Self-concepts, domain values, and self-esteem: relations and changes at early adolescence

The Relationship Between Harsh Parenting and Adolescents' Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

Background

Parents play a crucial role in cultivating adolescents' pro-environmental behavior, which has attracted researchers' attention. Nevertheless, the role of negative parenting styles has not been adequately concerned.

Objectives

This research aimed to explore the influence of harsh parenting on adolescents' pro-environmental behavior based on the Ecological Systems Theory, considering intrinsic motivation as a possible mediator and three types of values (egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric values) as possible moderators.

Participants and Setting

Data were collected at two stages through self-report questionnaires filled in by 602 adolescents (40.2% boys) in China with an average age of 16.25 years.

Methods

The questionnaires assessed pro-environmental behavior, harsh parenting, intrinsic motivation, and values. Research hypotheses were tested by Model 4 and Model 14 of the SPSS PROCESS macro.

Results

Results showed that harsh parenting was negatively associated with adolescents' pro-environmental behavior, which was mediated by intrinsic motivation. The interactions of three types of values and intrinsic motivation affected pro-environmental behavior differently. The relationship between intrinsic motivation and adolescents' pro-environmental behavior was negatively moderated by egoistic values, but positively moderated by altruistic and biospheric values.

Conclusions

The results revealed that harsh parenting was negatively and significantly correlated with adolescents' pro-environmental behavior and such a relationship was mediated by intrinsic motivation and was moderated by values.

A Study of Graduate Students' Achievement Motivation, Active Learning, and Active Confidence Based on Relevant Research

Graduate students’ failure to graduate is of great concern, with the failure to graduate due to the dissertation being the most influential factor. However, there are many factors that influence the writing of a dissertation, and research on these factors that influence graduate students’ learning through emotion and cognition is still quite rare. A review of past research revealed that the main factor causing graduate students to drop out midway is not completing their thesis, followed by factors including insufficient achievement motivation, lack of learning strategy, and low confidence. The graduation rate of graduate students has been emphasized by the academic community; therefore, this study investigated the correlation between graduate students’ achievement motivation, active learning, and academic confidence in writing research. The study invited graduated students from two universities of science and technology situated in the northern region of Taiwan to complete the questionnaire. In this study, valid data for validation analysis were collected from 173 respondents, and the results showed that achievement motivation positively influenced active learning (higher-order learning, integrative learning, reflective learning) and that active learning (higher-order learning, integrative learning, reflective learning) positively influenced academic confidence. From the above findings, it can be seen that to help graduate students from University of Science and Technology to effectively complete their graduate studies, students should develop good motivation to adopt active learning strategies to enhance their academic self-confidence.

The role of interpersonal perceptions of social inclusion and personality in momentary self-esteem and self-esteem reactivity

Empirical research has demonstrated that self-esteem is significantly shaped by social interactions and perceptions of social inclusion; however, less is known about individual differences in the reactivity of momentary self-esteem to social inclusion. Zooming into social interactions, we used data from two adolescent samples (overall N > 200) in two different social settings (i.e., a standardized laboratory interaction vs. real-life interactions) to examine the associations between different interpersonal perceptions (i.e., self-, other-, and metaperceptions) of social inclusion and momentary self-esteem. Further, we investigated how these associations are shaped by an individual’s personality (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness). Multilevel modeling revealed differential associations between interpersonal perceptions and momentary self-esteem, with perceptions formed by the individual (i.e., self- and metaperceptions) more consistently related to momentary self-esteem than perceptions of others. Personality did not emerge as a consistent moderator of these associations but displayed differential effects: Neuroticism dampened self-esteem reactivity in group interactions with unfamiliar interaction partners, but not in dyadic interactions with familiar others. In light of these findings, we discuss the role of the social context and the interaction partner for the dynamic interplay of interpersonal perceptions and the functionality of personality traits.

Testing the adolescent social reorientation model during self and other evaluation using hierarchical growth curve modeling with parcellated fMRI data

Adolescence is characterized as a period when relationships and experiences shift toward peers. The social reorientation model of adolescence posits this shift is driven by neurobiological changes that increase the salience of social information related to peer integration and acceptance. Although influential, this model has rarely been subjected to tests that could falsify it, or studied in longitudinal samples assessing within-person development. We focused on two phenomena that are highly salient and dynamic during adolescence—social status and self-perception—and examined longitudinal changes in neural responses during a self/other evaluation task. We expected status-related social information to uniquely increase across adolescence in social brain regions. Despite using hierarchical growth curve modeling with parcellated whole-brain data to increase power to detect developmental effects, we didn’t find evidence in support of this hypothesis. Social brain regions showed increased responsivity across adolescence, but this trajectory was not unique to status-related information. Additionally, brain regions associated with self-focused cognition showed heightened responses during self-evaluation in the transition to mid-adolescence, especially for status-related information. These results qualify existing models of adolescent social reorientation and highlight the multifaceted changes in self and social development that could be leveraged in novel ways to support adolescent health and well-being.

