Developmental trajectories of achievement emotions in mathematics during adolescence.

This study examined how adolescents' emotions in mathematics develop over time. Growth curve modeling was applied to longitudinal data collected annually from 2002 to 2006 (Grades 5-9; N = 3425 German adolescents; Mage = 11.7, 15.6 years at the first and last waves, respectively; 50.0% female). Results indicated that enjoyment and pride decreased over time (Glass's Δs = -.86, -.71). In contrast, negative emotions exhibited more complex patterns: Anger, boredom, and hopelessness increased (Δs = .52, .79, .26), shame decreased (Δ = -.12), and anxiety remained stable (Δ = .00). These change trajectories of emotions were associated with change trajectories of perceived control, intrinsic value, achievement value, and achievement in mathematics. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Autonomy-Supportive Teaching Enhances Prosocial and Reduces Antisocial Behavior via Classroom Climate and Psychological Needs: A Multilevel Randomized Control Intervention.

Autonomy-supportive teaching increases prosocial and decreases antisocial behavior. Previous research showed that these effects occur because autonomy-supportive teaching improves students' need states (a student-level process). However, the present study investigated whether these effects also occur because autonomy-supportive teaching improves the classroom climate (a classroom-level process). Teachers from 80 physical education classrooms were randomly assigned to participate (or not) in an autonomy-supportive teaching intervention, while their 2,227 secondary-grade students reported their need satisfaction and frustration, supportive and hierarchical classroom climates, and prosocial and antisocial behaviors at the beginning, middle, and end of an academic year. A doubly latent, multilevel structural equation model showed that teacher participation in the intervention (experimental condition) increased class-wide need satisfaction, a supportive climate, and prosocial behavior and decreased class-wide need frustration, a hierarchical climate, and antisocial behavior. Together, greater collective need satisfaction and a more supportive climate combined to explain increased prosocial behavior, while lesser need frustration and a less hierarchical climate combined to explain decreased antisocial behavior. These classroom climate effects have been overlooked, yet they are essential to explain why autonomy-supportive teaching improves students' social functioning.

COVID-19 meets control-value theory: Emotional reactions to canceled high-stakes examinations.

In many countries, examinations scheduled for summer 2020 were canceled as part of measures designed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine how four retrospective emotions about canceled examinations (relief, gratitude, disappointment, and anger) and one prospective emotion (test anxiety) were related to control-value appraisals, a sample of 474 participants in the UK aged 15-19 years, who would have taken high-stakes examinations if they had not been canceled, self-reported measures of control, value, retrospective emotions and test anxiety. Data were analysed using the confirmatory factor analysis within exploratory structural equation modeling (EwC) approach. Relief, gratitude, and anger were predicted from expectancy × value interactions. Disappointment was related to expectancy only. Test anxiety was predicted independently by expectancy and positive/negative value. Findings offer broad support for Control-Value Theory and show how the appraisals underpinning achievement emotions can differ when focused on canceled examinations rather than success or failure.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM), and Set-ESEM: Optimal Balance Between Goodness of Fit and Parsimony.

CFAs of multidimensional constructs often fail to meet standards of good measurement (e.g., goodness-of-fit, measurement invariance, and well-differentiated factors). Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) represents a compromise between exploratory factor analysis' (EFA) flexibility, and CFA/SEM's rigor and parsimony, but lacks parsimony (particularly in large models) and might confound constructs that need to be kept separate. In Set-ESEM, two or more a priori sets of constructs are modeled within a single model such that cross-loadings are permissible within the same set of factors (as in Full-ESEM) but are constrained to be zero for factors in different sets (as in CFA). The different sets can reflect the same set of constructs on multiple occasions, and/or different constructs measured within the same wave. Hence, Set-ESEM that represents a middle-ground between the flexibility of traditional-ESEM (hereafter referred to as Full-ESEM) and the rigor and parsimony of CFA/SEM. Thus, the purposes of this article are to provide an overview tutorial on Set-ESEM, juxtapose it with Full-ESEM, and to illustrate its application with simulated data and diverse "real" data applications with accessible, heuristic explanations of best practice.

Achievement Emotions and Academic Performance: Longitudinal Models of Reciprocal Effects.

