Teachers,loosen up! How teachers can trigger interpersonally cooperative behavior in students at risk of academic failure

Student cooperativeness underlies high quality teacher-student relationships, and has been positively associated with students' school engagement. Fostering cooperative rather than oppositional student behavior might be especially helpful for protecting at-risk students against academic failure. To understand how exactly students' cooperativeness can be fostered, we investigated the interpersonal behaviors of secondary school teachers and at-risk students during dyadic interactions (N = 82 dyads) in the context of positive teacher-student relationships. Using Continuous Assessment of Interpersonal Dynamics, moment-to-moment teacher and student behavior was captured in terms of interpersonal agency (dominance vs. submissiveness) and communion (opposition vs. cooperation). Time-series analyses were used to analyze interpersonal behavior within individuals, within dyads, and between dyads. Cooperative student behavior was most likely if teachers acted friendly and cooperatively and if teachers ‘loosened up’ their agency and the structure they imposed on the interaction repeatedly, which may give students more freedom to express themselves and to cooperate.     

Vulnerability or resilience to early substance use among adolescents at risk: The roles of maltreatment and father involvement

Although research has indicated that maltreated children are at higher risk of adolescent substance use, it remains unclear whether the type and timing of maltreatment affect the likelihood of adolescent substance use. Research has also found father involvement to be a potential protective factor against adolescent substance use, but the role of quality vs. quantity of father involvement as well as gender differences in the effects of father involvement on substance use among at-risk adolescents have not been studied. The current study adds value to the existing literature by filling these gaps in knowledge. We conducted a secondary data analysis with a sample of 685 at-risk adolescents drawn from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect. The study found a connection between early childhood (birth to 5) physical abuse and adolescent substance use, but not for later childhood physical abuse or other forms of child maltreatment. The quality of father involvement was found to be a protective factor, regardless of child gender; quantity of father involvement was not significant. Based on these findings, development of intervention strategies focusing on prevention of early childhood physical abuse and promoting positive father-child relationships are important prevention strategies for adolescent substance use. Additionally, professionals working with at-risk adolescents need to be cognizant of the implications of early childhood physical abuse and act accordingly to mitigate the increased potential for adolescent substance use.     

Victimization and traumatic stress: Pathways to depressive symptoms among low-income,African-American girls

Socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with increased exposure to victimization and traumatic stress. The present study evaluates longitudinal pathways linking victimization and trauma to depressive symptoms in a socioeconomically disadvantaged sample of African-American adolescent girls seeking mental health services (N = 177, 12–16 years old at baseline). Girls completed four assessments over the course of three years (T1-T4). Depressive symptoms were assessed at T1-T3 using clinical interviews and questionnaires. At T4, lifetime history of victimization and traumatic stressors was evaluated with in-person interviews. Separate structural equation models tested longitudinal pathways from stressor frequency, severity, and duration to depressive symptoms. In all three models, higher levels of victimization and traumatic stressors were associated with significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms. More frequent stressors prior to T1 directly predicted depressive symptoms at T1 and indirectly predicted depressive symptoms at T2, which, in turn, predicted depressive symptoms at T3. A similar pattern emerged in the stressor severity and duration models. Findings support the idea that victimization and traumatic stressors are associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and that, among treatment-seeking low-income adolescent girls, these effects occur through both direct and indirect paths. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the stress-generation and stress proliferation models of psychopathology.     

Examining Different Forms of Implementation and in Early Childhood Curriculum Research

The purpose of this study was to examine different approaches to assessing implementation in an early childhood curriculum research study. Early childhood teachers in 51 preschool classes located at nationally dispersed sites implemented the Children's School Success curriculum for a school year. Structural (proportion of curriculum delivered) and process (quality of delivery of curriculum) measures of implementation were collected for the literacy, math, and social components of the curriculum. Also, a multiplicative composite score incorporating information from the structural and process measures was calculated. Site differences occurred for the process measure, but not the structural and composite measures. Analysis of the process implementation measures collected across time revealed primarily stable trends across sites. Significant associations were found between measures of implementation and some of the child outcome variables, with the different forms of implementation associated with different outcome variables.     

