The mechanisms of interest and perseverance in predicting achievement among academically resilient and non-resilient students: Evidence from Swedish longitudinal data

BACKGROUND

Students with low socio-economic status (SES) are typically depicted as low performers and more likely to fail in school. However, a group of students, despite their background, manage to succeed in school. The capacity to overcome adversities and achieve successful educational outcomes is referred to as Academic Resilience. Research on the relationship between personality traits and academic performance shows that conscientiousness is a crucial factor in predicting academic success and resilience. However, it has also been shown that achievement is a result of an interaction between conscientiousness and students' interest in the subject.

AIMS

The study aims to investigate how students' school-related perseverance and interest predict academic achievement among resilient and non-resilient pupils over time in the Swedish compulsory school setting.

SAMPLE

Study subjects were a subset (N = 1,665) of the sampled compulsory school students from the 1992 birth cohort in the evaluation through follow-up (ETF) database.

METHODS

Multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM) with latent variable interaction was used. Measurement invariance was tested to examine the comparability of the constructs across groups.

RESULTS

The results suggest that resilient students rely heavily on both perseverance of effort and interest in school subjects to succeed in their education. For the non-resilient group, the later perseverance level was conditioned on the level of the interest, and neither their early nor later grade interest was related to their achievement.

CONCLUSIONS

The academically resilient students displayed more consistency in interest and perseverance over time, which might explain their relative success compared to the non-resilient group.

Abstract P4-11-03: Single nucleotide polymorphism testing for breast cancer risk assessment: patient trust and willingness to pay

Background: The field of breast cancer risk assessment is advancing rapidly with recent discoveries about risk conferring single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). While these discoveries can promote personalized medicine, they are often brought to the market with direct to consumer (DTC) testing before data can support their widespread use and before reliable options for dealing with testing outcomes can be offered. In this context, and knowing that patients often misunderstand risk information, it is unclear how patients will respond to these options.

Methods: We surveyed high risk women's interest in SNP testing. Participants were recruited from the Cancer Genetics Network (CGN), a national network of cancer centers that maintains a database of individuals with a family history of cancer. Participants were asked to answer questions regarding their interest in SNP testing including: whether they trust it, how much they would be willing to pay for testing, how they prefer to be tested, and how they would proceed with information identifying them as below or above average risk.

Results: 189 women without a history of breast cancer or SNP testing completed the questionnaire. The average age of the participants was 49, ranging from 30 to 65. All participants had at least one relative with breast or ovarian cancer. 13% had previously tested positive for a BRCA mutation, and 33% had received BRCA testing. Most women (90%) did not know what SNP testing was prior to the survey. Once SNP testing was described, 68% of women were interested in DTC SNP testing; at the same time, only 38% of the participants reported that they trusted DTC SNP testing.

Relationship between vessel density and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor in small cell lung cancer in vivo and in vitro

In 21 human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines, we determined the expression of mRNA and secreted protein levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The VEGF expression was highly variable between cell lines, with a > 100-fold variation, under identical in vitro conditions. The bFGF expression in cell lines was generally very low. Nine of the cell lines were further analyzed during growth as solid tumor xenografts in nude mice (in vivo). A more uniform VEGF protein expression was present in vivo. Compared with the variable in vitro expression, VEGF was relatively up-regulated in the tumor lines CPH 54A and CPH 54B and down-regulated in GLC 3. One line, DMS 79, had a high VEGF expression in vivo as well as in vitro. The vessel density was determined by Chalkley point counting on CD31 immunostained cryosections of tumors of each of the nine SCLC lines. We found a strong positive correlation between vessel density and tissue VEGF protein expression (r(s) = 0.75; P = 0.02) and a comparatively strong negative correlation (r(s) = -0.80; P = 0.01) between vessel density and tissue bFGF expression. No significant correlation was present between vessel density and in vitro VEGF expression. We conclude that VEGF and bFGF expression is dependent on microenvironmental conditions, as well as cell line-specific factors, and that a strong positive correlation exists between in vivo VEGF expression and vessel density, whereas high tissue levels of bFGF are not correlated with higher vessel densities in SCLC xenografts.