Promoting social competence in school-aged children: The effects of the open circle program

One hundred fifty-four fourth graders took part in an investigation of the Open Circle Program (OCP), an intervention model that encourages students, teachers and administrators to learn and practice communication, self-control and social problem-solving skills. Eight classrooms, two in each of four schools, were sampled. Two of these schools were located in middle to upper-middle class suburban areas and two served more diverse populations. Half the classrooms were headed by teachers well versed in OCP curriculum. The other half was not implementing a social competence program. Participants completed the student version of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) once in the fall and again in the spring. Teachers also rated the social competence of students at these same two points in the school year. Doubly-repeated measures mixed-design MANOVA analyses revealed that across the school year, OCP participants showed significantly greater teacher-reported improvements in both social skills and problem behaviors than did control group members. Although the largest gains were made by OCP children in urban areas, significant positive effects of program participation were shown by all students, regardless of school setting.     

Social comparisons in the classroom: an investigation of the better than average effect among secondary school children

The better than average (BTA) effect refers to the tendency for the majority of people to rate themselves as being higher on positive attributes and lower on negative attributes than other people. The present study examined the occurrence of the BTA effect on five important characteristics among 15,806 first-year secondary school Dutch students. In addition, it explored the influence of students' gender, cultural background, and ability level on their evaluations of characteristics relative to their classmates. Results yielded small BTA effects, with the exception of the item “being eager to get high grades,” on which the effect was much larger. In addition, larger BTA effects were found among boys than girls, but this difference could not be attributed to actual differences in performance. Likewise, larger BTA effects were found among ethnic minority students from Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds than ethnic majority students, but this difference also could not be attributed to actual differences in performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Implementing a teacher-student relationship program in a high-poverty urban school: Effects on social, emotional, and academic adjustment and lessons learned

The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of a program designed to improve adolescents' relationships with at least one teacher in an urban high school. All participating students were nominated by teachers as having significant emotional and behavioral problems and approximately half of these youth were randomly assigned to an intervention that included increased positive involvement between each student and one teacher within the school. Teacher ratings of students' social, behavioral, emotional, and academic adjustment at pre- and post-intervention indicated that students in the intervention group had higher grade point averages than did students in the control group following the 5-month intervention but no differences were observed on other variables. Challenges associated with conducting school-based, relationship-focused interventions in high-poverty urban environments and several lessons that were learned in the process of initiating this project are discussed.     

Revealing the invisible hand: The role of teachers in children's peer experiences

To introduce this special issue, the concept of the teacher as an “invisible hand” is presented as a metaphor to describe the potentially influential but relatively understudied contribution that educators are likely to have on children’s peer relationships and their broader interpersonal growth. Building from conceptual work distinguishing between the role of adults and peers in children’s social development, we summarize empirical support for the view that teachers are in a position to develop and guide the classroom as a society by simultaneously directing institutional expectations while also providing students with opportunities to collectively construct their own peer culture. Key social development constructs are reviewed from this lens, and the four articles and two commentaries that constitute this special issue are discussed in relation to their contributions to clarifying and extending current views of the role of teachers in school social dynamics. We conclude by considering intervention implications of this work, and we argue that teachers are the one professional in a child’s life who have the opportunity to view the whole child in relation to the social ecology in which he or she is embedded.     

Consultant Problem Understanding as a Function of Training in Interviewing to Promote Accessible Reasoning

The focus of this article is on how consultants develop a “high-quality” understanding of a teacher's presenting problem situation from interviewing them. A longitudinal quasi-experimental study was conducted with 10 graduate students enrolled on an accredited training program in school psychology in which interviewing and problem-solving skills were taught and practiced. Eight individuals who had been selected for the same training program but who had not enrolled acted as a comparison group to measure possible practice effects. The results indicated that following training consultant use of statements designed to reveal their reasoning to the teacher significantly increased, and was highly correlated with the quality of their subsequent written analyses of the teacher's problem situation.     

Classroom Peer Relationships and Behavioral Engagement in Elementary School: The Role of Social Network Equity

Applying social capital and systems theories of social processes, we examine the role of the classroom peer context in the behavioral engagement of low-income students (N = 80) in urban elementary school classrooms (N = 22). Systematic child observations were conducted to assess behavioral engagement among second to fifth graders in the fall and spring of the same school year. Classroom observations, teacher and child questionnaires, and social network data were collected in the fall. Confirming prior research, results from multilevel models indicate that students with more behavioral difficulties or less academic motivation in the fall were less behaviorally engaged in the spring. Extending prior research, classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties—social network equity—had more behaviorally engaged students in the spring, especially in classrooms with higher levels of observed organization (i.e., effective management of behavior, time, and attention). Moreover, social network equity attenuated the negative relation between student behavioral difficulties and behavioral engagement, suggesting that students with behavioral difficulties were less disengaged in classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties. Findings illuminate the need to consider classroom peer contexts in future research and intervention focused on the behavioral engagement of students in urban elementary schools.     

