Type II thinking styles. Moreover, students' changes in thinking styles differed across university class levels. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the present research are discussed.

The present study pioneered in adopting test accommodations to validate the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II (TSI-R2; Sternberg, Wagner, & Zhang, 2007) among Chinese university students with hearing impairment. A series of three studies were conducted that drew their samples from the same two universities, in which accommodating test directions (N = 213), combining test directions with language accommodations from students' perspectives (N = 366), and integrating test directions with language accommodations from teachers' perspectives (N = 129) were used. The accommodated TSI-R2 generally indicated acceptable internal scale reliabilities and factorial validity for Chinese university students with hearing loss. Limitations in relation to the study participants are discussed, as well as test accommodations and the significance and implications of the study.

This study explores how psychosocial development and personality traits are related. In particular, the study investigates the predictive power of the successful resolution of the Eriksonian psychosocial crises for the Big Five personality traits beyond age and gender. Four hundred university students in mainland China responded to the Measures of Psychosocial Development and to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Results indicate that the successful resolution of particular Eriksonian crises reversely predicted neuroticism, but positively predicted extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The amounts of these contributions went substantially beyond what was predicted by age and gender. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to research and university education. (Contains 3 tables.)

The primary objective of this study was to examine the predictive power of personality traits for occupational stress among Chinese university academics. Two hundred and forty-six participants responded to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised. Results indicated that the strongest predictor for occupational stress is neuroticism, with those higher on neuroticism being more vulnerable to role overload and psychological strain. An equally important predictor is conscientiousness, with academics higher on conscientiousness reporting more frequent use of adaptive coping strategy and less susceptible to the feeling of role insufficiency. Extraversion and openness contributed modestly to occupational stress, while agreeableness was the least important factor in occupational stress. Implications of these findings are discussed concerning faculty members and university senior managers. (Contains 3 tables.)

The principal objective of this research is to ascertain if the "research-teaching dichotomy" as revealed in the relationship between conceptions of effective teachers and teaching styles among Han Chinese academics can be found among Tibetan academics. As a preliminary objective, this research examines the appropriateness of the Effective Teacher Inventory (Zhang, 2003) for evaluating Tibetan academics' conceptions of effective teachers and compares the conceptions of effective teachers between Tibetan and Han Chinese academics. The Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory (Grigorenko & Sternberg, 1993) and the Effective Teacher Inventory (Zhang, 2003) were administered to 162 Tibetan academics. For the purpose of comparison, data from 93 Han Chinese academics in Zhang's (2009) study were integrated into the present research. The results warranted two conclusions. First, the Effective Teacher Inventory was appropriate for assessing Tibetan academics' conceptions of effective teachers; and there was no substantial difference in the conceptions of effective teachers between the two samples. Second, as it was among Han Chinese academics, the apparent "research-teaching dichotomy" was identified among Tibetan academics. Limitations and significance of this research are discussed and directions for future research are proposed. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study examines the construct of hardiness with the Big Five personality traits among 362 Chinese university students. Participants in the study responded to the Dispositional Hardiness Scale (Bartone, Ursano, Wright, & Ingraham, 1989) and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Results indicate that personality traits statistically predicted hardiness beyond age and gender among Chinese university students. These results support the argument that hardiness represents a healthy personality disposition. Implications of the present findings are discussed for university teachers and for university counselors. (Contains 2 tables.)

This research aims to understand university students' thinking styles and the relationship with their views of creativity. The Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II was used to measure 13 thinking styles as defined in Sternberg's theory of mental self-government and the Conceptions of Creativity Scales was used to inquire students' views about the conditions for evaluating creativity from six aspects: intelligence, knowledge, style of thinking, personality, motivation and learning environment. Significant relationships were identified between thinking styles and conceptions of creativity. This research contributes to the understanding about the relationship between conceptions of creativity and thinking styles, and brings insights for educators about educational innovations, as one of the key objectives of educational innovations is to develop creativity of the younger generation. (Contains 4 tables.)

