An exploration of young adolescents' social achievement goals and social adjustment in middle school.

Two studies investigated the proposition that social achievement goals (different orientations toward social competence) are an important aspect of young adolescents' social motivation. Study 1 (N=153 6th-grade students) established that different orientations toward developing or demonstrating social competence can be seen in young adolescents' responses to open-ended questions about their social goals and social competence. Study 2 (N=217 6th-grade students) evaluated a new survey measure of social achievement goals for young adolescents. Exploratory factor analyses indicated a 3-factor model (social development, demonstration-approach, and demonstration-avoid goals). Different social achievement goals were associated with distinct patterns of subsequent self- and teacher-reported social adjustment (prosocial, aggressive, and anxious solitary behaviors, as well as social worry, best-friend quality, and perceived popularity). Effects for social achievement goals were independent of perceived social competence and gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental behaviors and adolescents' achievement goals at the beginning of middle school: Emotional problems as potential mediators.

Recent literature on the determinants of academic motivation has shown that parenting and emotions are central elements in understanding students' achievement goals. The authors of this study set out to examine the predictive relationship between parental behaviors during the last year of elementary school and adolescents' achievement goals at the end of their first year of middle school. Manifestations of anxiety and depression in Grade 6 were examined as explanatory mechanisms for this relationship. A total of 498 early adolescents participated in the study. The results of structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated that parental involvement predicted mastery goals, whereas parental control predicted performance goals among these adolescents. This relationship was mediated by the adolescents' symptoms of anxiety. These results underscore the need for educators and clinicians to consider parental behaviors and emotional problems among elementary school students when seeking to understand the behaviors and learning strategies adopted by these students in middle school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement in Math and Science: Do Mothers' Beliefs Matter 12 Years Later?

Past research has indicated an association between parents' beliefs and adolescent children's self-perceptions of ability and has shown the importance of accounting for parents' gender-stereotyped beliefs when examining boys' and girls' self-perceptions of math-science ability. The current study extends these findings by examining the longitudinal relations between mothers' earlier gender stereotypes and perceptions and adolescents' later math-science achievement beliefs and career choices. As predicted, mothers' earlier perceptions of their adolescents' abilities were related to adolescents' math-science self-efficacy 2 years after high school, with adolescents' self-perceptions of math ability during 10th grade mediating the relation with mothers' perceptions. Moreover, mothers' earlier predictions of their children's abilities to succeed in math careers were significantly related to later career choices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'évaluation de soi, les buts d'apprentissage et leur impact sur le rendement scolaire d'èléves en sixièxe anneé du primaire.

The relations between perceptions of competence, self-efficacy and types of goals, and their influence on school achievement have been examined among a sample of 224 girls and 193 boys of grade six. Results showed that as was expected even though perceptions of competence and self-efficacy were related, the latter better predicts school achievement. Contrary to what was expected, no negative influence was observed for the combination of low self-efficacy and performance goals on school achievement. Finally, according to a last hypothesis, the pattern of relations between motivational variables and school achievement differs for girls and boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflected Appraisals, Academic Self-Perceptions, and Math/Science Performance During Early Adolescence.

The authors tested a model of the relations among adolescents' perceptions of parents', teachers', and classmates' support for, valuing of, and beliefs about their competence in math/science; adolescents' own academic self-perceptions concerning math/science; and their academic performance. The sample included 378 middle school students; 65% were Latino, and 21% were European American. Reflected appraisals of adults' beliefs concerning both the importance of and students' competence in math/science, as well as perceived support, predicted students' own self-perceived importance, competence, scholastic behavior, and performance in these courses. Latino students reported lower mean levels of perceived competence than did European American students (controlling for maternal education). Findings have important implications for understanding achievement socialization in ethnically diverse populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the effects of academic beliefs and behaviors on changes in substance use among urban adolescents.

This study examines substance use between 10th and l2th grades in a predominantly African American sample of 785 adolescents from an urban environment. Psychological distress, academic factors, and perceptions of parents and peers are used to explain l0th-grade substance use and changes in use using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicate that low achievement and motivation, high truancy, and perceptions of peer substance use are associated with higher 10th-grade substance use. Growth curve analyses reveal that adolescents who perceive negative school attitudes among peers are more likely to increase their cigarette and marijuana use. Among high-achieving students, low motivation is a risk factor for increased cigarette use. Implications focused on enhancing motivation, reducing truancy, and understanding adolescents' perceptions of their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-grade changes in Korean girls' motivation and perceptions of the learning environment across domains and achievement levels.

This study tested whether students' motivation and perceptions of the learning environment changed significantly within the school year. Korean high school girls' (N = 375) perceptions of the performance goal structures in the environment increased significantly throughout the school year. The girls' personal achievement goals and task value demonstrated few significant within-grade changes, but their self-efficacy fluctuated significantly around examinations. Motivational beliefs were more stable than were perceptions of the environment. Nevertheless, the modified perceptions of the learning environment explained changes in motivation, justifying continued efforts to create a motivationally adaptive environment. Construct relations were consistent across different academic contexts. There was no evidence that low-achieving girls responded more negatively to the classroom performance goals than did their better-achieving peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student motivation in middle school: The role of perceived pedagogical caring.