A reciprocal effects model linking emotion and achievement over time is proposed. The model was tested using five annual waves of the Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in Mathematics (PALMA) longitudinal study, which investigated adolescents' development in mathematics (Grades 5-9; N = 3,425 German students; mean starting age = 11.7 years; representative sample). Structural equation modeling showed that positive emotions (enjoyment, pride) positively predicted subsequent achievement (math end-of-the-year grades and test scores), and that achievement positively predicted these emotions, controlling for students' gender, intelligence, and family socioeconomic status. Negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, hopelessness) negatively predicted achievement, and achievement negatively predicted these emotions. The findings were robust across waves, achievement indicators, and school tracks, highlighting the importance of emotions for students' achievement and of achievement for the development of emotions.

Testing the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Gender of the Big Five Inventory Through Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling.

Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) typically fail to support the a priori 5-factor structure of Big Five self-report instruments, due in part to the overly restrictive CFA assumptions. We show that exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), an integration of CFA and exploratory factor analysis, overcomes these problems in relation to responses to the 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI) administered to a large Italian community sample. ESEM fitted the data better and resulted in less correlated factors than CFA, although ESEM and CFA factor scores correlated at near unity with observed raw scores. Tests of gender invariance with a 13-model taxonomy of full measurement invariance showed that the factor structure of the BFI is gender-invariant and that women score higher on Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness. Through ESEM one could address substantively important issues about BFI psychometric properties that could not be appropriately addressed through traditional approaches.

Physical self-concept changes in a selective sport high school: a longitudinal cohort-sequence analysis of the big-fish-little-pond effect.

Elite athletes and nonathletes (N = 1,268) attending the same selective sport high school (4 high school age cohorts, grades 7-10, mean ages varying from 10.9 to 14.1) completed the same physical self-concept instrument 4 times over a 2-year period (multiple waves). We introduce a latent cohort-sequence analysis that provides a stronger basis for assessing developmental stability/change than either cross-sectional (multicohort, single occasion) or longitudinal (single-cohort, multiple occasion) designs, allowing us to evaluate latent means across 10 waves spanning a 5-year period (grades 7-11), although each participant contributed data for only 4 waves, spanning 2 of the 5 years. Consistent with the frame-of-reference effects embodied in the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), physical self-concepts at the start of high school were much higher for elite athletes than for nonathlete classmates, but the differences declined over time so that by the end of high school there were no differences in the 2 groups. Gender differences in favor of males had a negative linear and quadratic trajectory over time, but the consistently smaller gender differences for athletes than for nonathletes did not vary with time.

Exploratory structural equation modeling: an integration of the best features of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), path analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) have long histories in clinical research. Although CFA has largely superseded EFA, CFAs of multidimensional constructs typically fail to meet standards of good measurement: goodness of fit, measurement invariance, lack of differential item functioning, and well-differentiated factors in support of discriminant validity. Part of the problem is undue reliance on overly restrictive CFAs in which each item loads on only one factor. Exploratory SEM (ESEM), an overarching integration of the best aspects of CFA/SEM and traditional EFA, provides confirmatory tests of a priori factor structures, relations between latent factors and multigroup/multioccasion tests of full (mean structure) measurement invariance. It incorporates all combinations of CFA factors, ESEM factors, covariates, grouping/multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) variables, latent growth, and complex structures that typically have required CFA/SEM. ESEM has broad applicability to clinical studies that are not appropriately addressed either by traditional EFA or CFA/SEM.

Enjoying mathematics or feeling competent in mathematics? Reciprocal effects on mathematics achievement and perceived math effort expenditure.

BACKGROUND: The multidimensionality of the academic self-concept in terms of domain specificity has been well established in previous studies, whereas its multidimensionality in terms of motivational functions (the so-called affect-competence separation) needs further examination. AIM: This study aims at exploring differential effects of enjoyment and competence beliefs on two external validity criteria in the field of mathematics. SAMPLE: Data analysed in this study were part of a large-scale longitudinal research project. Following a five-wave design, math enjoyment, math competence beliefs, math achievement, and perceived math effort expenditure measures were repeatedly collected from a cohort of 4,724 pupils in Grades 3-7. METHOD: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the internal factor structure of the math self-concept. Additionally, a series of nested models was tested using structural equation modelling to examine longitudinal reciprocal interrelations between math competence beliefs and math enjoyment on the one hand and math achievement and perceived math effort expenditure on the other. RESULTS: Our results showed that CFA models with separate factors for math enjoyment and math competence beliefs fit the data substantially better than models without it. Furthermore, differential relationships between both constructs and the two educational outcomes were observed. Math competence beliefs had positive effects on math achievement and negative effects on perceived math effort expenditure. Math enjoyment had (mild) positive effects on subsequent perceived effort expenditure and math competence beliefs. CONCLUSION: This study provides further support for the affect-competence separation. Theoretical issues regarding adequate conceptualization and practical consequences for practitioners are discussed.

