The use of a 5-level categorical activity profile variable may allow more complex analyses of activity that capture the "whole person." There is clearly a vulnerable group of low-activity individuals as well as a High Activity group that may represent the "active ageing" vision.

Academic self-efficacy has been found to be important in predicting educational success among older children and adolescents, but scant work has addressed this for very young children. This study explored (a) whether academic self-efficacy appears to be associated with reading achievement among children in urban elementary schools in primary grades, (b) whether one can differentiate between concepts of self-efficacy and self-concept within this age group, and, if so, which has more predictive power for reading achievement, and (c) whether student motivation and classroom behavior mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and reading. Findings from randomeffect multi-level modeling show that children in primary grades can differentiate between self-efficacy and selfconcept, and it was task-specific self-efficacy tha1t significantly influenced reading achievement. Of the two possible mediators, student motivation significantly mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and reading achievement. Implications for the role of school social workers in enhancing achievement among young, vulnerable children are discussed.

The nature of engagement may play a more important role than the activity itself in relation to health. Identifying the heterogeneity in activity engagement in later life is critical for tailoring interventions and designing programs that can improve the health of older adults.

Volunteering among older adults is a means as well as an end--just as it is for young people. Programs can do more to attract and serve older adults by promoting volunteering as a pathway to other engagements, including work, social, and civic activities.

A randomized field trial involving 883 students at 23 schools in three urban cities assessed the effectiveness of Experience Corps ® (EC), a program that places older adult volunteers in elementary schools to tutor students who are poor readers. Students were assessed at the beginning and end of the academic year with standardized reading measures. Program effects were analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to adjust for clustering effects. Findings demonstrated that EC students made statistically greater gains over the academic year on passage comprehension and grade-specific reading skills. The gains were stronger for students who received at least 35 tutoring sessions. These findings indicate that older community volunteers can be effectively deployed to improve reading achievement in low income, ethnic minority children who are at risk of reading failure.