Showing papers in "Journal of Early Adolescence in 1987"
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship of uplifts and hassles to anxiety, depression, distress, self-restraint, perceived sup-port from friends, perceived social competence, and general self-worth in a sample of 23 sixth graders (141 girls).
Abstract: The relationship of daily uplifts and hassles to adaptational outcomes has gained increasing attention in recent years However, investigators have focused considerably more on hassles than uplifts In an attempt to rectify this trend, the present study examines the relationship of uplifts and hassles to anxiety, depression, distress, self-restraint, perceived sup-port from friends, perceived social competence, and general self-worth in a sample of 23 sixth graders (141 girls) Results indicate that both hassles and uplifts are substantially related to these outcomes in the expected direction, with the exception of a modest positive association between uplift and anxiety for girls Moreover, in most cases uplifts add significantly to the relationship between hassles and outcomes, thus high-lighting the importance of uplifts Other findings idicate that uplifts/hassles patterns vary as a function of gender and the particular outcome being considered Similarities to and differences from adult findings are
215Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, student and teacher perceptions of actual and preferred student decision-making opportunities in mathematics classrooms are assessed before and after the transition to junior high school in a longitudinal sample of 2210 students in 117 pre and 137 post-transition classrooms.
Abstract: Student and teacher perceptions of actual and preferred student decision-making opportunities in mathematics classrooms are assessed before and after the transition to junior high school in a longitudinal sample of 2210 students in 117 pre-transition and 137 post-transition classrooms. The findings include: (a) students and teachers perceive fewer actual student decision-making opportunities after than before the transition; (b) students express a preference for more decision-making opportunities while teachers believe students should have fewer opportunities after than before the transition; and (c) the congruency between students' actual and preferred perceptions declines after the transition while teacher perceptions both before and after the transition are highly congruent. It is suggested that there is a "developmental mismatch" between maturing children and the classroom environments they experience before and after the transition. This mismatch may be related to the negative changes in student beli...
132Â citations
TL;DR: For both boys and girls, the most frequently endorsed coping strategies were "Listen to music" and "Watch TV" as mentioned in this paper, while the most frequent use of ventilation as a coping strategy was positively but weakly related to psychological symptomatology.
Abstract: This study examined gender differences in 298 seventh and ninth graders' self-reported psychological symptoms, coping strategies, and the relation between psychological symptoms and coping strategies. The most notable gender differences occurred in the area of symptomatology. For boys, the most frequently reported symptom was "Feeling uneasy when people are watching or talking about you"; for girls, it was "Worrying too much about things." Six symptoms were common to the 10 most frequent symptoms reported by boys and by girls. For both boys and girls, the most frequently endorsed coping strategies were "Listen to music" and "Watch TV." Five other strategies were among the 10 most frequent strategies reported by both boys and girls. For both boys and girls, frequent use of ventilation as a coping strategy was positively but weakly related to psychological symptomatology.
97Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a study of 561 seventh and eighth grade students examined the effects of computer-related programs on their attitudes toward computers in school curricula, and found that students' attitudes towards computers were important for success in implementing computer-oriented programs in school curriculum.
Abstract: Students' attitudes toward computers are important to success in implementing computer-related programs in school curricula. This study of 561 seventh and eighth grade students examines the effects...
89Â citations
TL;DR: This paper found that television viewing makes an independent contribution to adolescents' sex-role attitudes over time, but that television is not related to their actual behavior, however, the relationship between viewing and attitudes is mediated by behavior, but in different directions for boys and girls.
Abstract: Amount of television viewing, sex-role attitudes, and sex-role behavior were measured at two points in time in a sample of 287 adolescents The sex-role measures concern respondents' attitudes about the sex-specific appropriateness of various household chores and their own self-reported tendency to perform those chores The data show that television viewing makes an independent contribution to adolescents' sex-role attitudes over time, but that television is not related to their actual behavior The relationship between viewing and attitudes, however, is mediated by behavior, but in different directions for boys and girls Finally, there is a reciprocal relationship between amount of viewing and the degree of congruence between sex-role attitudes and behavior
83Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the relationship between gender and achievement, and the change in this relationship over time, a sample of 4875 females and 4497 males tested with the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills each year from Grade 3 to Grade 8 was obtained.
