Predictors of school engagement among same-sex and heterosexual adoptive parents of Kindergarteners

Little research has explored parental engagement in schools in the context of adoptive parent families or same-sex parent families. The current cross-sectional study explored predictors of parents' self-reported school involvement, relationships with teachers, and school satisfaction, in a sample of 103 female same-sex, male same-sex, and heterosexual adoptive parent couples (196 parents) of kindergarten-age children. Parents who reported more contact by teachers about positive or neutral topics (e.g., their child's good grades) reported more involvement and greater satisfaction with schools, regardless of family type. Parents who reported more contact by teachers about negative topics (e.g., their child's behavior problems) reported better relationships with teachers but lower school satisfaction, regardless of family type. Regarding the broader school context, across all family types, parents who felt more accepted by other parents reported more involvement and better parent–teacher relationships; socializing with other parents was related to greater involvement. Regarding the adoption-specific variables, parents who perceived their children's schools as more culturally sensitive were more involved and satisfied with the school, regardless of family type. Perceived cultural sensitivity mattered more for heterosexual adoptive parents' relationships with their teachers than it did for same-sex adoptive parents. Finally, heterosexual adoptive parents who perceived high levels of adoption stigma in their children's schools were less involved than those who perceived low levels of stigma, whereas same-sex adoptive parents who perceived high levels of stigma were more involved than those who perceived low levels of stigma. Our findings have implications for school professionals, such as school psychologists, who work with diverse families.     

Early emotional development in infants and toddlers: Perspectives of Early Head Start staff and parents

As part of a curriculum‐development project, focus groups were implemented with Early Head Start staff and with parents of infants and toddlers enrolled in Early Head Start. Focus groups were designed to identify staff and parent beliefs about early emotional development. Three major themes were identified that crossed the staff and parent focus groups: (a) Infants' and toddlers' abilities to have emotions and to be aware of others' emotions; (b) roles of parents as advocates, teachers, and disciplinarians; and (c) parental reflectivity about their own experiences as influences on their parenting. The findings suggest that parents participating in Early Head Start have some knowledge about basic emotions and the developmental nature of emotions, but may easily misinterpret emotional displays only as attempts at manipulation rather than as valid expressions of feelings; expectations for gender‐appropriate emotional expressiveness begin early; more empowered parents may view themselves as role models and teachers for their children; and more reflective parents are better prepared to engage in the sensitive interactions needed to guide young children's growing awareness of their own and others' emotions. Implications for parenting education and program planning utilizing an infant mental health perspective are discussed.     

Sex differences in the estimated intelligence of school children

This study investigated sex differences in estimated general and multiple intelligence in school children, their parents, and their teachers. There were three groups of participants: 285 (149 female, 136 male) pupils of a mixed government‐run comprehensive school, between the ages of 13 and 16 years; 93 mothers and 58 fathers of the pupils; and five female and eight male teachers. Children estimated their own and their parents' IQ, whilst the parents estimated their own and their children's IQ; the teachers estimated only the children's intelligence. The aims of this study were firstly to assess whether perceptions of male intellectual superiority were observable in school age children and school teachers, and to make direct comparisons between the children's self‐estimations and those of the parents and the teachers. Secondly, this study aimed to replicate previous literature on adult self‐estimations of overall and multiple intelligences, and to compare these to estimations by children of these adults (their parents). Fewer sex differences were observed than expected. Teachers' estimations did not follow conceptions of male superiority. The patterns of sex differences in mother and teacher estimations of children were similar to each other, as were those of fathers and children. Verbal and numerical abilities were found to be most closely related to estimations of overall IQ in all three groups. Most striking was the lack of correlation between father and daughter estimations of each other. Reasons why this study failed to replicate findings on adult samples are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Project Destiny

Abstract

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders present significant challenges to educators and community professionals in contemporary practice. At the same time, parents of middle school students experience parenting as a difficult time period that is laden with a variety of feelings. A central strategy for assisting both parents and professionals during this developmental period is to work collaboratively with one another. This sharing of ideas and strategies is helpful in attaining goals for students that are usually not met in the absence of cooperative team work. Furthermore, the recommended direction for service provision for these youth is to work through a coordinated, interagency approach across the community.

This paper presents the first year's methods and initial findings from Project Destiny, a three year study that is attempting to enhance the knowledge and strategies of professionals, parents and community teams for working with middle school students having emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD). Initial results from the project's work in three communities suggest that teachers at the middle schools have been interested and able in acquiring new knowledge and skills for working with the youth. These gains were evident in self-evaluations completed by the teachers. Additionally, 60% of parents of youth with EBD were recruited and participate regularly in parent support and advocacy groups. Efforts to integrate the project with local interagency teams have been somewhat less successful due to the current political and economic climate that has eliminated essential resource personnel on local teams. The Project Destiny model has merit for further replication and further analysis of student performance and will be completed in the final year of the project.     

