Background
The present study sought to determine whether the cognitive triad serves as a moderator or mediator in the association between perceived everyday discrimination (PED) and depressive ...symptoms among inner-city youth by examining if discrimination is related to both cognitive processes and depressive symptoms in adolescents. Previous research illustrated that by eighth grade, cognitive styles begin to moderate the relations of stressful events and depressive symptoms.
Objective
We hypothesized that PED and the cognitive triad interact in their association with depressive symptoms.
Method
Participants included 232 ninth-grade students (
M
= 14.18 years, 38% female) from an inner-city public high school who completed measures examining PED, the cognitive triad, and depressive symptoms. Participants identified as Black or African American (46.5%), White or European American (37.0%), Mixed Race (12.2%), Other Race (2.6%), and Latino/a (1.7%).
Results
A hierarchical linear regression testing the moderation model found PED and the cognitive triad to be significant predictors of depressive symptoms. The interaction effect, however, was non-significant, in contrast with our hypothesis. Additionally, a significant indirect effect of PED on depressive symptoms through the cognitive triad was established which supported a partial mediation.
Conclusion
Our findings support a partial mediation model in understanding the relationship between PED, the cognitive triad, and depressive symptoms. Based on this, psychologists should intervene on a societal level to reduce PED, as well as on an individual level with regard to modifying the cognitive triad in order to alleviate depressive symptoms in adolescents.
Background
The first semester in undergraduate engineering is often challenging for students, making this a potentially fruitful time period for exploring motivational changes and relations between ...motivational beliefs and achievement.
Purpose/Hypothesis
The purpose of the current study was to examine changes in implicit beliefs about intelligence and effort beliefs across the first semester of undergraduate engineering education, to investigate how these beliefs may contribute to first‐semester achievement, and to explore changes in students’ perceptions of the relative contributions of effort and ability/intelligence to grades.
Design/Method
Data from first‐time, full‐time engineering undergraduates at a large Midwestern university were collected at Weeks 1 and 13 of the first semester. Analyses were replicated across two cohorts (2013 and 2014).
Results
On average, students entered and ended the semester with relatively incremental and positive effort beliefs. Surprisingly, incremental beliefs did not predict grade point average (GPA). Positive effort beliefs were associated with GPA in both cohorts. Findings regarding the role that perceived effort plays in achievement were replicated across cohorts. The average trajectory was as follows: at Week 1, students perceived that ability/intelligence was the primary contributor to high school achievement but anticipated that effort would play a greater role in undergraduate coursework; at Week 13, students on average reflected that the role of effort was less than originally anticipated.
Conclusion
Although implicit beliefs about intelligence and effort beliefs remained fairly stable across the first semester, students in both cohorts exhibited similar shifts in perceptions of the importance of effort (relative to ability/intelligence) for academic success.
The positive cognitive triad (positive cognitions about the self, world, and future) has been considered a protective factor against depressive symptoms. This study examines three conceptualizations ...of the positive cognitive triad and their relation to depressive symptoms. Analyses were replicated in two samples in order to provide evidence for the validity of findings. Two samples (
n
1
= 2982,
M
age
= 13.04,
Range
age
= 11–15 years;
n
2
= 2540,
M
age
= 13.11,
Range
age
= 11–16 years) of Australian adolescents completed the Positive Cognitive Triad Inventory and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Findings supported the notion that the overall positive cognitive triad is a protective factor for depressive symptoms, and specifically, the role of positive cognitions about the self in this protection. After future studies examine the directionality of the relation between positive cognitions and depressive symptoms, mental health providers using cognitive behavioral approaches may consider examining positive cognitions with patients.
Using restricted-use data from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics assessment, the current study examined the relationship between the presence of elementary mathematics ...coaches and specialists (MCSs) and the mathematics achievement of more than 190,000 fourth-grade students in more than 7,400 schools nationwide. In addition, the study explored how that relationship differed for students with and without identified disabilities, a vital concern with the continued focus of equity in mathematics education. Hierarchical linear modeling, with adjustments for composite covariates and controls as well as sampling weights, was used to examine each research question. Results showed promise for the use of full-time elementary MCSs to support students’ overall and specific content-area mathematics achievement. This positive relationship did not hold true for the use of part-time MCSs, nor was a differential effect found based on students’ disability status.
Mental health researchers emphasize the importance of practitioner understanding of biology-environment interplay. Accordingly, our goal of the study described in this article was to understand ...students’ preconceptions and misconceptions about biological and environmental influences on development through investigating their conceptions of epigenetics. Using a short-term longitudinal design, we explored preservice helping professionals’ conceptions and misconceptions pertaining to epigenetics within the framework of a graduate level human development course. Baseline knowledge about epigenetics was low. Students developed multiple misconceptions about epigenetics and how the phenomenon relates to biological and environmental influences on human development. Students reported feeling highly efficacious for detecting and resolving misconceptions related to biology-environment interactions but varied in their perceptions of interest for learning about the content. Findings support the use of open-ended questions to detect misconceptions about epigenetics and are discussed in light of how to teach students about this phenomenon. Overall, this research speaks to the importance of understanding the misconceptions students believe and instructional strategies that may assist in correcting them.
