Educational Planning and Academic Achievement of Middle School Students: A Racial and Cultural Comparison

A nationally representative sample of middle school students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds was surveyed on educational aspirations, planning, and achievements. Results indicated significant racial and gender differences in educational and voational planning help-seeking behaviors. Results also indicated a significant race and sex interaction in students' educational aspirations as well as perception of parental expectations. Students' educational aspirations were significantly related to their current academic achievements. In many cases, students' aspirations and perceived parents' expectations did not match closely. Significant dtfferences in mathematics, science, and reading proficiency among racial and sex groups also were indicated. Implications for counseling are discussed.     

The Black Student Experience at Predominantly White Colleges: Implications for School and College Counselors

Research from higher education and cultural studies that has examined the Black college student experience at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) is presented to assist counselors in understanding how Black college students' relationships with faculty, family, friends from home, and peers in Black student organizations can become assets or liabilities to their academic achievement and persistence. Implications are provided for assisting counselors in preparing Black students for, and supporting them while attending, PWIs.     

Academic Gender Bias and Women's Behavioral Agency Self-Efficacy

The relationship between academic gender bias and female students' agentic self-efficacy expectations was examined. Agentic self-efficacy expectations was defined as an individual's beliefs about her ability to successfully engage in proactive educational and career facilitative behaviors. Participants included 67 full-time junior and senior undergraduate women enrolled in traditional, nontraditional, and gender-neutral majors. Results revealed that perceived academic gender bias was significantly predictive of agentic self-efficacy expectations, above and beyond the contributions of sex role attitudes, gender concentration of major, and race/ethnicity. Implications for women's career development and future research are discussed.     

Conceptions of learning,approaches to studying and personal development in UK higher education

Background Students in higher education are known to vary in their conceptions of learning, their approaches to studying, and the personal development and personal change that result. Aims This study aimed to explore the relationships among these four aspects of students' experience; to examine whether there were variations across academic subjects and across departments in each subject; and to explore whether there were changes from first year to after graduation. Sample Students in the first year and the final year of the undergraduate programmes at 15 departments, five offering each of three subjects: bioscience, business studies, and sociology. Method Participants completed a questionnaire containing four instruments and were given a similar questionnaire roughly two years later (when the entering students were in their third year, and when the exiting students were in their second year after graduation). Results The students' conceptions of learning showed a clear relationship with their approaches to studying, but the relationships with their personal development and personal change were much weaker. The students' scores were significantly related to age and gender and showed some significant differences across academic subjects and departments. However, there was little change in their scores over time. Conclusion Students' approaches to studying are influenced by their conceptions of learning and are relatively consistent across different contexts. In contrast, their reports of personal change and development seem to be determined by their implicit theories on entering higher education.     

Harsh parenting and academic achievement in Chinese adolescents: Potential mediating roles of effortful control and classroom engagement

This study examined (a) the potential mediating roles of effortful control and classroom engagement in the association between harsh parenting and adolescent academic achievement, and (b) the potential moderating role of gender. Sixth through eighth graders in rural China (n = 815, mean age = 12.55 years) reported on harsh parenting, effortful control, and classroom engagement. Parents also reported on each other's harsh parenting. Academic achievement was assessed by students' test scores and teacher-rated academic performance. Results of structural equation modeling revealed gender differences in patterns of association among the model variables. Harsh parenting was negatively and directly associated with academic achievement for both boys and girls. It was also negatively and indirectly associated with academic achievement via effortful control and classroom engagement sequentially, forming a common indirect “path” for boys and girls. The indirect negative effect of harsh parenting on boys' academic achievement was mainly realized through the mediator of effortful control, whereas this same indirect effect for girls was mainly realized through the mediator of classroom engagement. Jointly, effortful control and classroom engagement precipitates more indirect effects for boys than for girls in the association between harsh parenting and academic achievement. The discussion analyzes the potential “paths” from harsh parenting to adolescent academic achievement, as well as gender differences in these “paths.” The current study has implications for teachers and parents eager to improve students' classroom engagement and academic achievement.     

