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Turunen T, Poskiparta E, Salmivalli C, Niemi P, Lerkkanen MK. Longitudinal associations between poor reading skills, bullying and victimization across the transition from elementary to middle school. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249112. [PMID: 33788885 PMCID: PMC8011771 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Students with poor reading skills and reading difficulties (RDs) are at elevated risk for bullying involvement in elementary school, but it is not known whether they are at risk also later in adolescence. This study investigated the longitudinal interplay between reading skills (fluency and comprehension), victimization, and bullying across the transition from elementary to middle school, controlling for externalizing and internalizing problems. The sample consists of 1,824 students (47.3% girls, T1 mean age was 12 years 9 months) from 150 Grade 6 classrooms, whose reading fluency and comprehension, self-reported victimization and bullying, and self-reported externalizing and internalizing problems were measured in Grades 6, 7, and 9. Two cross-lagged panel models with three time-points were fitted to the data separately for reading fluency and comprehension. The results indicated that poorer fluency and comprehension skills in Grade 6 predicted bullying perpetration in Grade 7, and poorer fluency and comprehension skills in Grade 7 predicted bullying perpetration in Grade 9. Neither fluency nor comprehension were longitudinally associated with victimization. The effects of reading skills on bullying perpetration were relatively small and externalizing problems increased the risk for bullying others more than poor reading skills did. However, it is important that those who struggle with reading get academic support in school throughout their school years, and social support when needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiina Turunen
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Elisa Poskiparta
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Christina Salmivalli
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
| | - Pekka Niemi
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen
- Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylän, Finland
- University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
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Vaz S, Falkmer M, Ciccarelli M, Passmore A, Parsons R, Black M, Cuomo B, Tan T, Falkmer T. Belongingness in Early Secondary School: Key Factors that Primary and Secondary Schools Need to Consider. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0136053. [PMID: 26372554 PMCID: PMC4570666 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
It is unknown if, and how, students redefine their sense of school belongingness after negotiating the transition to secondary school. The current study used longitudinal data from 266 students with, and without, disabilities who negotiated the transition from 52 primary schools to 152 secondary schools. The study presents the 13 most significant personal student and contextual factors associated with belongingness in the first year of secondary school. Student perception of school belongingness was found to be stable across the transition. No variability in school belongingness due to gender, disability or household-socio-economic status (SES) was noted. Primary school belongingness accounted for 22% of the variability in secondary school belongingness. Several personal student factors (competence, coping skills) and school factors (low-level classroom task-goal orientation), which influenced belongingness in primary school, continued to influence belongingness in secondary school. In secondary school, effort-goal orientation of the student and perception of their school's tolerance to disability were each associated with perception of school belongingness. Family factors did not influence belongingness in secondary school. Findings of the current study highlight the need for primary schools to foster belongingness among their students at an early age, and transfer students' belongingness profiles as part of the hand-over documentation. Most of the factors that influenced school belongingness before and after the transition to secondary are amenable to change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharmila Vaz
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Marita Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Education and Communication, CHILD programme, Institution of Disability Research Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
| | - Marina Ciccarelli
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Anne Passmore
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Richard Parsons
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Pharmacy, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Melissa Black
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Belinda Cuomo
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Tele Tan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Torbjörn Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (IMH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University & Pain and Rehabilitation Centre, UHL, County Council, Linköping, Sweden
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Vaz S, Parsons R, Falkmer T, Passmore AE, Falkmer M. The impact of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary school transition. PLoS One 2014; 9:e89874. [PMID: 24608366 PMCID: PMC3946588 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2013] [Accepted: 01/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Students negotiate the transition to secondary school in different ways. While some thrive on the opportunity, others are challenged. A prospective longitudinal design was used to determine the contribution of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence (AC) and mental health functioning (MHF) of 266 students, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Data from 197 typically developing students and 69 students with a disability were analysed using hierarchical linear regression modelling. Both in primary and secondary school, students with a disability and from socially disadvantaged backgrounds gained poorer scores for AC and MHF than their typically developing and more affluent counterparts. Students who attended independent and mid-range sized primary schools had the highest concurrent AC. Those from independent primary schools had the lowest MHF. The primary school organisational model significantly influenced post-transition AC scores; with students from Kindergarten--Year 7 schools reporting the lowest scores, while those from the Kindergarten--Year 12 structure without middle school having the highest scores. Attending a school which used the Kindergarten--Year 12 with middle school structure was associated with a reduction in AC scores across the transition. Personal background factors accounted for the majority of the variability in post-transition AC and MHF. The contribution of school contextual factors was relatively minor. There is a potential opportunity for schools to provide support to disadvantaged students before the transition to secondary school, as they continue to be at a disadvantage after the transition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharmila Vaz
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Centre for Research into Disability and Society, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Richard Parsons
- School of Pharmacy, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Torbjörn Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Occupational Therapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (IMH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University & Pain and Rehabilitation Centre, UHL, County Council, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Anne Elizabeth Passmore
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Marita Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Education and Communication, CHILD programme, Institution of Disability Research Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
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Al-Yagon M. Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: Socioemotional and Behavioral Functioning and Attachment Relationships with Fathers, Mothers, and Teachers. J Youth Adolesc 2012; 41:1294-311. [DOI: 10.1007/s10964-012-9767-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2012] [Accepted: 04/08/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Martínez RS. Social support in inclusive middle schools: Perceptions of youth with learning disabilities. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS 2006. [DOI: 10.1002/pits.20142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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Bauminger N, Edelsztein HS, Morash J. Social information processing and emotional understanding in children with LD. JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES 2005; 38:45-61. [PMID: 15727328 DOI: 10.1177/00222194050380010401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The present study aimed to comprehensively examine social cognition processes in children with and without learning disabilities (LD), focusing on social information processing (SIP) and complex emotional understanding capabilities such as understanding complex, mixed, and hidden emotions. Participants were 50 children with LD (age range 9.4-12.7; 35 boys, 15 girls) and 50 children without LD matched on grade, age, and gender. Children analyzed 4 social vignettes using Dodge's SIP model and completed 2 emotional recognition tasks (pictures and stories) and 4 emotional knowledge tasks, such as providing definitions and examples for 5 emotions (e.g., loneliness, pride, embarrassment). Study results demonstrated that children with LD had major difficulties in SIP processes and consistent difficulties with the different tasks in the understanding of complex emotions and in higher emotional understanding capabilities, such as understanding that 2 conflicting emotions (love and hate) can be simultaneously experienced. We discuss the implications of such difficulties for the understanding of social competence in children with LD as well as their implications for social skills intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nirit Bauminger
- Special Education Department, School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
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