It takes an institution's village to retain a student: A comprehensive look at two early warning system undergraduate retention programs and administrators' perceptions of students' experiences and the retention services they provide students in the early warning system retention programs

Institutions have implemented many campus interventions to address student persistence/retention, one of which is Early Warning Systems (EWS). However, few research studies show evidence of interventions that incorporate noncognitive factors/skills, and psychotherapy/psycho-educational processes in the EWS. A qualitative study (phenomenological interview and document analysis) of EWS at both a public and private 4-year Florida university was conducted to explore EWS through the eyes of the administrators of the ways administrators make sense of students' experiences and the services they provide and do not provide to assist students. Administrators' understanding of noncognitive factors and the executive skills subset and their contribution to retention and the executive skills development of at-risk students were also explored. Hossler and Bean's multiple retention lenses theory/paradigms and Perez's retention strategies were used to guide the study. Six administrators from each institution who oversee and/or assist with EWS for first time in college undergraduate students considered academically at-risk for attrition were interviewed. Among numerous findings, at Institution X: EWS was infrequently identified as a service, EWS training was not conducted, numerous cognitive and noncognitive issues/deficits were identified for students, and services/critical departments such as EWS did not work together to share students' information to benefit students. Assessment measures were used to identify students' issues/deficits; however, they were not used to assess, track, and monitor students' issues/deficits. Additionally, the institution's EWS did address students' executive skills function beyond time management and organizational skills, but did not address students' psychotherapy/psycho-educational processes. Among numerous findings, at Institution Y: EWS was frequently identified as a service, EWS training was not conducted, numerous cognitive and noncognitive issues/deficits were identified for students, and services/critical departments such as EWS worked together to share students' information to benefit students. Assessment measures were used to identify, track, and monitor students' issues/deficits; however, they were not used to assess students' issues/deficits. Additionally, the institution's EWS addressed students' executive skills function beyond time management and organizational skills, and psychotherapy/psycho-educational processes. Based on the findings, Perez's retention strategies were not utilized in EWS at Institution X, yet were collectively utilized in EWS at Institution Y, to achieve Hossler and Bean's retention paradigms. Future research could be designed to test the link between engaging in the specific promising activities identified in this research (one-to-one coaching, participation in student success workshops, academic contracts, and tutoring) and student success (e.g., higher GPA, retention). Further, because this research uncovered some concern with how to best handle students with physical and psychological disabilities, future research could link these same promising strategies for improving student performance for example among ADHD students or those with clinical depression.

Disaster Risk Management Disparity in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

This study on risk and disaster management capacities of four Caribbean countries: Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, examines three main dimensions: 1) the impact of natural disasters from 1900 to 2010 (number of events, number of people killed, total number affected, and damage in US$); 2) institutional assessments of disaster risk management disparity; and 3) the 2010 Inter-American Bank for Development (IADB) Disaster Risk and Risk Management indicators for the countries under study. The results show high consistency among the different sources examined, pointing out the need to extend the IADB measurements to the rest of the Caribbean countries. Indexes and indicators constitute a comparison measure vis-à-vis existing benchmarks in order to anticipate a capacity to deal with adverse events and their consequences; however, the indexes and indicators could only be tested against the occurrence of a real event. Therefore, the need exists to establish a sustainable and comprehensive evaluation system after important disasters to assess a country‘s performance, verify the indicators, and gain feedback on measurement systems and methodologies. There is diversity in emergency and preparedness for disasters in the four countries under study. The nature of the event (hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and seismic activity), especially its frequency and the intensity of the damage experienced, is related to how each has designed its risk and disaster management policies and programs to face natural disasters. Vulnerabilities to disaster risks have been increasing, among other factors, because of uncontrolled urbanization, demographic density and poverty increase, social and economic marginalization, and lack of building code enforcement. The four countries under study have shown improvements in risk management capabilities, yet they are far from being completed prepared. Barbados‘ risk management performance is superior, in comparison, to the majority of the countries of the region. However, is still far in achieving high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, primarily when it has the highest gap between potential macroeconomic and financial losses and the ability to face them. The Dominican Republic has shown steady risk performance up to 2008, but two remaining areas for improvement are hazard monitoring and early warning systems. Jamaica has made uneven advances between 1990 and 2008, requiring significant improvements to achieve high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, as well as macroeconomic mitigation infrastructure. Trinidad and Tobago has the lowest risk management score of the 15 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region as assessed by the IADB study in 2010, yet it has experienced an important vulnerability reduction. In sum, the results confirmed the high disaster risk management disparity in the Caribbean region.

