Longitudinal Associations and Mechanisms Between Achievement Goals and Subjective Well-Being in School in Chinese Adolescents

Compared with Him or Her, I Am Not Good Enough: How to Alleviate Depression Due to Upward Social Comparison?

The present study primarily aims to examine the mediating role of core self-evaluation and the moderating role of personal growth initiative (PGI) in the relationship between upward social comparison and senior high school students' depression and to explore the gender difference in this association. A total of 721 Chinese senior high school students (61.16% boys; M = 16.21 years, SD = 1.07) completed measures of upward social comparison, core self-evaluation, personal growth initiative, and depression. Results showed a significant positive correlation between upward social comparison and depression. Core self-evaluation partially mediated this association, and a gender difference in the indirect effect was revealed; that is, the effect was shown to be stronger for girls than for boys. Moreover, for boys, the mediating effect of core self-evaluation was moderated by PGI, and the effect was more potent for individuals with high PGI than for those with low PGI. However, no moderating effect of PGI on the indirect effect was found for girls. These findings suggest that prevention and interventions focusing on reducing upward social comparison and enhancing core self-evaluation may alleviate adolescents' depression symptoms and that more attention should be given to girls with low core self-evaluation and boys with high PGI.

Co-Development of Adolescents' Cooperative and Competitive Attitudes: How it Predicts Mental Health and Academic Achievement

This study used nationally representative longitudinal data in South Korea to examine how joint changes in adolescents' (N = 7324; Mage  ≈ 11 years) cooperative and competitive attitudes from sixth to ninth grade relate to mental health and achievement in 10th grade. The parallel process model showed that both cooperative and competitive attitudes declined over time. Higher cooperative attitudes at baseline indicated higher competitive attitudes, and a faster decline in cooperative attitudes indicated a faster decline in competitive attitudes. The intercept of cooperative attitudes was positively related to mental health but negatively related to achievement. Opposite patterns were found for the intercept of competitive attitudes. These findings highlight the usefulness of considering the co-development of cooperative and competitive attitudes.

School Dropout Intention and Self-esteem in Immigrant and Native Students Living in Poverty: The Protective Role of Peer Acceptance at School

The psychological well-being at school of immigrant students living in poverty is currently an understudied topic in developmental psychology. This is an important shortcoming because this population, which is rapidly increasing in many western countries, is in a double minority condition and has a greater risk of experiencing psychological distress at school, in comparison with their native peers. In order to improve our understanding on this issue, the present two-wave study investigated the prospective relationships between peer acceptance and two aspects of well-being at school—intention to drop out of school and negative self-esteem—specifically focusing on the differential effect of having (vs. not having) an immigrant background. The participants were 249 preadolescents and adolescents living in poverty (Mage = 12.76; SDage = 2.34; 41.8% girls; 19.3% immigrants) who were attending educational centres for disadvantaged minors. The poverty status of the participants was an inclusion criterion. A multilinear regression model with multigroup analysis was tested. As expected, the results showed that peer acceptance had a significant negative association with school dropout intentions and negative self-esteem only for immigrants, but not for natives. For immigrant students, the protective effect of peer acceptance was comparable to the stability over time of dropout intention and self-esteem, a result that has promising implications for prevention programs. The applied implications of the study for educational and clinical contexts are discussed.