Evolution of Self-Awareness and the Cultural Emergence of Academic and Non-academic Self-Concepts

Schooling is ubiquitous in the modern world and academic development is now a critical aspect of preparation for adulthood. A step back in time to pre-modern societies and an examination of life in remaining traditional societies today reveals that universal formal schooling is an historically recent phenomenon. This evolutionary and historical recency has profound implications for understanding academic development, including how instructional practices modify evolved or biological primary abilities (e.g., spoken language) to create evolutionarily novel or biologically secondary academic competencies (e.g., reading). We propose the development of secondary abilities promotes the emergence of academic self-concepts that in turn are supported by evolved systems for self-awareness and self-knowledge. Unlike some forms of self-knowledge (e.g., relative physical abilities) that appear to be universal and central to many people's overall self-concept, the relative importance of academic self-concepts are expected to be dependent on explicit social and cultural supports for their valuation. These culturally contingent self-concepts are contrasted with universal social and physical self-concepts, with implications for understanding variation students' relative valuation of academic competencies and their motivations to engage in academic learning.

Neural Correlates of Academic Self-concept and the Association with Academic Achievement in Older Children

Academic self-concept, which can be defined as one's beliefs about their academic ability, plays an important role in students' future academic achievement. Here, we examined the neuroanatomical substrates underlying academic self-concept in 92 school-aged children (9.90 ± 0.85 years, 41 girls) using voxel-based morphometry of images obtained by structural magnetic resonance imaging. Our results revealed a significant positive correlation between academic self-concept and achievement 1 year after assessment. Whole-brain regression analyses found that gray matter volume in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) was negatively associated with academic self-concept. Region of interest analyses further showed that regional gray matter volume in the right DLPFC could significantly predict achievement 1 year after assessment. Notably, mediation analyses suggested that regional gray matter volume in the right DLPFC mediated the effect of academic self-concept on students' future academic achievement.

Cognitive and metacognitive, motivational, and resource considerations for learning new skills across the lifespan

Across the lifespan, learners have to tackle the challenges of learning new skills. These skills can range from abilities needed for survival, such as learning languages, learning to walk during infancy, and learning new software for a job in adulthood, to abilities related to leisure and hobbies. As the learner progresses through novice to expert stages, there are cognitive and metacognitive, motivational, and resource considerations for learning new skills. In terms of cognitive considerations, fluid and crystallized abilities as well as executive functions interact to help the learner process and retain information related to the skills. In terms of metacognitive considerations, knowing what to learn and how to learn are important for novel skill learning. In terms of motivational considerations, changes in individuals' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation throughout the lifespan impact their pursuit of novel skill learning, and declines in motivation can be buffered through the cultivation of grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, and other personal factors. In terms of resource considerations, there are many tools that learners can use to acquire new skills, but allocation and availability of these resources differ based on life stage and socioeconomic status. Taken together, these considerations may provide learners with the best chance at acquiring new skills across the lifespan. Further research investigating these three factors, particularly among older adult learners, and their interactive effects could help increase our understanding of their impacts on skill learning and inform future cognitive interventions that can be tailored to learners' unique needs. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development Psychology > Development and Aging Psychology > Learning.

The Role of Stereotype Threat in Ethnically Minoritized Students' Science Motivation: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study of Achievement and Persistence in STEM

Grounded in expectancy-value and stereotype threat theories, this four-year longitudinal study examined associations between changes in stereotype threat and motivation (self-efficacy, task values, and perceived costs) among 425 undergraduates from racial/ethnic groups typically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Growth analyses indicated that students' stereotype threat and perceived cost of studying science increased during college, whereas science self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and attainment value declined. Parallel growth analyses suggested that higher initial stereotype threat related to a faster decline in attainment value and faster increase in perceived costs throughout college. Higher initial levels and a steeper increase in stereotype threat related to lower STEM GPA. Higher initial levels and a slower decline in motivation variables related to higher STEM GPA and more completed STEM courses. These findings provide empirical evidence for the relations between stereotype threat and motivation among underrepresented minority students during a key developmental period.

