Childhood competence and behavior problems.

Examined the relationship between objective measures of childhood competence and behavior problems in 474 2nd–6th graders. Daily classwork measured the academic competence, and peer ratings measured social competence. Median splits formed 4 groups, with competent Ss highest and incompetent Ss lowest on the relatively independent dimensions of academic and social competence. Competent Ss excelled on attitudinal measures of a competent lifestyle and on the Harter Competence (HC) Scales. Teacher ratings on the Behavior Problem Checklist (BPC) attributed fewest problems to competent Ss. Conversely, incompetent Ss achieved the lowest HC and the highest BPC scores. Ss high on social competence and low on academic competence were distinguished by BPC conduct problems and nervousness. Peer nominations of depression on the Peer Nomination Inventory characterized all Ss low on social competence. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social stimulus value on academic achievement and social competence: A reconsideration of children's first-name characteristics.

Tested the hypothesized connection between children's 1st-name characteristics and their academic and social functioning in 2 studies with 24,602 2nd–12th graders. In Study 1, 721 male names and 1,030 female names of 23,878 2nd–21th graders were rated by 9 adults on desirability. Analyses of the degree of association between name frequency and name desirability and 4 measures of academic achievement showed that 1st-name characteristics were unrelated to academic achievement, even in the most extreme cases, so long as a confound was prevented between name frequency or desirability and S's ethnicity. In Study 2, using 724 9th–22th graders, the relationship between S's 1st name characteristics and S's social competence in handling challenging social situations (as judged by peers, teachers, and Ss themselves) was explored. Data show little evidence for an impact of name characteristics in social competence. It is suggested that previous studies that have reported significant positive relationships between name characteristics and indices of personal functioning have focused on name desirability and have not controlled for ethnic status. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's use of dispositions to predict classmates' behavior.

Kindergartners, 3rd, and 6th graders chose classmates whom they would and would not like to have on their team for an academic contest and as playmates. Ss also rated their classmates on likableness and academic ability. At all ages, children's choices for the academic competition and the play situation were significantly associated with their ratings of their classmates' academic and social competence, respectively. Ss typically referred to academic abilities to explain their teammate choices for the academic contest and to social competence or friendship to explain playmate choices. Questions about the stability of classmates' academic and social competencies revealed that not until 6th grade did Ss indicate that there are limits in the degree to which academic and social competencies could improve with effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood competence and depression.

Examined whether children with both academic and social skill deficiencies have higher levels of peer-nominated and self-ratings of depression than their more competent peers and whether depression levels can distinguish academically skilled children from socially skilled ones. Objective measures of academic and social competence classified 169 3rd–6th grade children as competent (above the median on both measures), incompetent (below on both), academically skilled (above only on academic competence), or socially skilled (above only on social competence). Children completed the Perceived Competence Scale for Children, Children's Depression Inventory, and a peer nomination inventory of depression. Results demonstrate information about academic and social competence best predicted Ss' depression. Peer-nominated and self-rated depression were highest among incompetent Ss and lowest among competent Ss. Peer-nominated happiness was higher among the socially skilled than among the academically skilled. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low academic competence in first grade as a risk factor for depressive cognitions and symptoms in middle school.

The present study investigated the role of low academic competence in the emergence of depressive cognitions and symptoms. Structural equation modeling was conducted on a longitudinal sample of African American boys (n = 253) and girls (n = 221). Results supported the hypothesized path models from academic competence in 1st grade to depressive symptoms in 7th grade, controlling for a host of correlated constructs (conduct problems, inattention, social problems). Perceived control in 6th grade mediated the effect of academic competence on depressive symptoms. Although the models fit the data well for both boys and girls, the path coefficients were notably larger for girls; in particular, multiple-group analysis revealed a statistically stronger effect of low academic competence on perceptions of control for girls. The study and findings fit well with counseling psychologists' commitment to prevention activities and to culture-specific research. Implications for designing interventions and prevention strategies for children with early academic problems are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A further search for social intelligence.