Ecological indicators for system-wide assessment of the greater everglades ecosystem restoration program

Developing scientifically credible tools for measuring the success of ecological restoration projects is a difficult and a non-trivial task. Yet, reliable measures of the general health and ecological integrity of ecosystems are critical for assessing the success of restoration programs. The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (Task Force), which helps coordinate a multi-billion dollar multi-organizational effort between federal, state, local and tribal governments to restore the Florida Everglades, is using a small set of system-wide ecological indicators to assess the restoration efforts. A team of scientists and managers identified eleven ecological indicators from a field of several hundred through a selection process using 12 criteria to determine their applicability as part of a system-wide suite. The 12 criteria are: (1) is the indicator relevant to the ecosystem? (2) Does it respond to variability at a scale that makes it applicable to the entire system? (3) Is the indicator feasible to implement and is it measureable? (4) Is the indicator sensitive to system drivers and is it predictable? (5) Is the indicator interpretable in a common language? (6) Are there situations where an optimistic trend with regard to an indicator might suggest a pessimistic restoration trend? (7) Are there situations where a pessimistic trend with regard to an indicator may be unrelated to restoration activities? (8) Is the indicator scientifically defensible? (9) Can clear, measureable targets be established for the indicator to allow for assessments of success? (10) Does the indicator have specificity to be able to result in corrective action? (11) What level of ecosystem process or structure does the indicator address? (12) Does the indicator provide early warning signs of ecological change? In addition, a two page stoplight report card was developed to assist in communicating the complex science inherent in ecological indicators in a common language for resource managers, policy makers and the public. The report card employs a universally understood stoplight symbol that uses green to indicate that targets are being met, yellow to indicate that targets have not been met and corrective action may be needed and red to represent that targets are far from being met and corrective action is required. This paper presents the scientific process and the results of the development and selection of the criteria, the indicators and the stoplight report card format and content. The detailed process and results for the individual indicators are presented in companion papers in this special issue of Ecological Indicators.

Disater Risk Management Disparity in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

This study on risk and disaster management capacities of four Caribbean countries: Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, examines three main dimensions: 1) the impact of natural disasters from 1900 to 2010 (number of events, number of people killed, total number affected, and damage in US$); 2) institutional assessments of disaster risk management disparity; and 3) the 2010 Inter-American Bank for Development (IADB) Disaster Risk and Risk Management indicators for the countries under study. The results show high consistency among the different sources examined, pointing out the need to extend the IADB measurements to the rest of the Caribbean countries. Indexes and indicators constitute a comparison measure vis-à-vis existing benchmarks in order to anticipate a capacity to deal with adverse events and their consequences; however, the indexes and indicators could only be tested against the occurrence of a real event. Therefore, the need exists to establish a sustainable and comprehensive evaluation system after important disasters to assess a country’s performance, verify the indicators, and gain feedback on measurement systems and methodologies. There is diversity in emergency and preparedness for disasters in the four countries under study. The nature of the event (hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and seismic activity), especially its frequency and the intensity of the damage experienced, is related to how each has designed its risk and disaster management policies and programs to face natural disasters. Vulnerabilities to disaster risks have been increasing, among other factors, because of uncontrolled urbanization, demographic density and poverty increase, social and economic marginalization, and lack of building code enforcement. The four countries under study have shown improvements in risk management capabilities, yet they are far from being completed prepared. Barbados’ risk management performance is superior, in comparison, to the majority of the countries of the region. However, is still far in achieving high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, primarily when it has the highest gap between potential macroeconomic and financial losses and the ability to face them. The Dominican Republic has shown steady risk performance up to 2008, but two remaining areas for improvement are hazard monitoring and early warning systems. Jamaica has made uneven advances between 1990 and 2008, requiring significant improvements to achieve high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, as well as macroeconomic mitigation infrastructure. Trinidad and Tobago has the lowest risk management score of the 15 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region as assessed by the IADB study in 2010, yet it has experienced an important vulnerability reduction. In sum, the results confirmed the high disaster risk management disparity in the Caribbean region.