Temperament and personality have been presumed to affect achievement goals based on the hierarchical model of achievement motivation. This research investigated the relationships of temperament dimensions and the Big Five personality traits to achievement goals based on the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework among 775 Chinese adolescent students. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 2 x 2 framework could be generalised to the Chinese context. Six of the nine temperament dimensions (e.g. activity level--general, flexibility-rigidity, and task orientation) significantly predicted mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Neuroticism, extroversion and conscientiousness significantly predicted all the above-mentioned four achievement goals; openness and agreeableness significantly predicted the mastery-orientated and performance-oriented achievement goals, respectively. Compared with temperament, personality was the stronger predictor for achievement goals. These results supported the posited relationship of "hard-wiring" variables to achievement goals in the conceptual model of achievement motivation. (Contains 1 note and 3 tables.)

Much theorization and research have been done independently on thinking styles and psychosocial development. The primary objective of this research was to further investigate the predictive power of thinking styles for psychosocial development through replicating Zhang and He's (in press) study of Chinese university students in Shanghai, mainland China. Data were collected from two Chinese contexts: Nanjing (N = 362) in mainland China and Hong Kong (N = 117). All participants responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II (TSI-R2, Sternberg, Wagner, & Zhang, 2007) and to the Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD, Hawley, 1988). The TSI-R2 is grounded in Sternberg's (1997) theory of mental self-government, while the MPD is rooted in Erikson's (1968) theory of psychosocial development. Hierarchical multiple regression results confirmed Zhang and He's finding that Type I styles (typified by their creativity-generating characteristics) positively contributed to psychosocial development, whereas Type II styles (noted for their norm-favoring features), especially the monarchic and conservative styles, negatively contributed to psychosocial development. Two of the Type III styles (Type III styles may display the characteristics of either Type I or Type II styles, depending on the specific situation) consistently predicted psychosocial development: the external style positively contributed to psychosocial development, whereas the anarchic style did so negatively. Implications of these results are discussed for university students, faculty members, and for university student development educators. (Contains 7 tables.)

The study examined the incremental validity of thinking styles in predicting academic achievement after controlling for personality and achievement motivation in the hypermedia-based learning environment. Seventy-two Chinese college students from Shanghai, the People's Republic of China, took part in this instructional experiment. The End-Of-Semester test was designed to examine the students' achievement in the course of General Psychology. The results partially supported the hypotheses concerning the relationships between students' Type I and II thinking styles and their academic achievement in Type I test (including analysis, problem-solving, and essay tests) and Type II test (including multiple-choice and cloze tests), and showed that some Type III styles were significantly related to their academic achievement. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the capacity of thinking styles for explaining and predicting academic achievement was sometimes over and above the sum of personality traits and achievement motivation. Implications for educational practice are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

The principal objective of this study was to explore the predictive power of thinking styles for metacognition when self-rated abilities were taken into account. As a preliminary step, the study examined the psychometric properties of the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). Four hundred and twenty-four university students from mainland China responded to the MAI, the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II, and the Self-Rated Ability Scale. The study ascertained the reliability and validity of the MAI. More importantly, results suggested that three creativity-generating styles (hierarchical, liberal and legislative) and the executive style predicted metacognition beyond self-rated abilities. Practical significance of the main research finding was discussed for university faculty members, students and university senior managers. (Contains 3 tables.)

The present study examined the relationships between thinking styles and achievement motivation among Chinese university students. The Thinking Styles Inventory--Revised (TSI-R; Sternberg, Wagner, & Zhang, 2003) and the Achievement Motives Scale (AMS; Gjesme & Nygard, 1970; Ye & Hagtvet, 1988) were administered to 238 Chinese university students from Shanghai, the People's Republic of China. Results largely supported the hypothesis that the more creativity-generating and complex thinking styles (Type I styles) were positively correlated with achievement motivation to approach success (MS), and negatively correlated with achievement motivation to avoid failure (MF). Results partially supported the hypothesis that the more norm-favoring and simplistic thinking styles (Type II styles) had negative correlation with MS, and positive correlation with MF. The study also found that the situation-/task-dependent thinking styles (Type III styles) were positively correlated with MS, and negatively correlated with MF. Implications for educational practice were discussed. (Contains 5 tables.)