Levels and Instability of Daily Self-Esteem in Adolescents: Relations to Depressive and Anxious Symptoms

The current study examined whether individual differences in depressive and anxious symptoms relate to level of daily self-esteem and instability of daily self-esteem in adolescence. Participants were a racially and ethnically diverse sample of adolescents (79 girls, 65 boys; M age = 13.53 years). Adolescents reported on their depressive and anxious symptoms during a baseline home visit. Then, adolescents reported on their daily self-esteem over the course of 12 consecutive days. Using hierarchical linear modeling analyses, level of daily self-esteem was negatively associated with depressive but not anxious symptoms. In addition, a positive relation emerged between instability of daily self-esteem and depressive symptoms when controlling for level of self-esteem; a similar relation did not emerge for anxious symptoms. The differential findings that emerged between both level and instability of daily self-esteem and depressive versus anxious symptoms may be linked to differences in the temporal orientation of these two types of internalizing symptoms; specifically, depressive symptoms result from backward-looking rumination over previous experiences, whereas anxious symptoms emerge from forward-looking worry about future events (Wenze et al., 2012).

Longitudinal association between low self-esteem and depression in early adolescents: The role of rejection sensitivity and loneliness

OBJECTIVES

Although the relation between low self-esteem and depression has been well established, little is known about the possible psychological mechanisms that account for the relation between them. Based on Beck's cognitive theory of depression, the main aim of this study was to explore the notion that rejection sensitivity and loneliness serve as mediators of the relation between low self-esteem and depression among early adolescents.

DESIGN

Using a longitudinal design, we evaluated the hypothesized model with a sample of 866 Chinese early adolescents (51% females) between 11 and 15 years old who completed questionnaires on three occasions at 1-year intervals.

RESULTS

Structural equation modelling showed that: (1) low self-esteem at Time 1 positively predicted depression at Time 3; (2) rejection sensitivity at Time 2 partially mediated the relation between low self-esteem at Time 1 and depression at Time 3; (3) low self-esteem at Time 1 demonstrated partial indirect effects on depression at Time 3 successively via rejection sensitivity and loneliness at Time 2; and (4) rejection sensitivity predicted an increase in loneliness but not vice versa, and depression accounted for later loneliness, but not for rejection sensitivity.

CONCLUSIONS

The associations between low self-esteem and depression among early adolescents may be explained by rejection sensitivity and loneliness. These results suggest implications for effective interventions for depression in early adolescents.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Low self-esteem is a risk factor for depression in early adolescents, and rejection sensitivity and loneliness help explain the vulnerability model. Implementing empirically based intervention plans to overcome low self-esteem may be helpful in efforts to reduce depression in early adolescents. Effective interventions should likely include efforts to decrease rejection sensitivity and loneliness and their effects, such as training to interpret verbal and behavioural cues in social interactions more accurately and to develop more effective social skills to enhance social confidence.

Loneliness and Adolescents' Neural Processing of Self, Friends, and Teachers: Consequences for the School Self-Concept

The present interdisciplinary study explored whether perceived loneliness is associated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) activation during self- and social judgments (friends and teachers) in adolescents. Moreover, we examined how vMPFC activity is related to the academic self-concept (ASC). Results of manifest path analysis indicated that high perceived loneliness was related to lower neural response to self-judgments. In turn, high neural response to self-judgments was positively associated with the ASC, whereas there was a trendwise negative association between high neural response to teacher-related judgments and ASC. This study reveals associations between perceived loneliness and neural processing of the self, underlining the idea that feeling isolated from others may hinder self-insight and, by extension, the formation of a stable academic self-concept.

Sex Differences in Mathematics Anxiety and Attitudes: Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations to Mathematical Competence

Sex differences in the strength of the relations between mathematics anxiety, mathematics attitudes and mathematics achievement were assessed concurrently in sixth grade (n = 1,091, 545 boys) and longitudinally from sixth- to seventh-grade (n = 190, 97 boys). Mathematics anxiety was composed of two facets, one associated with evaluations and the other for learning more generally. Girls had higher mathematics anxiety for evaluations than did boys (ds = -.30 to -.52), but not for mathematics learning. In sixth grade, the negative correlation between mathematical competence and mathematics anxiety for evaluations was stronger in girls than in boys. Longitudinally, higher mathematical competence in sixth grade was associated with lower mathematics anxiety for evaluations and better mathematics attitudes in seventh grade for girls but not for boys. The key finding is that adolescent girls' mathematics anxiety and their attitudes toward mathematics are more reflective of their actual mathematical competence than they are for boys. One implication is that relative to boys with low mathematics achievement, girls with low achievement are at higher risk of developing mathematics anxiety and poor attitudes toward mathematics.

