Teacher-student support, effortful engagement, and achievement: A 3-year longitudinal study.

Measures of teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ), effortful engagement, and achievement in reading and math were collected once each year for 3 consecutive years, beginning when participants were in 1st grade, for a sample of 671 (53.1% male) academically at-risk children attending 1 of 3 school districts in Texas. In separate latent variable structural equation models, the authors tested the hypothesized model, in which Year 2 effortful engagement mediated the association between Year 1 TSRQ and Year 3 reading and math skills. Conduct engagement was entered as a covariate in these analyses to disentangle the effects of effortful engagement and conduct engagement. Reciprocal effects of effortful engagement on TSRQ and of achievement on effortful engagement were also modeled. Results generally supported the hypothesized model. Year 1 variables had a direct effect on Year 3 variables, above year-to-year stability. Findings suggest that achievement, effortful engagement, and TSRQ form part of a dynamic system of influences in the early grades, such that intervening at any point in this nexus may alter children's school trajectories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent-school involvement and school performance: Mediated pathways among socioeconomically comparable African American and Euro-American families.

Children's academic and social competencies were examined as mediators to explain the often positive relation between parent-school involvement and achievement. Ethnic variations in the relation between parent-school involvement and early achievement and the mediated pathways were examined. Because much of the comparative research confounds ethnicity with socioeconomic status, the relations were examined among socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and Euro-American kindergarten children and their mothers. For reading achievement, academic skills mediated the relation between involvement and achievement for African Americans and Euro-Americans. For math achievement, the underlying process differed across ethnic groups. For African Americans, academic skills mediated the relation between school involvement and math performance. For Euro-Americans, social competence mediated the impact of home involvement on school achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The longitudinal relations of teacher expectations to achievement in the early school years.

There is relatively little research on the role of teacher expectations in the early school years or the importance of teacher expectations as a predictor of future academic achievement. The current study investigated these issues in the reading and mathematic domains for young children. Data from nearly 1,000 children and families at 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades were included. Child sex and social skills emerged as consistent predictors of teacher expectations of reading and, to a lesser extent, math ability. In predicting actual future academic achievement, results showed that teacher expectations were differentially related to achievement in reading and math. There was no evidence that teacher expectations accumulate but some evidence that they remain durable over time for math achievement. In addition, teacher expectations were more strongly related to later achievement for groups of children who might be considered to be at risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adverse life events and resilience

OBJECTIVE: Adverse life events are well-documented risk factors of psychopathology and psychological dysfunction in children and adolescents. Youth with good adjustment despite high levels of adverse life events are considered resilient. This study identifies factors that characterize resilience. METHOD: Household probability samples of youth aged 9 through 17 years at four sites were used. Main and interaction effects of 11 factors were examined to assess their impact on youth adjustment. RESULTS: Children at risk because of higher levels of adverse life events exhibited a greater degree of resilience when they had a higher IQ, better family functioning, closer parental monitoring, more adults in the household, and higher educational aspiration. The interaction between maternal psychopathology and adversity was significant, and the interaction between IQ and adversity approached significance. CONCLUSION: Resilient youth received more guidance and supervision by their parents and lived in higher-functioning families. Other adults in the family probably complemented the parents in providing guidance and support to the youth and in enhancing youth adjustment. Higher educational aspirations might have provided high-risk youth with a sense of direction and hope. Although IQ had no impact in youth at low risk, youth at high risk who had a higher IQ might have coped better.     

