Achievement strategies in peer groups and adolescents' school adjustment and norm-breaking behavior

The present study examined the extent to which the achievement strategies deployed by adolescents, and those used by their peers would predict adolescents' school adjustment, academic achievement and problem behavior. The participants were 287 14–15-year-old comprehensive school students (121 boys and 165 girls) from a middle-sized town in central Sweden. The results showed that not only the maladaptive strategies used by adolescents, but also those reported by their peers predicted adolescents' norm-breaking behavior, low school adjustment and low level of achievement: high levels of failure expectations and task-avoidance among adolescents' peers were positively associated with adolescents' own norm-breaking behavior, and indirectly via this, also with their maladjustment at school and low grades. These associations were found after controlling for the impact of adolescents' own achievement strategies.     

Environmental,background, and psychological variables related to optimizing achievement and career motivation for high school girls

The purpose of the study was to investigate some environmental and psychological variables related to optimizing the achievement strivings of high school girls. It was hypothesized that environmental and psychological variables would have significant relationships to achievement strivings. The criterion variables were career motivation and achievement motivation. The predictor variables were: community support, early family socialization (environmental), self-esteem, risk preference, sex role orientation, and fear of success (psychological). Subjects were 10th-grade girls (N = 158) in a suburban midwestern high school district. Procedures involved group test administration involving 2 hr during the regular school day. Multiple regression analysis indicated that high achievement motivation and career choice were significantly associated with perceived support for achievement and career goals in the school and community environment (p < .01). Implications for increasing achievement and career motivation were discussed in relation to the requirements of the Education Amendments of 1972 and 1976 (Title IX).     

初中生家庭社会经济地位、积极品质对中考成绩的预测作用

以442名初中生为被试,采用历时20个月的纵向研究考察家庭社会经济地位（socioeconomic status, SES）和积极品质对中考成绩的预测作用。结果发现：（1）家庭SES、积极品质整体发展水平可以同时显著正向预测初中生在20个月后的中考成绩;（2）积极品质整体发展水平在家庭SES与中考成绩之间存在中介作用,即家庭SES越高,初中生的积极品质整体水平越高,其中考成绩越好。研究结果提示积极品质可以补偿低家庭SES对学生中考成绩的不良影响。     

Adolescents’ Civic Commitments in Stable and Fledgling Democracies: The Role of Family,School, and Community

The authors examined the associations between adolescents’ perceptions of proximal processes in families, schools, and communities and their civic commitments (to the local community, nation, and conventional politics) in stable (Australia, United States) and fledgling (Bulgaria, Hungary) democracies in the mid-1990s. Results of multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed that adolescents in the stable democracies reported higher levels of extracurricular participation, family emphasis on social responsibility, and community social capital compared to peers in the fledgling democracies. Using a multiple group regression approach, the authors found that in both types of polities, community social capital was positively associated with all three civic outcomes and a family ethic of social responsibility was positively associated with commitments to the local community and nation. However, whereas in the stable democracies, a democratic school climate was positively associated with commitments to the community and nation, in the fledgling democracies such school climates were positively associated with commitments to conventional politics.     

Adolescent Sexual Assault Disclosure: The Impact of Peers, Families, and Schools

Adolescent sexual assault survivors are more likely to seek support from peers and families than to formal help systems, such as the medical and legal systems. In this study, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with N = 20 adolescent sexual assault survivors aged 14–17 who obtained services from Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs to understand the pathways that led them to seek formal help. Our goal was to examine how survivors’ initial disclosures to peers, families, and schools facilitated adolescents’ access to formal help systems. Additionally, we explored how peer, family and school systems interact as mesosystems to effect subsequent disclosures. Results show that the peer and family microsystems were decisive in survivors’ willingness to enter formal systems. Disclosure became more complex when peer, family, and school personnel all became aware of the assault. When these mesosystem interactions occurred with survivors’ consent and produced a helpful response, they were perceived as positive. Alternatively, mesosystem interactions in which survivors had minimal control resulted in greater reluctance to enter formal systems. These conclusions highlight the need educating informal support providers about community services in order to make the disclosure process easier and beneficial for survivors’ recovery and well-being.     