Item Parameter Drift of the Self-Description Questionnaire I

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Self-Description Questionnaire I (SDQI) with regard to children’s mathematics self-concept based on the item response theory (IRT) framework. The researchers adopted the IRT-based techniques for uncovering item-level characteristics including discrimination ( a parameter) and thresholds ( b parameters). The data for this study were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) with a sample of 14,631 children. The IRT-based evaluations suggest that the SDQI items have sufficient discrimination, but insufficient item thresholds in assessing third- and fifth-graders’ mathematics self-concept. Thus, it is recommended that the current SDQI be reconsidered for its age appropriateness. In addition, affective items, which involve enjoyment, liking, and positive emotions, are found to be better indicators of self-concept than cognitive items, which involve perceived competence, ability beliefs, and self-efficacy. Results also indicate the presence of item parameter drift (IPD) in all SDQI items, suggesting beta change of the scale over time – children become more sensitive to the response anchors as they grow older. Findings of this study provide insights into the conceptualization and operationalization of academic self-concept, as well as practical implications for future use and development of self-concept measures.

Evaluation of the Interplay Between Homework Motivation and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Youth With ADHD: Associations With Homework Performance

Objective: This study evaluated which Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) factors (i.e., Slow, Sleepy, Daydreamer) are most strongly associated with homework motivation, and whether homework motivation mediates the path between SCT and academic impairment. Method: Participants were 285 middle school students (boys 209) in Grades 6 to 8 (ages 10-15 years) who were comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD. Results: Parent- and self-report of SCT Slow behaviors predicted homework motivation above and beyond symptoms of ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), anxiety, depression, and intelligence. The mediation models tested were multi-informant and cross-rater (parent-report of SCT to self-report of motivation to teacher-report of homework problems), and suggest that low motivation may help explain the associations between SCT and functional impairment. Conclusion: SCT and motivation are significantly associated constructs. Clinically, youth with ADHD and comorbid SCT may be more likely to present with low motivation, placing them at risk for academic failure. The manuscript discusses potential clinical implications of these findings.

The Role of Parental Acceptance⁻Rejection in Emotional Instability During Adolescence

The present study focuses on analyzing the relationship between the parental acceptance-rejection perceived by adolescents and emotional instability from the early stages of adolescence. Special attention will be paid to potential differences between mothers and fathers. A total of 1181 students, aged 11-17, took part in the study. We used the factor of emotional instability in the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ-NA) and an affect scale (EA-H) to measure parental acceptance-rejection. The analyses performed show a clear association between emotional instability with maternal/paternal criticism and rejection. Specifically, maternal criticism and rejection in early adolescence and paternal criticism and rejection in middle adolescence were associated with emotional instability, confirming the association between children's and adolescents' emotional adjustment and family dynamics. This study makes interesting contributions to understanding paternal and maternal rejection during the different stages of adolescence. These differences should be incorporated into the research on parental influence and its role in the development of personality among adolescents.

How Is Learning Motivation Shaped Under Different Contexts: An Ethnographic Study in the Changes of Adult Learner's Motivational Beliefs and Behaviors Within a Foreign Language Course

There has been a burgeoning interest of students’ motivational beliefs in determining their motivational behaviors in classroom activities: choice of task and persistence of task. Previous research mostly used quantitative methods to understand students’ general motivation, without taking contextual factors into consideration. To fill in this gap, the present study examined the influence of changing contexts on students’ motivational beliefs in a Chinese language classroom, and how those changes in motivational beliefs shaped their motivational behaviors in class activities. An ethnographic multiple-case study approach was adopted, and six adult learners were chosen from a Chinese language course in a Hong Kong university. On-going semi-structured interviews, class observations, stimulated recall and document reviews were conducted to understand student development across time. Findings show that the more proficient students were showing relatively stable motivational beliefs as well as behaviors throughout the foreign language course. In contrast, the less proficient students were demonstrating obvious changes in their motivational beliefs and hence behaviors, due to the different contexts of non-exam and high-stake exam. The study suggested students’ learning motivation in class was context-dependent, and could fluctuate substantially on a weekly basis. Those dynamic within-course changes at different learning stages and the reasons shaping the changes could give pedagogical insights to the teacher with adult learners.

Self-esteem development in the school context: The roles of intrapersonal and interpersonal social predictors

OBJECTIVE

When considering that social inclusion is a basic human need, it makes sense that self-esteem is fueled by social feedback and the sense of being liked by others. This is particularly true with respect to early adolescence, when peers become increasingly important. In the current article, we tested which components of social inclusion are particularly beneficial for the development of self-esteem by differentiating between intrapersonal components (i.e., self-perceptions of social inclusion) and interpersonal components (i.e., perceiver and target effects of liking).

METHOD

Using longitudinal data from 2,281 fifth graders and 1,766 eighth graders (TRAIN; Jonkmann et al., 2013), we tested mean-level self-esteem development and the role of intrapersonal components in this development. Using classroom round-robin data on liking from subsamples of 846 (689) fifth-(eighth-)grade students nested in 46 (39) classes, we tested effects of interpersonal relationship components on self-esteem development in the classroom context.

RESULTS

The three major findings demonstrated, first, no consistent trends in mean levels of self-esteem in early to middle adolescence; second, constant positive effects of intrapersonal components between students and within students across time; and third, no stable effects of interpersonal components.