Socioeconomic distribution of noncommunicable disease risk factors in urban Brazil: the case of P?rto Alegre

The study reported here sought to assess the degree to which the prevalences of five risk factors for noncommunicable diseases--hypertension, smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and excessive alcohol consumption--varied individually and in combination for urban Brazilians with differing socioeconomic status in terms of educational achievement, income, and social class. For this purpose, 1986-1987 data from a cross-sectional household survey of 1,157 randomly selected adults 15-64 years of age residing in the major Brazilian city of P?rto Alegre were analyzed. In general, it was found that less privileged socioeconomic situations tended to be associated with higher risk factor prevalences. However, this was not the case for obesity and sedentary lifestyle among men, and may not have been the case with respect to hypertension among women. When the effects of education, income, and social class were considered simultaneously, higher risk factor prevalences were most strongly associated with low educational attainment. Important exceptions to this rule were found for smoking among women and excessive alcohol consumption among men, where higher risk factor prevalences were most associated with social class. Once the effects of education and social class were accounted for, low income generally tended to be associated with lower prevalences of the risk factors studied.     

Joint use of adaptive behavior and IQ to predict achievement.

Determined the influence of IQ, adaptive behavior, SES, and race-ethnicity on reading and math achievement, using multiple linear regression analyses. Ss consisted of 345 children stratified on racial-ethnic characteristics (Anglo, Black, Mexican-American), SES (middle and low), gender, and age (CAs 7–14 yrs). Data were obtained from Ss' scores on the WISC-R, Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children, and California Achievement Tests. The variance accounted for by the full model, consisting of the 4 previously mentioned variables, was highly significant for reading (.45) and math (.35). The amount of variance associated with race-ethnicity and SES was nonsignificant. It is concluded that adaptive behavior does not significantly predict achievement beyond that predicted by IQ. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Turning around reading achievement: Predictors of high school students' academic resilience.

In a national, longitudinal database, factors were examined that enabled public school students on a path toward failure to significantly improve reading achievement by high school graduation. Youths who faced the proximal risk of low achievement during the transition to high school were vulnerable to continued low achievement or failure; yet, a small number improved reading proficiency from failing the basic level to passing the intermediate or advanced levels. Being Caucasian, being female, having an internal locus of control, and taking an academic curriculum in high school independently predicted academic resilience. The role of student socioeconomic status in predicting resilience was explained by psychological and school environment variables. The path between locus of control and resilience was partly mediated by high school curriculum; the path between 8th-grade educational aspirations and resilience was fully mediated by curriculum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health and environmental effects on the academic readiness of school-age children.

Secondary analysis was used to examine how health and environmental risk affect mathematics and reading readiness in a sample of 867 5- and 6-year-old children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Measures of risk included low birth weight, length of hospitalization at birth, rehospitalization during the first year of life, family income, maternal education, and the quality of the home environment. Although academic readiness was largely explained by environmental risk, child morbidity had a significant independent impact on reading performance. Furthermore, interaction analyses indicated that child morbidity was predictive of poor mathematics performance only for children from impoverished homes. In contrast, results also indicated that low birth weight children may be less able to benefit from higher levels of maternal education in terms of reading performance. These findings are discussed in the context of developmental risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal education and children's academic achievement during middle childhood.

Despite much evidence that links mothers' educational attainment to children's academic outcomes, studies have not established whether increases in mothers' education will improve their children's academic achievement. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on children between the ages of 6 and 12, this study examined whether increases in mothers' educational attainment are associated with changes in children's academic achievement and the quality of their home environments. Results suggest that children of young mothers with low levels of education perform better on tests of academic skills and have higher quality home environments when their mothers complete additional schooling, whereas increased maternal education does not predict improvements in the achievement or home environments of children with older and more highly educated mothers. The estimated effects of additional maternal schooling for children of these younger mothers appear to be more pronounced for children's reading than math skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fine motor skills and early comprehension of the world: Two new school readiness indicators.