An effectiveness trial of a new enhanced dissonance eating disorder prevention program among female college students

Objective

Efficacy trials indicate that a dissonance-based prevention program in which female high school and college students with body image concerns critique the thin-ideal reduced risk factors, eating disorder symptoms, and future eating disorder onset, but weaker effects emerged from an effectiveness trial wherein high school clinicians recruited students and delivered the program under real-world conditions. The present effectiveness trial tested whether a new enhanced dissonance version of this program produced larger effects when college clinicians recruited students and delivered the intervention using improved procedures to select, train, and supervise clinicians.

Method

Young women recruited from seven universities across the US (N = 408, M age = 21.6, SD = 5.64) were randomized to the dissonance intervention or an educational brochure control condition.

Results

Dissonance participants showed significantly greater decreases in risk factors (thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dieting, negative affect) and eating disorder symptoms versus controls at posttest and 1-year follow-up, resulting in medium average effect size (d = .60). Dissonance participants also reported significant improvements in psychosocial functioning, but not reduced health care utilization or unhealthy weight gain.

Conclusions

This novel multisite effectiveness trial with college clinicians found that the enhanced dissonance version of this program and the improved facilitator selection/training procedures produced average effects that were 83% larger than effects observed in the high school effectiveness trial.     

Social desirability, personality questionnaires, and the “better than average” effect

It is well established that respondents are much more likely to rate themselves highly on personality questionnaire items with high social desirability (SD) than on items with low SD. However, conflicting explanations have been offered for this phenomenon. In the present study, 286 participants were randomly assigned to four groups that rated 119 items from two well-known personality questionnaires. One group of participants rated themselves, a second group rated their family and friends, a third rated “people in general,” and a fourth rated the items’ SD. It was found that mean SD ratings of personality items were highly correlated with mean self-ratings and with mean ratings of family and friends for the same items (all rs > .800), but not with mean ratings of “people in general.” In other words, participants strongly tended to rate themselves, their family, and their friends as high on socially desirable qualities, but this tendency did not extend to ratings of people in general. These results support the conclusion that respondents’ personality ratings of themselves, their family and friends, but not of people in general, are influenced by the form of self-serving bias known as the “better than average effect.”     

Incentivizing education: Seeing schoolwork as an investment, not a chore

Most American children expect to attend college but because they do not necessarily spend much time on schoolwork, they may fail to reach their imagined “college-bound” future self. The proposed identity-based motivation model helps explain why this gap occurs: Imagined “college-bound” identities cue school-focused behavior if they are salient and feel relevant to current choice options, not otherwise. Two studies with predominantly low-income and African American middle school students support this prediction. Almost all of the students expect to attend college, but only half describe education-dependent (e.g., law, medicine) adult identities. Having education-dependent rather than education-independent adult identities (e.g., sports, entertainment) predicts better grades over time, controlling for prior grade point average (Study 1). To demonstrate causality, salience of education-dependent vs. education-independent adult identities was experimentally manipulated. Children who considered education-dependent adult identities (vs. education-independent ones) were eight times more likely to complete a take-home extra-credit assignment (Study 2).     

Ginzberg's theory of occupational choice: A reanalysis of increasing realism

A causal model of indicators was derived from Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, and Herma's developmental framework of occupational choice. This theoretical perspective suggests that high school age adolescents' “fantasy” choices are diverted into more “realistic” anticipations mainly through awareness of the work world and work roles and perceived “reality factors” (perceived goal-blocks) which function to inhibit the maintenance of such “fantasy” desires. Panel data from a three-state sample of nonmetropolitan Southern males interviewed while in the tenth-grade in 1966 and reinterviewed in 1968 were examined using path analytic models. Findings suggest that “realistic” choices (expectations) demonstrate an increasing dissociation from earlier “fantasy” choices (aspirations) primarily through the formation of perceived “reality factors.” An alternative model which incorporates race as a predetermined variable seems to indicate that racial differences in occupational knowledge affect the formation of perceived “reality factors” which are significant mediators of social origin for high school seniors' occupational expectations. While race affects occupational knowledge directly, most of the causal effects of race on 1968 expectations are actually due to the association of race with SES. Areas of other research are specified.     

