Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children

The relation between social rejection and growth in antisocial behavior was investigated. In Study 1,259 boys and girls (34% African American) were followed from Grades 1 to 3 (ages 6-8 years) to Grades 5 to 7 (ages 10-12 years). Early peer rejection predicted growth in aggression. In Study 2,585 boys and girls (16% African American) were followed from kindergarten to Grade 3 (ages 5-8 years), and findings were replicated. Furthermore, early aggression moderated the effect of rejection, such that rejection exacerbated antisocial development only among children initially disposed toward aggression. In Study 3, social information-processing patterns measured in Study 1 were found to mediate partially the effect of early rejection on later aggression. In Study 4, processing patterns measured in Study 2 replicated the mediation effect. Findings are integrated into a recursive model of antisocial development.     

The Promise of Restorative Practices to Transform Teacher-Student Relationships and Achieve Equity in School Discipline

ABSTRACT

Restorative approaches to school discipline are increasingly being implemented throughout the United States in an attempt to reduce reliance on suspension and eradicate the racial discipline gap. Yet, little is known about the experience of students in classrooms utilizing restorative practices (RP). This study draws on student surveys (N = 412) in 29 high school classrooms. Hierarchical linear modeling and regression analyses show that high RP-implementing teachers had more positive relationships with their diverse students. Students perceived them as more respectful and they issued fewer exclusionary discipline referrals compared with low RP implementers. In addition, the findings demonstrate some initial promise of well-implemented RP for narrowing the racial discipline gap. The study found that higher RP implementers issued fewer discipline referrals to Latino and African American students compared with lower RP implementers. The study findings have implications for equity-focused consultation in schools that honor student experience of new programming.     

Posthumanist ethical practice: agential cuts in the pedagogic assemblage

With researchers funnelled into lucrative research practices that value fast scholarship, we explore ethical practice as an ethico-onto-epistemological project. Through collective biography, diffractive choreography, and poetry, we map systems of entrapment that manifest power relations in the academy. We argue the posthumanist ethical practice is an intra-active project in higher education – involving rich material, social, political and intellectual entanglements. Posthumanist ethical practice rejects dualisms of body/mind, nature/culture and human/non-human. It evokes creativity to generate new vocabularies for challenging anthropocentric ‘exceptionalism’. Mapping relations in posthuman assemblages can involve agential cuts that evoke ethical practice as affective encounters. Agential cuts give permission for pedagogic storying where there is ontological connectedness. As academics, we are immersed in assemblages where posthumanist education research and practice is a rich, embodied, and connected process. Particular consideration is given in this article to affectivity and the value of pedagogic performance in education research.     

Struggling with capital: a Bourdieusian analysis of educational strategies among internationally mobile middle class families in Sweden

ABSTRACT

Drawing on empirical data regarding educational strategies among internationally mobile families in the Stockholm-Uppsala region, this study questions the notion of a global middle class. First, a quantitative analysis shows that immigrating middle class professionals and their children are few, having marginal impact on the demand for international education. Furthermore, they far from constitute a homogeneous class, instead comprising of fractions opting for different types of schools. A second, qualitative study on capital conversion among mobile families illustrates that even well-educated international movers face serious challenges converting their existing knowledge, skills and contacts into well-informed social, professional and educational strategies in their new context. This suggests the limitations of concepts such as international capital. It is argued that the GMC concept overshadows the fact that social groups within the middle classes have varying degrees of international mobility that constitutes just one dimension of what separates them from each other.     

Maternal Socialization of Children''s Eating Habits: Strategies Used by Obese Mexican-American Mothers

Mexican-Americans are more likely to be obese than the general population, yet little research has been conducted on the socialization of eating habits in Mexican-American children. 38 obese mothers enrolled in a weight-loss program and their 4-8-year-old children were observed during mealtime and the mothers interviewed about their socialization practices. Mothers relied primarily on nondirective verbal control strategies during the observation. Child compliance was more likely to follow a maternal serving or command than a nondirective behavior. Mothers encouraged sons to eat more than did mothers of girls. Child age was negatively correlated with mother's use of commands, reasoning, threats, and bribes, and positively correlated with maternal nondirectives, servings, and child compliance. Mothers with more years of formal education served healthier foods and were more likely to report using reasoning strategies, prohibiting consumption of unhealthy food, monitoring child food consumption away from home, and allowing child input into the eating situation than were less educated mothers.     