Duncan et al. (2007) presented a new methodology for identifying kindergarten readiness factors and quantifying their importance by determining which of children's developing skills measured around kindergarten entrance would predict later reading and math achievement. This article extends Duncan et al.'s work to identify kindergarten readiness factors with 6 longitudinal data sets. Their results identified kindergarten math and reading readiness and attention as the primary long-term predictors but found no effects from social skills or internalizing and externalizing behavior. We incorporated motor skills measures from 3 of the data sets and found that fine motor skills are an additional strong predictor of later achievement. Using one of the data sets, we also predicted later science scores and incorporated an additional early test of general knowledge of the social and physical world as a predictor. We found that the test of general knowledge was by far the strongest predictor of science and reading and also contributed significantly to predicting later math, making the content of this test another important kindergarten readiness indicator. Together, attention, fine motor skills, and general knowledge are much stronger overall predictors of later math, reading, and science scores than early math and reading scores alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School readiness and later achievement: A French Canadian replication and extension.

We first replicated the data analytic strategy used in Duncan et al. (2007) with a population-based data set of French-speaking children from Quebec (Canada). Prospective associations were examined between cognitive, attention, and socioemotional characteristics underlying kindergarten school readiness and second grade math, reading, and general achievement. We then extended this school readiness model by including motor skills as an additional element in the prediction equation and expanded the original strategy by including classroom engagement. The Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Preschool Study, featured in Duncan et al., served as the Canadian reference group. In the replication model, kindergarten cognitive and attention characteristics predicted achievement by the end of 2nd grade. Although inconsistent across outcomes, behavioral problems and skills also emerged as predictors of some aspects of later achievement. Coefficients for kindergarten math skills were largest, followed by attention skills, receptive language skills, attention problems, and behavior. Most coefficients resembled those generated in the initial study. In our extension model, fine motor skills added their significant contribution to the prediction of later achievement above and beyond the original key elements of school readiness. Our extension model confirmed prospectively associations between kindergarten cognitive, attention, fine motor, and physical aggression characteristics and later achievement and classroom engagement by the end of 2nd grade. Although they comparatively showed better long-term benefits from stronger early attention skills, girls with less kindergarten cognitive skills were more vulnerable than boys with similar deficits when predicting 2nd grade math. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family influences on school achievement in low-income, African American children.

The authors examined the achievement-related beliefs and behaviors of parents of economically disadvantaged African American youth, and the relations among parental factors and children's academic self-concept and achievement. Forty-one children and their primary caregivers were interviewed. Parents reported on their academic-related beliefs and behaviors. Children completed measures of academic self-concept and 2 standardized achievement tests: 1 during the summer and 1 at the end of the following school year. Significant and positive relations were found between parental belief and behavior measures within the domains of reading and math; however, parental beliefs were more strongly linked with child outcomes than were parents' achievement-oriented behaviors. The relation between parental beliefs and child outcomes was not mediated by children's academic self-concept. Results are discussed in light of models of family influences on achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contribution of neighborhood and family income to developmental test scores over the first three years of life

The effects of neighborhood and family income and family risk factors on developmental test scores at ages 1 through 3 are examined using a subsample (N = 347) from the Infant Health and Development Program. Beneficial effects of low numbers of risks were found for scores at ages 1 through 3. Family poverty was associated with lower scores at ages 2 and 3. Neighborhood affluence was associated with higher scores at age 3. The family risks-test score association at ages 1 through 3 and family income-test score association at ages 2 and 3 were mediated by home environment. Mediated effects were stronger for family income-test score associations at age 3 than for neighborhood income. Moderating effects of family risk on family and neighborhood income effects revealed an interaction between family poverty and risks for scores at age 3. Explanations for the early links between family risks and test scores and the later links between income and test scores are discussed.     

Field dependence and the school achievement gap between Anglo-American and Mexican-American children.