The pillars of strength for first-grade adjustment – Parental and children's character strengths and the transition to elementary school

The present study aimed to explore the relations between parental and children's character strengths and children's school adjustment during the critical period of school entry. Participants were 479 parents and 16 first-grade teachers of 479 first-grade schoolchildren from five public elementary schools in Israel. Children's and parents’ character strengths were measured by parental questionnaires, based on the Values in Action inventories of strengths. In addition, teachers completed questionnaires about their students’ cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral school adjustment. Findings showed that parents’ intellectual, interpersonal, and temperance strengths were positively related to their children's school adjustment. In addition, children's intellectual, interpersonal, group-interaction, temperance, and transcendence strengths were positively related to broad aspects of first-grade adjustment. The present study provides an initial exploration of the contribution of personal and parental strengths to young children's optimal adjustment to elementary school.     

Group‐based evaluations for pupil‐on‐teacher violence: The impact of teacher intervention strategy

Although extreme violence to teachers is rare, the fact remains that in the UK, 29% of teachers report having been physically assaulted by a pupil (ATL, 2008a ). The ways in which responsibility for such assaults are attributed can have legal, educational and managerial implications. In the current study, teachers (N = 66), pupils (N = 68) and parents (N = 64) from a large secondary school in the UK read an incident report form outlining an incident depicting a pupil physically assaulting a teacher. The incident report was manipulated such that, prior to being assaulted, the teacher had either separated the assailant pupil from another pupil using a physical or non‐physical intervention. Results revealed that participating parents' and teachers' evaluations of the assailant's parents and the teacher differed from those of pupils in several ways. The results are discussed in terms of group‐based responsibility for deviant behaviour and implications for teacher behaviour in response to pupil on teacher violence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Not wanting parents' involvement: Sign of autonomy or sign of problems?

The present study investigated whether adolescents' desires to manage their own free time, without parents' involvement, reflected problems or healthy independence. Participants were 1057 adolescents, their parents, and teachers. Initially, wanting parental involvement was related to disclosure, parental knowledge, and positive adjustment across contexts and wanting low parental involvement was related to negative adjustment. With closer examination of adolescents, two groups of adolescents who were similar on desires for low parental involvement but who differed on parental desires for involvement were uncovered. Those adolescents who wanted low parental involvement and whose parents desired involvement were consistently linked to poor adjustment in multicontexts. Those adolescents who wanted low parental involvement and whose parents wanted low parental involvement did not have more problems than their wanting parental involvement peers. Results indicate that not wanting parental involvement should be studied in terms of multiple developmental patterns.     

Style of Role Enactment Expected of Parent,Teacher, And Counselor

Role theory deals with the rights and obligations accruing to occupants of positions. Role expectations are mobilized by the credentials present in the style with which the role performer enacts his role. Expectations high school seniors have of these credentials in regard to parents, teachers, and counselors were investigated employing an instrument developed from' the dimensions of Empathy, Respect, Genuineness, and Concreteness posited by Carkhuff and Berenson. The findings were: (a) subjects of higher socioeconomic status had higher expectations of Respect from parents, teachers, and counselors; (b) subjects, in general, had higher expectations of Empathy, Respect, and Concreteness from counselors than from parents while the reverse held true for Genuineness; (c) girls had higher expectations of Respect from parents, teachers, and counselors than did boys.     

Adolescent Parental Attachment and Academic Motivation and Performance in Early Adolescence1

In this study, the links between adolescents' attachment to parents and academic motivation and performance were examined while considering problem behaviors and perceived teacher support as potential mediators of those links. Participants were 121 early adolescents who completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) to assess the quality of attachment to their mothers and fathers. Adolescents' attachment to both parents was positively associated with academic motivation. These significant links were mediated by adolescents' perceptions of support from teachers. Results are discussed in light of the different mechanisms that can relate attachment quality to adolescents' academic motivation and performance.     

Longitudinal patterns of behaviour problems in children with specific speech and language difficulties: Child and contextual factors

Background. The purpose of this study was to examine the stability of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) in children with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLD), and the relationship between BESD and the language ability. Method. A sample of children with SSLD were assessed for BESD at ages 8, 10 and 12 years by both teachers and parents. Language abilities were assessed at 8 and 10 years. Results. High levels of BESD were found at all three ages but with different patterns of trajectories for parents' and teachers' ratings. Language ability predicted teacher‐ but not parent‐rated BESD. Conclusions. The study confirms the persistence of high levels of BESD over the period 8–12 years and the continuing comorbidity of BESD and language difficulties but also indicates a complex interaction of within‐child and contextual factors over time.     