“How many bad apples does it take to spoil the whole barrel?”: Social exclusion and toleration for bad apples

In social dilemmas, where personal welfare is in conflict with collective welfare, there are inherent incentives to act non-cooperatively. Moreover, there is evidence that the example of a few uncooperative group members (“bad apples”) is more influential than the example of comparable numbers of cooperative members (a bad apple effect). Two studies are reported that examine the functional relationship between the number of likely bad apples and individual cooperation, and whether and when the threat of social exclusion for uncooperative behavior may effectively counter the temptation to follow the example of such “bad apples”. It is shown that (a) the threat of exclusion is sufficient to counter the temptation to follow a few bad apples’ example, (b) such threats cannot, however, overcome the cooperation-degrading effects of large numbers (e.g., a majority) of bad apples, and (c) the effectiveness of such threats may be greater in relatively smaller groups.     

Mediators in the dissonance eating disorder prevention program

Previous research has supported thin-ideal internalization as a partial mediator of the effects of the dissonance eating disorder prevention program. The current study replicated previous findings and examined an additional mediator, body dissatisfaction, hypothesized to account for partial intervention effects. As a secondary goal, we developed a more rigorous and accurate test of mediation that accounted for the temporal, causal interplay between mediator and outcome, and controlled for “reverse mediation”. Results from a sample of 71 high-risk females (M age = 19.8, SD = 1.3) who participated in a four-week dissonance intervention supported thin-ideal internalization as a partial mediator of the effects of the dissonance intervention on bulimic symptoms, even after controlling for body dissatisfaction as a second mediator. Furthermore, results supported body dissatisfaction as a partial mediator for bulimic symptoms after controlling for thin-ideal internalization. Significant “reverse mediation” effects suggested the reciprocal influence of some risk factors for bulimia nervosa and bulimic symptoms. These results contribute to our understanding of the mediators in the dissonance intervention, which can help refine eating disorder prevention programs.     

Reducing depression in 9–10 year old children in low SES schools: A longitudinal universal randomized controlled trial

The Aussie Optimism: Positive Thinking Skills Program (AOP-PTS) is an innovative curriculum-based mental health promotion program based on cognitive and behavioural strategies. The program is aimed at preventing depressive and anxiety symptoms and disorders in middle primary school children aged 9–10 years. Students from 22 low SES primary schools (N = 910) were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group and assessed at baseline, post-test, 6 months and 18 months. The intervention group received the program implemented by teachers and the control group received their regular Health Education curriculum. Students completed questionnaires on depression, anxiety, and attribution style. At risk students were further assessed with the computerised Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents. Parents reported on their children's externalising and internalising problems at home. Children in the intervention condition reported a significant pre-post reduction in depressive symptoms, and there was a significant pre-post reduction in parent-reported emotional difficulties which was maintained at 6 month follow-up; no changes were evident in the control group. Both groups showed significant improvements in child-reported anxiety and attribution style, and significant improvements in parent-reported pro-social behaviours. For both groups, there were no significant post-baseline changes in incidence and recovery rates for depression, anxiety, or internalising symptoms. These findings suggest that AOP-PTS has the potential to treat depressive symptomatology in the immediate term but the effects were not sustained. There is also evidence of improved emotional resilience up to 6 months following the program. Further follow-up to investigate longer term effects is needed.     

Smoking prevention among urban minority youth: assessing effects on outcome and mediating variables.

We tested the effectiveness of a social resistance/competence enhancement approach to smoking prevention among predominantly Hispanic seventh graders (N = 3,153) from 47 New York City schools. After blocking on school type (public and parochial) and ethnic composition (percent Hispanic), schools were randomly assigned either to receive the 15-session prevention program or to serve as no-contact controls. Using the school as the unit of analysis, significant program effects were found for cigarette smoking, normative expectations concerning peer and adult smoking, smoking prevalence knowledge, social acceptability knowledge, and knowledge of smoking consequences. Using structural modeling techniques, a significant relation was found between the normative expectation and knowledge variables affected by the intervention and posttest smoking, suggesting that changes on these variables mediated the impact of the intervention on cigarette smoking. This study extends the results of previous prevention research and demonstrates the generalizability of this approach to predominantly Hispanic urban minority students.     