The present study investigates the predictive power of conceptions of effective teachers for teaching styles. Ninety-three academic staff from two large comprehensive universities in the People's Republic of China responded to The Effective Teacher Inventory [Zhang, L.F. (2003). The effective teacher inventory. Unpublished test, The University of Hong Kong: Hong Kong.] and to the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory [Grigorenko, E.L., & Sternberg, R.J. (1993). Thinking styles in teaching inventory. Unpublished test, Yale University.]. Results suggested that teachers who considered being superior in research-related activities as a more important attribute of an effective university teacher reported that they taught more conservatively, whereas teachers who perceived teaching-related activities as being more critical functions of an effective teacher reported that they taught more creatively. Implications of this finding for university teachers and administrators are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

The two primary objectives of this study were: to identify the preferred teaching styles of secondary-school students and to compare these preferences with those of university students from past research; and to examine the contributions of students' preferred teaching styles to their academic achievement. A sample of 298 students from a Catholic boys' school completed the Preferred Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory and the Self-rated Ability Scale. Participants' achievements in 12 school subjects were obtained. Results indicated great similarities between the preferred teaching styles of the present sample and those of university students in previous studies. Achievement scores in all 12 subjects were predicted by students' preferred teaching styles beyond their self-rated abilities. Some of these predictive relationships were domain-specific, while others were not. The findings' scientific and practical implications are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

The primary objective of this study was to further understand Tibetan university students' learning styles through investigating Tibetan university teachers' teaching styles and their preferred student learning styles. This objective was achieved by analysing the interview data from a group of Tibetan university teachers and the comparative survey data gathered from university teachers in Nanjing and Tibet. Quantitative data lent complete support to our prediction that Tibetan teachers were significantly more conservative in their teaching than their Nanjing counterparts. However, the data only partially confirmed our prediction that Tibetan teachers would teach less creatively. Interview data suggested that to deal with the rapidly changing world, university teachers in Tibet are becoming more creative in their teaching. Yet, for various reasons, teaching and learning in Tibet remain relatively conservative. These include Tibet's geographical location, its economy, education system that is deeply rooted in monastery education, and its traditional values such as modesty and respect, as well as Tibetan people's strong sense of culture preservation. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of university students' cognitive distortions in their sense of autonomy. One hundred and three third-year university students from Shanghai, The People's Republic of China, responded to the Cognitive Distortion Scales [Briere, J. (2000). "Cognitive Distortion Scales: Professional manual". Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.] and to the Iowa Developing Autonomy Inventory [Jackson, L. M., Hood, A. B. (1985). The Iowa Developing Autonomy Inventory. In A. B. Hood (Ed., 1997), "The Iowa student development inventories" (2nd Ed), (pp. 32-43). Iowa City, IA: HITECH Press]. Results suggested that in general, cognitive distortions have a significantly negative impact on Chinese students' sense of autonomy. However, there was also an indication that cognitive distortions could play the roles of psychological defense mechanisms, which provided some support to Bowins' [Bowins, B. (2004). "Psychological defense mechanisms: A new perspective." "American Journal of Psychoanalysis", 64 (1), 1-26] recent argument that cognitive distortions may not always be dysfunctional. Implications of the present findings are discussed in relation to students, faculty members, and university counselors.

The primary aim of this research is to investigate the predictive power of occupational stress for teaching style among university faculty members. A sample of 144 faculty members from a large university in the People's Republic of China rated themselves on three ability scales and responded to the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory and to four scales from the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised (role overload, role insufficiency, psychological strain, and rational/cognitive coping). Satisfactory reliability and validity data were obtained for the Chinese version of the four occupational stress scales. After self-rated abilities were taken into account, occupational stress remained a significant predictor of teaching style. A stronger feeling of role overload and more frequent use of a rational/cognitive coping strategy were conducive to employing both creativity-generating and conservative teaching styles; a stronger feeling of role insufficiency and psychological strain had a negative impact on the use of creative-generating teaching styles. The implications of this research for both university faculty members and university administrators are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.) [This project was supported by the Wu Jieh-Yee Education Research Fund.]

