The Effects of Divorce on the Academic Achievement of High School Seniors

Abstract

The divorce rate in the United States has climbed at an astounding rate during the past 80 years. Consequences of this change in family structure have impacted millions of children in a variety of ways. This study assessed the impact of divorce in relation to students' academic achievement. Two hypotheses were introduced reflecting expectations suggested by previous studies. High school seniors from a middle class school in a Rocky Mountain State served as the population for this study.

The results suggest that family structure impacts both the grade point average and attendance of high school students. Adolescents from intact families outperform those students from other family structures. One of the most surprising findings was that these results were most pronounced for females. Females were more negatively impacted by family structures due to divorce than were males.     

高中学业不良生学业成就个体心理影响机制研究

运用心理测量法对高中学业不良生学业成就的心理影响机制进行初步研究,得出如下结论1.影响学业不良生学业成就的主要学习策略是元认知策略,主要非智力因素是内源性动机和学习控制性观念.2.学习策略、非智力因素、原有知识三个变量对学业不良生的学业成就分别产生显著的直接效应,其影响程度由大到小依次为原有知识、非智力因素、学习策略.3.非智力因素、原有知识和智力因素分别通过学习策略对学业不良生学业成就产生明显的间接效应;非智力因素还通过原有知识对学业成就产生间接作用.     

Examining Racial Differences in the Effects of Substance Abuse on High School Students' Academic Achievement

Abstract

Many studies document racial disparities in the American educational system, finding that white students generally outperform black students. Researchers justifiably focus on structural explanations for such disparities, but generally pay less attention to more proximate influences on academic achievement. However, studies have found that substance use negatively impacts adolescent academic achievement; other findings on race and substance use suggest that this relationship could be more damaging for black students. This paper uses National Education Longitudinal Study data to determine if substance use negatively impacts the academic achievement of high school students, and if black students are more negatively affected than whites. The analysis finds that substance use has a negative impact on academic achievement, even while controlling for a range of known influences on academic achievement. However, this relationship is not found to be more damaging to black students, probably due to white students' higher level of substance use.     

Family Integration,Achievement Values,Academic Self-Concept and Dropping Out of High School

Recognizing the linkages among family, neighborhood, and work, this study examines whether neighborhood resources (neighborhood satisfaction and informal helping) mediate the relationships between job stressors (work hours, job inflexibility, and work-to-family conflict), family stressors (housework hours and family-to-work conflict), and father-child relationship quality. We performed OLS regressions on data from fathers (N?=?85) from a random sample of couples from the northern part of a western state. Results indicate a direct and negative relationship between job inflexibility and father-child relationship quality that is partially mediated by neighborhood satisfaction. Additionally, family-to-work conflict bears a direct and negative relationship with father-child relationship quality, and neighborhood satisfaction mediates this relationship. Altogether, the analyses support the contention that neighborhood resources may mitigate some of the stresses associated with work and family life.     

Parenting Styles: The Impact on Student Achievement

ABSTRACT

Parenting style and its impact on student achievement in a multidimensional society continues to pose significant challenges to clinicians, researchers, educators, and parents alike. This literature review summarizes the research surrounding five domains: (1) parental control; (2) gender and parenting style; (3) parental education; (4) perceptual differences between parents and their children; and (5) ethnicity and diversity. Behavioral control and psychological control were found to be two inherent features of parental style that have a direct affect on student achievement. Adolescents' perceived level of independence when interacting with their parents also seemed to have a direct relationship on their academic achievement. Research concerning children's progress in mathematics as related to parenting style and gender stereotype was also uncovered. Evidence was found to support the notion that parental education can have an indirect impact on children's academic achievement in various cultures. Implications for future research are identified including the need for applied research in learning communities factoring in variables for family structure, expectations, ethnicity, communication, and involvement.     