CONCLUSIONS

The discussion highlights the role of intrapersonal components and the methodological challenges of our study.

Social Confidence in Early Adulthood Among Young People With and Without a History of Language Impairment

Purpose

The purposes of this study were to test the predictions that lower self-esteem and higher shyness in individuals with a history of language impairment (LI) would continue from adolescence into early adulthood and that those with LI would have lower social self-efficacy in early adulthood.

Method

Participants were young people with a history of LI and a comparison group of age-matched peers. Both groups were tested at ages 17 and 24 years. Participants completed measures of language ability, nonverbal IQ, shyness, global self-esteem, and (at age 24 years only) social self-efficacy.

Results

Young adults with LI scored lower than age-matched peers on self-esteem, higher on shyness, and lower on social self-efficacy (medium to large effect sizes). In line with expectations, in the group with LI, language ability in adolescence predicted shyness in young adulthood, which, in turn, was negatively associated with self-esteem. There was also a direct association between language ability in adolescence and self-esteem in young adulthood.

Conclusions

Young people with a history of LI are likely to be entering adulthood less socially confident than their peers. Interventions may be desirable for young adults with LI, and the present findings indicate social self-efficacy as a key area of social confidence that calls for practitioners' attention.

Perceptions of the Social Relevance of Science: Exploring the Implications for Gendered Patterns in Expectations of Majoring in STEM Fields

Despite efforts to increase participation in science, technology, engineering and math fields (STEM), the role of students' perceptions of the social relevance of science in guiding their expectations to major in STEM remains largely unexplored. Though science education scholars predict that perceptions of social relevance likely matter equally for boys and girls, gender scholars suggest that these perceptions should matter more for girls than boys. Using longitudinal data from a large, urban, low-income, and predominantly minority-serving district, this study examines the potentially gendered role of perceptions of social relevance in ninth graders' expectations to major in STEM. Further, it examines these dynamics with respect to expectations to major in any STEM field as well as expectations to major in specific STEM fields. Findings largely support the perspective of gender scholars; perceptions of the social relevance of science positively and significantly predict female, but not male, students' intentions to major in STEM (vs. non-STEM fields). Subsequent analyses that look at intentions to major in specific STEM fields reveal a similar pattern, such that perceptions of relevance positively predict female students' intentions to major in the biological sciences, the physical sciences, and engineering, while male students' intentions are not similarly impacted. By contrast, positive perceptions of the relevance of science predict a modest increase in interest in computer science for both boys and girls.

The development of global and domain self-esteem from ages 10 to 16 for Mexican-origin youth

The current study investigated the development of global and domain (academic, physical, same-sex peer relationship, opposite-sex peer relationship) self-esteem from age 10 to 16 in a sample of Mexican-origin adolescents. Participants’ ( N = 674) responses on the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ; Marsh, 2005) II-S showed moderate rank-order stability across four time points. In terms of mean-level change, global self-esteem and most forms of domain self-esteem decreased across adolescence; the one exception is that opposite-sex peer relationship self-esteem increased. As expected, there were individual differences in rates of change for all SDQ subscales. Most domain self-esteem subscales were concurrently related to global self-esteem ( r’s ranged from .18 to.87), but they did not predict changes in global self-esteem over time. Academic self-esteem had the strongest concurrent associations with global self-esteem. In general, there were no consistent gender differences in rank-order stability, mean levels, or change over time of global and domain self-esteem. These findings provide insight into the development of self-esteem in a rapidly-growing segment of the population of the United States.

Adolescents' Socio-Motivational Relationships With Teachers, Amygdala Response to Teacher's Negative Facial Expressions, and Test Anxiety

The amygdala is essential for processing emotions, including the processing of aversive faces. The aim of this multimethodological study was to relate the amygdala reactivity of students (N = 88) toward teachers' fearful and angry faces, to students' relationship with their teachers. Furthermore, students' neural responses during the perception of teachers' faces were tested as predictors of test anxiety (controlling for neuroticism as a potential trait anxiety effect). Multiple regression analysis revealed that students reporting high-quality teacher-student relationships showed stronger amygdala activity toward fearful faces, which was related to worry. Furthermore, students with high levels of neuroticism tended to perceive their teachers as motivators and showed higher amygdala activity toward angry faces, which was related to the measures of emotionality.