The present study empirically addresses two longstanding controversial issues in the field of intellectual styles. The first concerns the distinction (or similarity) between various style constructs. The second relates to whether or not intellectual styles make a difference to students' academic achievement. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between Torrance's modes of thinking and Sternberg's thinking styles. It also examined the role of the two style constructs in achievement in Chinese, English, and mathematics. Three self-report inventories were administered to 452 students from a senior secondary school in rural China. After students' age, gender, and self-rated abilities were controlled for, thinking styles predicted modes of thinking. In general, conservative intellectual styles predicted better achievement across the three subjects among students in lower grade levels, whereas creative intellectual styles contributed to achievement in Chinese among students in higher grade levels. It is concluded that each of the two style constructs has a unique value in explaining individual differences in human performance. Furthermore, the study makes another call for cultivating creative intellectual styles among school students. (Contains 2 tables.)

The present paper reports a series of six studies, each investigating the power of self-rated analytical, creative, and practical abilities for predicting one of six individual-difference variables: cognitive development, modes of thinking, career interests, learning approaches, thinking styles, and personality traits. Contributing to the composition of 18 samples, the 5019 (1904 males and 3115 females) university students were from three cultural groups: Hong Kong, mainland China, and the United States. Each of the six variables was assessed by a self-report inventory. Results indicated that in all three cultures, students who rated themselves higher on the ability scales tended to score significantly higher on the individual-difference variable scales that denote positive values, such as higher cognitive-developmental levels and creativity-generating thinking styles. Moreover, students who rated themselves lower on the ability scales tended to score significantly higher on the individual-difference variable scales that indicate negative values such as a lower cognitive-developmental level and norm-favoring thinking styles. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to both research and education.

Studies the role of thinking style development in 245 Chinese college students. Results indicated that thinking styles predicted students' sense of purposefulness, an important dimension in psychosocial development. Suggests that theories of intellectual styles should be integrated into the traditional family of student development theories. (Contains 62 references, 3 tables, and two appendixes.) (GCP)

This study examined use of Sternberg and Zhang's (1995) pentagonal implicit theory of giftedness by 189 preservice teachers in China. In making judgments about giftedness, study participants considered three of the models' five criteria: excellence, productivity, and value (but not rarity and demonstrability). Results are compared to similar studies in Hong Kong and the United States. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Studied the relationship between student approaches to learning and stages of cognitive development, also considering the validity of the theory of development of W. Perry (1970). Results for 67 U.S. and 193 Mainland Chinese students suggest a relationship between cognitive development and student learning approaches with different patterns for U.S. and Chinese students. A relationship between cognitive development and achievement was found for U.S., but not Chinese, students. (SLD)