Abstract: Research on sex differences in achievement has generally been concerned only with mean differences. In addition, such studies have frequently been limited to single grades or cross-sectional comparisons of several grades. To investigate the relationship between gender and achievement, and the change in this relationship over time, a sample of 4875 females and 4497 males tested with the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills each year from Grade 3 to Grade 8 was obtained. The interaction between sex differences and achievement level was also investigated. For this sample females had higher levels of achievement on the Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, Language Usage, Reference Materials, Mathematics Computation, and Reading Comprehension tests. The differences were largest for below average students. On the language tests the differences occurred at all points of the distribution and were substantial. Males showed superior achievement on the Visual Materials (maps, graphs, and tables), Mathematics Concepts, and t...
81Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the results of three preliminary studies of the cognitive effects of rock music lyrics and music videos and show that music videos provide less stimulation to imagination and are enjoyed less than the songs alone.
Abstract: This article reports the results of three preliminary studies of the cognitive effects of rock music lyrics and music videos. Study 1 indicates that comprehension of rock music lyrics develops with age and that lyrics are often misunderstood, particularly by young children who lack relevant world knowledge and are at a concrete stage of cognitive development. Study 2 shows that music videos provide less stimulation to imagination and are enjoyed less than the songs alone. Study 3, using different methods, confirms the negative effect of music videos on the imagination. The results of this study also demonstrate that a rock song, without any visuals, evokes and elicits more feelings than when it is part of a music video.
65Â citations
TL;DR: For instance, this article examined the stability and change in early adolescents' friendship conceptions in a one-year longitudinal study and found that a decrese over time in the importance ascribed to the Commonality cluster and a decrease in the ratings on the Help/Support cluster, but no change in the girls' ratings on this cluster, and higher ratings from the girls than the boys for the Intimacy and help/Support clusters, with the differences on the help/support cluster becoming larger over time.
Abstract: Stability and change in early adolescents' friendship conceptions were examined in a one-year longitudinal study. Once during sixth grade, and again during seventh grade, 99 girls and 98 boys were asked to rate 14 items according to how important each item was for friendship. These items were grouped according to the results of a factor analysis into three clusters referred to as Commonality, Help/Support, and Intimacy. A multivariate analysis of variance, followed by planned comparisons and simple effects tests, revealed: (a) a decrese over time in the importance ascribed to the Commonality cluster; (b) a decrease over time in the boys' ratings on the Help/Support cluster, but no change in the girls' ratings on this cluster; (c) no change over time in the ratings on the Intimacy cluster; (d) higher ratings from the girls than the boys for the Intimacy and Help/Support clusters, with the differences on the Help/Support cluster becoming larger over time; and (e) relatively higher ratings for the Help/Suppo...
60Â citations
TL;DR: This paper examined whether early adolescents in four sociometric groups (peer-rejected, rejected, popular, and controversial) vary in their perceptions of peer social support and in their beha...
Abstract: This study examined whether early adolescents in four sociometric groups (peer-rejected, -neglected, -popular, and -controversial) vary in their perceptions of peer social support and in their beha...
58Â citations
TL;DR: The results for girls supported the hypothesis that gender schemas have changed for televised "masculine"' occupations, and children knew more about the "real life' and "television" occupations than about the remaining jobs, confirming the prediction that television serves as a source of occupational information.
Abstract: By the mid 1980s, prime time television contained frequent portrayals of females in traditionally male occupations such as lawyer, police officer, and private detective. To determine whether young people's gender schemas about such occupations have been affected by these portrayals, fifth and sixth grade students were questioned about stereotypically feminine and masculine occupations they encounter frequently in real life, occupations often shown on television, and those infrequently encountered in real life or on television. The masculine "television" occupations were those in which females were frequently portrayed in the mid-1980s. Children knew more about the "real life' and "television" occupations than about the remaining jobs, confirming the prediction that television serves as a source of occupational information. Television occupations were regarded as more extremely sex stereotyped than real life occupations, and students had more negative attitudes about males participating in televised femini...
50Â citations
TL;DR: This paper examined gender differences in attributions for success and failure in math/science and language arts and concluded that cross content area research should consider the student's relative perceived task difficulty in cross-content area research.
Abstract: The study examined gender differences in attributions for success and failure in math/science and language arts. Developmental patterns were also examined through a cross sectional design of 731 boys and 680 girls in grades four through eleven. Girls were found to have fewer adaptive attributional patterns in math/science than in language arts. While boys had more adaptive patterns in math/science than had girls, they also had more adaptive patterns for language arts patterns than for math/science. It was concluded that cross content area research should consider the student's relative perceived task difficulty.