Armed Groups and Violence in Paraguay

Armed violence in Paraguay is not a recent phenomenon. During the second half of the XX Century, Paraguay saw the rise of a larger number of underground, revolutionary movements that sought the overthrow of the Alfredo Stroessner’s (1954-1989) government. From among those movements emerged the Partido Patria Libre (or, Free Fatherland, also known for its acronym PPL), made up of a two branches: one legal and the other one, operational. The latter was based on people’s power, as represented by “Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo” (or, the Paraguayan People’s Army, with acronym EPP). After EPP broke with PPL in March 2008, this Marxist-oriented revolutionary project, which was apparently oriented to put an end to the social, political and economic inequalities in Paraguay, began to carry out markedly criminal activities, which included bank robberies, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorist attacks and armed confrontations. Its strategies and modus operandi utilized by the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC). Paraguay features a farm sector in a state of crisis, in which cattle-ranchers, peasants and agro-exporting companies live in a constant strife. The Paraguayan Departments that are the most affected by this situation are Concepciόn, San Pedro, Canindeyú y Caazapá, which also suffer from a weak government presence. This deficiency has made these departments ripe for drug-trafficking activity by Brazilian groups such as Primer Comando Capital (i.e., First Capital command), also PCC and Comando Vermelho, (i.e., The Red Command). That is why many peasants, now recruited by EPP, have joined the drug-trafficking business and that, not only as marihuana growers but as “campanas” (i.e., early warning sentinels) for the organization. This helps shape their attitudes for their future involvement in all areas of drug-trafficking. Paraguayan society is the result of social inequity and inequality, such as those resulting from a lack of opportunity. Although Paraguay has successfully recovered from the last world economic crisis, economic growth, by itself, does not ensure an improvement in the quality of life. As long as such economic and social gaps persist and the government fails to enact the policies that would result in a more just society and toward EPP neutralization or containment, the latter is bound to grow stronger. In this context, the situation in Paraguay calls for more research into the EPP phenomenon. It would also seem necessary for Paraguay to promote an open national debate that includes all sectors of society in order to raise consciousness and to induce society to take actual steps to eliminate the EPP, as well as any other group that might arise in the immediate future. EPP has strong connections with the Frente Patriόtico Manuel Rodríguez in Chile and other armed groups and peasant movements in other countries of this region. Although most governments in the region are aware that the armed struggle is not a solution to current problems, it might be worth it to hold a regional debate about armed or insurgent groups in Latin American to seek common strategies and cooperation on dealing with them since the expansion of these armed groups is a problem for all.

Independent Monitoring the Cuban Economic Zone Oil Development

The extensive impact and consequences of the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil drilling rig failure in the Gulf of Mexico, together with expanding drilling activities in the Cuban Exclusive Economic zone, have cast a spotlight on Cuban oil development. The threat of a drilling rig failure has evolved from being only hypothetical to a potential reality with the commencement of active drilling in Cuban waters. The disastrous consequences of a drilling rig failure in Cuban waters will spread over a number of vital interests of the US and of nations in the Caribbean in the general environs of Cuba. The US fishing and tourist industries will take major blows from a significant oil spill in Cuban waters. Substantial ecological damage and damage to beaches could occur for the US, Mexico, Haiti and other countries as well. The need exists for the US to have the ability to independently monitor the reality of Cuban oceanic oil development. The advantages of having an independent US early warning system providing essential real-time data on the possible failure of a drilling rig in Cuban waters are numerous. An ideal early warning system would timely inform the US that an event has occurred or is likely to occur in, essentially, real-time. Presently operating monitoring systems that could provide early warning information are satellite-based. Such systems can indicate the locations of both drilling rigs and operational drilling platforms. The system discussed/proposed in this paper relies upon low-frequency underwater sound. The proposed system can complement existing monitoring systems, which offer ocean-surface information, by providing sub-ocean surface, near-real time, information. This “integrated system” utilizes and combines (integrates) many different forms of information, some gathered through sub-ocean surface systems, and some through electromagnetic-based remote sensing (satellites, aircraft, unmanned arial vehicles), and other methods as well. Although the proposed integrated system is in the developmental stage, it is based upon well-established technologies.