Previous research has failed to identify an empirically coherent domain of social intelligence despite widespread intuitions among both laypersons and experts that social and academic abilities are at least partly distinct phenomena. The present study resolved this discrepancy between formal and informal observations by employing a behavioral effectiveness criterion to conceptually and operationally define social intelligence. D. P. Keating's (see record 1979-09784-001) methodological model was employed to examine 4 measures of academic intelligence and 6 measures of social intelligence using 3 correlational procedures. 690 9th and 12th graders participated. Univariate correlations demonstrated both convergent and discriminant validity; factor analyses revealed a distinct Social Intelligence factor; and a stepwise multiple regression confirmed the greater power of the social measures to predict a behavioral measure of social effectiveness. Implications for research on social cognition and social competence and for the design of educational programs intended to promote social abilities are discussed. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of the relative effectiveness of NCTM standards-based interventions for low-achieving urban elementary students.

The effects of 2 instructional methods, problem solving and peer collaboration, were evaluated for enhancing mathematics achievement, academic motivation, and self-concept of 104 low-achieving 3rd and 4th graders. Students were assigned randomly to 1 of 4 conditions: control, problem solving, peer collaboration, and problem solving?+?peer collaboration. Students in all conditions met twice weekly for 30-min mathematics sessions over a 7-week period. Results indicate that problem-solving students performed significantly higher than their counterparts who did not receive problem solving on measures of computation and word problems and reported higher levels of academic motivation, academic self-concept, and social competence. Students who participated in peer collaboration scored higher on measures of computation and word problems and reported higher levels of academic motivation and social competence than did students who did not participate in peer collaboration. No significant interaction effect was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Models of cognitive mediation and moderation in child depression.

Negative cognitive errors, attributional style, positive and negative events, peer-nominated competence, and self-reported depression were assessed in 356 4th, 6th, and 8th graders. Data supported theoretical models in which attributional style and cognitive errors mediated the relation of competence to depression. Data did not support models in which attributional style moderated the relation between either life events or competence and depression; however, weak support emerged for a moderational model involving negative life events and cognitive errors. The viability of diathesis–stress models in childhood, especially in which cognitive style is the diathesis, is critically examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of social and academic competence to depressive symptoms in childhood.

Relation of depressive symptoms to social and academic competence was examined in 750 4th-grade students. Self-report, peer-nomination, and teacher-rating measures of all 3 constructs were obtained. The multitrait-multimethod data were examined with confirmatory factor analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Stronger correlations than have previously been reported were found between depressive symptoms and both kinds of competence. Social and academic incompetence had an additive effect on depressive symptoms. Children who were both socially and academically less competent had more symptoms of depression than children who had only 1 problem area. Children with only 1 problem area had more symptoms of depression than did children who were neither socially nor academically less competent. Gender differences in other-rated measures of competence were also evident. Implications for a competency-based model of depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic intrinsic motivation in elementary and junior high school students.

Investigated in 3 studies the significance of academic intrinsic motivation (AIM) for children's education. Ss for Studies 1–3 were 77 4th graders and 64 7th graders; 260 Ss in Grades 4–7; and 166 White middle-class Ss in Grades 5–8, respectively. Ss were administered an AIM inventory and an inventory of academic anxiety (AA). As predicted, AIM was found to be significantly and positively correlated with Ss' school achievement and perceptions of academic competence and negatively correlated with AA. Findings support the view that AIM is differentiated into school subject areas and is also a general orientation toward school learning. Relations between motivation and perception of competence and anxiety were differentiated by subject area, whereas achievement was more pervasively related to general motivation. Mathematics motivation, however, emerged as a unique predictor of mathematics achievement. The significance of AIM as differentiated into subjects and as a general orientation is discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-serving effect (bias?) in academic attributions: Its relation to academic achievement and self-concept.

