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Stereotype threat is a possible reason for difficulties faced by girls and women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The threat experienced due to gender can cause elevated worry during performance situations. That is, if the stereotype that women are not as good as men in math becomes salient, this stereotype activation draws women’s attention to task-irrelevant worry caused by the fear of conforming to the negative stereotype. Increased worry can reduce cognitive resources, potentially leading to performance decrements. We argue that such worry is more pronounced immediately after an unrelated self-control demand, which is assumed to temporarily decrease people’s self-control exertion over their attention and stream of thought (i.e., relatively low self- control capacity). This prediction was examined in an experiment conducted with 102 participating university students enrolled in courses in which math plays a crucial role. After the manipulation of self-control capacity (low vs. high), stereotype threat was induced for the female students, but not the male students. Then, the students were asked to report their thoughts during a math performance situation (i.e., written thought protocols) three times. Multiple-group autoregressive path models revealed that when self-control capacity was relatively low, female compared with male students reported more intense worry in the initial two thought protocols. In contrast, in the relatively high self-control capacity condition, female and male students did not differ significantly in their reported worry at any time. These results expand on previous findings, suggesting that threat effects depend on definable situational self-control conditions.

Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016), S. 1-8, Reading habit is considered an important construct in reading research as it serves as a significant predictor of reading achievement. However, there is still no consensus on how to best measure reading habit. In recent research, it has mostly been measured as behavioral frequency; this approach neglects the fact that repeated behavior does not cover the broad content of habitual behavior—such as automaticity and the expression of one’s identity. In this study, we aimed to adapt a 10-item scale on the basis of the Self-Report Habit Index by Verplanken and Orbell (2003) that is comprehensive but still economical for measuring reading habit. It was tested by drawing on a sample of N = 1,418 upper secondary school students. The scale showed good psychometric properties and the internal and external validity was supported. Moreover, the scale predicted reading achievement and decoding speed over and above reading frequency. The implications of an elaborated but still economical way of measuring reading habit are discussed giving new impetus on research on reading habit, challenging conventional approaches of traditional measures. (IPN/Orig.)

Journal for educational research online 5 (2013) 1, S. 7-37, This study introduced a new questionnaire on subject, didactic, and educational teacher interest and analyzed their relations to occupational well-being (burnout, enjoyment, flow) and instructional practices in a sample of 281 teachers from elementary and both low- and high-achievement secondary schools. Results of confirmatory factor analysis verified the three-dimensional structure of the newly developed interest measure. Evidence for the construct validity of the interest measure was provided by structural equation analyses showing that teachers’ occupational well-being and instructional practices were predicted by their interests, even when controlling for self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, both didactic and educational interest contributed to lower levels of burnout and predicted beneficial instructional practices (e.g., cognitive stimulation). In addition, subject and educational interest were the main predictors of enjoyment and flow in class. (DIPF/Orig.), Es wird über die Entwicklung eines neuen Fragebogens zur Erfassung des fachlichen, didaktischen und erzieherischen Interesses von Lehrkräften berichtet. In einer Stichprobe von 281 Lehrkräften verschiedener Grund-, Haupt- und Gymnasialschulen wurden die Zusammenhänge der drei Interessendimensionen mit der beruflichen Erlebensqualität (Burnout, Vergnügen, Flow) und dem Instruktionsverhalten untersucht. Konfirmatorische Faktorenanalysen bestätigten die dreidimensionale Struktur des neuen Fragebogens. Belege für die Konstruktvalidität ergaben sich aufgrund von Strukturgleichungsanalysen, die zeigten, dass das Interesse Beiträge zur Vorhersage von beruflichem Erleben und Instruktionsverhalten leistet, auch wenn Selbstwirksamkeitsüberzeugungen kontrolliert wurden. Im Einzelnen gingen das didaktische und das erzieherische Interesse mit geringerem Burnout einher und erwiesen sich als Prädiktoren förderlichen Instruktionsverhaltens (z. B. kognitive Aktivierung). Darüber hinaus trugen das fachliche und das erzieherische Interesse zur Vorhersage von Vergnügen und Flow im Unterricht bei. (DIPF/Orig.)