Adolescent Adjustment and the Transition to High School

We examined the impact of the transition from elementary to high school on the psychological adjustment of adolescents, and the effectiveness of an assessment procedure aimed at identifying adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral problems. One hundred and ten children from 2 elementary schools within the greater Brisbane area were followed across the transition from elementary to high school and screened for emotional and behavioral problems in grade 7 and again in grade 8. It was found that, in general, the transition to high school did not coincide with a marked decrease in psychological adjustment. Structured clinical interviews with adolescents in grade 8 showed that 13% of boys and 15% of girls experienced a diagnosable DSM-IV psychological disorder and that a further 15% of boys and 15% of girls suffered from features of a psychological disorder. Furthermore, results of discriminant function analyses showed that a combination of self report of adjustment, teacher report of adjustment, and assessment of relevant family variables obtained in grade 7 predicted the absence or presence of emotional and behavioral problems, six months later, in up to 77% of children. Results are discussed in terms of the impact of the transition to high school, the effectiveness of community-based assessment programs for adolescents, and the stability of emotional and behavioral problems in childhood and adolescents.     

Generative Activity During Geometry Problem Solving: Comparison of the Performance of High-Achieving and Low-Achieving High School Students

The problem-solving performance of groups of high-achieving (HA) and low-achieving (LA) Year 11 students was compared during solution of geometry problems using a think-aloud procedure. Students also undertook knowledge assessment tasks involving theorem recall and a prompted recall task to provide estimates of knowledge available for access during the solution attempts. Detailed analysis of problem-solving protocols indicated that HA students not only accessed a greater body of geometrical knowledge but also used that knowledge more effectively. On the more difficult problems, these HA students generated more information, used that generated information to access further relevant knowledge, and showed more frequent management of their processing behavior. The nature of the difference in generative activity of a student from each of the two groups is illustrated.     

A Career Awareness Program for High School Dropouts

The Career Awareness Program for High School Dropouts was an experimentally funded project to determine the effect of a concentrated vocational assessment and vocational counseling program on the employability of high school dropouts. Various aspects of CAP included individual and group counseling, vocational-educational assessment and diagnosis, job attitude training, vocational guidance, and career exploration. The results of a follow-up survey showed that approximately 60% of the dropouts were still employed six months after completion of the program. In addition, the dropouts reported benefiting from the program through increased awareness of their own needs, abilities, and interests as well as through better awareness of the types of skills and behaviors desired by employers.     

Counseling Disruptive Black Elementary School Boys

The assignment was to counsel the 10 worst behaved boys at an inner-city elementary school. This case study illuminates the interplay between theory, practice, and values by describing effective techniques of intervention in a situation that reflects social pathology. Traditional African values and certain principles of character provide a set of reliable standards for improving behavior.     

An Investigation of the Athletic Career Expectations of High School Student Athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the athletic expectations of high school male athletes and identify factors related to these expectations.     

Assertive Behavior and Likeability in Elementary School Boys

The present study investigated the social impact of assertive versus nonassertive behavior in fourth- and fifth-grade boys. Subjects viewed eight videotaped scenes, each depicting a different ten year old male model handling a situation in which commendatory or refusal assertion or nonassertion was required. Subjects then evaluated each model based upon their viewing of the role-plays. In addition, the Children's Assertive Behavior Scale (CABS) and a sociometric measure were adminsitered. Results suggest that assertive behavior is valued by elementary school boys. The implications of this finding for the study and training of assertive behavior in children are discussed.     

Self-Concept and School Adjustment

This study attempted to relate self-concept to several dimensions of the child's experience that are deemed fundamental to effective academic adjustment. It was hypothesized that a child's conception of school would be related to his conception of himself, and thus might be construed as an extension of his self-concept. 80 6th-grade students were used as subjects for all phases of the investigation. Significantly positive correlations were obtained between self-concept measures and the following variables: conception of school, social status at school, emotional adjustment, mental ability, reading achievement, and mathematical achievement.     

A Test of the Tripartite Model of Anxiety and Depression in Elementary and High School Boys and Girls

The applicability of the tripartite model of emotion, which distinguishes the shared aspect of depression and anxiety, negative affect (NA), from their respective specific components of low positive affect (PA) and physiological hyperarousal (PH), was examined in 472 elementary and high school students. The relations among depression, anxiety, and the three tripartite dimensions were examined for the total sample and across four subgroups based on age and gender. High school girls reported more depression, anxiety, NA, and PH than the other groups, and lower PA as assessed by the PANAS-C, but not the AFARS. Using structural equation modeling, the tripartite model proved to be a reasonably good fit for the total sample. Among the subgroups, the best fit was found for high school girls. However, several findings for the total sample and for individual subgroups were not consistent with the tripartite model, raising issues related to the independence and specificity of the tripartite constructs and their measurement. Alternative age- and gender-specific models to better account for the shared and unique aspects of depression and anxiety in children need to be explored.     

High School Conceptual Level as an Indicator of Young Adult Adjustment

It was found that the conceptual level (CL) and intelligence scores of 90 twelfth-grade girls from Southern Ontario were related to 3-year follow-up data. Canonical correlation analysis revealed the presence of two variates underlying the relationship between CL and intelligence to follow-up measures. The first variate, defined primarily by intelligence, was related to student (rather than working) status and occupational aspiration. The second variate, defined primarily by CL, was related to aspects of life satisfaction, presence of anxiety, depression, and hostility, and number of reported problems. Further analysis indicated that higher intelligence in Grade 12, controlling for CL, was a unique predictor of follow-up student status and higher occupational aspiration. CL, controlling for intelligence, predicted greater life satisfaction, lower anxiety, depression, and hostility, and fewer problems. The hypothesis that CL scores collected during high school are related to indicators of adjustment in young adulthood was supported.     