Related the size of the self-serving effect (SSE), the tendency to accept responsibility for one's successes but not one's failures, for academic self-attributions to other academic constructs in 3 studies, 2 with 5th graders (226 and 559 Ss) and 1 with 122 9th graders. Ss completed an attribution scale and a self-concept measure, and reading achievement was assessed for 5th graders. Results from the 3 studies demonstrate that the size of the SSE was larger for (a) attributions to ability and effort than those to external causes, (b) more able students, (c) students with higher academic self-concepts, (d) students inferred to have higher academic self-concepts by teachers and by peers, and, perhaps, (e) younger students. SSEs for outcomes in mathematics and reading, particularly for attributions to ability, were content specific. The content specificity of the SSE and this logical pattern of relations among the SSEs and other variables suggest that academic achievement and academic self-concept are nonmotivational influences on the SSE. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations of social goal pursuit to social acceptance, classroom behavior, and perceived social support.

Relations of social goal pursuit to (1) social acceptance by teachers and peers, (2) prosocial and irresponsible classroom behavior, and (3) perceived support from teachers and peers were examined. Ss were 475 6th and 7th graders. Students' pursuit of academic prosocial goals (to help classmates with academic problems) was related positively to peer acceptance. Pursuit of academic responsibility goals (adhering to classroom rules) was related negatively to peer acceptance but positively to teacher acceptance. These findings reflected in part, significant relations between social goal pursuit and displays of social behavior. Perceived support from teachers and peers was also related positively to social goal pursuit, although findings differed as a function of type and source of support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation between symptoms of anxiety and depression in children: A multitrait-multimethod-multigroup assessment.

Teacher, parent, peer, and self-ratings of depression and anxiety symptoms were obtained from 280 3rd-grade and 211 6th-grade children. Confirmatory factor analysis of these multitrait-multimethod data for 3rd graders revealed low but statistically significant levels of convergent validity, high levels of method variance, and an extremely high correlation between the depression and anxiety factors, even after controlling for shared method variance. Similar analyses of 6th graders revealed slightly higher levels of convergent validity and a somewhat smaller correlation between the depression and anxiety factors. The data support a unified construct model for younger children and are consistent with either a dual factor or a tripartite model of depression and anxiety in older children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' academic gender stereotypes and education-related beliefs about sons and daughters in African American families.

The role of African American mothers' academic gender stereotype endorsement in shaping achievement-related expectations for and perceptions of their own children was examined. Mothers (N = 334) of 7th and 8th graders completed measures of expectations for their children's future educational attainment, perceptions of their children's academic competence, and academic gender stereotypes. Consistent with hypotheses, mothers held less favorable expectations for sons and perceived sons to be less academically competent than daughters. In addition, mothers reported stereotypes favoring girls over boys in academic domains; stereotype endorsement, in turn, was related to mothers' educational expectations for and beliefs about the academic competence of their own children, even with youths' actual achievement controlled. Negative stereotypes about the academic abilities of African American boys may create a negative feedback loop, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the gender gap in African Americans' educational outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of children's depressive symptoms, self-perceptions, and cognitive distortions about the self.

This longitudinal study examined how depressive symptoms relate to children's self-perceptions and to estimates of children's cognitive distortions about the self in a nonclinical sample of children who were followed from 4th grade (n=248) through 6th grade (n=227). Report card grades measured children's academic competence, and teachers' ratings of children's level of peer acceptance at school indicated social acceptance. Self-reported depressive symptoms predicted a change in children's negative views of the self. Moreover, the self-perceptions of children who exhibited more symptoms of depression appeared to reflect an underestimation of their actual competence. Children's negative self-perceptions and underestimations about the self were not associated with a subsequent change in depressive symptoms. The implications of the findings for cognitive theories of depression and future research with this population are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal direct and indirect pathways linking older sibling competence to the development of younger sibling competence.