Factors Influencing the Development of School Bonding Among Middle School Students

The goal of this research is to examine the trajectory of school bonding over the middle school period and how factors such as gender, substance use, antisocial peers, delinquent behavior, and academic achievement affect this developmental process. Data from 4 waves of measurement of 2,902 adolescents are analyzed using hierarchical growth curve modeling. Results suggest that school bonding decreases in a non-linear fashion from Grade 6-8. However, school bonding development varies based on inter-individual differences. Boys have lower initial levels and greater decreases in school bonding than girls. Student deviant behavior, having antisocial peers, and low academic achievement are associated with lower levels of school bonding at Grade 6. Low grades and an increase in substance use are associated with a steeper decrease of school bonding over time. Increases in substance use and being male are also associated with a curvilinear pattern of school bonding. Implications for interventions are discussed.     

Botswana school child parents: their personal and community relationships contexts for counselling

The study determined personal-socio-contextual influences that predicted the perceived quality of relationships with Batswana early teenage mothers. The participants were 86 Botswana high school students (mean age 18.97, SD = 1.76) with motherhood. They completed a numerical measure of adjustment to teenage motherhood in the context of family, school and community and also culture and social policy. A proportion of the teenagers (10%) participated in focus group discussion on the same aspects. The quantitative data were analysed to predict family, interpersonal, school and community interpersonal relationships from the teenage mothers' age, age of parents and living arrangements. The qualitative focus group discussion data were thematically analysed. Findings suggest that supportive living arrangements were instrumental to perceived quality of interpersonal relationships in the family and the school and community relationships. Gendered roles of the parents were social capital for family and school and community relationships with teenage-hood. Living arrangements and parental social discounting qualities reliably predicted teen mothers' social outcomes important for early parenthood counselling.     

School climate is associated with cortical thickness and executive function in children and adolescents

A positive school climate has been found to support mental and physical health, academic achievement and social adjustment among youth. However, links between school climate and brain structure have not been investigated to date. In this study, we investigated whether school climate was associated with executive function (EF) and brain structure (cortical thickness and surface area) in children and adolescents. We further examined whether these links varied as a function of socioeconomic background. Participants who ranged from 9 to 18 years of age (N = 108) completed EF tasks and a high‐resolution, 3‐Tesla, T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Overall school climate, academic support, and family socioeconomic background were assessed using questionnaires. Higher academic support was associated with greater EF task performance and increased global cortical thickness. Additionally, academic support moderated the association between family income and EF, such that children from lower income families performed similarly to their more advantaged peers on EF tasks in the context of positive academic support. This work is the first to link school climate to brain structure and contributes to the growing body of evidence suggesting that academic support may be an important protective factor in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage.     

The Role of Neighborhood Context and School Climate in School‐Level Academic Achievement

In recent years, the quality of education available to children has become increasingly dependent on the social and economic demographics of neighborhoods in which the children live. This study assesses the role of community violence in explaining the relation between socio‐economic status (SES) and academic outcomes and the potential of positive school climate to promote academic achievement. With a sample of 297 Chicago public elementary schools, we examine community‐level and school‐level data and use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping to illustrate how school academic achievement coincides with neighborhood economics and crime statistics. Results support the hypothesized mediation, such that lower SES was associated with lower academic achievement, and violent crime partially mediated this relation. School climate was positively associated with academic achievement, and student safety significantly moderated the relation between SES and academic achievement. Implications for theory, research, and intervention are discussed.     