To investigate the association between infancy weight gain and neurodevelopment among term-born infants. Singleton term-born infants (n = 5837) were included from the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study. Absolute weight gain was obtained by calculating the weight difference from birth to exactly 12 months. The primary outcome was neurodevelopment at age one year, which included five developmental domains. Global developmental delay was defined as delays in ≥3 domains. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the associations between infancy weight gain and neurodevelopment. Compared with infants gaining 6001–7000 g (reference group), infants gaining ≤5000 g had higher odds of delay in adaptive, gross motor, fine motor, social, and global developmental delay, infants gaining 5001–6000 g had higher odds of gross motor delay and social delay. A sex-stratified analysis showed that compared with the reference group, gaining ≤5000 g was associated with higher odds of fine motor delay in male infants, while gaining >7000 g was associated with higher odds of fine motor delay in females. Inadequate infancy weight gain is associated with higher odds of poor neurodevelopment at age one year among term-born infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An 18-item professional identity of doctoral students inventory was established. • Six research styles were derived from the thinking styles inventory-revised II. • Creativity-generating research styles positively predicted professional identity. This study explored the contributions of doctoral students' research styles to their professional identity. Moreover, it examined the psychometric properties of the newly constructed Professional Identity of Doctoral Students Inventory (PIDSI) and six slightly modified scales from the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II (TSI-R2) for measuring research styles. Participants were 203 doctoral students from nine universities in China's Greater Bay Area. A four-dimension (i.e., self-identification, professional knowledge, core competence, and career multiplicity) 18-item PIDSI was established, and the psychometric properties of the six TSI-R2 scales measuring doctoral students' research styles were ascertained. Additionally, the research styles (i.e., the legislative, hierarchical, and liberal research styles) positively contributed to self-identification, professional knowledge, and core competence beyond the contributions of demographics. The monarchic style, a norm-conforming research style, negatively predicted self-identification and professional knowledge. These findings enrich the literature and have practical implications for doctoral students, supervisors, and university senior managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The undergraduate program of psychiatry has been widely established in recent years to improve the education and recruitment of psychiatrists in China. We aim to investigate the career choice of medical students majoring in psychiatry in China and the influential factors. Method: This multicenter study was conducted in 26 medical schools in China from May to October of 2019. Participants included 4610 medical students majoring in psychiatry and 3857 medical students majoring in clinical medicine. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the influential factors of students' choices of psychiatry at matriculation and as a career. Results: 44.08% of psychiatry majored students gave psychiatry as a first choice at matriculation, and 56.67% of them would choose psychiatry as a career, which was in sharp contrast to the proportion of clinical medicine majored students who would choose psychiatry as a career (0.69%). Personal interest (59.61%), suggestions from family members (27.96%), and experiencing mental problems (23.19%) were main reasons for choosing psychiatry major at matriculation. Personal interest (odds ratio [OR] = 2.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.87–2.40), experiencing a psychiatry clerkship (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.28–3.08), being female (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.30–1.68), experiencing mental problems (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.28–1.56), and suggestions from family members (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.08–1.46) correlated positively with students' choice of psychiatry as career. Students who lacked psychiatry knowledge (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.29–0.85) or chose psychiatry because of lower admission scores (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.63–0.97) were less likely to choose psychiatry as a career. Conclusion: More than half of psychiatry majored medical school students planned to choose psychiatry as their career, whereas very few students in the clinic medicine major would make this choice. Increasing students' interest in psychiatry, strengthening psychiatry clerkships, and popularizing psychiatric knowledge are modifiable factors to increase the psychiatry career intention. The extent to which medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry can be changed through medical school education and greater exposure to psychiatry will need further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the statistical predictive power of organisational commitments for academics’ teaching approaches. Participants were 268 academics working in six elite universities in Beijing, mainland China. Results showed that academics’ organisational commitments as measured by the Organisational Commitment Inventory significantly predicted their teaching approaches as assessed by the Approaches to Teaching Inventory – beyond gender, age, taught academic discipline, academic rank and type of institution. Limitations and theoretical contributions of the study are noted; and practical implications of the findings are discussed in relation to academics and university senior managers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For long, the research-teaching nexus has maintained the interest of the scholarly community. The present study introduced a process variable-teaching styles-into the investigation of the association between research and teaching. The study adopted a predominantly quantitative-driven, mixed research method design, with a questionnaire survey supplemented by insiders' views. Three hundred and fifty-four academics from 15 institutions in Beijing, P. R. China, responded to the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory and reported their research