This study examined adolescents' perceptions of pedagogical caring in relation to their motivation to achieve positive social and academic outcomes in middle school. A longitudinal sample of 248 students was followed from 6th to 8th grade. Perceived caring from teachers predicted motivational outcomes, even when students' current levels of psychological distress and beliefs about personal control, as well as previous (6th grade) motivation and performance, were taken into account. Eighth-grade students characterize supportive and caring teachers along dimensions suggested by N. Noddings (1992) and models of effective parenting (D. Baumrind, 1971). Teachers who care were described as demonstrating democratic interaction styles, developing expectations for student behavior in light of individual differences, modeling a "caring" attitude toward their own work, and providing constructive feedback. The implications for understanding links between teacher behavior and student achievement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental attachment and adolescents' emotional adjustment: The associations with social skills and relational competence.

Young people learn from their interactions with their parents how to initiate and maintain satisfying and warm friendships. Attachment with parents thereby plays an important role in adolescents' social and emotional adjustment. The model tested in this study proposes that the relation between parental attachment and emotional adjustment is mediated by social skills and relational competence. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the models and paths between concepts using data from a sample of 412 12–18-year-olds. In the 12–14-year-old age group, no effects of parental attachment on social skills and relational competence were displayed. However, in the 15–18-year-old age group, parental attachment was moderately related to social skills, which, in turn, affected middle adolescents' competence in friendships and romantic relationships. Parental attachment and relational competence were significant predictors of adolescents' emotional adjustment in both age groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological adjustment of adolescents with sickle cell disease: relations with demographic, medical, and family competence variables

OBJECTIVE: Investigate the hypothesis that family competence in addressing challenges associated with sickle cell disease (SCD) contributes to adolescents' adjustment. METHOD: During routine clinic appointments, 80 adolescents (M age = 14.4 years) and their parents independently completed the Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI), which assesses family competence, and measures of adolescent adjustment problems. Information related to disease severity was obtained from clinic files. RESULTS: Regression analyses controlling for demographic and medical variables revealed that higher family competence was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors by the adolescent; these relations were particularly true for younger adolescents and for girls. Parental reports of somatic complaints in girls were predicted by parental ratings of family competence. DISCUSSION: Interventions for adolescents with SCD should be family-centered and should focus on strengthening the family's ability to manage stressors associated with parenting an adolescent with a chronic illness.     

The relations of majority-minority group status and having an other-religion friend to Indonesian youths' socioemotional functioning.

In this study, the authors examined the relations of Indonesian adolescents' socioemotional functioning to their majority-minority status and the presence of cross-religion friendships and whether sex moderated these relations. At Time 1, 1,254 7th graders and their peers in Bandung, Indonesia, reported on their friendships, prosocial behavior, and peer likability; months later, a selected sample of 250 youths and their teachers and parents rated the youths' social functioning and (mal)adjustment. When controlling for socioeconomic status and initial sociometric status, girls were generally higher in measures of adjustment, whereas majority children were lower in externalizing problems and, for boys, loneliness. For minority children's social competence and prosocial behavior at school, there was evidence of a buffering effect of having a cross-religion friend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Between- and within-domain relations of academic motivation among middle and high school students: Self-efficacy, task value, and achievement goals.

The author used confirmatory factor analysis to examine between-domain relations of self-efficacy, task-value, and achievement goal orientations among 424 Korean middle and high school students. All motivational constructs demonstrated strong subject specificity in both age groups. Strengths of between-domains differed substantially by individual constructs. Performance-approach and performance goals were highly correlated across domains, whereas task-value and mastery goals were more distinct across domains. Self-efficacy perceptions were moderately correlated across subjects. High school students' academic motivation was more differentiated than that of middle school students. Within-domain interrelations among these motivation constructs were generally consistent with previous research. More important, consistent patterns of relations were observed in four different academic domains within each age group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friendships in Middle School: Influences on Motivation and School Adjustment.

In this 2-year longitudinal study (n=242), the authors examined relations of having a reciprocated friend and characteristics of a reciprocated friend to students' social and academic adjustment to middle school. With respect to having a friend, 6th-grade students without friends showed lower levels of prosocial behavior, academic achievement, and emotional distress than did students with reciprocated friendships. Not having a friend in 6th grade also was related to emotional distress 2 years later. Evidence that motivational processes mediate relations between friends' and individuals' prosocial behavior was obtained. For students with reciprocated friendships (n=173). friends' prosocial behavior predicted change in individuals' prosocial behavior in 8th grade by way of changes in goals to behave prosocially. Implications for studying friendship influence in middle school are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer harassment, psychological adjustment, and school functioning in early adolescence.

