Perceived parental monitoring and school motivation during adolescence: a bidirectional model

European Journal of Psychology of Education - School motivation is key to promoting optimal educational pathways. Some studies suggest that parental monitoring behaviors foster school motivation...     

Représentations et fonctionnements cognitifs dans une recherche de panne d’un système d’allumage en mecanique-auto

Fault finding is a puzzling task, at work and in technical and professional training. Our purpose is to contribute to an analysis of the required competencies and mainly to a characterisation of the evolution steps in knowledge and action organisation from novice to expert. Eight grown-up preparing a professional certificate in engine mecanics were observed and filmed while they were working out the diagnosis of an ignition trouble on a real equipment. The theory of functionning registers (deducted from Piaget’s theory) is considered as a relevant frame for our activity analysis. So, four competencies patterns has been outlined on the basis of errors extension, circuit functionning representations which were infered from schema interpretations, and trouble-shooting strategies denoted by control procedures. Some consequences about training are examined.     

Relations between impostor feelings and upward and downward identification and contrast among 10- to 12-year-old students

The first objective of this study was to examine the presence of the impostor phenomenon (IP) among 740 students aged 10 to 12 years old. The second objective was twofold: (1) to examine the link between the impostor feelings and the propensity to use social comparison and (2) to examine whether this feeling is related to the processes of identification with versus contrast to others who are either doing better or worse than oneself. Results showed that, although generally of low intensity, the impostor feelings are indeed present in late elementary school children. A positive link between the impostor feelings and the propensity to use social comparison was also observed. It also appeared that, more than for others, children who feel like impostors were likely to differentiate themselves from their more capable peers while identifying themselves with less capable peers. The discussion focuses on the presence of the IP in late elementary children and on how the upward contrast and the downward identification may contribute to its development and maintenance.     

Attentional Patterns Involved in Coping Strategies in a Sport Context

We investigated the relationship between coping strategies and attentional bias after a sport competition. We administered the Ways of Coping Checklist (Paulhan, Nuissier, Quintard, Cousson, & Bourgeois, 1994) to 145 athletes immediately after they had participated in a sport competition. We also assessed attentional bias using a dot probe detection task. Results revealed that emotion-focused coping strategies led athletes to orient their attention away from threat, whereas athletes who adopted problem-focused coping strategies focused their attention toward threat. More precisely, problem-focused coping strategies are related to a facilitated detection of threat, not to disengagement difficulties. The vigilance attentional bias seems to be a compensatory strategy to cope with a stressful situation, such as sport competition.     

Les désorganisations de la répresentation de soi à l'entrée au collège

The self-representation of children from 4 grades were studied: 5th grade (10–11 years), 6th grade (11–12 years), 7th grade (12–13 years) and 8th grade (13–14 years). In each class, good pupils (E +) were differentiated from poor pupils (E ?). Each child was asked to assess himself on 12 attitude scales from his point of view (own image, IP), from his teacher's point of view, and from his parents' and friends' (social images assigned to others: ISM, ISP, ISC). The teachers were also asked to assess the children on the 12 scales (real image of the teacher, IRM). The coherence of self-representation is estimated by the mean variation and by the correlations between images. The results show less coherence in the self-representation of the 6th grade. This decrease is greater for the pupils E ?when it is sustained into the 7th grade. The correlations between IRM and the images produced by the pupils are positive and significant in the 6th grade only with the pupils E +. All the results are interpreted as a transcient desorganization of the child's self-representation as he enters junior high school. This desorganization is due to the pupils' difficulty, mainly pupils E ?, in understanding how they are judged and assessed.     

Segmenting Texts Into Meaningful Word Groups: Beginning Readers’ Prosody and Comprehension

It was hypothesized that prosodic reading facilitates beginning readers’ comprehension by allowing them to segment the text into meaningful word groups. Two prosodic features of the oral reading of second-grade students were considered: lack of inappropriate pauses and attention to punctuation. To examine the unique contribution of these features to reading comprehension, fluency (speed and accuracy of reading) and vocabulary were controlled. As expected, both prosodic features were significantly related to comprehension, jointly explaining as much variance as fluency. Accordingly, it might be counterproductive to encourage reading speed and accuracy at the expense of prosody.     

An ecological approach to promoting early adolescent mental health and social adaptation: family-centered intervention in public middle schools

This study examined the impact of the Family Check-Up (FCU) and linked intervention services on reducing health-risk behaviors and promoting social adaptation among middle school youth. A total of 593 students and their families were randomly assigned to receive either the intervention or middle school services as usual. Forty-two percent of intervention families engaged in the service and received the FCU. Using complier average causal effect analyses, engagement in the intervention moderated intervention outcomes. Families who engaged in the intervention had youth who reported lower rates of antisocial behavior and substance use over time than did a matched control sample. Results extend previous research indicating that a family-centered approach to supporting youth in the public school setting reduced the growth of antisocial behavior, alcohol use, tobacco use, and marijuana use throughout the middle school years.     

Teachers’ recognition of children with an illusion of incompetence

This study addresses the issue of illusion of incompetence among elementary school children. The first objective is to examine whether teachers are able to recognize children with an illusion of incompetence, The second objective is to see whether teachers’ appraisal of the behaviours and psychological characteristics of these children differ from their appraisals of other children. Seventy-four teachers and their 684 pupils from the fourth and fifth grades who were participating in a larger project were examined. By and large, only 31.3% of the pupils affected by an illusion of incompetence were identified as such by their teachers. However, teachers evaluated boys with an illusion of incompetence as being less autonomous, having a more negative mood and being more withdrawn than their peers. The teachers did not report these characteristics in girls with an illusion of incompetence. The discussion focuses on various hypotheses likely involved in teachers’ difficulty in identifying children whose self-appraisals of competence are negative.     

Victimization during childhood and revictimization in dating relationships in adolescent girls

OBJECTIVE: Various experiences with violence during childhood and adolescence (parental violence, exposure to marital violence, sexual abuse within and outside the family, sexual harassment at school, community violence, involvement with violent or victimized peers, and previous dating violence) are examined as potential risk factors for psychological, physical, and sexual revictimization in adolescent girls' dating relationships. METHOD: A group of 917 teenage girls (mean age = 16.3) were recruited in 5 high schools located in low to middle socioeconomic areas. Participants were in the 10th and 11th grades, and each completed a self-administered questionnaire. Analyses were performed on the 622 participants who reported having at least one dating partner in the last 12 months. RESULTS: Prevalence rates for past victimization experiences varied from 13% to 43%. Regarding last-year dating victimization, prevalence rates varied from 25% to 37%, depending on the type of violence sustained. Results suggest that extrafamilial experiences with violence are stronger risk factors for recent dating victimization than intrafamilial experiences, especially being sexually harassed by male peers at school and being involved with violent or victimized peers during the year preceding the survey. However, it is important to differentiate between girls who are repeatedly victims of violence in a single, long-term relationship (repeat dating victimization), and girls who are revictimized by different partners (dating revictimization), the former sustaining more frequent physical and psychological violence than the latter. CONCLUSIONS: Findings underline the importance of early prevention of adolescent dating violence. Prevention programs should especially address extrafamilial experiences with violence as important risk factors for victimization in dating relationships, and teach girls strategies to break up abusive relationships.