The longitudinal associations among student externalizing behaviors, teacher-student relationships, and classroom engagement

Self-Regulation Intervention Impact on Turkish Children with Emotional and Behavioral Disorder Risks

This study examined the effect of a self-regulation intervention package prepared for preschool children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs) in Türkiye on children's self-regulation skills, social skills, problem behaviors, relationships with teachers, and peer acceptance. Ten children, five at risk of EBD and five with typical development (TD), participated in the study. This study used a single-group pretest-posttest design. The intervention lasted for eight weeks, two days a week. Follow-up data were collected three weeks after the intervention. It was found that the intervention package was effective in self-regulation, problem behavior, social skills, and peer acceptance variables of children at risk of EBD (z = -2.02, p < 0.05, r = 0.64) but not in student-teacher relationships (p > 0.05). In the follow-up, no significant changes were observed in any of the variables, except for problem behaviors. However, the levels were maintained (p > 0.05). Only the problem behavior variable showed a significant decrease compared to the post-test (z = -2.03, p < 0.05, r = 0.64). In addition, in the post- and follow-up tests, children at risk of EBD reached performance levels similar to those of TD children in terms of all variables (p > 0.05), which is essential evidence showing the effectiveness and social validity of the intervention.

Externalizing behaviors and student engagement: Exploring the protective role of parental involvement in school using latent moderated structural equation modeling

Students presenting externalizing behaviors often exhibit reduced levels of student engagement, posing academic and well-being challenges. Among potential protective factors, the role of parental involvement in school is relatively unexplored. The objective of this study was to examine whether parental involvement could mitigate lower levels of engagement among these students. Data were collected from 742 Canadian elementary students at the beginning and the end of the school year. Latent moderated structural equation modeling was employed to assess the moderating role of four dimensions of parental involvement (i.e., expectations, communication, homework support, and school-based involvement) on behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement. Results indicated that externalizing behaviors were negatively associated with behavioral engagement only when parental expectations were low (b = -0.394, p = .035) and with cognitive engagement only when homework support was low (b = -0.383, p < .001). These findings suggest the importance of promoting parental involvement, especially among students who exhibit high levels of externalizing behaviors.

Measuring social-emotional development in schoolchildren: A national-level analysis of ECLS-B cohort data

The present study examined the social-emotional development items assessed by kindergarten teachers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to determine the optimal factor structure underlying the items as well as the reliability and validity of the resulting factors. This study identified an empirically derived factor structure for teacher-reported social development, investigated whether there was evidence of bias in teacher assessments of social-emotional constructs, examined factor invariance across demographic characteristics (i.e., race and ethnicity, sex, and poverty status), and examined the external validity of the derived factors by determining the extent to which they were associated with well-established measures of early childhood competencies. Findings suggested a 4-factor solution was optimal, consisting of (a) Interpersonal Skills, (b) Externalizing Behavior, (c) Approaches to Learning, and (d) Perspective Taking. Findings offer suggestive evidence of teacher biases in assessments and some, although not conclusive, support for the invariance of social-emotional dimension across demographic characteristics. Results provide a useful next step toward documenting reliable and valid social-emotional measures for use in early childhood research and challenges users of national datasets to think critically about the use of "scales" without a priori attention to important psychometric properties.

The association between family adaptability and adolescent depression: the chain mediating role of social support and self-efficacy

Objective

Previous research has shown a correlation between family adaptability and adolescent depression. However, there is a lack of studies that have investigated the underlying mechanism between family adaptability and adolescent depression. Based on the Ecological Systems Theory, this study aims to investigate the link between family adaptability and depression in adolescents, mediated by the sequential roles of social support and self-efficacy.

Methods

The sample consisted of 1086 students randomly selected from seven public middle schools in Shandong Province, Eastern China. All the participants filled in the structured self-report questionnaires on family adaptability, social support, self-efficacy, and depression. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in AMOS 24.0.

Results

The findings of this study are as follows: (1) Family adaptability is negatively associated with adolescent depression; (2) Social support plays a mediating role between family adaptability and adolescent depression; (3) Self-efficacy plays a mediating role between family adaptability and adolescent depression; (4) Social support and self-efficacy play a chain mediation role between family adaptability and adolescent depression.

Conclusion

It is suggested that early interventions and support should be provided to facilitate adolescents' family adaptability, social support, and self-efficacy, thus reducing their depression and improving mental health of adolescents.