Profiles of Loneliness and Ostracism During Adolescence: Consequences, Antecedents, and Protective Factors.

This longitudinal study (N = 1078, 46% boys; 54% girls) examined profiles of loneliness and ostracism during adolescence and their consequences and antecedents. Longitudinal latent profiles analyses identified four distinct profiles: (1) High emotional loneliness (25%), High and increasing social loneliness (15%), High peer exclusion and high social impact (9%) and No peer problems (51%). Subsequent internalizing problems were typical for the High and increasing social loneliness profile and externalizing problems for the High emotional loneliness and High peer exclusion and high social impact profiles. Furthermore, effortful control, prosocial skills, and relationship quality with parents and teachers were highest in the No peer problems profile, whereas the High and increasing social loneliness profile had the lowest self-esteem and was characterized by low surgency/extraversion, high affiliativeness, and high negative affectivity.

Long-term effects of the home literacy environment on reading development: Familial risk for dyslexia as a moderator.

This study aimed to gain better understanding of the associations between literacy activities at home and long-term language and literacy development. We extended the home literacy environment (HLE) model of Sénéchal and LeFevre (Child Development [2002], Vol. 73, pp. 445-460) by including repeated assessments of shared reading, oral language, and reading comprehension development, including examination of familial risk for dyslexia as a moderator, and following development over time from ages 2 to 15 years. Of the 198 Finnish participants, 106 have familial risk for dyslexia due to parental dyslexia. Our path models include development in vocabulary (2-5.5 years), emerging literacy (5.5 years), reading fluency (8 and 9 years), and reading comprehension (8, 9, and 15 years) as well as shared book reading with parents (2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 years), teaching literacy at home (4.5 years), and reading motivation (8-9 years). The results supported the HLE model in that teaching literacy at home predicted stronger emerging literacy skills, whereas shared book reading predicted vocabulary development and reading motivation. Both emerging literacy and vocabulary predicted reading development. Familial risk for dyslexia was a significant moderator regarding several paths; vocabulary, reading fluency, and shared reading were stronger predictors of reading comprehension among children with familial risk for dyslexia, whereas reading motivation was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension among adolescents with no familial risk. The findings underline the importance of shared reading and suggest a long-standing impact of shared reading on reading development both directly and through oral language development and reading motivation.

Early Antecedents of School Burnout in Upper Secondary Education: A Five-year Longitudinal Study.

School burnout symptoms are prevalent among upper secondary education students, but thus far, very little is known about the background of these symptoms. The present study examined the extent to which school burnout symptoms (i.e., exhaustion and cynicism) among upper secondary education students have their roots in primary and lower secondary school and whether early antecedents of school burnout symptoms could be identified. The sample consisted of 1544 Finnish students followed up four times (Time1-Time 4) from the end of primary school (T1; mean age 12.74 and range 11.71-14.20) to the first year of upper secondary education (T4; mean age 16.66 and range 15.55-18.39). The results of latent growth curve modeling showed that school burnout symptoms in upper secondary education were predicted by the level of school burnout symptoms at the end of primary school and by an increase in these symptoms across the transition from primary school through lower secondary school. In addition, psychological well-being, academic skills, and gender were found to contribute to the prediction of school burnout symptoms. Overall, the present study suggest that potential warning signs of school burnout should not be ignored and attention should be directed to earlier education phases.

Leisure Reading (But Not Any Kind) and Reading Comprehension Support Each Other-A Longitudinal Study Across Grades 1 and 9.

This study examines associations between leisure reading and reading skills in data of 2,525 students followed from age 7 to 16. As a step further from traditional cross-lagged analysis, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to identify within-person associations of leisure reading (books, magazines, newspapers, and digital reading), reading fluency, and reading comprehension. In Grades 1-3 poorer comprehension and fluency predicted less leisure reading. In later grades more frequent leisure reading, particularly of books, predicted better reading comprehension. Negative associations were found between digital reading and reading skills. The findings specify earlier findings of correlations between individuals by showing that reading comprehension improvement, in particular, is predicted by within-individual increases in book reading.

Task-focused behavior mediates the associations between supportive interpersonal environments and students' academic performance.

In the longitudinal study presented here, we tested the theoretical assumption that children's task-focused behavior in learning situations mediates the associations between supportive interpersonal environments and academic performance. The sample consisted of 2,137 Finnish-speaking children. Data on supportive interpersonal environments (characterized by authoritative parenting, positive teacher affect toward the child, and peer acceptance) were gathered in Grade 1. The children's task-focused behavior was measured in Grades 2 and 3, and academic performance was measured in Grades 1 and 4. The results supported our assumption by showing that all three supportive environments were positively associated with children's subsequent academic performance via increased task-focused behavior in learning situations. These findings suggest that students' academic performance can be promoted by increasing the support they receive from peers, parents, and teachers because such increased support leads to better task focus in learning tasks.

Typologies and precursors of career adaptability patterns among emerging adults: a seven-year longitudinal study.