Testing measurement invariance across Spanish and English versions of the physical self-description questionnaire: an application of exploratory structural equation modeling.

Test of measurement invariance across translated versions of questionnaires is a critical prerequisite to comparing scores on the different versions. In this study, we used exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) as an alternative approach to evaluate the measurement invariance of the Spanish version of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ). The two versions were administered to large samples of Australian and Spanish adolescents. First, we compared the CFA and ESEM approaches and showed that ESEM fitted the data much better and resulted in substantially more differentiated factors. We then tested measurement invariance with a 13-model ESEM taxonomy. Results justified using the Spanish version of the PSDQ to carry out cross-cultural comparisons in sport and exercise psychology research. Overall, the study can stimulate research on physical self-concept across countries and foster better cross-cultural comparisons.

School life and adolescents' self-esteem trajectories.

This study investigates heterogeneity in adolescents' trajectories of global self-esteem (GSE) and the relations between these trajectories and facets of the interpersonal, organizational, and instructional components of students' school life. Methodologically, this study illustrates the use of growth mixture analyses, and how to obtain proper student-level effects when there are multiple schools, but not enough to support multilevel analyses. This study is based on a 4-year, six-measurement-point, follow-up of 1,008 adolescents (M(age) = 12.6 years, SD = 0.6 at Time 1.) The results show four latent classes presenting elevated, moderate, increasing, and low trajectories defined based on GSE levels and fluctuations. The results show that GSE becomes trait-like as it increases and that school life effects, moderated by gender, played an important role in predicting membership in these trajectories.

The bifactor structure of the Self-Compassion Scale: Bayesian approaches to overcome exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) limitations.

The rapidly expanding self-compassion research is driven mainly by Neff's (2003a, 2003b, 2023) six-factor Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Despite broad agreement on its six-first-order factor structure, there is much debate on SCS's global structure (one- vs. two-global factors). Neff et al. (2019) argue for an exploratory structural equation model (ESEM) with six specific and one global bifactor (6ESEM + 1GlbBF) rather than two global factors (6ESEM + 2GlbBF). However, ESEM's methodological limitations precluded testing the appropriate 6ESEM + 2GlbBF, relying instead on a model combining ESEM and traditional confirmatory factor analysis (6ESEM + 2CFA). Although intuitively reasonable, this alternative model results in internally inconsistent, illogical interpretations. Instead, we apply recent advances in Bayesian SEM frameworks and Bayes structural equation models fit indices to test a more appropriate bifactor model with two global factors. This model (as does 6CFA + 2GlbBF) fits the data well, and correlations between compassionate self-responding (CS) and reverse-scored uncompassionate self-responding (RUS) factors (∼.6) are much less than the 1.0 correlation implied by a single bipolar factor. We discuss the critical implications for theory, scoring, and clinical application for the SCS that previously were inappropriately based on this now-discredited 6ESEM + 2GlbCFA. In applied practice, we endorse using scores representing the six SCS factors, total SCS, and CS and RUS components rather than relying solely on one global factor. Our approach to these issues (dimensionality, factor structure, first-order and higher order models, positive vs. negatively oriented constructs, item-wording effects, and alternative estimation procedures) has wide applicability to clinical measurement (see our annotated bibliography of 20 instruments that might benefit from our approach). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Cluster randomized control trial to reduce peer victimization: An autonomy-supportive teaching intervention changes the classroom ethos to support defending bystanders.