Secondary Student Perceptions of Their Class Activities Regarding Meaningfulness, Challenge, Choice, and Appeal: An Initial Validation Study

This research reports the results of an initial study in which the instrument Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality was developed and then administered to a sample of students to allow examination of validity and reliability evidence. Accordingly, exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity of the scores, and internal consistency alpha reliability estimates were calculated for the 4 factors that were derived from the data. Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality, assesses how high school students perceive their class activities concerning meaning-fulness, challenge, choice, and appeal—constructs clearly tied in the literature to motivation and learning and with their roots of practice found in gifted education programming. Validity and reliability evidence from this pilot study were sufficiently strong, and, thus, this line of research will be continued using a larger national sample in a confirmatory study of the revised version of the instrument that resulted from the present research. Ultimately, this instrument has potential value for those engaged in research or school improvement efforts in both general education and gifted education by providing them a means to assess constructs central to learning and classroom climate from the students’ points of view.

A Comparison of Gender Differences in Academic Self-Concept and Motivation Between High-Ability and Average Chinese Adolescents

This study examined gender differences in academic self-concept, self-esteem, and academic motivation among high-ability Chinese adolescents. Study 1 studied gender differences in a key school as compared to a regular school using a school-type-by-gender MANOVA design. Participants were 208 10th-grade students from the two schools. Consistent with the extent literature on American adolescents, boys at the regular school demonstrated higher math self-concept, and girls demonstrated higher verbal self-concept. In contrast, for the key school, girls and boys had comparable math self-concept and girls had higher general academic self-concept than boys, which is at variance with the findings on high-ability American and European adolescents. As a replication, Study 2 used a between-class design with a group of 148 10th-grade students from a regular school that grouped the top 50 students in one class. Gender differences in math and verbal self-concepts were comparable between the high-ability class and two regular classes and more consistent with what was found with regular school students than with the key school students in Study 1. The discrepancies of the findings of the two studies are discussed in light of the social-contextual nature of academic self-concept and designs of the two studies.

Drug Attitudes, Racial Identity, and Alcohol Use among African American Adolescents

This research examined relationships among four variables, including (a) participation in a culturally based prevention program, (b) changes in drug attitudes, (c) changes in racial identity, and (d) changes in alcohol use. The sample included 311 African American sixth graders (56% male) enrolled in a national study of high-risk youth. Participants completed the Children’s Racial Identity Scale, the Africentric Values Scale for Children, the Tentative Drug Use Scale, the Children’s Social Desirability Scale, and an index of alcohol use. The results indicated that youth who became more tolerant (lenient) in their drug attitudes between sixth and seventh grades were more likely to increase their alcohol use. In addition, two alternative models were tested to examine the dynamics of how changing racial identity and drug attitudes operate in a culturally based intervention to reduce the likelihood of future drug use. Support was found for both models with no convincing evidence showing that one was better than the other.

Latent-Variable Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire

Latent-variable confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the dimensional structure of adolescent temperament from a sample of 436 adolescents. The ninedimensional model proposed by A. Thomas and S. Chess in 1977 was extended by including a bidimensional structure of Mood (including both positive and negative affectivity) and a dimension of Ego Control tapping resiliency and flexibility. All 11 dimensions were statistically reliable and a superiorfit was obtained with a correlated, rather than an orthogonal, model. Results indicated that the factors of Threshold, Intensity, and Distractibility may not be developmentally consistent nor conceptually homogeneous. Moreover, modelfit statistics underscored that a single nomothetic model could not adequately account for the variability underlying the temperamental styles of these adolescents. Separate primary models reflecting temperamental "systems" of Cognitive-Diligence, Sociability/Resilience, and Wgor/Mobility also were tested. Findings suggest that extension of temperament assessment from infancy and childhood to adolescence is developmentally appropriate, although further elucidation of temperamental styles consistent with adult personality is warranted.

Academic Functioning and Mental Health in Adolescence

The current study examines patterns of academic functioning and mental health in 184 middle school children and the relation of such patterns to their prior and subsequent functioning. Data were collected from children during their second, third, fourth, eighth, and ninth grade school years. Cluster analyses were used to delineate patterns of academic functioning and mental health during eighth grade. The authors examined the relation of these patterns to academic functioning and mental health 1 year later the transition to high school, and then examined the long-term developmental roots of the eighth grade patterns using data collected during elementary school years. Results indicated variegated patterns of academic and emotional functioning at eighth grade and stability in these patterns across the high school transition. Some long-term continuity was found among children showing uniformly positive or negative functioning at eighth grade. Studying child functioning across multiple domains and time periods is discussed.

Incorporatingparent Perceptions

This study replicated findings of research on the internal-external frame of reference model of self-concept with a sample of Chinese adolescents and extended this line of research by incorporating parent perceptions of their children’s abilities. The results comparing adolescent self-concepts and parent perceptions show that parents did not use processes similar to the internal-external frame of reference when assessing their children’s academic abilities. Parent perceptions seemed to have the same gender biases as adolescents do when math and verbal abilities are concerned. Adolescent self-concept and parent perceptions also had significant effects on subsequent achievement in matching subjects beyond what was explained by prior achievement. The results are discussed in light of self-appraisal of performance, social comparison, and evaluative feedback from significant others as three main processes contributing to adolescents’ academic self-concepts.

