景颇族初中生的民族社会化觉察及其特征

民族社会化觉察是指少数民族孩子对父母向他们传递的有关民族特征信息的认知。采用问卷调查、情境实验和故事补全任务考察景颇族初中生对母亲传递的民族社会化信息的觉察及特征。结果表明：(1)景颇族初中生觉察到的民族社会化信息包含促进和睦、文化社会化、促使不信任和偏见准备; (2)景颇族初中生对不同信息的觉察存在差异, 对促进和睦的觉察显著多于文化社会化和偏见准备, 对促使不信任的觉察最少; (3)在冲突情境中, 有无偏见线索影响被试对偏见准备的觉察; (4)被试的民族社会化觉察存在性别差异, 女生更多地觉察到促进和睦, 男生更多地觉察到促使不信任。整个研究表明, 青少年的民族社会化觉察存在着文化差异, 与美国少数族裔青少年觉察到母亲偏重于传递文化社会化、偏见准备不同, 景颇族初中生觉察到母亲偏重于传递促进和睦。     

Sex-linked patterns of socialization

The focus of the present study was on ways in which parents differentially socialize their sons and daughters. Measures of socialization were based on the proportion of person- and position-oriented appeals parents reported using in attempts to regulate their children's behavior. Mothers and fathers of first, third, and fifth graders were asked what they would say to their son or daughter in a series of common parent—child situations in which there was an obvious need for a parent to regulate the child's behavior. The major finding was a sex of parent by sex of child interaction in the use of parental appeal strategies. Across ages of children, parents were more person oriented in regulating their same-sex child than their opposite-sex child.This research was supported by Grant MH28543-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Copies of the Manual for Coding Regulatory Appeals can be obtained by writing to the author at the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 33 West 42nd Street, New York, New York 10036.     

Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs as determinants of job satisfaction and students' academic achievement: A study at the school level

Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were examined as determinants of their job satisfaction and students' academic achievement. Over 2000 teachers in 75 Italian junior high schools were administered self-report questionnaires to assess self-efficacy beliefs and their job satisfaction Students' average final grades at the end of junior high school were collected in two subsequent scholastic years. Structural equation modeling analyses corroborated a conceptual model in which teachers' personal efficacy beliefs affected their job satisfaction and students' academic achievement, controlling for previous levels of achievement.     

Causal patterns related to post high school employment satisfaction

A linear recursive path model was developed and evaluated using a combined male and female sample, and separate male and female samples in an attempt to identify causal relationships of in-school student characteristics to satisfaction in post high school employment. The statistical methodology used was Path Analysis. A total of ten student characteristic variables were used in the model. The findings indicate that overall job satisfaction is related to variables which are associated with the affective domain. These variables are: Occupational Values-Interest and Satisfaction and Salary, and Vocational Maturity. Overall, employment satisfaction was twice as predictable for the female sample as it was for the combined sample and it was not at all predictable for the male sample.     

The role of perceived parental socialization practices in school adjustment among Norwegian upper secondary school students

Background Lack of adjustment or school failure is a concern to educators, educational and school psychologists as well as parents, but few studies have focused on school adjustment during late adolescence. Moreover, studies have yet to explore associations between parenting and school adjustment among upper secondary school students. Aim The primary objective of this study is to explore the relative and unique influence of parental support, behavioural control and psychological control (overprotection and autonomy granting) in school adjustment among upper secondary school students. Sample The sample consisted of 564 students (15–18 years of age) in vocational and general educational courses from one upper secondary school in western Norway. Method The study was conducted as a survey. All data were based on adolescent reports, except for absence data, which were provided by the school. Results The results showed that perceived parental practices accounted for moderate, but statistically significant amounts of variance in different aspects of school adjustment. Conclusions The findings indicate that perceived parental socialization practices are only moderately associated with school adjustment among upper secondary school students. This probably reflects the fact that the influence of specific parenting practices declines as children and young adolescents mature into late adolescent students.     

A longitudinal study of school adjustment in urban,minority adolescents: Effects of a high school transition program

Described an intervention program designed to prepare elementary school (K-8) eighth-grade students for their transition to high school the following year. Participants in the study were 145, predominantly Hispanic, inner-city public school adolescents. The experimental group received an augmented condition, consisting of Education and Peer Support Components. The control group received a minimal condition consisting of only the Education Component. While no group effects were observed, time effects indicated experimental and control students' improved perceptions of school readiness, but deteriorated perceptions of support from both home and school and diminished grade-point averages and attendance. Time effects also revealed variable changes in school perceptions. Findings are discussed in terms of a developmental perspective of the school transition process. Implications for high school transition programming with the target population and directions for future research are also addressed.     