An Examination of the Relationship Among High School Size,Social Capital,and Adolescents' Mathematics Achievement

In an effort to enhance both adolescents' social capital and increase achievement, public school districts across the United States have created small high schools. Using data derived from a longitudinal and nationally representative study of U.S. high school students, the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, results show that when adolescents' parents know their friends' parents math achievement is significantly predicted. This association, however, is nonsignificant when conditioned on standard measures of prior achievement and family background, among others. In addition, while this relationship is also strong and significant within small high schools, it, too, is eliminated when conditioned on select confounding variables. These findings are discussed in terms of current efforts to improve achievement through reductions in school size.     

Examining the Impact of Changes in Maternal Employment on High School Completion Among Low-Income Youth

The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and decisions about its re-authorization have resurrected interest in the impact of maternal employment on child outcomes in poor families. The emerging evidence suggests that employment stability among former welfare recipients is a key factor in making successful transitions from welfare to work. This investigation explores how changes in maternal employment in poor families relate to high school completion among at risk youths. Our findings show that a substantial number of mothers experience unstable employment patterns. This instability is positively correlated with dropout among adolescents. The paper concludes with policy implications for the next phase of welfare reform.     

The Impact of Personal Finance Education Delivered in High School and College Courses

This study investigates the impact of personal finance education delivered in high school and college. Outcomes of interest were investment knowledge and household savings rates measured years after the financial education was delivered. A web-based survey with questions about participation in financial education, financial experiences, income and inheritances, and demographic characteristics was administered to 1,039 alumni from a large midwestern university. Participation in a college level personal finance course was associated with higher levels of investment knowledge. Experience with financial instruments appeared to explain more of the variance in both investment knowledge and savings rates. No significant relationship between taking a high school course and investment knowledge was found. Financial experiences were found to be positively associated with savings rates.

Beyond High School

Abstract

This study examined interpersonal heterosexist discrimination by examining self-reported anti-gay behaviors of heterosexual college students. Respondents were 226 college students; 94.9% had perpetrated some form of discriminatory behavior and 32.7% had committed a behavior that was rated as moderately harmful or higher. A higher amount of self-reported discriminatory behavior was associated with being male, having more homophobic attitudes, and having lower GPAs. Discriminatory behaviors were not related to political ideology, religious influence, or interaction with gay men and lesbians. Neither discriminatory behaviors nor homophobic attitudes were related to academic year, age, membership in a social fraternity/sorority, or membership on an intercollegiate athletic team.     

The Impact of School Policies on Noncustodial Parents

The present study surveyed the policies of school districts of a midwestern state to determine their stated or implied practices concerning the noncustodial parent. Interview questions asked seventy nine school districts to reveal their policies regarding involving noncustodial parents in the educational program of their children, especially with those children experiencing academic problems. Results suggest that in almost one half of the school districts surveyed, noncustodial parents are excluded from the educational process. A large percentage of school districts did not collect identifying information concerning noncustodial parents and the majority implemented their practices regarding noncustodial parents without written policy guidelines. Suggestions are offered to assist school districts in developing more innovative practices enabling them to lake a leadership role in serving nontraditional families.     

Effect of Trajectories of Friends' and Parents' School Involvement on Adolescents' Engagement and Achievement

In a sample of 527 academically at‐risk youth, we investigated trajectories of friends' and parents' school involvement across ages 12–14 and the joint contributions of these trajectories to adolescents' age 15 school engagement and academic achievement. Girls reported higher levels of friends' and parents' school involvement than boys. Both parents' and friends' school involvement declined across ages 12–14. Combined latent growth models and structural equation models showed effects of the trajectories of friends' and parents' school involvement on adolescents' age 15 school engagement and academic achievement, over and above adolescents' prior performance. These effects were additive rather than interactive. Strategies for enhancing parent involvement in school and students' affiliation with peers who are positively engaged in school are discussed.     

Academic Achievement Among Adopted and Nonadopted Children in Early School Years

The study examined academic achievement among adopted and nonadopted children in Norway. The adopted group included children adopted from China, South Korea, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Colombia. The study also included a control group of nonadopted classmates with same gender and age. The findings show no significant differences in academic achievement between adopted and nonadopted in either first or third grade, but a greater variety in adopted children’s performance. Adopted children received more special education and more support from parents than nonadopted classmates did. Language skills and hyperactive behavior made a significant contribution in explaining the variance in academic achievement among adopted children.     