Momentary task-values and expectations predict engagement in science among Finnish and Chilean secondary school students

While expectancy-value-cost theory predicts that students' task values play an important part in academic engagement, these associations have rarely been tested in science education and are even less studied in authentic classroom situations. The present study examined to what extent momentary task-values, expectations and costs are associated with students' momentary academic engagement in science classes. Momentary academic engagement was operationalised as energy (give up), dedication (grit) and absorption (flow) components of engagement. Finnish (N = 5891 beeps, 307 students) and Chilean (N = 1931 beeps, 157 students) secondary school students participated in the study using Experience Sampling Method via smartphones. When signalled, students responded to questions via smartphones concerning their momentary task values, expectations, costs and components of engagement in the current activity. The research questions were analysed with multilevel path modelling. The results showed that, for both samples task-values, expectations and costs were related to energy, dedication and absorption components of engagement in science classes. High momentary task-values were positively associated with momentary flow and grit; high momentary expectations were positively associated with high grit and low giving up in both samples; and high momentary challenge showed as increases in feelings of giving up.     

Ethnic Segregation and Perceived Discrimination in College: Mutual Influences and Effects on Social and Academic Life1

This study examined relationships among same‐ethnicity friendships, perceptions of ethnic discrimination, and social and academic adjustment in college using a large longitudinal sample of White, Asian, Latino, and African American students. Results demonstrated that Latino students who had more in‐group friends during college exhibited reduced belonging and academic performance at the end of college. Perceived discrimination also had negative effects on Latino students' sense of belonging. For African American students, having more in‐group friends during college was related to enhanced academic commitment and motivation at the end of college. Perceiving more discrimination was also associated with enhanced academic motivation for African American students. Explanations for the divergent experiences of the two minority groups on campus are discussed.     

Perceived social status and learning experiences in Social Cognitive Career Theory

The purpose of this study was to test a model based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) that placed perceived social status as an antecedent of career-related learning experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. Gender was included in the present model and results indicated that gender related as expected to differential exposure to career-related learning experiences in Holland's (1997) RIASEC domains. After controlling for the effects of gender, results demonstrated that perceived social status related positively to learning experiences in the Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional areas among 380 college students. Further, these enhanced learning experiences mediated the relationships between perceived social status and self-efficacy, and between perceived social status and outcome expectations, for the Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional areas. These findings highlight the importance of perceived social status as a predictor of exposure to different types of career-related learning experiences that subsequently shape students' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and (presumably) interests in particular RIASEC areas. Results are discussed in terms of exposure to career-related learning experiences in RIASEC domains with differing levels of prestige and implications of these results for developing interventions to enhance the learning experiences of students who report lower levels of perceived social status are presented.     

Academic emotions from a social‐cognitive perspective: Antecedents and domain specificity of students' affect in the context of Latin instruction

This study concentrates on two assumptions of a social‐cognitive model outlining the development of academic emotions (emotions directly linked to learning, classroom instruction, and achievement), namely on their antecedents and domain‐specific organization. Our sample consisted of 200 students from Grades 7 to 10. Proposed relationships concerning the antecedents of academic emotions were tested in the context of Latin language instruction. Correlational analyses substantiated our assumptions concerning the relationships between academic emotions, students' cognitions, and aspects of the social environment. The mediating mechanisms proposed in the model were also confirmed using linear structural equation modelling. Subjective control‐ and value‐related cognitions were found to mediate the relationship between aspects of the social environment and students' emotional experience. Our results further suggest that academic emotions are largely organized along domain‐specific lines, with the degree of domain specificity varying according to the emotion in question. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Gendered Views of Ability in Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Academic Competencies

The present study was designed to examine whether parents’ views of their child’s academic competencies are structured by gendered conceptions of abilities. In a longitudinal research design, a group of parents (N = 391) were asked to assess their third-grade child’s competence in mathematics and Finnish and to respond to a set of attitude statements; when the child reached the fifth grade, the parents were asked to reassess his/her competencies. It was found that the influence of the gender stereotype was partly domain-specific: The stereotype concerning Finnish organized the parental competence assessments as early as the child’s third grade and also predicted the assessments made about the child over the next two grades, whereas the stereotype concerning mathematics only predicted the assessments made as late as the fifth grade. In the Finnish competence assessments, the gender stereotype moderated the overall gender-of-the-child effect, whereas in the mathematics competence assessments, the gender-of-the-child effect was evinced only by the parent group that endorsed the gender stereotype. Culture-bound gender expectations and attitudes toward the expectations are significant, then, for parents’ assessments of their child’s competencies as early as the elementary school years.     