Young Children's Descriptions of God: Influences of parents' and teachers' God concepts and religious denomination of schools

This study extends prior research on antecedents of individual differences in God concepts in early childhood by examining relations of parents' and teachers' God concepts and religious denomination of schools with children's God concepts. Participants were 165 preschoolers (mean age 63 months), 107 of their parents and 16 teachers. These subjects were distributed over eight elementary schools belonging to four different religious denominations, i.e. Catholic, Dutch Reformed, Orthodox Reformed and State schools. The God concepts of children, parents and teachers were measured using interviews and questionnaires. Results showed that both parents' and teachers' God concepts were predictive of children's God concepts, but each in a different way. Parents seem to influence the relational component of children's God concepts particularly. Teachers especially contribute to biblical content of children's God concepts. Religious denomination of schools had independent effects on children's God concepts, controlling for parental denomination.     

Anger reactions of Iranian adolescents

The purposes of this study were to examine the anger reactions of Iranian adolescents directed against their peer groups, parents, and teachers, or school faculties, and also to compare the results with Gesell's data from 1956. A questionnaire was developed according to Gesell's study to investigate the kinds of anger reactions 454 high school students (258 girls and 196 boys) expressed against their peer groups, parents and teachers, or school faculties. Adolescents used more crying against their fathers than mothers, peers, and teachers and more verbal aggression against their peers than their parents and teachers. For kind of anger reaction against parents and teachers or school faculties chi squared was significant across sex of adolescents. Finally, the kinds of anger reactions against mothers and stronger peers were significantly related to mothers' education.     

Predicting early emotion knowledge development among children of colour living in historically disinvested neighbourhoods: consideration of child pre-academic abilities,self-regulation,peer relations and parental education

ABSTRACT

Emotion knowledge, the ability to accurately perceive and label emotions, predicts higher quality peer relations, higher social competence, higher academic achievement, and fewer behaviour problems. Less is known, however, about predictors of early development of emotion knowledge. This study examines emotion knowledge development among children attending pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten programmes in high-poverty urban schools. The study considers child pre-academic abilities, self-regulation, peer relations and parental education as predictors of emotion knowledge development over two years. The sample (n?=?1034) of children living in historically disinvested neighbourhoods was primarily Black (85%) and low-income (～61%). The sample was part of a longitudinal follow-up study of a cluster (school) randomised controlled trial in ten public elementary schools. Children’s emotion knowledge was assessed with a series of tasks three times over a two-year period. At baseline, parents and teachers reported on peer relations, children completed a test of pre-academic abilities, independent observers rated child self-regulation, and parents reported on their educational attainment. Results demonstrate that emotion knowledge increases over time, and pre-academic abilities, self-regulation, peer relations, and parent education independently predict children’s emotion knowledge. This study highlights multiple factors that predict emotion knowledge among primarily Black children living in historically disinvested neighbourhoods.     

Working with parents to counteract bullying: A randomized controlled trial of an intervention to improve parent-school cooperation

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at improving parent-school cooperation in counteracting bullying. Using a randomized controlled trial, data of teachers, parents of non-victimized children, and children themselves were collected at 13 intervention and 14 control schools (grades 3–6, N at post-assessment: teachers = 83, parents = 153, children = 2,510) at two time points (time lag about 6 months). Results showed positive effects of the intervention for some aspects of the primary outcomes: parents’ and teachers’ attitudes and efforts, whereas no effects were found of teachers’ or parents’ competences in counteracting bullying. No intervention effects were found for secondary outcomes: children's self-reported bullying, victimization, well-being, and self-esteem. The findings indicate that, due to the intervention, teachers and parents were more aligned and able to cooperate, even within the short time of the intervention: one school year. This is the first essential step to systematically addressing parents’ role in tackling bullying; future research is needed to examine the long-term effects of parent and school interventions in enhancing the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs.     