TL;DR: In this article, a survey measured computer interest and use for high and low socioeconomic status (SES) middle school students and examined motivational processes predicted to affect these outcomes and found that there were both gender and SES differences for the outcome variables and for the processes that predicted them.
Abstract: Studies of educational computing have reported both gender and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in access to microcomputers and for their use in schools. Gender differences are usually related to student-oriented, motivational concerns, while SES differences in educational uses of the computer generally reflect institutional issues, such as the number and types of computers available and school-related uses of the machines. This survey measured computer interest and use for high- and low-SES middle-school students and examined motivational processes predicted to affect these outcomes. The results showed that there were both gender and SES differences for the outcome variables and for the processes predicted to affect them. Gender differences, however, were mediated by SES level of the students. The findings suggest that it may be important to consider gender and SES together when attempting to understand their effects on computer interest and use.
TL;DR: In this article, depression is increasingly being recognized as a significant problem among adolescents, and with documentation of its prevalence in clinic and non-clinic samples, researchers are beginning to identify the causes of depression in adolescents.
Abstract: Depression is increasingly being recognized as a significant problem among adolescents. With documentation of its prevalence in clinic and non-clinic samples, researchers are beginning to identify ...
TL;DR: The authors explored the ways in which the contribution of television exposure to adolescents' conceptions of social reality is mediated by their relationships with their parents, and found that the relationship between television exposure and adolescents' self-perceived social reality was positively correlated with their relationship with their families.
Abstract: This study explores the ways in which the contribution of television exposure to adolescents' conceptions of social reality is mediated by their relationships with their parents. The data come from...
TL;DR: This article examined the effects of early adolescents' perceptions of parents' efficacy and parents' behaviors on the self-efficacy, and found that the origins of this dimension of self-esteem in boys are more strongly influenced by modeling, while for girls, reflected appraisals are more important.
Abstract: This study examines the effects of early adolescents' perceptions of parents' efficacy and parents' behaviors on the self-efficacy of early adolescents. Eighty-two young people between the ages of 9 and 15 years provided data on themselves and their parents in structured interviews. Separate path analyses for same and opposite sex parents for boys and girls provide evidence that perceived efficacy of parents has a greater influence on the self-efficacy of boys and that parental behaviors more strongly affect the self-efficacy of girls. It is concluded that the origins of this dimension of self-esteem in boys is more strongly influenced by modeling, while for girls, reflected appraisals are more important.
TL;DR: This article examined the relation of popularity and friendship to children's and adolescents' perceptions of a classmate's personality, and found that popularity was positively associated with friendship and popularity, while popularity was negatively associated with popularity.
Abstract: To examine the relations of popularity and friendship to children's and adolescents' perceptions of a classmate's personality, 90 fourth and eighth graders were asked in the fall of a school year t...
Abstract: One hundred and eighty-one ninth grade students were randomly as-signed the ideal man or ideal woman version of a questionnaire in which they ranked ten qualities of the ideal person and drew a pic...
TL;DR: This paper found that although parents agreed on the general usefulness of mathematics, fathers had significantly more positive attitudes toward mathematics than mothers, both with regard to their perceptions of the attitudes of parents and actual expectations of parents.
Abstract: This study concerns the nature of the influence of parents on the mathematics achievement and participation of early adolescent children. The subjects were 1605 Afrikaans-speaking seventh and ninth grade students whose parents were also invited to participate. Student measures were the perception of the encouragement, expectations and interest of parents in themselves as learners of mathematics. Also measured were parental attitudes such as confidence regarding mathematics, personal and general usefulness of mathematics, the stereotyping of mathematics, and expectations for their children. Although parents agreed on the general usefulness of mathematics, fathers had significantly more positive attitudes toward mathematics than mothers. Males were favoured, both with regard to their perceptions of the attitudes of parents and the actual expectations of parents. No support was found for the hypothesis that children model their behaviour on that of parents, whereas parental expectations proved to be importan...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present evidence of early-established sex differences in performance in some aspects of science and mathematics, of marked differences in the frequency of engagement of boys and girls in relevant practical hobbies and other out-of-school activities, and of an early polarization in scientific interests.
