Academic Risk Among Inner-City Adolescents: The Role of Personal Attributes

The impact of family socioeconomic status on parental involvement and student engagement during COVID-19 in promoting academic achievement: A longitudinal study in Chinese children

With a three-wave longitudinal design, the current study examined the impact of family socioeconomic status (SES) on parental involvement and student engagement in promoting children's academic achievement during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We recruited data from 246 mother-primary school student dyads, and the mean age of children at Wave 1 was 10.57 ± 0.97 years (range = 9-13 years). The academic achievement of these children was measured both before and after school closures. Family SES, parental involvement, and student engagement were assessed during the school closures. The results indicated that family SES could predict children's later academic achievement after accounting for their prior academic achievement and other demographics (i.e., the significant total effect in the model). Moreover, parental involvement and student engagement played chain-mediating roles in the effect of family SES on children's later academic achievement. Neither parent involvement nor student involvement alone mediated the relationships between family SES and subsequent academic achievement. Suggestions are provided to minimize the negative impact of low family SES on children's academic achievement during pandemics.

An integrated review of social information processing as a mechanism in the association between maltreatment and depression among youth of color

BACKGROUND

Child maltreatment is a potent risk factor for depression across the life course, with maltreatment and depression demonstrated to disproportionately impact youth of color. Despite evidence for mechanisms (e.g., social information processing; SIP) accounting for the effects of maltreatment on youth broadly, pathways of risk for depression among maltreated youth of color specifically remain largely under-investigated.

OBJECTIVE

In an effort to address this gap in the literature, the present review synthesizes available research regarding SIP as a mechanism underlying the impact of maltreatment on the development of depression in general, and among youth of color specifically.

PARTICIPANTS & SETTING

A review of literature was conducted on English language articles published between 1989 and 2022 involving maltreatment, depression, social information processing, and/or youth of color.

METHODS

An electronic database search using terms "Maltreatment," "Depression," "Social Information Processing," "Social Cognition," and "Youth of Color" identified relevant literature.

RESULTS

Synthesis of literature supports SIP as a salient mechanism in the effect of maltreatment on depressive symptomatology for youth broadly, identifying the need for additional empirical work explicitly assessing this pathway among youth of color.

CONCLUSION

In addition to support for SIP as a risk pathway for youth broadly, this review highlights associated processes that can lend support to SIP as a meaningful mechanism of risk for youth of color. Additionally, this review addresses the deficit-based approach through which research and intervention tools evaluate youth of color experiencing maltreatment and depression, proposing alternative approaches towards prevention and intervention efforts with this marginalized population.

The Role of School Adaptation and Self-Concept in Influencing Chinese High School Students' Growth in Math Achievement

A longitudinal designed research study was conducted to provide empirical evidence regarding the influences of three dimensions of students’ school adaptation on their math achievement growth over the first year of high school. These dimensions included learning adaptation, stress management, and personal communication. Student math achievement growth was measured using the student growth percentile (SGP) score. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test for the possible mediating role of self-concept behind those three relationships. Based on the model comparison, it was discovered that school adaptation significantly and positively influences student math achievement growth via mediating effects of student academic self-concept, as opposed to showing a direct impact on students. The findings of this study have important implications for educators and parents to aid students in their pursuit of academic success.

Effects of Socioeconomic Status, Parent-Child Relationship, and Learning Motivation on Reading Ability

Against the background of Chinese culture, we investigated the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children's reading ability. Participants included 2294 middle-school students in grade 8. SES was measured by parents' education level, parents' occupational prestige, and family property, and children's reading ability was estimated with item response theory. In addition, we adopted an 8-item parent-child relationship scale and a 22-item learning motivation scale that included four dimensions. We examined whether the parent-child relationship mediated the relationship between family SES and reading ability and whether this was moderated by learning motivation. The results indicated that the parent-child relationship played a mediating role in the relationship between SES and reading ability. This relationship was moderated by students' learning motivation. The direct effects of SES on reading ability at high, medium, and low levels of learning motivation were 0.24, 0.32, and 0.40, respectively.

Academic Self-Efficacy Partially Mediates the Relationship between Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Composite Attainment Score

A developing literature continues to testify to the relationship between higher socio-economic status (SES) and better academic attainment. However, the literature is complex in terms of the variety of SES and attainment indicators used. Against the backdrop of a Scottish Government initiative to close the attainment gap between higher and lower SES children, the present study examined the relationship between individual-level Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and National Lower Tariff Score in school children in the West of Scotland. Results showed a practically significant relationship between SIMD and Tariff Score. This relationship was partially mediated by higher academic self-efficacy, so that higher belief in academic competency partially mediated the SIMD-Tariff Score relationship. Further, this partial mediation was robust to the influence of gender, sensation seeking, level of school attendance and past month frequency of Heavy Episodic Drinking. It is suggested that increasing attendance and perceived academic competence are viable ways (among others) of attempting to close the attainment gap.