The relationship between relative levels of motivation and intrapersonal, interpersonal, and academic functioning among older adolescents

Using cluster analysis to combine specific adaptive measures related to mastery motivation (intrinsic motivation, self-adequacy, and locus of control), a total of 654 high school students were placed into distinct adaptive motivation groups. Mean scores on a variety of self-reported and peer-reported measures of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and academic functioning were compared across the groups. Results found that youth in the “high adaptive” motivation group reported significantly higher global and family satisfaction, self-esteem, interpersonal relations, grade-point average and school belonging, and significantly lower depression, anxiety and social stress than youth in the other two motivation groups. Peer-reported prosocial and academic behaviors were significantly related to higher levels of adaptive motivation. Collectively, these findings suggest a number of psychological, social, and academic benefits that are associated with incremental levels of adaptive motivation. The implications of these findings for research and practice conclude the paper.     

Reconsidering the “aspiration–expectation gap” and assumed gender differences among urban youth

The present study investigated the relevance of the “aspiration–expectation gap” and traditional gender differences among urban youth in middle school and high school (N = 294). Results failed to indicate a significant difference between the occupational prestige levels of aspired and expected careers, but did indicate a significant difference between aspired and expected levels of education. In general, the proportion of girls significantly outweighed the proportion of boys in traditionally “masculine” occupations with high levels of prestige; girls also had higher levels of occupational prestige than boys in terms of careers they hoped and expected to obtain. Black and bi/multi-racial youth expected to have higher levels of education than White youth.     

Self-esteem depends on the beholder: Effects of a subtle social value cue

The idea that self-esteem functions as a gauge or “sociometer” of social value [Leary, M. R., Baumeister, R. F. (2000). The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 32, pp. 1-62). San Diego: Academic Press] is supported by research on direct social feedback. To examine if the sociometer model is relevant to more subtle social value cues, the implicit self-esteem of women was assessed a week after an interaction with an experimenter. Consistent with the sociometer model, Week 2 self-esteem depended on a subtle social value cue encountered during Week 1. When the Week 1 experimenter wore a t-shirt celebrating larger bodies (i.e., “everyBODY is beautiful”), heavier women had higher self-esteem than lighter women in Week 2. As hypothesized, this effect was relationship-specific, occurring only when the same experimenter administered Week 1 and 2 sessions.     

Get an Apprenticeship before School Is Out: How German Adolescents Adjust Vocational Aspirations When Getting Close to a Developmental Deadline

Opportunities to attain important life goals are sequenced in age-graded trajectories that wax and wane throughout life. A prime example of such age-graded opportunity structures is the transition from school to work. The institutions of vocational training in Germany closely scaffold this transition and provide developmental deadlines for attaining the critical transition, namely finding an apprenticeship position. Adjustments of vocational aspirations are investigated with regard to the social prestige of three indicators of aspirations, “dream job,” “vocation I am interested in,” and apprenticeships applied for. Findings indicate that adolescents progressively adjusted their “dream job” to “job I am interested in” as the deadline approaches. Moreover, overall adolescents matched their school performance to the social prestige of apprenticeships for which they applied. Boys and girls whose motivational orientation did not match their gender prototype attained particularly high levels of achievement and aspiration.     

Taking from those that have more and giving to those that have less: How inequity frames affect corrections for inequity

Most theories of inequity focus on relative inequity. In contrast, this paper provides evidence that individuals infer what people should have (i.e. an absolute standard) from the way inequity is described. In the reported experiment, participants give more to a subordinate actor when inequity is described in terms of “less than” rather than “more than,” and take more from a dominant actor when inequity is described in terms of “more than” rather than “less than,” even though the magnitude of inequity is constant. Mediational analyses suggest that these differences are driven by changes in individuals’ perceptions of what the actors should have (i.e. the standard). We conclude by discussing the implications for motivated perceptions of inequity and redistributive policy attitudes.     

Towards Working Life: Effects of an intervention on mental health and transition to post-basic education

The Towards Working Life group method was designed to promote the transition to the upper secondary level or vocational studies and to support mental health among young people finishing their basic education. This study examined the effects of the intervention during upper secondary and vocational studies in a randomized field experimental study among a total of 1034 students. At the one-year follow-up, the program had increased both education related social ties and the number of adults in these ties. The group intervention had interaction effects with baseline risk of depression and learning difficulties on symptoms of depression and school burnout. Among those initially at risk of depression, the intervention decreased symptoms of depression. For students who were at risk of depression and had learning difficulties, the intervention decreased school burnout.