Abstract: The very different leisure activities in which boys and girls engage as young children reflect their different interests and adult role expectations. They also offer rather different opportunities to develop certain skills and abilities useful in later practical work in science. Further, they plausibly provide different experiential bases on which later conceptual learning both in mathematics and the physical sciences might be founded. This paper presents evidence of early-established sex differences in performance in some aspects of science and mathematics, of marked differences in the frequency of engagement of boys and girls in relevant practical hobbies and other out-of-school activities, and of an early polarization in scientific interests. Interconnections between these various aspects of educational development are indicated.
TL;DR: For example, this article found that early adolescents from divorced families exhibit greater apprehension about entering marriage and greater willingness to consider leaving a faltering marriage than do intact family adolescents, and also reported greater disobedience at home than did intact families.
Abstract: This investigation focused on the effects of divorce on the nature of adolescent possible future selves, marital expectations, and self-reported problems. The subjects were 48 adolescents, ages 13 to 15 years, and their mothers. Half of the adolescent subjects came from intact and half from divorced families; and half were males and half were females. Subjects were interviewed and administered questionnaires. Results suggested that early adolescents from divorced families exhibit greater apprehension about entering marriage and greater willingness to consider leaving a faltering marriage than do intact family adolescents. Divorced family adolescents also reported greater disobedience at home than did intact family adolescents. The most striking differences between divorced and intact family adolescents were found in the differences in correlations between possible selves/expectations variables and problem variables. Self-reported problems were more closely linked to possible future selves and marital expe...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe trends in the size and distribution of sex differences between Scottish secondary pupils in their national certificate examination results between 1976 and 1984, and examine the relationship between sex differences and social class.
Abstract: This study describes trends in the size and distribution of sex differences between Scottish secondary pupils in their national certificate examination results between 1976 and 1984. It also examines the relationship between sex differences and social class, and between sex differences and geographical location. We employ data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys which describe three nationally representative samples of pupils who left school in 1976, 1980, and 1984. The findings show that ten years ago there was no sex difference in overall examination attainment, but by 1984 there was a considerable female advantage. The female advantage in English increased between 1976 and 1984, and the gap in arithmetic, which previously favored males, no longer remained in 1984. The findings also show that social-class inequality far outweighs sex inequality: differences between pupils in the top and bottom social-class categories in their mean levels of performance were about 1.25 to 1.5 standard deviations, co...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use video as a powerful stimulus for learning, and also as the foundation of an intervention that can be both easily disseminated and systematically evaluated, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a given intervention and assess the hypothesized processes of skill learning, as well as the social outcomes of such learning.
Abstract: Video training has practical and representational advantages that make it well-suited pedagogically and methodologically for use by investigators developing school-based social competence promotion programs. Pedgogically, video's visual representational medium and attention-focusing capacities help to promote the effective presentation of the process-based reciprocal flow of social understanding and behavior. Methodologically, video enables researchers to standardize training approaches and thus to evaluate more accurately the effectiveness of a given intervention, including the ability to assess the hypothesized processes of skill learning, as well as the social outcomes of such learning. In addition, video is readily accessible for classroom use. As such, it has potential both as a powerful stimulus for learning, and also as the foundation of an intervention that can be both easily disseminated and systematically evaluated. The empirical and theoretical bases of social competence video training in socia...
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparison between the performances of boys and girls on reading and mathematics objectives on a standardized achievement test, with each objective tested by a set of items, was made.
Abstract: This paper reports a comparison between the performances of boys and girls on reading and mathematics objectives on a standardized achievement test, with each objective tested by a set of items. Differences in achievement between boys and girls from grades five through eight are discussed.
TL;DR: This paper found that children under 10 make up less than 2 percent of the characters in prime-time programs and only 36 percent of characters in weekend-daytime programs in dramatic programs.
Abstract: This analysis of data collected on major and minor characters in annual week-long samples of prime-time and weekend-daytime network dramatic programs broadcast between 1969 and 1985 found that children are very underrepresented on television Children under 10 make up less than 2 percent of the characters in prime-time programs and only 36 percent of the characters in weekend-daytime programs Early, and especially late adolescents are seen more frequently, especially in weekend-daytime programs Children on television are presented in limiting roles that often serve to enhance adult roles rather than present childhood and children in a favorable way Children are too often victimized, portrayed in ill health, and in the later adolescent years, seen smoking and drinking, with a few even using or experimenting with drugs The overall image is one that conveys a sense of unimportance and devaluation of children and childhood
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between gender, family status, and ego identity in early adolescents and found that females were more mature than males on a measure of moratorium (exploration of alternatives), while males from the former condition were more diffused (not questioning and noncommital).