Teaching behavior impacts student psychopathology. This study explored the associations between teaching behavior types and depressive symptoms in students. The Teaching Behavior Questionnaire (TBQ) ...and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D) were completed by 763 middle and 976 high school students from private Catholic schools. In the middle school sample, a confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four‐factor structure of the TBQ previously found in public high schools. As predicted, a two‐level hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis with the high school sample found that only the Negative Teaching Behavior scale of the TBQ was positively related to CES‐D scores, (p < .05). A separate two‐level HLM analysis with middle school students found the Instructional Behavior scale was negatively related to CES‐D scores (p < .05) and the Organizational Behavior scale was positively related to the CES‐D scores (p < .01). Implications of the findings for school personnel are discussed.
Depressive symptoms affect around half of students at some point during college. According to the hopelessness theory of depression, making negative inferences about stressful events is a ...vulnerability for developing depression. Negative and socio-emotional teaching behavior can be stressors that are associated with depression in school students. First-time college freshmen completed the Cognitive Style Questionnaire (CSQ), Teaching Behavior Questionnaire (TBQ), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). While completing the TBQ, participants reported on a teacher from prior education to college. Multiple regression analysis found significant effects of the independent variables (four teaching behavior types, inferential style, and interactions between the four teaching behavior types and inferential style) on the dependent variable (depressive symptoms). More specifically, negative and socio-emotional teaching behavior were positively associated with depressive symptoms and instructional and organizational teaching behavior were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Both organizational and negative teaching behavior interacted significantly with inferential style. Organizational and negative teaching behavior shared different relationships with depressive symptoms depending upon an individual's level of inferential style. Promotion of instructional and organizational teaching behavior in school as well as the reduction of negative teaching behavior may be useful in reducing students' depressive symptoms.
The Reading and Me Survey (R&MS) measures reading self-perceptions and enjoyment of reading of intermediate elementary students and parallels the Math & Me Survey (M&MS). We examined its psychometric ...properties through content validation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability and external validity analyses. Validity evidence was collected from 777 third through fifth graders from two rural and two urban school districts. Scores on the scales (Reading Self-Perceptions, 13 items; Enjoyment of Reading, nine items) exhibited strong internal consistency, and model fit was good. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we examined the relations among reading self-perceptions, and enjoyment, mathematics self-perceptions and enjoyment, and teacher ratings of reading and mathematics ability levels, with results demonstrating patterns of discriminant and, convergent validity. Because of its developmentally appropriate vocabulary, its applicability across contexts, its brevity, its parallel format to the M&MS, and its established psychometric properties, the R&MS has potential to be a useful tool for researchers and educators.
Integrations of cognitive models of depression, specifically, the hopelessness model (Abramson et al.
Psychological Bulletin, 96
, 358–372,
1989
) and the response style theory (Nolen-Hoecksema et ...al.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101
, 405–422,
1992
) have been suggested but no previous study has compared the integrations of these models with each other and the original models. Further, previous studies only tested the associations between
composite
scores of inferences, from the hopelessness model, and rumination (incl. brooding and reflection), from the response style theory. Thus, a 3-wave study using self-report instruments with 519 adolescents was conducted (mean age
Wave 1
= 16.09 years;
SD
= 0.70; 62.7% female; 72.8% European American, 14.7% African-American, 5.4% Latino, 4.4% mixed race/ethnicity, 1.4% Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.8% Native American, and 0.6% identified as “other”). The school serves predominantly working to middle class families and almost one third of the students were eligible for free or reduced lunch programs. AMOS and RMediation were used to calculate and compare five different theory-driven models. The findings of the study provide support for an integrated model in which both brooding and reflection are influenced by individual inferences and interact with individual inferences while affecting depressive symptoms. In addition, reflection plays an unexpectedly important role in this integrated model. Age and cognitive development are discussed as possible explanations for this finding.
Despite decades of research on interventions for academically underachieving students, no clear answers have emerged. Synthesizing across existing intervention efforts can help in understanding not ...only the overall effectiveness for these interventions, but also the factors that may moderate such effectiveness. In the current study, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of interventions for academically underachieving students, exploring effects on achievement and psychosocial outcomes. Overall, findings from 53 studies revealed that interventions are moderately effective in improving achievement and psychosocial outcomes. Moderator analyses revealed that intervention effectiveness varied by grade level. Implications for research and practice are discussed, particularly the need for rigorous evaluations of well-designed interventions that consider the fit between students’ unique reasons for underachievement and the makeup of the intervention.
•Interventions are moderately effective in improving achievement and psychosocial outcomes for underachieving students.•Interventions are equally effective for gifted and typically-developing students.•Lower intervention effectiveness was observed at older (high school and post-secondary) ages.
PDF
