Language skills in student essays: social disparities and later educational attainment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Weber
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Socially Disadvantaged ◽  
The Social ◽  
British Cohort Study ◽  
Origin Effect

This article examines the role of language skills in socially stratified educational attainment. Using essays written at the age of 11 in a large British cohort study, the National Child Development Study (NCDS), two measures of written language skills are derived: lexical diversity and the number of spelling and grammar errors. Results show that participants from the lower social strata misspelt more words and used a smaller variety of words in their essays than more socially privileged cohort members. Those language skills mediate part of the association between social origin and the highest level of educational attainment achieved. An even higher mediation of about half can be observed if standardised test measures for verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities are included in the model. The models show that language skills mediate the social origin effect on educational attainment by about a quarter.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Student essays are used to measure language skills.</li><br /><li>Socially disadvantaged students’ essays contain more errors.</li><br /><li>Essays from socially advantaged cohort members are more lexically diverse.</li><br /><li>Language skills mediate part of the social origin effect on educational attainment.</li></ul>

scholarly journals Social origin and educational attainment in China: a historical analysis of 70 birth cohorts

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Changchun Fang ◽  
Xiaotian Feng
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of social origin on educational attainment is conditioned on the social context in which people live. In recent decades, with changes in the Chinese society, how has the impact of social origin on educational inequality changed? Based on an analysis of 70 birth cohorts, this study details the effect of social origin on educational inequality and its trends over the past 70 years. The results of this study also indicate that the historical stages hypothesis (HSH) and model-shift hypothesis (MSH) emphasized in previous studies cannot fully describe the historical changes in educational inequality. In addition to macrosocial processes, there may exist other structural factors that also affect educational inequality but are neglected. The social context and its transformation, which shaped the relationship between social origin and educational inequality, need to be examined in more detail.

scholarly journals Comparative Data Note: Harmonising the measurement of social origin, cognitive ability and educational attainment across the National Child Development Study (NCDS), the British Cohort Study (BCS70), the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), and the Avon Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Andreas Betthäuser ◽  
Mollie Bourne ◽  
Erzsebet Bukodi
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Child Development ◽  
Young People ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
National Child Development Study ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
British Cohort Study

The data note presents and discusses descriptive statistics comparing key variables on individuals’ social origin, cognitive ability and educational attainment that have been constructed based on the information contained in four different data sets: National Child Development Study (NCDS), 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) and Avon Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). The main sets of variables presented are (1) measures of respondents’ cognitive ability in childhood, (2) parental education, class, status and income, and (3) respondents’ highest qualification and measures indicating whether respondents have crossed different educational qualification thresholds.

Contradictory explanatory models of doctors and ischemic heart patients with low health literacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Rasmussen ◽  
C Overgaard
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Ischemic Heart ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
Heart Patients ◽  
Socially Disadvantaged ◽  
Low Health Literacy ◽  
The Social

Abstract Background Health literacy has been used to explain the social inequalities in ischemic heart disease that exists globally. However, most conceptualizations of health literacy employ an isolated focus on the patient's cognitive abilities without considering the social context. By using the cultural health capital framework, this paper aims at exploring how differences in social dispositions influence the interaction between doctors and ischemic heart patients with low health literacy and low socioeconomic status. Methods The paper is based on 30 qualitative interviews with Danish ischemic heart patients with low health literacy and low socioeconomic status and supplementary, contextual observations. The data collection was nationwide and carried out between October 2018 and August 2019. Results The findings showed that the patients and the doctors derived from different social spheres, which meant that they had developed dissimilar habitus and therefore used different explanatory models to understand and articulate the patient's problem. The doctors were primarily oriented towards the biomedical understanding of the malfunctioning of the body and therefore less aware of the patients' psychosocial illness experience. For the patients, these contradictions resulted in feelings of not being acknowledged, lack of trust in the healthcare system and disruption of treatment. Conclusions The findings suggest that to understand barriers for treatment of socially disadvantaged ischemic heart patients it is not only relevant to look at the patient's individual cognitive abilities but also to explore class-based contradictions in explanatory models between the patients and doctors. Key messages Health literacy should be understood as something embedded in the interplay between social structures and interpersonal dynamics. Contradictions in explanatory models may help explain barriers for treatment of socially disadvantaged ischemic heart patients.

scholarly journals Measuring social origin, cognitive ability and educational attainment in the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Andreas Betthäuser ◽  
Mollie Bourne ◽  
Erzsebet Bukodi
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Education Class ◽  
British Cohort Study ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
Class Status

This data note presents and discussed descriptive statistics of the key variables on individuals’ social origin, cognitive ability and educational attainment that have been constructed based on the information contained in the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). The main sets of variables presented are (1) measures of respondents’ cognitive ability in childhood, (2) parental education, class, status and income, and (3) respondents’ highest qualification and measures indicating whether respondents have crossed different educational qualification thresholds.