Research supports the hypothesis that field dependence explains the poorer school achievement of Mexican-American children compared to Anglo-American children. To test that hypothesis, multiple regression and path analyses were used to interpret the relationships between culture, field dependence, and school achievement among 134 2nd-, 4th-, and 6th-grade Anglo-American and Mexican-American children. Results indicate that Mexican-Americans were significantly below Anglo-Americans in reading and math achievement, field independence was significantly correlated with both reading and math achievement, and Mexican-Americans were significantly more field dependent. Field dependence explains the cultural difference in math achievement but does not fully explain the cultural difference in reading achievement. Implications for understanding both field dependence and the nature of the observed cultural differences are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suicide, life course, and life story

This article explores how a life-course perspective and narrative methodology can be used to study risk factors for late-life suicide. A life-course approach to aging and suicide requires consideration of age as both social and personal construction. "On-" and "off-time" events and their impact on adjustment are used to illustrate these social and personal constructions. Cohort, period, and historical events have potentially profound effects on risk for suicide, yet the study of these effects is difficult because they are so often confounded in longitudinal study. Lifelong personality characteristics that are not life-threatening in earlier life may be of greater risk in later life depending on life circumstances such as physical dependencies. A life-story or narrative approach offers an alternative method for incorporating these complicated factors when studying late-life suicide. The psychological autopsy can be considered a type of "narrative" used by various individuals to gain understanding about a suicide.     

Nature-nurture in the classroom: entrance age, school readiness, and learning in children

The impact of entrance age on reading and mathematics achievement in 1st grade was examined. Methodological problems with past research were identified, including small size of achievement differences, failure to take background variables into account, and confusion of achievement levels with degree of learning. Using a pre-post design, growth of reading and mathematics was examined in younger 1st graders, older 1st graders, and older kindergarteners. Comparisons of background information on these groups with children who were either held out prior to or retained an extra year in kindergarten, produced minimal background differences. Results revealed that younger 1st graders made as much progress over the school year as did older 1st graders and made far more progress than older kindergarteners. Overall, findings demonstrated that, in itself, entrance age was not a good predictor of learning or academic risk.     

Gender differences in beliefs and achievement: A cross-cultural study.

Gender differences on tests of achievement in reading and mathematics, and on tests of cognitive ability, were assessed. Ss were children in kindergarten and Grades 1 and 5 in elementary schools in Taiwan, Japan, and the US (ns?=?1,975 to 4,266). Few gender differences were observed on curriculum-based tests of math computation and reading. Boys were more effective, however, in solving word problems and in answering questions involving estimation, visualization, and measurement. Cognitive tests revealed some gender differences at the 5th-grade level in all 3 cultures. Children and their mothers tended, as early as the 1st grade, to believe that boys were better at math and girls were better at reading. Children in the 3 cultures differed consistently in their scores in reading and math, but there were very few interactions between gender and location. The lack of frequent significant interactions between gender and location indicated the gender effects for both achievement scores and ratings were equivalent across Chinese, Japanese, and American contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement growth in children with learning difficulties in mathematics: Findings of a two-year longitudinal study.

The reading and mathematics growth of 180 children was examined over 4 points, spanning 2nd and 3rd grades. Initially, 4 achievement groups were identified: difficulties in mathematics but not in reading (MD only), difficulties in mathematics as well as in reading (MD-RD), difficulties in reading hut not in mathematics (RD only), and normal achievement in mathematics and in reading. When IQ, income, ethnicity, and gender were held constant, the MD-only group grew at a faster rate in mathematics than did the MD-RD group. In reading, the RD-only and MD-RD groups grew at about the same rate. Reading abilities influence children's growth in mathematics, but mathematics abilities do not influence children's growth in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good self-control as a buffering agent for adolescent substance use: An investigation in early adolescence with time-varying covariates.

This study tested the prediction that self-control would have buffering effects for adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) with regard to 3 risk factors: family life events, adolescent life events, and peer substance use. Participants were a sample of public school students (N = 1,767) who were surveyed at 4 yearly intervals between 6th grade and 9th grade. Good self-control was assessed with multiple indicators (e.g., planning and problem solving). Results showed that the impact of all 3 risk factors on substance use was reduced among persons with higher scores on good self-control. Buffering was found in cross-sectional analyses with multiple regression and in longitudinal analyses in a latent growth model with time-varying covariates. Implications for addressing self-control in prevention programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)