汉族、回族高中生生涯规划与发展的跨文化研究

该研究对汉族和回族高中生的生涯发展特点进行了跨文化研究,研究得出以下结论：(1)总体来说,高中生对升学的价值评价特别高,80％以上都把继续深造作为毕业后的第一打算,高中生的生涯自我效能也比较高。(2)总的来说,高中生生涯信念、生涯自我效能、生涯规划都不存在性别差异。(3)高中生生涯信念不存在民族差异,生涯自我效能、生涯规划存在显著的民族差异。     

The Career and Educational Aspirations of Gifted High School Students: A Retrospective Study

In this study the authors used a retrospective method to obtain information about the career aspirations of gifted high school juniors (69 boys and 125 girls). An instrument called the Occupations List (OL) was administered to obtain information about career alternatives considered by each respondent at various ages. The career alternatives considered in an early life period were compared with those considered later in terms of their prestige level and gender traditionality. The career and educational aspirations of gifted boys and girls were also compared. The implications for counseling gifted students with career concerns are discussed.     

Ten Years of Career Development: A Nationwide Study of High School Students

The authors summarize trends for several indicators of student career development collected in 1973 (when career education and career planning programs began to receive renewed emphasis) and again in 1983. The indicators, obtained for nationally representative samples of junior and senior high school students (N = 18,129 in 1973 and 15,432 in 1983), included career-related concerns, career planning involvement, and reactions to career planning services. Among the major trends was a 32% increase in the proportion of 11th graders who reported receiving “some” or “a lot” of career planning help from their schools. Moreover, the proportion of students involved in typical career exploration activities increased significantly over the 10 years of the study. In general, the 10-year trends indicate that schools are having a greater impact on student career development than they were in 1973.     

Gender-Typed Behaviors and School Adjustment

This study investigates whether gender-typed behaviors are associated with two aspects of school adjustment—engagement and attachment. The analysis uses a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students in US schools in 1995 (n?=?6,349 girls and 5,954 boys). Ordinary least square models show that both boys and girls with extremely gender-typed behaviors report lower levels of school engagement and attachment than gender-typical peers, consistent with previous research that documented adjustment problems linked to hypergender. Among boys but not among girls, gender-atypical students report lower levels of engagement and attachment than gender-typical peers, indicating stigma attached to boys’ feminine behaviors at school. Interpersonal problems with peers and teachers explain large portions of these group differences.     

初中生生涯成熟度与积极情绪的关系:自尊的中介作用

为探讨初中生的生涯成熟度、自尊与积极情绪的关系,本研究选取北京和武汉的692名初中生被试进行问卷调查。结果显示初中生的生涯成熟度能够正向预测积极情绪;自尊在生涯自我知识、自信心及稳定性与积极情绪之间起完全中介作用,在生涯世界知识、主动性与积极情绪之间起部分中介作用。因此,初中生的生涯成熟度能通过自尊对积极情绪产生重要影响。     

Career Counseling for High School Students,Grades 10–12

The author describes the general characteristics of the secondary school student and suggests pragmatic activities and strategies counselors can use to assist students with occupational decision making.     

Intervention for Multipotentiality: Effects of a Career Counseling Laboratory for Gifted High School Students

Career counseling effectively enhanced high school students' desire to engage in discussion about their career development with counselors, parents, and peers. They also were somewhat more likely to plan to go to college. A total of 59% changed or confirmed their career plans.     

Psychosocial Predictors of Psychological Distress in Taiwanese Secondary School Boys and Girls

This study was designed to investigate predictors of psychological distress in secondary school boys (n =779) and girls (n = 893) in Taiwan. Participants completed anxiety and depression scales as part of a larger study. Gender, GPA, parenting practices, self-esteem, and personality/satisfaction were significantly correlated with psychological distress. Significant gender differences were found in students' psychological distress, GPA, stereotyped thinking, academic self-expectations, parental expectations, parenting practices, and mother's education level. Stepwise regressions revealed that self-esteem was the only significant predictor for boys; it accounted for 40.9% of the variance in their psychological distress. GPA, family income, self-esteem, and parenting practices were significant predictors for girls; they accounted for 42.6% of the variance in girls' psychological distress. Research recommendations and educational implications are discussed.     

Career Compromise and Adjustment Among Graduates in the Banking Industry

A study is reported which aimed to examine several factors associated with career compromise and adjustment among 100 graduates in a bank. Contrary to predictions derived from Gottfredson's theory, satisfaction with the sextype of their jobs did not relate to perceptions of compromise; satisfaction with prestige explained some unique variance in compromise perceptions, but satisfaction with outlets for interests and use of skills and abilities were more important. Case data were used to explore other factors involved in the perception of career compromise. Qualitative data collected in the interviews with graduates highlighted several ways in which employers, graduates and career advisers can ease the transition from university to work.     

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Work Values and Career Maturity of 9th- and 11th-Grade Boys and Girls

Sex differences in work values and career maturity were found to a greater extent than were grade differences among 9th- and 11th-grade students. Implications for counselors are discussed.