WRITING SKILLS IN SMP USWATUN HASANAH, BURU DISTRICT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
HARZIKO
Keyword(s):  
Middle School Students ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Boarding School ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Reading Process ◽  
School Students ◽  
Junior High Students ◽  
The Media

Abstract Reading is a process carried out and used by the reader to obtain a message, which the writer wants to convey through the media of written language. A process that demands that groups of words which are a unity be seen at a glance, and so that the meaning of individual words will be known. If this is not fulfilled, then the explicit and implicit message will not be captured or understood, and the reading process will not be carried out properly. A process that demands that groups of words that represent a group will be seen in a glance, and so that the meaning of individual words will be known. This study aims to describe the language skills of Uswatun Hasanah Middle School students in Buru Regency. The research location is in the Islamic boarding school of Uswatun hasanah Namlea. data and data sources namely students of class VII Uswatun hasanah. the method in this study is PTK or classroom action research. The results of the study showed that the language skills of the seventh grade junior high students were very prominent as evidenced by the assignment of language assignments, namely. Keywords: Reading, Uswatun hasanah, students, Buru

scholarly journals Integrative and Complementary Health Practices Building a New Health Paradigm

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Gemeli ◽  
H Silva ◽  
M Kato
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Health It ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Perspective

Abstract This work arose from the need to broaden the therapeutic approach and offer a differentiated health intervention proposal based on the understanding that the illness process has repercussions on all integrated systems of Being. Since 2019, the Health Center for the Elderly in Blumenau (SC-Brasil), specialized multi-professional service, offering support for biopsychoenergetic transformation with the practice of Yoga and Meditation, through a holistic and comprehensive view of health. It begins with the Multidimensional Assessment of the Elderly, with a guideline in welcoming and qualified listening, which considers the subject and all subjectivity. From there, the expanded diagnosis and the Singular Therapeutic Project are built and the consultations with the team and the 'Re-Conhecer group' begin. The activity is weekly, aimed at the elderly and their family, takes place in an appropriate place and lasts two hours. Welcoming, pranayama, mantras, kriyas and meditation are made, as well as reflections on free themes. The professionals who conduct the practice are the dentist, trained in yoga, and the social worker, the welcoming process continues individually after the activity. Due to subjectivity, results are routinely collected in a qualitative way from the participants' report. There is a perception on the part of the participants, therapists and members of the multidisciplinary team that this work provides improvement in cognitive abilities, self-care, well-being, self-confidence, creativity, improved sleep, autonomy, balance, strengthening bonds, joy, vitality. Key messages This initiative builds new models of health care, transcending the traditional biomedical model, according to the operational guideline for comprehensiveness, universal access and equity. Provokes reflections and builds a new perspective of life with quality and participation of the elderly as subjects of their health.

Factors Associated with Lower Cognitive Performance Scores Among Older Japanese Men in Hawaii and Japan

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Naoko Miyagawa ◽  
Takayoshi Ohkubo ◽  
Akira Fujiyoshi ◽  
Akihiko Shiino ◽  
Randi Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Subclinical Atherosclerosis ◽  
Lifestyle Factors ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Japanese Men ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cardiometabolic Factors

Background: Few studies have compared factors related to cognitive function among people with similar genetic backgrounds but different lifestyles. Objective: We aimed to identify factors related to lower cognitive scores among older Japanese men in two genetically similar cohorts exposed to different lifestyle factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study of community-dwelling Japanese men aged 71–81 years included 2,628 men enrolled in the Kuakini Honolulu-Asia Aging Study based in Hawaii and 349 men in the Shiga Epidemiological Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis based in Japan. We compared participant performance through Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) assessment in Hawaii (1991–1993) and Japan (2009–2014). Factors related to low cognitive scores (history of cardiovascular disease, cardiometabolic factors, and lifestyle factors) were identified with questionnaires and measurements. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of a low (<  82) CASI score based on different factors. Results: CASI scores were lower in Hawaii than in Japan [21.2%(n = 556) versus 12.3%(n = 43), p <  0.001], though this was not significant when adjusted for age and educational attainment (Hawaii 20.3%versus Japan 17.9%, p = 0.328). History of stroke (OR = 1.65, 95%confidence interval = 1.19–2.29) was positively associated with low cognitive scores in Hawaii. Body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 tended to be associated with low cognitive scores in Japan; there was a significant interaction between the cohorts. Conclusion: Cognitive scores differences between cohorts were mostly explained by differences in educational attainment. Conversely, cardiovascular diseases and cardiometabolic factors differentially impacted cognitive scores among genetically similar older men exposed to different lifestyle factors.

scholarly journals Frequency of Recent Binge Drinking Is Associated With Sex-Specific Cognitive Deficits: Evidence for Condition-Dependent Trait Expression in Humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470492095444
Author(s):  
Liana S. E. Hone ◽  
John E. Scofield ◽  
Bruce D. Bartholow ◽  
David C. Geary
Keyword(s):  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Visuospatial Abilities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Binge Drinkers ◽  
Visuospatial Tasks

Evolutionary theory suggests that commonly found sex differences are largest in healthy populations and smaller in populations that have been exposed to stressors. We tested this idea in the context of men’s typical advantage (vs. women) in visuospatial abilities (e.g., mental rotation) and women’s typical advantage (vs. men) in social-cognitive (e.g., facial-expression decoding) abilities, as related to frequent binge drinking. Four hundred nineteen undergraduates classified as frequent or infrequent binge drinkers were assessed in these domains. Trial-level multilevel models were used to test a priori Sex × Group (binge drinking) interactions for visuospatial and social-cognitive tasks. Among infrequent binge drinkers, men’s typical advantage in visuospatial abilities and women’s typical advantage in social-cognitive abilities was confirmed. Among frequent binge drinkers, men’s advantage was reduced for one visuospatial task (Δ d = 0.29) and eliminated for another (Δ d = 0.75), and women’s advantage on the social-cognitive task was eliminated (Δ d = 0.12). Males who frequently engaged in extreme binges had exaggerated deficits on one of the visuospatial tasks, as did their female counterparts on the social-cognitive task. The results suggest sex-specific vulnerabilities associated with recent, frequent binge drinking, and support an evolutionary approach to the study of these vulnerabilities.

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