School track and ethnic classroom composition relate to the mainstream identity of adolescents with immigrant background in Germany,but not their ethnic identity

Although developing a cultural identity is a core task for adolescents from immigrant families and the school is a highly important context in adolescence, to date, few studies have examined whether adolescents with particular cultural identities cluster in certain school contexts. Using data from a representative German sample including 7702 secondary school students of immigrant background from 1643 classrooms, we examined how the attended school track and four aspects of ethnic classroom composition relate to adolescents' cultural identity (i.e., their ethnic identity and mainstream identity). Two-level structural equation models indicated that students' ethnic identity was not systematically associated with the attended school track and the ethnic composition of the classroom. However, attending the academic school track, a classroom with a low proportion of classmates with immigrant background and frequently using German with classmates related positively to mainstream identity. Ethnic diversity and proportion of co-ethnics in class did not relate to mainstream identification. Our findings suggest that the ethnic identity of adolescents with an immigrant background in Germany is largely independent from the different socialisation contexts related to school tracks and the ethnic classroom composition. Yet, students' with a strong mainstream identity cluster in certain school contexts.     

Gender matters, too: the influences of school racial discrimination and racial identity on academic engagement outcomes among African American adolescents

The authors examined relationships among racial identity, school-based racial discrimination experiences, and academic engagement outcomes for adolescent boys and girls in Grades 8 and 11 (n = 204 boys and n = 206 girls). The authors found gender differences in peer and classroom discrimination and in the impact of earlier and later discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. Racial centrality related positively to school performance and school importance attitudes for boys. Also, centrality moderated the relationship between discrimination and academic outcomes in ways that differed across gender. For boys, higher racial centrality related to diminished risk for lower school importance attitudes and grades from experiencing classroom discrimination relative to boys lower in centrality, and girls with higher centrality were protected against the negative impact of peer discrimination on school importance and academic self-concept. However, among lower race-central girls, peer discrimination related positively to academic self-concept. Finally, socioeconomic background moderated the relationship of discrimination with academic outcomes differently for girls and boys. The authors discuss the need to consider interactions of individual- and contextual-level factors in better understanding African American youths' academic and social development.     

When stereotypes disadvantage boys: Strength of stereotypes in mathematics and language arts and their relations with grades

There is growing concern about boys' lagging performance in school, not only in language arts, where the gap is particularly pronounced, but also in mathematics. Stereotypes associating one gender with language arts or with mathematics are likely to contribute to these gaps. Such stereotypes can translate into explicit beliefs such as the extent to which students are aware of societal stereotypes or the extent to which they personally believe stereotypes to be true, but also indirectly into performance following a stereotype threat manipulation. However, few studies have considered these multiple stereotype expressions in both mathematics and language arts to examine their importance in predicting boys' and girls' actual grades in school. To fill this gap, two complementary studies examined high school boys' and girls' awareness and endorsement of stereotypes about both language arts (n = 299) and mathematics (n = 243), as well as whether stereotype threat impaired boys' performance on a spelling test. Although the effect of stereotype threat was not significant overall, our results showed that students were aware of and endorsed strong stereotypes advantaging girls in language arts. In mathematics, students endorsed counter-traditional stereotypes slightly advantaging girls. Our results also showed that these multiple expressions of stereotypes related to students' grades. In doing so, our work provides insights regarding possible targets for interventions to reduce gender gaps disadvantaging boys in school.     

Sport psychologists' perceptions of sport and mental health practitioners

Abstract

This study surveys recently graduated sport psychology (SP) doctoral students' (N = 34) educational backgrounds, work experiences, and perceptions of the professional field of SP inside and outside the realm of academia. Special attention was given to subjects' perceptions and expectations with regard to applied work in SP, actual work experiences, and income. Findings indicate that almost all graduates are spending their time in a variety of work activities, i.e., some combination of teaching, research, consulting, administration, and coaching, with a strong emphasis on teaching in an academic institution. Gender analysis revealed that, in general, females earned 74% of what males earned; females earned 53% of what males earned outside academia. Graduates' personal comments suggest a concern about consumer demand and financial support offered applied professionals in SP as well as the adequacy of their own training to provide applied services. Implications for AAASP and SP program directors are provided.     