Peer victimization is a worldwide crisis unresolved by 50 years of research and intervention. We capitalized on recent methodological advances and integrated self-determination theory with a social-ecological perspective. We provided teachers with a professional development experience to establish a highly supportive classroom climate that enabled the emergence of pro-victim student bystanders during bullying episodes. In our longitudinal cluster randomized control trial, we randomly assigned 24 teachers (15 men, 9 women; 19 middle school, 5 high school; 32.8 years old, 6.7 years of experience) in 48 classrooms to the autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) workshop (24 classrooms) or the no-intervention control (24 classrooms). Their 1,178 students (age: M = 13.7, SD = 1.5; range = 11-18) reported their perceived teacher autonomy support; perceived classmates' autonomy support; adoption of the defender role; and peer victimization at the beginning, middle, and end of an 18-week semester. A doubly latent multilevel structural equation model with follow-up mediation tests showed that experimental-group teachers created a substantially more supportive classroom climate, leading student bystanders to embrace the defender role. This classroom-wide (L2) emergence of pro-victim peer bystanders led to sharply reduced victimization (effect size = -.40). Unlike largely unsuccessful past interventions that focused mainly on individual students, our randomized control trial intervention substantially reduced bullying and victimization. Focusing on individual students is likely to be ineffective (even counterproductive) without first changing the normative climate that reinforces bullying. Accordingly, our intervention focused on the classroom teacher. In the classrooms of these teachers, bystanders supported the victims because the classroom climate supported the bystanders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Towards a multidimensional measure of well-being: cross-cultural support through the Italian validation of the well-being profile.

BACKGROUND: The Well-being Profile (WB-Pro) is a multi-item and multidimensional instrument with strong psychometric properties and a solid theoretical grounding. It includes aspects of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being that can be used at the individual and social levels. METHOD: We developed the Italian version through back-translation procedures. The aim of this study is to validate the WB-Pro in Italian as well as to better understand its multidimensionality through bifactor analysis. A sample of 1451 participants (910 = women, 62.7%; age range: 18-70, M-age = 32.34, SD-age = 13.64) was involved. RESULTS: The 15-factor structure was confirmed with CFA and ESEM and was invariant across gender, age, and education. We examined convergent and discriminant validity and a bifactorial representation. Short versions of the WB-Pro were tested. DISCUSSION: Even though a few items of the Italian version of the WB-Pro might benefit from revision (e.g., clear-thinking scale), this study confirms the theoretical and empirical strength of the WB-Pro. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the WB-Pro validity and usefulness in studying well-being and for professional psychological applications to assess well-being in both individuals and groups.

The Dimensionality of Reading Self-Concept: Examining Its Stability Using Local Structural Equation Models.

For results from large-scale surveys to inform policy and practice appropriately, all participants must interpret and respond to items similarly. While organizers of surveys assessing student outcomes often ensure this for achievement measures, doing so for psychological questionnaires is also critical. We demonstrate this by examining the dimensionality of reading self-concept-a crucial psychological construct for several outcomes-across reading achievement levels. We use Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 data (N = 529,966) and local structural equation models (LSEMs) to do so. Results reveal that reading self-concept dimensions (assessed through reading competence and difficulty) vary across reading achievement levels. Students with low reading achievement show differentiated responses to the two item sets (high competence-high difficulty). In contrast, students with high reading achievement have reconciled responses (high competence-low difficulty). Our results highlight the value of LSEMs in examining factor structure generalizability of constructs in large-scale surveys and call for greater cognitive testing during item development.

The roles of social-emotional skills in students' academic and life success: A multi-informant and multicohort perspective.

Social-emotional skills have been shown to be beneficial for many important life outcomes for students. However, previous studies on the topic have suffered from many issues (e.g., consideration of only a small subset of skills, single-informant, and single-cohort design). To address these limitations, this study used a multi-informant (self, teacher, and parent) and multicohort (ages 10-15 from Finland, N = 5,533) perspective to study the association between 15 social-emotional skills and 20 educational (e.g., school grades), social (e.g., relationships with teachers), psychological health (e.g., life satisfaction), and physical health outcomes (e.g., sleep trouble). Results showed that (a) there was a modest level of interrater agreement on social-emotional skills, with the highest agreement between students and parents (mean r = .41); (b) inclusion of multi-informant ratings substantially enhanced the ability of social-emotional skills in predicting outcome variables, with parent- and self-rated skills playing important, unique roles; (c) by modeling skills at the facet level rather than at the domain level, we identified the key skills for different outcomes and found significant variation in facets' predictive utility even within the same domain; and (d) although the older cohort showed lower levels of most social-emotional skills (9/15), there were only minor changes in the interrater agreement and predictive utility on outcomes. Overall, self-control, trust, optimism, and energy were found among the four most important skills for academic and life success. We further identified the unique contribution of each skill for specific outcomes, pointing the way to effective and precise interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

School principals' mental health and well-being under threat: A longitudinal analysis of workplace demands, resources, burnout, and well-being.