The relations between peer harassment, psychological adjustment, and school functioning were investigated with an ethnically diverse sample of middle school students. A conceptual model, which proposed that self-perceived peer harassment predicts psychological adjustment (loneliness, depression, and self-worth), which in turn predicts school outcomes (GPA and attendance), was tested using concurrent data (n?=?244). Structural equation modeling supported the proposed model. Longitudinal analyses with a subsample (n?=?106) of students revealed that subjective self-views of victimization were moderately stable across a 1-year period. Comparisons across stable and unstable victim groups suggested that concurrent (rather than earlier or chronic) perceptions of victimization predicted loneliness and self-worth. Finally, changes in subjective perceptions of victimization, self-worth, and loneliness across the 1-year period predicted subsequent GPA, absenteeism, and teacher-rated social adjustment. Findings are discussed in terms of the short- and long-term effects of peer harassment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School climate support for behavioral and psychological adjustment: Testing the mediating effect of social competence.

The present study used an ecological framework to examine the relationships among adolescents’ perceptions of school climate, social competence, and behavioral and psychological adjustment in the middle school years. This study improved upon prior studies by using structural equation modeling to investigate the hypothesized mediating effect of social competence and to account for measurement error. The sample included 1,042 participating students from 23 middle schools. Results showed that school mastery goal structure, promotion of autonomy and discussion, and teacher emotional support were negatively related to the levels of adolescents’ deviant behaviors and depression, while performance goal structure was positively related to deviant behaviors and depression. Social competence was a mediator between perceived school climate variables and adolescent adjustment, with the exception of the relationship between mastery goal structure and adjustment variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in Achievement Goal Orientations, Perceived Academic Competence, and Grades across the Transition to Middle-Level Schools

Goal orientation theory was used to examine changes in student motivation during the transition from elementary to middle school. Surveys were given to 341 students in the fifth grade in elementary and again in sixth grade in middle school. Students were more oriented to task goals (wanting to improve their competency), perceived a greater emphasis on task goals during instruction, and felt more academically competent in fifth grade in elementary school than in sixth grade in middle school. They perceived a greater emphasis on performance goals (an emphasis on relative ability and right answers) in middle school than in elementary school. Several interactions emerged between year (fifth grade, sixth grade), and both student level of ability (higher, lower, based on standardized achievement tests) and subject domain (math, English).     

Predictors of global self-worth and academic performance among regular education, learning disabled, and continuation high school students

While academic performance and achievement motivation among elementary school students have received considerable attention, far less is known with respect to adolescents. The primary purpose of this project was to examine the ability of measures of perceived competence, control, and autonomy support to predict self-worth and academic performance with a group of regular education, learning disabled, and continuation high school students. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that indices of perceived competence, control, and autonomy support were significant predictors of self-worth and grade point average. Additionally, school status (i.e., regular education and continuation) and a depression variable were significant predictors in the regression model for academic performance. The results highlight the need for continued empirical investigation into issues surrounding the academic performance and achievement motivation of adolescents.     

Positive and negative emotionality: Trajectories across six years and relations with social competence.

The goals of the present study were to examine (1) the mean-level stability and differential stability of children's positive emotional intensity, negative emotional intensity, expressivity, and social competence from early elementary school-aged to early adolescence, and (2) the associations between the trajectories of children's emotionality and social functioning. Using four waves of longitudinal data (with assessments 2 years apart), parents and teachers of children (199 kindergarten through third grade children at the first assessment) rated children's emotion-related responding and social competence. For all constructs, there was evidence of mean-level decline with age and stability in individual differences in rank ordering. Based on age-centered growth-to-growth curve analyses, the results indicated that children who had a higher initial status on positive emotional intensity, negative emotional intensity, and expressivity had a steeper decline in their social skills across time. These findings provide insight into the stability and association of emotion-related constructs to social competence across the elementary and middle school years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friend influence on prosocial behavior: The role of motivational factors and friendship characteristics.

This study examined motivation (prosocial goals), individual characteristics (sex, ethnicity, and grade), and friendship characteristics (affective quality, interaction frequency, and friendship stability) in relation to middle adolescents' prosocial behavior over time. Ninth- and 10th-grade students (N=208) attending a suburban, mid-Atlantic public high school and having at least 1 reciprocated friendship were followed for 1 year. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that a friend's behavior is related to an individual's prosocial goal pursuit, which in turn, is related to an individual's prosocial behavior. Further, the affective quality of a friendship and the frequency with which friends interact moderate relations of a friend's prosocial behavior to an individual's prosocial goal pursuit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early math matters: Kindergarten number competence and later mathematics outcomes.

Children’s number competencies over 6 time points, from the beginning of kindergarten to the middle of 1st grade, were examined in relation to their mathematics achievement over 5 later time points, from the end of 1st grade to the end of 3rd grade. The relation between early number competence and mathematics achievement was strong and significant throughout the study period. A sequential process growth curve model showed that kindergarten number competence predicted rate of growth in mathematics achievement between 1st and 3rd grades as well as achievement level through 3rd grade. Further, rate of growth in early number competence predicted mathematics performance level in 3rd grade. Although low-income children performed more poorly than their middle-income counterparts in mathematics achievement and progressed at a slower rate, their performance and growth were mediated through relatively weak kindergarten number competence. Similarly, the better performance and faster growth of children who entered kindergarten at an older age were explained by kindergarten number competence. The findings show the importance of early number competence for setting children’s learning trajectories in elementary school mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)