A longitudinal study of mother-child interactions at school entry and social and academic outcomes in middle school

This study examines the association between quality of mother-child interaction assessed at kindergarten entry and children's social and academic outcomes in middle school. The relation between early mother-child interactions and later school performance was examined controlling for demographic variables (e.g., maternal education, family's ethnicity, estimated child IQ, and child's gender) often associated with school outcomes. Ratings of mother-child interaction were assessed for 122 mother-child dyads on the first day of kindergarten. Children's social and academic performance in school (e.g., discipline problems, classroom behavior, and grades) was assessed via teacher observation and grade reports through the eighth grade. Results indicate that positive quality of mother-child interaction accounted for unique variance in social and academic success in early adolescence over and above the contribution of demographic variables. Further, the relation between mother-child patterns and middle school social outcomes varied as a function of ethnicity. These findings support the exploration of process-oriented social variables for predicting later social and academic competence.     

Challenging occupational stereotypes: Women's training roadshows and guidance at school level

The views that women and girls hold about themselves contribute to the segregation of women in the labour market. Women's Training Roadshows are an example of initiatives aimed at 'cultural interruption', in that they attempt to challenge occupational stereotypes. This paper evaluates the Cardiff Women's Roadshow from the schoolgirls' perspective and discusses the implications of the findings for careers guidance at school level.     

A developmental study of school theft

Two hundred students in grades 4-8 and 10 participated in a study of school theft. Students responded to a four-part questionnaire designed to measure perceptions of theft incidence and seriousness, personal responsibility for correcting theft, causal attributions of theft, and perceived consequences of thievery. A main grade effect was observed for personal responsibility and consequences, but represented counter directions. Eighth graders reported the highest incidence of theft, and females prescribed harsher penalties for theft. Results only weakly support a developmental interpretation of school theft patterns. Overall, students uniformly report that theft is a major problem in their schools.     

Disruptive boys with stable and unstable high fighting behavior patterns during junior elementary school

Boys' fighting was assessed at ages six, eight, and nine. The boys (N = 69) had been selected from the 30% most disruptive children in kindergartens from low socioeconomic neighborhoods. Twenty-three percent of these disruptive boys were rated as high fighters on three assessments ("stable high fighters"), and 28% were rated as high fighters on two of the three assessments ("variable high fighters"). Forty-two percent were rated as high fighters only one out of three assessments ("occasional high fighters") and 7% were never rated as high fighters. Only high fighting in two successive years significantly increased the risk of being rated a high fighter in a following year. At age 10, stable high fighters (high fighters at ages 6, 8, 9) were perceived by teachers, peers, mothers, and the boys themselves as more disruptive and more antisocial than occasional high fighters. These results show an impressive self-other agreement in boys who have adopted a physically aggressive life style from an early age. The three groups did not differ on individual family demographic characteristics, but stable high fighters had a higher mean on an index of family socioeconomic disadvantage. Results indicate that the aggression scales which include only a few physical aggression items and many disruptive items (oppositional behavior, rejection, hyperactivity, inattention, etc.) probably aggregate two kinds of disruptive boys, the high-frequency fighters at high risk for stable disruptive, physically aggressive, and antisocial behaviors, and the disruptive low-frequency fighters who are at a lower risk of stable disruptive behavior and at a lower risk of early antisocial behavior.     

Non-directive play therapy as a means of recreating optimal infant socialization patterns

The paper proposes that non-directive play therapy recreates conditions similar to those created between a carer and infant during normal development. By the heightening in therapy of essentially normal developmental processes the child with harmful or inadequate relationship experiences is enabled to rework and reintegrate these into normal interactiv patterns. Ways are reviewed in which non-directive play therapy exemplifies important attachment properties in an individual's primary relationships, and recreates healthy carer-infant patterns of interaction such as topicsharing, face-to-face interactions, mutuality and symbolic play, in order to bring about therapeutic change. This primary corrective function is similar to other responsive therapeutic approaches, but it is argued that a particular strength of non-directive play therapy lies in its inherent flexibility and responsiveness to the individual child, which resembles normal infant socialization with a sensitive carer.     

Cultural variations in socialization for school achievement: Contrasts between Japan and the United States

Studies of family effects on children's school-relevant skills usually involve socioeconomic status (SES) or ethnic comparisons within Western cultures. This paper extends these cultural comparisons with results from a longitudinal study of family influences on school achievement in Japan and the United States. The initial project included 58 mothers and their 4-year-old children in Japan and 67 mothers and their children in the United States. Data were gathered by interview, tests of mental ability, and three interaction tasks. A follow-up phase included 48 mothers and their 11-year-old children in Japan and 47 mothers and their 12-year-old children in the United States. Ten maternal variables from the preschool phase were selected to examine the association between maternal behavior and school readiness at ages 5 and 6 and scores on tests of vocabulary and mathematics at follow-up. Maternal behavior was significantly related to both outcomes in both countries even after children's mental ability at age 4 was taken into account. The association of maternal behavior with children's school-relevant performance increased between preschool and follow-up periods in Japan but declined in the United States. Explanations are offered relating these trends to socialization patterns in the two cultures.