Schools are critical organisational settings, and school principals face extreme stress levels. However, there are few large-scale, longitudinal studies of demands and resources that drive principals' health and well-being. Using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, we evaluated longitudinal reciprocal effects over 3 years relating to job demands, job resources (resilience), job-related outcomes (burnout and job satisfaction), and personal outcomes (happiness and physical health) for a nationally representative sample of 3683 Australian school principals. Prior demands and resources led to small changes in subsequent outcomes, beneficial effects of resources, and adverse effects of demands, particularly for job-related outcomes. Furthermore, we also found reverse-reciprocal effects, prior outcomes (burnout and job satisfaction) influencing subsequent job characteristics. However, in response to substantively and theoretically important research questions, we found no support for Yerkes-Dodson Law (nonlinear effects of demands) or Nietzsche effects and inoculation effects (that which does not kill you, makes you stronger; manageable levels of demands build resilience). Relating our study to new and evolving issues in JD-R research, we offer limitations of our research-and JD-R theory and research more generally-and directions for further research in this essentially unstudied application of JD-R to school principals' mental health and well-being.

Mastery-approach goals: A large-scale cross-cultural analysis of antecedents and consequences.

Mastery-approach (MAP) goals, focusing on developing competence and acquiring task mastery, are posited to be the most optimal, beneficial type of achievement goal for academic and life outcomes. Although there is meta-analytic evidence supporting this finding, such evidence does not allow us to conclude that the extant MAP goal findings generalize across cultures. Meta-analyses have often suffered from overrepresentation of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) samples; reliance on bivariate correlations; and lack the ability to directly control individual-level background variables. To address these limitations, this study used nationally representative data from 77 countries/regions (N = 595,444 adolescents) to examine the relations of MAP goals to four antecedents (workmastery, competitiveness, fear of failure, fixed mindset) and 16 consequences (task-specific motivational, achievement-related, and well-being outcomes), and tested the cross-cultural generalizability of these relations. Results showed that MAP goals were: (a) grounded primarily in positive but not negative achievement motives/beliefs; (b) most strongly predictive of well-being outcomes, followed by adaptive motivation; (c) positively but consistently weakly associated with achievement-related outcomes, particularly for academic performance (ß = .069); (d) negatively and weakly associated with maladaptive outcomes; and (e) uniquely predictive of various consequences, controlling for the antecedents and covariates. Further, the MAP goal predictions were generalizable across countries/regions for 13 of 16 consequences. While directions of effect sizes were slightly mixed for academic performance, perceived reading, and PISA test difficulty, the effect sizes were consistently small for most countries/regions. This generalizability points to quite strong cross-cultural support for the observed patterns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions.

We present a three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions that considers valence, arousal, and object focus as core features of these emotions. By distinguishing between positive and negative emotions (valence), activating and deactivating emotions (arousal), and activity emotions, prospective outcome emotions, and retrospective outcome emotions (object focus), the taxonomy has a 2 × 2 × 3 structure representing 12 groups of achievement emotions. In four studies across different countries (N = 330, 235, 323, and 269 participants in Canada, the United States, Germany, and the U.K., respectively), we investigated the empirical robustness of the taxonomy in educational (Studies 1-3) and work settings (Study 4). An expanded version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire was used to assess 12 key emotions representing the taxonomy. Consistently across the four studies, findings from multilevel facet analysis and structural equation modeling documented the importance of the three dimensions for explaining achievement emotions. In addition, based on hypotheses about relations with external variables, the findings show clear links of the emotions with important antecedents and outcomes. The Big Five personality traits, appraisals of control and value, and context perceptions were predictors of the emotions. The 12 emotions, in turn, were related to participants' use of strategies, cognitive performance, and self-reported health problems. Taken together, the findings provide robust evidence for the unique positions of different achievement emotions in the proposed taxonomy, as well as unique patterns of relations with external variables. Directions for future research and implications for policy and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).