Who benefits the most? Teacher expectations and their relation with students’ achievement in mathematics in primary school

Over the past 50 years, many studies have investigated the impact of teacher expectations on student achievement and indicated small to moderate effects. Currently, it is still unclear which student-related factors (e.g. socioeconomic status, or gender) moderate the expectation effect. There is still a need to gain a better understanding of the relation between teacher expectations and students' characteristics. The present study aims to examine the accuracy of teacher expectations as well as student-related moderators of the expectation effects on students' achievement. The analyses are based on data from a longitudinal study including 28 primary school teachers and their students (N = 509). The results show that high expectations of teachers correlated positively with student achievement in mathematics, although no significant moderating effects were found. These findings strengthen the importance of ensuring high teacher expectations for all students.     

Agreement among student,parent and teacher ratings of school inclusion: A multitrait-multimethod analysis

One of the central objectives of inclusive education, and education in general, is not only to support every students' academic learning, but also their social and emotional development. It therefore is important to identify difficulties in a child's socio-emotional development at school. The current study investigates students' emotional inclusion and social inclusion, as well as students' academic self-concept from four different perspectives using the Perceptions of Inclusion Questionnaire (PIQ). In particular, we analyzed the degree of agreement between teacher, mother, and father ratings with students' self-reports. Moreover, we tested if students' gender and special educational needs (SEN) are predictors for possible bias in parent and teacher reports. Survey participants included 721 Austrian, Grade 4 students from 48 classes. In addition, data from 46 teachers, 466 mother reports, and 375 father reports were included. We assessed the consistency (i.e., agreement) between the different raters by means of multitrait-multimethod analyses, or more precisely, a correlated trait–correlated method minus one (CT-C[M-1]) model. Results of the CT-C(M-1) analyses indicated a rather strong rater bias (i.e., method effects) for all three dimensions of inclusion. However, the consistency for academic self-concept was higher than for emotional and social inclusion. Furthermore, gender and SEN status affected rater bias, particularly for teacher reports. Results suggested that it matters who reports students' emotional inclusion, social inclusion, and academic self-concept, which has methodological and practical implications.     

Extracurricular activities of Dutch University students and their effect on employment opportunities as perceived by both students and organizations

Research on biographical data suggests that recruiters draw inferences about candidates' abilities and attributes based on résumé information. However, few studies have explored students' attributions with regard to the experiences that are relevant in enhancing employment opportunities. The aim of the present study is to fill this gap by analyzing the effect of university students' extracurricular activities (ECAs) on their perceived employment opportunities. Specifically, we combine a large sample of students with recruiters from a wide range of sectors in the Netherlands. Students completed a questionnaire, while recruiters participated in an experiment and semi‐structured interviews. Students' expectations about the value of ECAs for their employment opportunities were found to be misaligned with recruiters' viewpoints. Students expected academic performance to be more relevant for employment opportunities than ECAs, whereas recruiters stated the opposite. Students expected an internship to be the most valued ECA, whereas most recruiters prioritized a board year and emphasized students' motivation and ability to demonstrate the learning gained from ECAs in general. Implications for further biodata research are discussed.     

Stereotype Threat and Attributional Ambiguity for Trans Women

In this paper I discuss the interrelated topics of stereotype threat and attributional ambiguity as they relate to gender and gender identity. The former has become an emerging topic in feminist philosophy and has spawned a tremendous amount of research in social psychology and elsewhere. But the discussion, at least in how it connects to gender, is incomplete: the focus is only on cisgender women and their experiences. By considering trans women's experiences of stereotype threat and attributional ambiguity, we gain a deeper understanding of the phenomena and their problematic effects. ¹      

Differences between African American and European American first-year college students in the relationship between self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and academic achievement

First-year African American and European American college students were surveyed to examine ethnic differences in how their social cognitive beliefs (self-efficacy and outcome expectations) influenced their academic achievement. It was hypothesized that outcome expectations may better explain academic achievement for African Americans due to the fact that they may perceive that external factors such as discrimination may influence their academic outcomes. Because European Americans are less likely to anticipate discrimination, they are more likely to believe that their outcomes would be the result of their own behavior. Higher levels of self-efficacy were related to better academic achievement for both ethnic groups. However, African Americans with negative outcome expectations (e.g. my education will not lead to a well paying job) had better achievement than those with more positive outcome expectations. This pattern was not found for European Americans. Potential explanations for the relationship between outcome expectations and academic achievement for African Americans such as racial socialization for preparation for bias are discussed and implications for interventions are addressed.