初二学生感知到的社会支持与学习成绩的关系——学业自我概念的中介作用

本研究对杭州市2519名初二学生进行调查,考察学业自我概念在社会支持对学习成绩预测中的中介作用及该中介作用的性别差异。结果表明：（1）相比父母和教师的支持,对于初二学生来讲,同伴支持对其学习成绩的影响更大。（2）学业自我概念在社会支持与学习成绩间起中介作用。（3）学业自我概念在社会支持与学习成绩之间的中介作用存在性别差异。对于男生群体,学业自我概念起完全中介作用;对于女生群体,起部分中介作用。     

The role of peer groups in adolescents' educational trajectories

The present study investigated whether the members of adolescents' peer groups show similar educational trajectories from comprehensive school to either senior secondary or vocational education, and to what extent their educational expectations, academic achievement, family structure, and parents' SES predict these trajectories. Five hundred thirty adolescents filled in a questionnaire focusing on their educational expectations, academic achievement and family background variables before the transition to post-comprehensive education. They were also asked to nominate three peers with whom they most liked to spend their time. After the transition, they reported the school form they were in. The results showed that adolescents who belonged to the same peer group at the end of comprehensive school shared similar educational trajectories later on. Moreover, family background factors shared by peer-group members predicted the academic trajectories typical of the peer group.     

A randomized study of neighborhood effects on low-income children's educational outcomes

Experimental data from the Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing Demonstration were used to examine (a) if moving from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods (via randomization) was associated with low-income minority children's achievement, grade retention, and suspensions/expulsions; (b) if moving minimized gender differences in these outcomes; and (c) potential mediators of observed program effects. Data on school-age children (mean age = 11.79 years, SD = 3.26) were obtained from standardized assessments and parent and adolescent interviews during the New York City site's 3-year follow-up evaluation (N = 588). Moving to low-poverty neighborhoods had positive effects on 11-18-year-old boys' achievement scores compared with those of their peers in high-poverty neighborhoods. These male adolescents' scores were comparable to females' scores, whereas male adolescents in high-poverty neighborhoods scored 10 points lower than female peers. Homework time and school safety partially accounted for program effects. From a policy perspective, the program benefited disadvantaged male adolescents at high risk for dropping out of school.     

Student Characteristics Associated with Girls�� Success in a Single-sex School

Given the mixed results of previous studies on the benefits of single-sex schooling, scholars have called for research on differences in the effects of single-sex schooling based on student and school characteristics. We sought to examine the associations of a range of student characteristics with attitudes and achievement among students attending an all-girls public middle school in the southwestern United States. Predictor variables included demographic factors (i.e., race, family income), prior academic achievement, gender stereotyping, and gender identity (i.e., gender typicality, peer preferences). Prior academic achievement predicted later achievement and persistence in the single-sex school. School-related stereotyping was associated with success in and connection to the single-sex school; school connection was also a significant moderator of the relation between stereotyping and academic performance. Gender-typed peer preferences were associated with school connection and persistence. Overall, results indicate that student characteristics, as well as issues of ??fit?? with the specific school, are associated with students?? connection to and success in single-sex educational environments.     

Academic Pathways and Children of Immigrant Families

In this study, we examined the relationships between family, school, and community contexts and academic achievement during middle childhood among children of Portuguese, Dominican, and Cambodian immigrant families. We interviewed approximately 350 children from 2 age cohorts spanning first through third and fourth through sixth grades annually across 3 years. Additionally, we collected interviews with parents, measures from teachers, school administrative information, and community ethnographies to understand the various contexts of children's academic achievement. Using a "mixed-methods" approach, we qualitatively coded children's academic success from school records and teacher's responses about the student into 1 of 5 pathways representing children who were "excelling, positive, neutral, negative, or abysmal" across all 3 years of the study. We then used ordinal regression modeling to examine the relationships between child, family, school, and community factors and child academic pathway. Commonalities in findings across the 3 immigrant groups reveal the importance of good school attendance. Divergences between the 3 immigrant groups highlighted family and cultural influences on positive child academic achievement such as synchronicity between child and school values, the children's own academic self-concepts, and academic aspirations. We integrated quantitative findings with the profiles from ethnographic research of the study's communities for an in-depth examination of the mechanisms behind early educational success among children of immigrants.     