publications for 3 years. The quantitative findings suggested that after key demographics and contextual factors were controlled for, teaching styles were related to research productivity largely in the anticipated directions. Subsequently, four additional academics who met the criteria of possessing expertise in teaching styles and of having experiences as academics in China were invited to explain the quantitative findings concerning the relationships between specific teaching styles and particular types of publications. It was concluded that although the magnitude of the relationship between teaching and research is rather small, the research-teaching nexus does exist. Theoretical significance is discussed and practical implications of the findings are proposed for academics and for university senior managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Vocational identity status assessment is reliable and valid among Chinese university students. • Creativity-generating thinking styles benefited career exploration and commitment. • Norm-favoring thinking styles contributed to career self-doubt. This research pioneered the investigation of the statistically predictive power of university students' thinking styles for their vocational identity – beyond age, sex, academic discipline, socioeconomic status, hometown locations, and institutional ranking. One thousand and seventy-two senior-year undergraduates randomly selected from nine elite universities in Shanghai, mainland China, responded to the six-scale version of the Thinking Styles Inventory – Revised II and the Vocational Identity Status Assessment (VISA). Results showed that in-breadth (i.e., diverse) career exploration, in-depth (i.e., specific) career exploration, commitment making, commitment identification, and to some extent, career flexibility, called for both creativity-generating thinking styles and norm-favoring styles, particularly the former. Furthermore, creativity-generating styles went against career self-doubt, whereas norm-favoring thinking styles contributed to career self-doubt. The results also suggested that with the exception of two items, the newly translated Chinese version of the VISA is reliable and valid for assessing the vocational identity of senior-year Chinese university students. These findings have brought new insights into the literature on thinking styles and that on vocational identity. Meanwhile, the findings have practical implications for university students, academics, and career guidance counsellors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The utility of circulating Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) DNA as a tumor marker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) detection suggests that it might improve the diagnostic performance of anti-EBV antibody markers in NPC screening. In this study, the authors evaluated whether circulating EBV DNA load is capable of distinguishing NPC patients from high-risk individuals who have positive anti-EBV antibodies. METHODS In a population-based NPC screening trial in Sihui City and Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China, the authors previously identified 862 high-risk participants with 2 screening markers, immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies to EBV capsid antigen (VCA/IgA) and nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA1/IgA). In the current study, real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the baseline plasma EBV DNA load among 825 participants (97%). Follow-up was extended to the end of 2011 to evaluate the diagnostic and predictive values of plasma EBV DNA load. RESULTS By using 0 copies/mL as the cutoff value, plasma EBV DNA had a sensitivity of 86.8% (33 of 38 patients) for NPC detected within the first year of follow-up, yielding a positive predictive value of 30% (33 of 110 participants) and a negative predictive value of 99.3% (696 of 701 participants). The patients who had early stage NPC had lower sensitivity (81.5%; 22 of 27 patients) than those who had advanced NPC (100%; 11 of 11 patients). For the 14 patients who had NPC detected after 1 year of follow-up, only 50% (7 of 14 patients) tested positive for EBV DNA at baseline. CONCLUSIONS The plasma EBV DNA load may improve the accuracy of diagnosing NPC in high-risk individuals, but it appears to have limited value in screening patients who have early stage NPC and predicting NPC development. Cancer 2014;120:1353-1360. © 2014 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research had two objectives. The first was to determine the reliability and validity of the multifaceted assessment of creativity (MAC) for evaluating Hong Kong university students’ conceptions of creativity. The second was to establish if the theory–practice and gender gaps discovered among mainland Chinese university students would be replicated. The theoretical foundation for the MAC is the investment theory of creativity. Participants were 156 university students in Hong Kong. Results showed that Hong Kong university students’ conceptions of creativity fit well with the six resources for creativity measured by the MAC: intelligence, knowledge, intellectual style, personality, motivation and environment. The present data not only confirmed the theory–practice and gender discrepancies previously found among mainland Chinese university students, but also revealed an additional gap – a theory–practice gap found only in participants’ evaluation of female school students. Implications are discussed for research and for the psychology of teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic polymorphisms of UGT1A3, UGT1A6, and UGT2B7 in Chinese epilepsy patients and their potential influence on the pharmacokinetics of valproic acid (VPA). Methods: The genetic architectures of UGT1A3, UGT1A6, and UGT2B7 in 242 epilepsy patients were detected by DNA sequencing and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Steady-state plasma concentrations of VPA in 225 patients who had received VPA (approx. 