How homeroom teachers cope with high demands: Effect of prolonging working hours on emotional exhaustion

This study applied the job demands–resources (JD–R) model to examine antecedents and processes leading to emotional exhaustion in homeroom teachers. We hypothesized that the demands imposed by student misbehavior, conflicts with parents, and workload would relate positively with emotional exhaustion and that prolonging working hours as a coping behavior would mediate these effects. The cross-sectional study involved self-reported questionnaire-based data of 560 homeroom teachers in Switzerland. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that workload (β = 0.43), conflicts with parents (β = 0.25), and student misbehavior (β = 0.23) were positively related to emotional exhaustion and that prolonging working hours partially mediated the effect of workload on emotional exhaustion (β = 0.21). Conflicts with parents and student misbehavior only related to emotional exhaustion directly, and not indirectly. We discuss these findings in light of the JD–R model, teacher education, and teachers' health promotion.     

Parental Behavioral Control and Parent-Child Relational Quality Predictors of Perceived Parental Knowledge in Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Over three consecutive years, 2,559 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 12.65 years at Wave 1) responded to instruments assessing their perceived parental behavioral control (parental knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness) and parent-child relational qualities (satisfaction with parental control, child's readiness to communicate with the parents, and perceived mutual trust between parents and their children). Amongst the various indicators of behavioral control, monitoring was the strongest predictor of parental knowledge. Although parental monitoring and child's readiness to communicate with parents were significant predictors of parental knowledge, parental monitoring was a stronger predictor. Results further showed that behavioral control and parent-child relational quality composite scores were concurrently and longitudinally related to parental knowledge. The present study clarifies the family predictors of parental knowledge in Chinese families, but the findings are not entirely consistent with the Western research findings.     

Effective Procedures for Conducting Genetic Prevalence Studies With Children1

In this study, the effectiveness of genetic screening study procedures was examined. One analysis was designed to explore whether having a genetic screening study simply introduced by a physician who had just completed a child's evaluation (vs. introduced by an unfamiliar individual) influenced whether the child's parent enrolled the child in the study. Also examined were explanations for nonenrollment and final enrollment decisions among individuals initially uncertain about enrollment. The primary finding was that a physician's introduction to the genetic screening study was associated with a 17% increase in enrollment, and with a 9.9% greater rate of enrollment overall. The rate of increase was greatest among physicians who were most consistent with introducing the screening study. Initially undecided individuals comprised 14% of the final sample. Many parents who chose not to participate felt that the research study was not important. A smaller percentage of parents chose not to enroll in the genetic study because of discomfort with genetic testing. The findings have important implications for designing effective procedures for prevalence research.     

Teachers' perceptions of remediation possibilities of Dutch students in special education

Background. Research suggests that referral practices of teachers in regular education are not only affected by the level of learning difficulties but also by student behaviour and the level of students' parental involvement in education. It was hypothesized that teachers maintain a notion of the ‘ideal’ student, who has relatively good academic skills, is well behaved and has highly involved parents. Aims. The main question of this study was whether special‐education teachers' perceptions regarding remediation possibilities are similarly affected by student behaviour and the level of students' parental involvement. Sample. Nineteen experienced Dutch school teachers in special education each evaluated four students: two with relatively high and two with relatively low academic performance. Methods. Three questionnaires to assess learning difficulties, behavioural problems and the level of parental involvement were developed. Results. Teachers' perceptions of remediation possibilities were related to the severity of the learning difficulties and academic skill. Academic skill, in turn, was strongly related to the perception of the children's behavioural problems and parental involvement, which, in turn, links the perception of remediation possibilities indirectly to children's behavioural problems and parental involvement. Conclusions. Special education teachers may also hold an image of the ‘ideal’ student. Students with high academic achievement levels are perceived as having fewer behavioural problems and more highly involved parents than students with low academic achievement levels. Whether this is due to justified or unjustified teachers' perceptions is a matter for future research. What is important is that stereotyping of students (justly or not) poses a serious problem for the Dutch reintegration policy.     

The efficacy of conjoint behavioral consultation on parents and children in the home setting: Results of a randomized controlled trial

The present study is a large-scale randomized trial testing the effects of a family–school partnership model (i.e., Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, CBC) for promoting behavioral competence and decreasing problem behaviors of children identified by their teachers as disruptive. CBC is a structured approach to problem-solving that involves consultants, parents, and teachers. The effects of CBC on family variables that are commonly associated with important outcomes among school-aged children (i.e., family involvement and parent competence in problem solving), as well as child outcomes at home, were evaluated. Participants were 207 children with disruptive behaviors from 91 classrooms in 21 schools in kindergarten through grade 3 and their parents and teachers. Results indicated that there were significantly different increases in home–school communication and parent competence in problem solving for participants in the CBC relative to control group. Likewise, compared to children in the control group, children in the CBC group showed significantly greater decreases in arguing, defiance, noncompliance, and tantrums. The degree of family risk moderated parents' competence in problem solving and children's total problem behaviors, teasing, and tantrums.