Middle school teachers’ differing perceptions and use of curriculum materials and the common core

Eight middle school mathematics teachers’ perceptions and uses of curriculum materials and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) were investigated. Adapting a noticing framework and models of dialogic instruction and direct instruction, teachers’ noticing practices with curriculum materials and the CCSSM when planning, enacting, and reflecting on lessons were examined. Teachers who were committed to implementing the CCSSM and who were using one of two substantively different curriculum programs were purposefully selected. Data sources included multiple forms of interviews and classroom observations. The teaching evidenced three distinct noticing patterns. These patterns indicated that teachers’ curriculum materials were associated with how teachers perceived and enacted the CCSSM. Teaching with a curriculum program that was designed as a thinking device prioritized the Standards for Mathematical Practice of CCSSM evidenced noticing that was consistent with dialogic instruction. Teaching with a curriculum program that was designed as a delivery mechanism prioritized the Content Standards of CCSSM and evidenced noticing consistent with direct instruction. Findings indicated that the designated curriculum and contributed to differing interpretations of CCSSM and served as a lens for noticing. However, a dialogic curriculum program was not sufficient to support dialogic approaches in practice. One pattern showed teachers planning dialogic lessons, but the lesson enactments were not consistent with teachers’ plans, with evidence that the teachers were not aware that their practices differed from dialogic approaches. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Dimensions of child sexual abuse before age 15 in three Central American countries: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of sexual abuse during childhood or adolescence varies depending on the definitions and age categories used. This study examines the first national, population-based data available on child sexual abuse that occurs before age 15 in three countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This study uses comparable indicators and measures of sexual abuse for the three countries to document the prevalence of abuse, types of perpetrators, and the association of child sexual abuse with recent intimate partner violence. METHODS: Child sexual abuse was defined as sexual abuse that first occurs before age 15. Nationally representative data from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were used. In El Salvador, separate questions on forced intercourse and non-penetrative sexual abuse were asked. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed using STATA Version 8SE. RESULTS: The prevalence of child sexual abuse varied from 7.8% in Honduras to 6.4% in El Salvador and 4.7% in Guatemala. In all three countries, the overwhelming majority of women who reported child sexual abuse first experienced the abuse before age 11. Perpetrators tended to be a family member, a neighbor, or an acquaintance. Bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated that women who experienced child sexual abuse in Guatemala and Honduras were about two times more likely to be in violent relationships as women who did not experience abuse. This relationship was not significant in multivariate analyses for El Salvador where the prevalence of intimate partner violence was the lowest. CONCLUSIONS: Child sexual abuse in Central America is clearly a problem with the prevalence between 5% and 8%. Child sexual abuse can have long-term negative health impacts including exposure to intimate partner violence in adulthood. Programs to prevent abuse and treat victims of child sexual abuse are needed in Central America.     

Introducing micro-computers to micro-learners through play

Computers, once available exclusively to wealthy industries, are now rapidly becoming as familiar in preschool and kindergarten classrooms as block and crayons. Articles making claims such as Learning by Computers at Age 4 and Computers Preparing Preschoolers for Kindergarten now permeate the news media. Increasing numbers of child care centers, attempting to maximize public interest in computers, now readily advertise Computer Tutor in their literature. Computer Tutor is often even listed above other important qualifications such as certified teachers and professional affiliations of centers.Theresa Rubens has had extensive experience working with children in both family day homes and child care centers. Jennifer Poole is the Nursery Director at the First United Methodist Church in Carrollton, TX. James L. Hoot is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.