250-1,000 mg/day) for at least 2 weeks were determined and associated with UGT polymorphisms. Results: The allelic distribution of UGT1A3 in our Chinese epilepsy patients was significantly different from that in healthy subjects based on reference data. The standardized trough plasma concentration (C) of VPA was much lower in our patients with the UGT1A3*5 variant than in the wild type carriers (3.24 ± 1.05 vs. 4.68 ± 1.24 μg·kg·mL·mg, P < 0.01). UGT polymorphisms had no influence on the pharmacokinetic interactions between carbamazepine and VPA. Conclusion: Our results suggest that UGT1A3*5 may be an important determinant of individual variability in the pharmacokinetics of VPA and that it may be necessary to increase VPA dose for UGT1A3*5 carriers to ensure its therapeutic range of 50-100 μg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The primary objective of this study was to examine the predictive power of thinking styles for anxiety. Three hundred and seventy-eight university students from mainland China responded to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II. Results showed that, in general, creativity-generating styles (also known as Type I styles) and the external style (a preference for working with others as opposed to working alone) were negatively related to anxiety, whereas the conservative style was positively related to anxiety. Moreover, the hierarchical style (one of the Type I styles) and the external style negatively predicted anxiety beyond sex, whereas the conservative style did so positively. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to university students, faculty members, and university senior managers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The primary objective of this study was to examine the predictive power of occupational stress for teaching approaches. Participants were 246 faculty members from a large university in Guangzhou in the People's Republic of China, who completed the Approaches to Teaching Inventory, four scales from the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised (assessing role overload, role insufficiency, psychological strain, and rational/cognitive coping), and the Self-rated Ability Scale. Results suggested that after the participants' self-rated abilities were controlled for, the combination of role overload and the use of rational/cognitive coping was conducive to the conceptual-change teaching approach (both intention and strategy), and that role insufficiency negatively predicted the conceptual-change teaching strategy. Furthermore, together, rational/cognitive coping and psychological strain contributed to an information-transmission teaching strategy. The implications of these findings for university academics and for university senior managers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the relationship between thinking styles and emotions among university students in Hong Kong. Participants were 99 2nd-year students (23 men and 76 women) who responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised (TSI-R), based on R. J. Sternberg's (1988) theory of mental self-government, and to the Iowa Managing Emotions Inventory (IMEI), based on A. Chickering's (1969) theory of psychosocial development. Results indicated not only that thinking styles were associated with emotions but also that thinking styles had predictive power for emotions beyond age. The author discusses implications of these findings for faculty members and student-development educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study replicated investigation of the link between Holland's six career interest types and Costa and McCrae's big five personality traits in a Chinese context. A sample of 79 university students from Hong Kong evaluated their own abilities and responded to the Short-Version Self-Directed Search (SVSDS) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Results demonstrated external validity for the SVSDS, and suggested that even when students' self-rated abilities were taken into account, career interests and personality traits still significantly overlapped, although each construct made a unique contribution to the variance in the data. The specific ways in which the dimensions of career interests and personality traits were related to one another were generally consistent with those documented in the literature. The implications for educational research and educational practice in the Chinese context are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study had two objectives. The preliminary objective was to further test the psychometric properties of the short-version self-directed search that was intended to be a brief research tool for measuring Holland [Holland, J. L. (1973). Making vocational choices: A theory of careers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; Holland, J. L. (1994). Self-directed search. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources] six career interest types. The primary objective, though, was to examine the predictive power of modes of thinking for career interest types. Modes of thinking were grounded in Torrance''s [Torrance, E. P. (1981). Implications of whole-brained theories of learning and thinking for computer-based instruction. Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, 7(4), 99–105] notion of brain dominance. Two hundred and seventy-two university students from Shanghai, People''s Republic of China, responded to the style of learning and thinking and the short-version self-directed search. Results showed that after gender effect was taken into account, the holistic mode of thinking (characterized by its creativity-generating tendency) significantly predicted five of the six career interest types (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, and enterprising) defined by Holland. The analytic mode of thinking (characterized by its tendency for norm-conformity) contributed to Holland''s conventional career interest type. We discuss implications of these findings for university educational and career counselors and for faculty members. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Teaching for a balanced use of thinking styles involves instructing and assessing students using a variety of teaching styles, rather than just a single style. This article describes two experimental studies that test if teaching for a balanced use of thinking styles enhances students’ achievement. Participants were students and teachers from a comprehensive university of Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China. The first study involved 95 students majoring in computer sciences and two teachers, and the second, 85 students majoring in economics and business administration and two teachers. In each of the studies, students were taught a special topic in a 45-min session and took an achievement test. Each test paper was evaluated by two teachers. Students also responded to a self-report test of thinking styles and to two ability inventories. Support for the superiority of teaching for a balanced use of thinking styles was found in Study One, but not in Study Two. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]