初中生非正式小群体问题研究

本文通过对潮汕地区初中生非正式群体的调查,对初中生非正式群体背景资料及特征的分析,进一步阐明和论述初中生非正式群体的成因,并提出教育和管理的对策.     

初中生对性别特质的认知

本文用人格特质词分类法对初中学生的性别特质观进行了研究.通过因素分析比较,发现男女两性的性别特质包含不同的结构,对男性特质的认知多是评价性维度,而对女性特质的认知则是情感性维度;同大学生的理智、意志、伦理道德取向相比,初中学生更倾向于外表、情绪、自然天性的取向;不同性别的初中学生在某些具体项目的评定中存在着显著性差异,体现了传统观念与现代观念对性别特质观的影响;不同的家庭背景影响初中学生对性别特质的认知,城市学生表现为外表取向,而农村学生表现为体能取向.     

Assessing School Climate Among Sexual Minority High School Students

ABSTRACT

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and intersex (i.e., sexual minority) youth are often targets of aggression because of their sexual identity, both in and out of schools. Literature on school-related aggression toward sexual minority youth often relies on quantitative surveys or retrospective studies. Little non-retrospective research has been done with this population investigating the nature of bullying, school climate, and the effects of being a sexual minority youth in schools. Sixteen sexual minority high school youth participated in face-to-face, in-depth interviews. Results for the themes from these interviews are presented in four categories: Sexual minorities' overall perspective on their school climate, the nature of aggression in schools against sexual minorities when present, the characteristics of the victims and bullies, and the consequences of being a sexual minority in schools. These youth's perspectives provide support for existing literature on the nature of bullying while providing additional insights into the nature and deficiencies of the resources available to them at schools. Ideas for future research with sexual minority youth in school-based settings also are included.     

The Transition to High School

Abstract

This study investigates teacher reports of their communication and relationships with parents over the transition to high school in a large, urban, and predominantly minority school district. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to estimate elementary (n = 10,237) and high school (n = 3,140) teachers' outreach to and trust of parents, controlling for their background and school compositional characteristics. Teachers with more negative attitudes about student learning capacities and non-White teachers reported less communication and less positive relationships with parents. Teachers in high schools with predominantly Latino student bodies reported less communication and less positive relationships with parents, while this was not true for teachers in elementary schools. Implications for school practice and policy are discussed.     

Sociology and High School Teaching

Teaching opportunities for sociolgy majors have traditionally been oriented to the college or university. There is, however, a clear need for qualified sociolgy teachers at the high school level. Such teachers could generate interest in the sociological imagination among precollege students. By doing so these teachers could provide skills for those students entering the workforce and encourage enrollments among those students opting to attend college. The American Sociological Association is aware of this opportunity and has addressed it in a variety of ways over the past thirty years. There has been renewed commitment by the ASA in the 1900s to develop programs that can enhance high school sociolgy. This article suggest that the state sociological association may be in a strategic position to assess the needs of high school sociolgy teachers, to address their resource needs as well as the concerns of teacher certification and competency. Jan Rienerth, teaching interests are in women's issues, applied sociology, and experiential learning. Her research has focused on women and the elderly in prison. Paul Lindsay, most recent teaching and research interests are in the areas of the sociology of education, educational policy and conflict resolution. Michael Wise, recent teaching and research is in the area of deviant behavior.     

My Unforgettable High School Time

<正>As time flies,I have spent two and a half years in high school.Looking back on the past years,my life is full of sweat of struggle for dream.The aphorismCease to struggle and you cease to liveis always my leading light.The life of high school is laborious but hopeful.All my courses are more difficult and complex than ever before.Study needs persistence.Unavoidably we felt stressed.However,we are lucky to have teachers’company,no matter how chill or hot weather is.My teachers help us in both study