Bi-directional dynamics underlie the complexity of talk in teacher–child play-based conversations in classrooms serving at-risk pupils

This study examined the transactional, utterance-by-utterance dependencies in the syntactic complexity of teachers’ and children's talk during small-group conversations in preschool classrooms. The sample included 39 teachers and select children in their classroom, which targeted enrollment to children experiencing documentable risk factors. Patterns of sequential dependencies demonstrated a bi-directional interdependence in teachers’ and children's complex syntactic use, whereby both teachers and children appeared sensitive to each other's use of complex syntactic forms. Teachers’ use of complex syntax increased the likelihood that children's adjacent utterance would contain complex syntax; similarly, children's use of complex or simple syntax increased the likelihood that teachers’ adjacent utterance would mirror their syntactic level. Associations were small to moderately large in strength, but varied across individual classrooms. The findings point to complex, bi-directional relationships underlying the complexity of talk within the classroom language environment.     

The role of visual discrimination in the learning-to-read process

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the extent to which visual discrimination (VisD) skills play a role in developing letter identification abilities, which are essential in learning to read. Results from a correlational analysis of 73 4- and 5-year-olds revealed a significant association between VisD and letter identification abilities, which was not moderated by estimated nonverbal or verbal abilities or lexical access. Stronger VisD abilities also were positively associated with better phonemic awareness skills, presumably because of the association between letter knowledge and phonemic skills, or letter-sound correspondence. A pilot study explored the benefit of visual discrimination training of letter-like forms to letter learning for a subset of 28 children with below average lowercase letter identification abilities. Only letter-name training significantly impacted lowercase letter identification; visual discrimination training did not further enhance performance. Implications for theory and applications to interventions aimed at children at risk for reading delays are discussed.

A Technical College Grow-Your-Own Leadership Program

ABSTRACT

The American Association of Community Colleges has determined over 40% of the population attending a post-secondary institution is enrolled in a two-year community college. The majority of this student population could be described as nontraditional, including first-generation students, underrepresented populations, and single parents working full or part-time jobs while attending classes. This student population is more likely to experience stress and anxiety, increasing their need for mental health services. Despite this demonstrated need, there has been little research conducted on two-year community college campuses relating to mental health services. The purpose of this article is to discuss the need for research on mental health needs and services at two-year community colleges.     

Behavior problems in elementary school among low-income boys: The role of teacher–child relationships

The authors identified trajectories of teacher–child relationship conflict and closeness from Grades 1 to 6, and associations between these trajectories and externalizing and internalizing behaviors at 11 years old among low-income, urban boys (N = 262). There were three main findings. Nagin cluster analyses indicated five trajectories for conflict with all children evidencing increases in conflict, and four trajectories for closeness with all children demonstrating decreases in closeness. Trajectories with higher levels of conflict and lower levels of closeness were associated with higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at 11 years old. Moreover, conflictual teacher–child relationships exacerbated the effects of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems in early childhood; children with conflictual teacher–child relationships had higher levels of behavior problems in middle childhood relative to children with low conflictual teacher–child relationships. Implications of targeting teacher–child relationships as interventions to help prevent behavior problems are discussed.     

Recreation or rehabilitation? Managing sport for development programs with prison populations

The provision of sport and recreation programs to inmates within the prison system provides a unique context to investigate the role of sport in enacting social change. Three main aims of prison-based sport programs have been identified in research: inmate health and wellbeing, inmate rehabilitation, and inmate management. This paper presents four case studies of sport programs in prisons across Australia. Inmates completed qualitative interviews in order to investigate program outcomes, design, and delivery. Although the participants in the four case studies came from substantially different prison populations (male, female, Indigenous, intellectual disability, general population) and geographic locations, there were key themes across the groups. Outcomes for both inmates and prisons tended to focus on inmate health and wellbeing and inmate management. Sport and recreation programs appeared to have a positive influence on inmates’ health and behaviour; however, the efficacy of rehabilitation efforts through sport remains uncertain.