Variables Associated With the Educational Development of Residential Deaf Children

Relationships between 15 family, psychological and demographic variables and reading and math achievement are reported for 496 hearing impaired children residing at a residential state school. The data also are analyzed for subgroups of children (i.e., hereditary or nonhereditary deafness; Rebella or nonrubella; and those with severe or profound hearing losses). For the total group, reading achievement is most highly predicted by intelligence, amount of weekly allowance, the frequency of receipt of letters from family of friends, the number of years that children are at the school, and the adequacy of communicating information between children and their parents. The 15 variables collectively account for 30 percent of the variance associated with reading. Math achivement is most highly predicted by intelligence, size of weekly allowance, student-parent communication of feelings, the number of nonauditory handicaps, and the frequency of receipt of letters from family or friends. The 15 variables collectively account for 39 percent of the variance associated with math. Four of the 15 variables (i.e., WISC-R and Leiter IQs, size of weekly allowance, and the number of years at the school) are fairly consistent predictors of achievement across the subgroups. The remaining 11 variables are less predictive of reading or math achievement.     

Lack of early child care effects on school-age children's social competence and academic achievement

Teacher ratings of social competence and academic achievement were obtained from a sample of 127 Bermudian children at ages 5, 6, 7 and 8 years. The children were studied first during their pre-school years, when they had been exposed to various amounts and qualities of day care. Quality of care was found to be important to the children's intellectual and social development while they were in the day care settings but not after 1–4 years of primary schooling. In hierarchical and simultaneous regressions, family background characteristics, not child care amounts or qualities, were found to be predictive of social competence and academic achievement in the primary grades. By school age, the effects of infant and preschool child care experiences were no longer influential in children's development, but family background continued to be important. These findings and their implications for child care are discussed.     

Social Influences on Students’ Academic Engagement and Science Achievement

The aim of this study was to examine the role of social support from parents, teachers, and peers in students’ engagement and achievement. Filipino secondary school students (N?=?1,694) participated in this study and answered questionnaires assessing their levels of perceived social support and academic engagement. A standardized science achievement test was also given. Results showed that students who perceived higher levels of social support from parents, teachers, and peers were more engaged and had higher achievement scores. More interestingly, peer support seemed to be more salient compared to parental and teacher support. Implications are discussed.     

Parental Health and Children’s Functioning in Immigrant Families: Family Roles and Perceived Treatment at School

Although parents’ health condition is generally thought to be related to their involvement in their children’s functioning, the possible dynamics behind the scenes in school contexts with immigrant children has received little attention. This study examined the association between parents’ health condition and their children’s academic and behavioral functioning, as well as the mediation effects of parents’ school engagement and children’s perceived treatment at school among 607 immigrant families with 10- to 12-year-old children. Using structural equation modeling, the results indicated that parents’ poor health condition was associated with children’s increased behavioral problems. Parents’ school engagement fully mediated the association between parental health condition and children’s academic achievement and partially mediated the association between parental health condition and children’s behavior problems. Notably, higher levels of parents’ school engagement were associated with increased behavior problems, demonstrating a unique feature in these immigrant children’s developmental functioning. Higher levels of perceived harsh treatment by peers at school due to children’s immigrant identity were associated with these children’s greater risks of behavior problems. The results suggested what may lie behind the scenes in these children’s behavioral problems is that many of these children who act out and are brought to the school office for disciplinary issues may suffer from perceived discrimination and bad treatment by their peers. The findings provide important implications for researchers, healthcare practitioners, and educators seeking to understand this subpopulation and to design and implement family support and prevention programs for young adolescents from immigrant backgrounds.     

Are good students desirable friends? Evidence for friendship selection among elementary students / ¿Son los buenos estudiantes amigos deseables? Evidencia para la selección de amistad entre estudiantes de educación primaria

Abstract

This study assesses the relationship between friendship networks and academic performance among third graders from one school in Santiago, Chile. Longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena) was used to test whether friendship selection is driven by academic performance and if befriended peers tend to influence each other on their academic performance, including gender as a covariate. Results show a positive relationship between academic performance and number of friendship nominations received, and a higher probability of same-gender friendships. Students with higher academic achievement are more likely to be nominated as friends, especially by peers with lower academic achievement. These results suggest that elementary students value high performance as a desirable characteristic in their friends.