The present study examined career adaptability in 100 Israeli emerging adults who were followed from ages 22 to 29. Participants were given an in depth interview and were asked to talk about their current work, difficulties they might have had in the past and how they coped with them. In addition they were asked to elaborate on the extent to which their job fits their interests and is meaningful to them. Analyses of interviews yielded three distinctive career adaptability patterns that were associated with different levels of concurrent wellbeing: Integrated, Compromised, and Vague. A lower level of identified motivation measured seven years earlier predicted membership in the Compromised pattern. A higher level of extrinsic motivation combined with decreased parental support predicted membership in the Vague pattern. Findings are discussed within the framework of the occupational adaptations and compromises that young people must make when approaching the age of 30.

Bidirectional associations between maternal homework involvement, adolescents' academic motivation, and school well-being.

This study examined bidirectional associations between mothers' homework involvement (autonomy support and psychological control in homework situations), Finnish adolescents' academic motivation (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation), and school well-being (school satisfaction, school-related stress) across the transitions to lower and upper secondary school. The sample consisted of Finnish adolescents (n = 841; 457 girls; age 12 at T1) and their mothers (n = 652; T1). The results showed that increased levels of maternal psychological control in Grade 7 predicted adolescents' decreased school satisfaction in Grade 9 but only indirectly via increased amotivation. In turn, adolescents' increased levels of school satisfaction decreased maternal psychological control via increased intrinsic motivation within Grade 9 and the first year of upper secondary education. Taken together, more knowledge and understanding should be provided to mothers to help them to support adolescents' motivation and school well-being in more optimal ways. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Machine learning predicts upper secondary education dropout as early as the end of primary school.

Education plays a pivotal role in alleviating poverty, driving economic growth, and empowering individuals, thereby significantly influencing societal and personal development. However, the persistent issue of school dropout poses a significant challenge, with its effects extending beyond the individual. While previous research has employed machine learning for dropout classification, these studies often suffer from a short-term focus, relying on data collected only a few years into the study period. This study expanded the modeling horizon by utilizing a 13-year longitudinal dataset, encompassing data from kindergarten to Grade 9. Our methodology incorporated a comprehensive range of parameters, including students' academic and cognitive skills, motivation, behavior, well-being, and officially recorded dropout data. The machine learning models developed in this study demonstrated notable classification ability, achieving a mean area under the curve (AUC) of 0.61 with data up to Grade 6 and an improved AUC of 0.65 with data up to Grade 9. Further data collection and independent correlational and causal analyses are crucial. In future iterations, such models may have the potential to proactively support educators' processes and existing protocols for identifying at-risk students, thereby potentially aiding in the reinvention of student retention and success strategies and ultimately contributing to improved educational outcomes.

Intra-individual dynamics of lesson-specific engagement: Lagged and cross-lagged effects from one lesson to the next.

BACKGROUND: Student engagement denotes active participation in academic work through commitment and involvement in learning tasks (Appleton et al., 2006, Journal of School Psychology, 44, 427). This study looks at questions such as whether engagement experiences in one lesson have an effect on the next lesson. In the present study, process-oriented analyses were conducted to examine lower secondary school students' engagement experiences and the stability of those experiences from one lesson to the next. AIMS: (1) To what extent are students' engagement experiences, in terms of behavioural and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and disaffection, stable from one lesson to the next (autoregressive cyclic effects)? (2) What are the cross-lagged relationships (dynamic effects) between engagement experiences from one lesson to the next? SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 56 Finnish lower secondary school students. The students provided ratings of their engagement experiences at the end of each lesson for one week (5 days, 975 ratings). Each student rated, on average, 17.4 lessons (SD = 5.67). METHODS: We specified multilevel dynamic structural equation models with random slopes. RESULTS: The models showed small significant sustainability in behavioural and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and disaffection from one lesson to the next, regardless of subject matter and teacher continuity. Higher behavioural and cognitive engagement in a lesson also had a self-diminishing effect on disaffection. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides valuable information to teachers by showing that an experience in one lesson can have an effect on subsequent ones.

Teacher-student interaction and lower secondary school students' situational engagement.

BACKGROUND: Prior research has shown that engagement plays a significant role in students' academic learning. AIMS: The present study sought to expand the current understanding of students' engagement by examining how situational engagement during a particular lesson is associated with the observed teacher-student classroom interactions (i.e., emotional support, instructional support, and classroom organization) in the same lesson. SAMPLE: The participants were 709 Grade 7 students (47.7% girls) from 59 classrooms in 26 lower secondary schools and 51 teachers. METHODS: The data consisted of 155 video-recorded lessons (90 language arts and 65 mathematics lessons) coded using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System - Secondary (CLASS-S) observational instrument. Students' self-ratings of their situation-specific engagement were collected using the mobile-based In Situations (InSitu) Instrument at the end of each lesson. The data were analyzed with cross-classified two-level hierarchical modelling. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that emotional support in the classroom was positively associated with students' emotional engagement and help-seeking, whereas classroom organization was associated with students' behavioural and cognitive engagement. Overall, the findings provide novel evidence suggesting that students' engagement can be fostered by supportive teacher-student interactions.