Sex-Related HIV Risk Reduction Behavior among Adolescents in DATOS-A

This study examines the effect of drug treatment on reducing HIV-related risky sex behavior among 796 adolescents entering drug treatment programs in four cities in the United States. More than half of the adolescents (54%) reported reductions in risky sex behavior after treatment. Conduct-disordered adolescents with abuse history, unmet physical and emotional needs, and low commitment to school were associated with lack of improvement. Furthermore, conduct-disordered adolescents who perceived treatment to be effective were more likely to show posttreatment improvement, with the exceptions that those who scored high on hostility or low in self-perception were not likely to improve. Among adolescents without conduct disorder, receipt of mental health services was associated with improvements in their risky sex behavior. The effect of drug treatment on HIV risk reduction can be increased when attention is focused on adolescents’ pretreatment risk factors, service needs, intreatment responses, and key personality characteristics.

Am I as You See Me or Do You See Me as I Am? Self-Fulfilling Prophecies and Self-Verification

This research investigated the extent to which self-fulfilling prophecies and self-verification occurred among 108 teachers and 1,692 students in 108 sixth-grade public school math classrooms. Results demonstrated three main findings. Self-fulfilling prophecies and self-verification occurred simultaneously in a context where perceivers and targets had highly valid information on which to base their initial perceptions. The availability of highly valid information led perceivers and targets to develop initially similar perceptions before mutual influence took place. High similarity between perceivers’ and targets’ initial perceptions had no effect on the power of self-verification but weakened the effect of self-fulfilling prophecies for some targets. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for extended and close relationships and how the nature of people’s perceptions may influence the power of self-fulfilling prophecies and self-verification.

Adaptive Changes in the Self-Concept During a Life Transition

Theories about the self-concept suggest that different aspects of the self are organized according to importance, or psychological centrality. The ways in which psychological centrality can change and how these changes are associated with psychological well-being were investigated in a sample of aging women who had experienced community relocation. The self-concept was measured before and after the move, with regard to five life domains (health, family, friends, economics, and daily activities). It was hypothesized that well-being is maximized by increasing the psychological centrality of life domains in which one is doing well and by lowering the psychological centrality of life domains in which one is doing poorly. The hypothesized, adaptive psychological centrality shifts emerged in the health and friends domains for select outcome measures. Centrality shifts with different patterns of directionality were observed for the other three domains and are interpreted as reflecting problem-focused coping.

Unknown Words in Self-Reported Personality: Lethargic and Provincial in Texas

Two multi method studies probed the structure and correlates of self-reports of personality when participants were permitted to admit that they did not know assessment words. The first study (1,187 college students) examined the structure of self-evaluation using Goldberg's markers for his five-factor approach. Students reported greatest familiarity with Agreeableness markers and least familiarity with Emotional Stability. The second study (317 young adolescents) used two data sources: (a) individualized, self-paced, computer-based self-evaluations and (b) teacher ratings and evaluations of adjustment. The assessment (in either English or Spanish) allowed participants to obtain definitions. Adolescents requested the least help with agreeableness markers and the most help with emotional stability. Even with unknown words, and despite differences in methodology, similar five-factor structures emerged in both studies. Computer assessment methods, in combination with a five-factor approach, may be useful for probing processes that underlie the structure and development of personality and their links to adjustment.

The Accuracy and Power of Sex, Social Class, and Ethnic Stereotypes: A Naturalistic Study in Person Perception

This research examined the accuracy and power of sex, social class, and ethnic stereotypes in person perception. Participants included 49 to 56 teachers and nearly 2,000 students in seventh-grade public school math classes. Results indicated that teacher perceptions regarding achievement and motivation differences between girls and boys, lower- and upper-class students, and African American and White students were mostly accurate. Results also showed that although teachers generally relied on students' personal characteristics to form their perceptions, they occasionally relied on stereotypes. We discuss these results in terms of the classic view that stereotypes are inaccurate, rigid, exaggerated, and exert powerful effects on person perception.

Parents' expectations and students' achievement in two western nations

The present study compares the relations of family SES and parents' educational expectations during early adolescence with students' self-concept of ability and academic achievement in mathematics and language in two western countries, Switzerland and USA Participants were drawn from two US longitudinal samples, The Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions (1983) and the Childhood and Beyond study (1990) and a representative sample of Swiss sixth graders (2002). Results from a series of structural equation models indicate a high predictability and stability across nations indicating the broad usefulness of the model for understanding the role of parents' expectations on student's self-concepts and achievement.