Abstract: Data from 265 early adolescents (seventh graders) were analyzed to examine the relationship between gender, family status, and ego identity. Analysis of variance results indicated that females were more mature than males on a measure of moratorium (exploration of alternatives); that early adolescents living in an intact family environment were more likely to make commitments without examining alternatives (high foreclosure scores) than were their cohorts who reported living in disrupted family environments; and males from the former condition were more diffused (not questioning and noncommital). Overall, the impact of family disruption was more notable among males than females. Findings support Erikson's contention that identity development is a lifelong prospect which is mediated by change (internal and external).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined differences in predicting achievement by sex on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) from the verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal scores on the Cognitive A...
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine differences in predicting achievement by sex on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) from the verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal scores on the Cognitive A...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the first results of the effect of the new curriculum on both boys' and girls' choices of mathematics programs and on their attitudes toward math, and their results show that the curriculum change has a negative effect on the acceptance of mathematics in the Dutch secondary education.
Abstract: Currently, in the Netherlands, the subject of mathematics is a topic of great interest. There has been a mathematical curriculum change in general secondary education at the highest level (grammar school). The new curriculum consists of two programs, math A and math B. Pupils can choose one or both of these programs. Math A is designed to make mathematics more appealing and life-like thus attracting more students, especially girls, to choose math and to acquire more positive attitudes toward the subject. Math A prepares students for study in humanities and economics. Math B is a traditional math program that prepares students for study in science, technics, agriculture, and medicine. This paper reports the first results of the effect of the new curriculum on both boys' and girls' choices of mathematics programs and on their attitudes toward math.
TL;DR: In this paper, adolescents in grades 7 and 9 were given two presentations of a set of Piagetian-inspired control-of-variables (COV) tasks and an extended post-test.
Abstract: Adolescents in grades 7 and 9 were given two presentations of a set of Piagetian-inspired control-of-variables (COV) tasks and an extended post-test. Between the first two administrations, subjects in each of five conditions were either given specific prompts (i.e., some version of a pair-choice task or a control task). Use of the COV-strategy increased significantly (p < .0001) from first to second administration. However, the controlling variables strategy was elicited independent of the type of pair comparisons students were exposed to. And contrary to earlier re-search, the control group also improved on the task. It is concluded that any exposure to a control-of-variables task seems to lead to improved performance. Somewhat unexpectedly, boys outperformed girls on the controlling variables tasks. Possible origins of the findings including motivational and experiential factors are discussed.
TL;DR: The authors explored demographic variables associated with this population of adolescents; included are age, sex, nature and severity of the presenting problem(s), family marital status, siblings, school progress, therapy goals, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III, 1980) diagnosis, and assessment characteristics.
Abstract: Previous research on psychological intervention with adolescents has focused on psychiatric, inpatient populations, or the population of adolescents that exhibit serious debilitating psychological disorders. In contrast, this study considers adolescent clients of private practice psychologists. The research explores demographic variables associated with this population of adolescents; included are age, sex, nature and severity of the presenting problem(s), family marital status, siblings, school progress, therapy goals, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III, 1980) diagnosis, and assessment characteristics. The findings reveal that in the sample studied early adolescence is the stage at which most adolescents are seen by private practitioners. Trends and conclusions regarding the data are presented and discussed.
TL;DR: This article investigated whether a paper and pencil measure of cognitive development level is a better predictor of success in an eighth grade algebra course than more traditional measures such as algebra prognosis and general achievement test scores, teacher recommendations, and previous mathematics grades.
Abstract: This study was an investigation of whether a paper and pencil measure of cognitive development level is a better predictor of success in an eighth grade algebra course than more traditional measures such as algebra prognosis and general achievement test scores, teacher recommendations, and previous mathematics grades. Multiple regression analyses using a sample of 131 students indicated that two standardized measures, one of general achievement and one of cognitive development, were the best overall predictors of success as measured by a standardized algebra achievement test. Using the final algebra grade as the criterion measure resulted in teacher recommendations and previous mathematics grades as the best predictors. The addition of gender to both equations showed a slight edge for males on achievement scores, but did not differentiate between the sexes with respect to grades received.