A4-wave longitudinal model tested direct and indirect links between older sibling (OS; M = 11.7 years) and younger sibling (YS; M = 9.2 years) competence in 152 rural African American families. Data were collected at 1-year intervals. At each wave, different teachers assessed OS competence, YS competence, and YS self-regulation. Mothers reported their own psychological functioning; mothers and YSs reported parenting practices toward the YS. OS competence was stable across time and was linked with positive changes in mothers' psychological functioning from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Mothers' Wave 2 psychological functioning was associated with involved-supportive parenting of the YS at Wave 3. OS Wave 2 competence and Wave 3 parenting were indirectly linked with Wave 4 YS competence, through Wave 3 YS self-regulation. Structural equation modeling controlled for Wave 1 YS competence; thus, the model accounted for change in YS competence across 3 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of negative affect and self-perceived competence in young adolescents.

In a 4-wave, 2-year longitudinal design, the authors obtained measures of negative affect (NA) and self-perceived competence from 220 boys and 216 girls who were 7th graders at the beginning of this study. NA was operationalized as the common dimension underlying self-reports of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and negative emotions. Self-perceived competence consisted of 2 higher order constructs: a well-behaved/good-student factor and an attractive/athletic/popular factor. Structural equation modeling revealed very high stability estimates for all constructs. Nevertheless, self-perceived competence in the attractive/athletic/popular domain predicted changes in NA. Conversely, NA predicted changes in self-perceived competence in the well-behaved/good-student domain. The primacy of NA versus self-cognitions depends, in part, on the type of self-cognitions being examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecology of depression in late childhood and early adolescence: A profile of daily states and activities.

This study investigated daily states and time use patterns associated with depression. Four hundred eighty-three 5th to 9th graders reported on their experience when signalled by pagers at random times. Depressed youth reported more negative affect and social emotions, lower psychological investment, lower energy, and greater variability in affect. These differences were weaker for 5th and 6th graders, suggesting that self-reported feeling states are a poor indicator of depression prior to adolescence. No differences were found in the daily activities of depressed youths nor in the amount of time spent alone, but depressed youths experienced other people as less friendly and more often reported wanting to be alone, especially when with their families. They also spent less time in public places and more time in their bedrooms. Finally, depressed boys, but not girls, spent much less time with friends, particularly of the same sex, suggesting that social isolation is more strongly associated with depression for boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social cognition and social competence in adolescence.

Investigated whether social cognition is related to effective social behavior, using 2 samples of 9th and 12th graders as Ss. Social competence was defined as the attainment of relevant social goals in specified social contexts, using appropriate means and resulting in positive development. The social goal chosen was being able to behave effectively in challenging social situations involving salient social objects. Nine measures of social cognition and 4 other measures were used to predict 4 measures of social competence, each dealing with performance in specific challenging social situations. Taken together, these predictors accounted for a large proportion of variance in social competence, especially when a composite criterion was used. Significant age and sex differences were obtained for many of the predictor and criterion variables, and there also appeared to be important developmental differences in the validity of social competence judgments. Factor analysis results suggested that social competence represents a domain of human functioning that is at least partly distinguishable from a cognitive or general competence domain. These results were substantially replicated in a 2nd sample. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal assessment of the academic correlates of early peer acceptance and rejection

Examines the extent to which academic achievement and work habits of first and second graders are predicted by classroom social status over the kindergarten, first-, and second-grade period. Three hundred and forty five children (163 boys and 182 girls) from a southern California community comprised the sample. The ethnic distribution of the sample was approximately 45% Caucasian, 42% Latino, 9% African American, and 5% Asian or other ethnicity. Findings suggest that peer rejection assessed as early as kindergarten and social rejection that is stable across 2 years (kindergarten-first grade or first-second grade) are associated with deficits in first-grade work habits and second-grade academic achievement and work habits. In contrast, stable social acceptance appears to buffer children from early academic difficulty. The pattern of findings remain significant after controlling for initial kindergarten academic competence. The implications for clinical and educational intervention programs are discussed.