Life satisfaction, self-concept, and family relations in Chinese adolescents and children

Subjective well-being across the life span may be affected by both age-specific and age-general factors within a cultural context. Thus, this study explored both developmentally invariant and variable predictors of life satisfaction among 115 second-graders and 74 eighth-graders from Hong Kong. In a regression model, general self-concept and ratings of parental warmth and autonomy/detachment predicted life satisfaction equally across the two age groups. However, social self-concept was a strong predictor of life satisfaction among adolescents only, whereas actual academic test scores predicted life satisfaction only among the children. Mean group differences emerged as well, with adolescents scoring significantly lower in life satisfaction and self-concept and higher in emotional detachment than children. Results are explained in relation to both development and culture.

Educational differences in self-perceptions of adolescents in Northern Ireland

Self-perceptions of children from the integrated school sector in Northern Ireland were compared with those of children attending religiously segregated schools. In a cross-sectional study, the self-perceptions of 546 boys and girls aged 11–13 years and 14–15 years, at two integrated comprehensive and five segregated post-primary schools in Northern Ireland, were measured using the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985). The results of a School Type (2) Year Group (3) Gender (2) Religion (2) MANCOVA, controlling for social class and ethos of schools, demonstrated a significant main effect for school type, with significant univariate effects favouring those at the integrated schools in the domains of physical appearance ( p 5 .01), social acceptance ( p 5 .01) global self-worth ( p 5 .05), and athletic competence ( p 5 .05). No evidence of a School Type Year Group interaction suggests that these differences existed on entrance to the two types of school. A main effect for gender, favouring boys in physical appearance ( p 5 .001), athletic competence ( p 5 .05), and global self-worth ( p 5 .05), and girls on behavioural conduct ( p 5.001), supported previous studies. Meanwhile, a post hoc analysis on the only significant interaction effect, for School Type Religion, showed that Catholic adolescents from the integrated sector perceived themselves to be significantly more scholastically competent than those from the segregated sector ( p 5 .05). To further assess the development and stability of self-esteem among these adolescents, a long-term longitudinal study is indicated.

Change, Reliability, and Stability in Self-perceptions in Early Adolescence: A Four-year Follow-up Study

Changes in self-perceptions of fitness, appearance, and self-esteem among adolescents were assessed in a 4-year follow-up study. Both the changes in the mean levels across time (profile analysis), and the changes in the reliability and stability of individual differences (i.e. covariance stability as test-retest correlations) were examined. The subjects (64 boys, 49 girls) were 11 years old at the first annual measurement. Self-esteem was assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, as well as self-assessment questionnaires specifically designed for this study to assess Perceived Fitness and Perceived Appearance. MANOVA-and Simplex-models were used in the analysis. Our results among the girls were in accordance with the gradual consolidation hypothesis, so that self-perceptions become more fixed with increasing age. The boys showed highly stable self-perceptions throughout the follow-up, which may indicate the early emergence of a fixed self-concept. Self-esteem increased with age but changes in perceived fitness were small over time. The decrease in perceived appearance found among the girls but not among the boys was in accordance with the gender intensification hypothesis.

Friendship as a predictor of adjustment following a transition to formal academic instruction and evaluation

Most school transitions are characterised by sweeping changes in children's social and learning environments, often accompanied by important biological and cognitive changes; the multiple changes occurring within the child and the environment make the results of school-transition studies difficult to interpret. Italian elementary school children experience a marked transition in teaching and evaluation style at the end of second grade, but do not change schools. Formal academic instruction begins and pupils' progress begins to be evaluated individually by means of oral examinations. The present longitudinal study focuses on the role of friends during this transition. The participants were pupils of 17 classes in 11 schools in the city of Florence, Italy, and surrounding towns. Self-reported liking of school decreased sharply after the transition. There were some indications that having friends contributed overall to successful adjustment after the transition, especially in terms of children's liking of school. There was also some evidence that friendship is an asset to children undergoing stressful life experiences. Both children's liking of school and their antisocial behaviours were predicted by their friends' attitudes toward school and their friends' antisocial behaviour.

Understanding Women's Educational And Occupational Choices: Applying the Eccles et al. Model of Achievement-Related Choices

Despite recent efforts to increase the participation of women in advanced educational training and high-status professional fields, women and men are still concentrated in different occupations and educational programs, and women are still underrepresented in many high-status occupational fields—particularly those associated with physical science, engineering, and applied mathematics. Many factors, ranging from outright discrimination to the processes associated with gender role socialization, contribute to these gendered patterns of educational and occupational choices. This paper summarizes a set of social and psychological factors that Eccles and her colleagues have been studying for the past 15 years in an effort to understand the occupational and educational choices of women and men. The paper summarizes the key features of the theoretical model they developed and provides an overview of the empirical support now available for key aspects of this model. The implications of this model for understanding the link between gender roles and gendered educational and occupational decisions are discussed.