Effects of Altered Prenatal Sensory Stimulation on Postnatal Contingency Learning in Bobwhite Quail Neonates (Colinus Virginianus)

Preterm infants are exposed to high levels of modified early sensory experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Reports that preterm infants show deficits in contingency detection and learning when compared to full-term infants (Gekoski, Fagen, & Pearlman, 1984; Haley, Weinberg, & Grunau, 2006) suggest that their exposure to atypical amounts or types of sensory stimulation might contribute to deficits in these critical skills. Experimental modifications of sensory experience are severely limited with human fetuses and preterm infants, and previous studies with precocial bird embryos that develop in ovo have proven useful to assess the effects of modified perinatal sensory experience on subsequent perceptual and cognitive development. In the current study, I assessed whether increasing amounts of prenatal auditory or visual stimulation can interfere with quail neonates’ contingency detection and contingency learning in the days following hatching. Results revealed that augmented prenatal visual stimulation prior to hatching does not disrupt the ability of bobwhite chicks to recognize and prefer information learned in a contingent fashion, whereas augmented prenatal auditory stimulation disrupted the ability of chicks to benefit from contingently presented information. These results suggest that specific types of augmented prenatal stimulation that embryos receive during late prenatal period can impair the ability to learn and remember contingently presented information. These results provide testable developmental hypotheses, with the goal of improving the developmental care and management of preterm neonates in the NICU setting.

Effects of a modified English listening comprehension curriculum on students' achievement in English listening comprehension at Tamsui Oxford University College in Taiwan

Due to increased international trade, English as a foreign language is important to Taiwan. However, ESL teaching and learning in Taiwan emphasizes reading and writing skills only. ESL teaching in Taiwan causes students to lack competence in complete communication. Improving students' listening and speaking is a vital issue in Taiwan. ^ The purposes of this study are to determine the effects of a modified curriculum for the English listening comprehension course, to investigate whether the modified curriculum results in a significant improvement in student's listening comprehension, and to determine whether students were motivated to increase listening comprehension ability as a result of the new listening activities. An experimental and a control group, randomly assigned, received either the modified or the traditional curriculum at Tamsui Oxford University College (TOUC) in Taiwan over a fourteen week period of time. ^ A Michigan Listening Comprehension posttest was used to determine the difference in achievement between the two groups. A final examination was conducted to compare the two groups' achievement and to determine whether the goal of increasing listening comprehension achievement by using a modified curriculum was met. Subjects completed two questionnaires, one common form prior to class and another unique form for each group at the end of instruction. ^ Frequency distribution, chi-square, t-test for independent samples and analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that there were no significant differences in students' attitude and interest in English listening comprehension between those who were taught with an English listening modified curriculum compared with those students who were taught with a traditional curriculum. The findings also indicated that there was a difference in the final examination with the control group taught using the traditional curriculum scoring higher than the experimental group taught using the modified curriculum for performance in English listening comprehension, but there was no difference in scores on the Michigan Listening Comprehension Test (posttest). In addition, it was found that learning attitude and motivation influence students' learning. ^

Use of conjoint analysis to examine beliefs related to the practice of early literacy instruction

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between teacher beliefs and actual classroom practice in early literacy instruction. Conjoint analysis was used to measure teachers' beliefs on four early literacy factors—phonological awareness, print awareness, graphophonic awareness, and structural awareness. A collective case study format was then used to measure the correspondence of teachers' beliefs with their actual classroom practice. ^ Ninety Project READS participants were given twelve cards in an orthogonal experimental design describing students that either met or did not meet criteria on the four early literacy factors. Conjoint measurements of whether the student is an efficient reader were taken. These measurements provided relative importance scores for each respondent. Based on the relative important scores, four teachers were chosen to participate in a collective case study. ^ The conjoint results enabled the clustering of teachers into four distinct groups, each aligned with one of the four early literacy factors. K-means cluster analysis of the relative importance measurements showed commonalities among the ninety respondents' beliefs. The collective case study results were mixed. Implications for researchers and practitioners include the use of conjoint analysis in measuring teacher beliefs on the four early literacy factors. Further, the understanding of teacher preferences on these beliefs may assist in the development of curriculum design and therefore increase educational effectiveness. Finally, comparisons between teachers' beliefs on the four early literacy factors and actual instructional practices may facilitate teacher self-reflection thus encouraging positive teacher change. ^

