Browsing by Subject "Early adolescence"
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Item Exploring protective factors in school and home contexts for economically disadvantaged students in the middle school(2012-05) Okilwa, Nathern S. A.; Holme, Jennifer Jellison; Reyes, Pedro; Yates, James; Saenz, Victor; Crosnoe, RobertThe purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of middle school students particularly focusing on the academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students. Existing data show that there is an increasing cohort of school children experiencing poverty, either short or long term. For poor middle school students, the risk for school failure is amplified by the general risks associated with middle school transition and early adolescence development. The cumulative nature of these risks is often associated with undesirable school outcomes including grade retention, behavior problems, absenteeism, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, school dropout, fewer years of schooling, and lower academic achievement. However, there is evidence that some students succeed in spite of adversity, which is often attributed to protective factors present in the students’ own immediate environment – school, home, and community. This current study, therefore, examined the relationship between two potential protective factors–parent involvement and school belonging–and student achievement. Previous research has established that parent involvement and school belonging are both associated with positive school outcomes including academic motivation, self-efficacy, internal locus of control, pro-social and on-task behavior, school engagement, educational aspirations and expectations, and better academic achievement. Consequently, this study examined three main questions: (a) How is parental involvement associated with academic achievement for economically disadvantaged eighth grade students? (b) How school belonging associated with academic achievement for economically disadvantaged eighth grade students? (c) Do the relations between parent involvement, school belonging, and eighth grade achievement vary as a function of prior achievement and middle school? To answer these research questions, this study used the nationally representative longitudinal data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten (ECLS-K) Class of 1998/99. The findings for this study showed that when parent involvement and school belonging were considered together, the association between parent involvement and student achievement diminished while school belonging consistently emerged as a significant predictor of achievement. However, while school belonging emerged as a significant predictor of achievement, this study established that students’ prior achievement was the single strong and significant factor explaining achievement for poor eighth grade students.Item How do empathy, effortful control, and middle school students’ perceptions and feelings about school affect their aggression? Examining moderation and mediation models of social-emotional learning and behavior(2014-08) Batanova, Milena Dentcheva; Loukas, Alexandra; Bartholomew, John; Cance, Jessica D; Crosnoe, Robert; Pasch, Keryn EAccording to the social and emotional learning (SEL) prevention framework, individual core competencies, the school environment, and students’ attachment or connectedness to the school play various roles in reducing their risky or problem behaviors, such as aggression. The current dissertation involved two studies testing various components of the SEL framework. Specific constructs of interest included individual competencies of social awareness (empathic concern and perspective taking) and self-management (effortful control), four mostly interpersonal aspects of school climate (perceived friction, cohesion, competition, and satisfaction with classes), school connectedness, and both overt and relational forms of aggression. Data were drawn from an existing prospective study of early adolescents, comprised of two waves with one year between each wave. Total participants were 500 10- to 14-year old students (54% female; 78% European American) who completed the first wave of a self-report survey in 6th and 7th grades. The first study examined the unique and interrelated effects of the individual competencies and perceptions of school climate on both subsequent forms of aggression across the one-year period. Study findings indicated that across gender, empathic concern was the only competency to reduce both overt and relational aggression one year later. None of the school climate perceptions made a unique contribution to subsequent aggression, nor did they show protective functions. Rather, several instances of cumulative advantage were observed, whereby positive school climate perceptions only reduced aggression for students who already had high levels of empathic concern. Unexpectedly, high levels of perceived cohesion among students contributed to higher levels of overt aggression for boys already high in effortful control. The second study then sought to examine school connectedness as a mediator that could further explain how students’ competencies and perceptions of school climate contribute to both forms of aggression. Although there were no mediation effects across gender, post-hoc analyses confirmed some hypotheses but raised questions regarding the direction and temporality of associations for others. Overall, the findings of both studies provide general support for some of the proposed relationships by the SEL framework and highlight the need for nuanced investigations when seeking to reduce different forms of aggression during middle school.