Parents' participation in a work-based anti-poverty program can enhance their children's future orientation: understanding pathways of influence

Planning and preparing for life after high school is a central developmental task of American adolescents, and may be even more critical for low-income youth who are less likely to attend a four year college. This study investigates factors that led to the effects of the New Hope Project, a work-based, anti-poverty program directed at parents on youths' career-related thoughts and planning. The New Hope project was implemented in Milwaukee, WI, during the mid-1990s. 745 families participated (52% male children; 56% African American; 30% Latino, and 15% White non-Hispanic) and half were randomly selected to receive New Hope benefits, which included earnings supplements, job search assistance, and child and health care subsidies for 3 years. Importantly, effects on youths' future orientation were found 8 years after the program began (5 years after benefits ended). The present study investigates what factors sustained these positive impacts over time. Results indicate that parental perceptions of reading performance mediate the effects of New Hope on youths' cynicism about work. Additionally, parental perceptions of reading performance and youths' educational expectations mediate the effects of New Hope on boys' pessimism about future employment. These findings highlight the importance of youths' educational development to their career-related thoughts and planning.

Contributions to variations in academic trajectories amongst recent immigrant youth

Immigration presents both challenges and opportunities that affect students’ academic achievement. Over the course of five years, varying academic trajectories were identified for recent immigrant students from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. Latent class growth curve analysis revealed that although some students performed at high or improving levels over time, others showed diminishing performance. Multinomial logistic regressions identified significant group differences in academic trajectories, particularly between the high-achieving youth and the other groups. Consistent with ecological systems theory, school characteristics (a: school segregation rate; b: school poverty rate; and c: student perceptions of school violence), family characteristics (a-separation from mother and father; b-maternal education; and c-paternal employment), and individual characteristics (a-academic English proficiency; b-academic engagement; c-psychological symptoms; d-gender) were associated with different trajectories of academic performance.

Social-Emotional Factors Affecting Achievement Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Students: Closing the Achievement Gap

Despite concentrated efforts at improving inferior academic outcomes among disadvantaged students, a substantial achievement gap between the test scores of these students and others remains (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; National Center for Education Statistics, 2000a, 2000b; Valencia & Suzuki, 2000). Existing research used ecological models to document social-emotional factors at multiple levels of influence that undermine academic performance. This article integrates ideas from various perspectives in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary model that will inform policy makers, administrators, and schools about the social-emotional factors that act as both risk and protective factors for disadvantaged students' learning and opportunities for academic success. Four critical social-emotional components that influence achievement performance (academic and school attachment, teacher support, peer values, and mental health) are reviewed.

Academic Resilience Among Undocumented Latino Students

This study examined the academic resilience of undocumented immigrant Latino students. It was hypothesized that due to their legal and social marginalization, students who experienced high risk accompanied by high levels of both personal and environmental protective factors would have higher academic outcomes than students with lower levels of these protective resources. The results from regression and cluster analyses ( N = 104) indicated that despite specific risk factors (e.g., elevated feelings of societal rejection, low parental education, and high employment hours during school) undocumented students who have high levels of personal and environmental protective factors (e.g., supportive parents, friends, and participation in school activities) report higher levels of academic success than students with similar risk factors and lower levels of personal and environmental resources. The results also suggested variability in risk exposure among undocumented students with some students reporting low levels of risk accompanied by high levels of personal and environmental protective factors.

Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities for Today's Youth: Toward an Integrative Model and its Implications for Research and Intervention

This article calls for, and proposes some tenets of, model building in adolescent psychosocial development. Specifically, it is suggested that there is a need for a model that draws from the risk-protection approach, from which many prevention science approaches are drawn, and the applied developmental science perspective, from which many positive youth development approaches are drawn. The model to be built, and the integration it proposes, is based in the overlap between protective factors and developmental assets (drawn from the applied developmental science and positive youth development perspectives), as well as on the complementarity of the intrapersonal mechanisms proposed within the two perspectives. The article also poses important questions for future research and presents an empirical agenda for addressing these questions in the service of building and testing a model of adolescent psychosocial development and of integrating the prevention and positive youth development approaches to intervention and policy.