Predictors of developmental gains in children enrolled in an early intervention setting

The purpose of this research was to determine whether initial developmental delay, site of intervention, frequency of intervention, age of the child, socio-economic status (SES), gender and ethnicity significantly predict developmental gains in a group of children enrolled in an early intervention setting. The records of 134 children enrolled in an inner-city program in Miami, Florida were reviewed for inclusion in this study. ^ Demographic variables, site placement and treatment frequencies were collected during a retrospective chart review. Level of delay was expressed using the developmental quotient and developmental gain was calculated using the mean gain on age equivalent scores or developmental tests. A multiple regression analysis was performed to determine which of the above variables significantly predicted developmental gains. Multivariate analysis compared developmental gains for all the developmental domains based on intervention site (center versus home-based) while controlling for developmental delay. ^ Children made greater developmental gains if they had higher developmental quotients and if they were younger at the time services were initiated. Frequency of intervention significantly improved developmental outcomes in children attending center-based programs. Children attending center-based programs also made significantly greater gains in gross motor skills compared to children attending home-based programs. ^ These findings emphasize the importance of early screening and referral of children with developmental delay and adjusting intervention for the child's developmental quotient. Children should receive intense treatment to maximize results. Decisions regarding program placement should be individualized according to the child's unique developmental pattern. Policy and program decisions affecting the curriculum of a child in early intervention need to reflect these multivariate considerations. ^

An examination of the effects of a summer book-reading program on the language and early literacy outcomes of toddlers from high risk environments

The current study examined the impact of an early summer literacy program and the mediating effects of the home literacy environment on the language and literacy outcomes of a group of children at-risk for long-term developmental and academic delays. Participating children (n=54) were exposed to an intensive book-reading intervention each summer (June through mid August) over a 3-year period. The current study implemented an ex post facto, quasi-experimental design. This nonequivalent group design involved a pretest and posttest over three time points for a non-randomized treatment group and a matched non-treatment comparison group. Results indicated that literacy scores did improve for the children over the 3-year period; however, language scores did not experience the same rate of change over time. Receptive language was significantly impacted by attendance, and race/ethnicity. Expressive language was impacted significantly by gestational age and attendance. Results also indicated that language outcomes for young children who are exposed to a literacy program were higher than those who did not participate; however, only receptive language yielded significance at the p<.05 level. These study results also found that activities in the home that support literacy and learning do indeed impact language and literacy outcomes for these children, specifically, the age at which a child is read to, the number of books in the home, a child’s enjoyment of reading, and whether a child looks at books on his or her own impact language scores. This study concluded that at-risk young children do benefit from center-based literacy intervention. This literacy experience, however, is also driven by the children's home environment, their attendance to the program, whether they were premature or not and the type of caregiver.

Tests of the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis across early postnatal development

The Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis (IRH; Bahrick & Lickliter, 2000, 2002, 2012) predicts that early in development information presented to a single sense modality will selectively recruit attention to modality-specific properties of stimulation and facilitate learning of those properties at the expense of amodal properties (unimodal facilitation). Vaillant (2010) demonstrated that bobwhite quail chicks prenatally exposed to a maternal call alone (unimodal stimulation) are able to detect a pitch change, a modality-specific property, in subsequent postnatal testing between the familiarized call and the same call with altered pitch. In contrast, chicks prenatally exposed to a maternal call paired with a temporally synchronous light (redundant audiovisual stimulation) were unable to detect a pitch change. According to the IRH (Bahrick & Lickliter, 2012), as development proceeds and the individual's perceptual abilities increase, the individual should detect modality-specific properties in both nonredundant, unimodal and redundant, bimodal conditions. However, when the perceiver is presented with a difficult task, relative to their level of expertise, unimodal facilitation should become evident. The first experiment of the present study exposed bobwhite quail chicks 24 hr after hatching to unimodal auditory, nonredundant audiovisual, or redundant audiovisual presentations of a maternal call for 10min/hr for 24 hours. All chicks were subsequently tested 24 hr after the completion of the stimulation (72 hr following hatching) between the familiarized maternal call and the same call with altered pitch. Chicks from all experimental groups (unimodal, nonredundant audiovisual, and redundant audiovisual exposure) significantly preferred the familiarized call over the pitch-modified call. The second experiment exposed chicks to the same exposure conditions, but created a more difficult task by narrowing the pitch range between the two maternal calls with which they were tested. Chicks in the unimodal and nonredundant audiovisual conditions demonstrated detection of the pitch change, whereas the redundant audiovisual exposure group did not show detection of the pitch change, providing evidence of unimodal facilitation. These results are consistent with predictions of the IRH and provide further support for the effects of unimodal facilitation and the role of task difficulty across early development.

Reverse Engineering of Modified Genes by Bayesian Network Analysis Defines Molecular Determinants Critical to the Development of Glioblastoma

In this study we have identified key genes that are critical in development of astrocytic tumors. Meta-analysis of microarray studies which compared normal tissue to astrocytoma revealed a set of 646 differentially expressed genes in the majority of astrocytoma. Reverse engineering of these 646 genes using Bayesian network analysis produced a gene network for each grade of astrocytoma (Grade I–IV), and ‘key genes’ within each grade were identified. Genes found to be most influential to development of the highest grade of astrocytoma, Glioblastoma multiforme were: COL4A1, EGFR, BTF3, MPP2, RAB31, CDK4, CD99, ANXA2, TOP2A, and SERBP1. All of these genes were up-regulated, except MPP2 (down regulated). These 10 genes were able to predict tumor status with 96–100% confidence when using logistic regression, cross validation, and the support vector machine analysis. Markov genes interact with NFkβ, ERK, MAPK, VEGF, growth hormone and collagen to produce a network whose top biological functions are cancer, neurological disease, and cellular movement. Three of the 10 genes - EGFR, COL4A1, and CDK4, in particular, seemed to be potential ‘hubs of activity’. Modified expression of these 10 Markov Blanket genes increases lifetime risk of developing glioblastoma compared to the normal population. The glioblastoma risk estimates were dramatically increased with joint effects of 4 or more than 4 Markov Blanket genes. Joint interaction effects of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 Markov Blanket genes produced 9, 13, 20.9, 26.7, 52.8, 53.2, 78.1 or 85.9%, respectively, increase in lifetime risk of developing glioblastoma compared to normal population. In summary, it appears that modified expression of several ‘key genes’ may be required for the development of glioblastoma. Further studies are needed to validate these ‘key genes’ as useful tools for early detection and novel therapeutic options for these tumors.

Compensatory effects of parent and peer support on well -being and achievement during pre- and early adolescence

The current study was designed to explore the salience of parent and peer support in middle childhood and early adolescence across two time periods as indicated by measures of achievement (grade point average (GPA), Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) scores and teacher rated school adaptation) and well-being (loneliness, depression, self-concept and teacher-rated internalizing behaviors). ^ Participants were part of an initial study on social network relations and school adaptation in middle childhood and early adolescence. Participants at Time 1 (in the spring of 1997) included 782 children in grades 4 and 6 of eight lower and middle income public elementary schools. Participants (N = 694) were reinterviewed two years later in the spring of 1999 (Time 2). ^ Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) were used to investigate the change in salience of parent and peer support from Time 1 to Time 2. In addition, Tukey-HSD (Honestly Significant Difference) post hoc tests were used to test the significance of the differences among the means of four support categories: (1) low parent-low friend, (2) low parent-high friend, (3) high parent-low friend, and (4) high parent-high friend. ^ Compensatory effects were observed for loneliness and self-concept at Time 1, as well as for SAT scores, self-concept and overall achievement at Time 2. Results were consistent with existing findings that suggest a competitive model of parent/peer influence on achievement during adolescence. This study affirms the need for a more contextual approach to research examining competing and compensatory effects on adolescent development. ^