Race and gender influences on adjustment in early adolescence: investigation of an integrative model

This research investigated an integrative model of race- and gender-related influences on adjustment during early adolescence using a sample of 350 Black and White youth. In the proposed model, prejudice/discrimination events, as well as race and gender daily hassles, contribute to a general stress context. The stress context, in turn, influences levels of emotional and behavioral problems in adjustment, with these associations mediated (in part) by intervening effects on self-esteem. Racial and gender identity similarly have positive effects on adjustment via their intermediary linkages with self-esteem. Structural equation modeling analyses provided support for all of these aspects of the model. Findings also revealed theoretically predicted differences in model parameters across race by gender subgroups. These include a direct effect of prejudice/discrimination events on emotional problems specific to Black youth and an effect of gender identity on self-esteem specific to girls. Black girls appeared to be most vulnerable to exhibiting significant adjustment difficulties as a result of the processes under investigation.     

Validity: Whose Construction Is it in the Teaching and Learning Context?

If a test is intended to impact teaching and leaning, how can we make a case for its validity? Currently, it is argued, the case for the validity of a test considers only the test maker's view of what the scores mean and whether they are useful for teachers and learners. Although the test maker's perspective is a necessary one, it is insufficient to validate a test, so an expanded framework for validating tests is needed. The expansion proposes using teachers'/professionals' and students' perspectives as necessary information in the validation of what test scores mean and whether they are useful to teachers and learners.