Examining individual‐level academic risk and protective factors for foster youth: School engagement,behaviors, self‐esteem,and social skills

Students' school engagement is widely regarded as critical for positive school adjustment and overall academic success. Foster youth persistently face poorer educational outcomes than peers and demonstrate lower levels of school engagement and higher levels of academically threatening behaviors. The goals of the present study were (a) to explore relationships amongst various child‐level correlates of school engagement and problem behaviors—namely, self‐esteem and social skills—and (b) to respectively investigate the protective potential of self‐esteem and social skills in the association between school engagement and behavior problems that threaten educational trajectories. Results indicate significant associations between school engagement and problem behaviors, as well as between self‐esteem, social skills, and school engagement. Further, self‐esteem mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior, and social skills mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior. Implications for future practice, research, and policy are discussed.     

Contingencies of Self‐worth in Early Adolescence: The Antecedent Role of Perceived Parenting

Contingent self‐esteem (i.e., the degree to which one's self‐esteem is dependent on meeting particular conditions) has been shown to predict a wide range of psychosocial and academic problems. This study extends previous research on contingent self‐esteem by examining the predictive role of perceived parenting dimensions in a sample of early adolescents (N = 240; age range 11–15 years). Additionally, the effect of perceived parenting on contingent self‐esteem is compared with its effect on global self‐esteem. Our main findings showed that both responsiveness and psychological control were unique predictors of global self‐esteem whereas only psychological control uniquely predicted contingent self‐esteem. Although the effect of responsiveness on global self‐esteem was increased when combined with high levels of behavioral control, this effect did not depend on the level of psychological control. The effect of psychological control on contingent self‐esteem, however, generally increased when combined with high levels of responsiveness.     

Peer Victimization,Self‐esteem,and Ego Resilience Types in Adolescents: A Prospective Analysis of Person‐context Interactions

This study examined bidirectional, longitudinal associations between peer victimisation and self‐esteem in adolescents, and tested for moderator effects of undercontrolling, overcontrolling, and ego‐resilient personality types in these associations. Data were used from 774 adolescents ages 11–16 years who participated in a three‐wave (i.e., 2005, 2006, and 2007) longitudinal study. Structural equation modelling analyses in Mplus demonstrated that, controlling for earlier levels of self‐esteem, self‐reported peer victimization was associated with lower self‐esteem across one‐year time intervals. Vice versa, however, low self‐esteem was not predictive of subsequent self‐reported victimization. Evidence was also found for a moderator effect of personality type on the longitudinal associations between self‐esteem and victimization. Only in the subgroup of overcontrolling adolescents was lower self‐esteem related to subsequently higher levels of peer victimization; their undercontrolling and ego‐resilient peers were unaffected.     

Children's Self-esteem and Moral Self: Links to Parent–Child Conversations Regarding Emotion

The current study has two aims: (1) to examine associations between the emotional content of parent–child past event conversations and two aspects of children's self‐concept—moral self and self‐esteem; and (2) to examine the degree to which talk about past events is uniquely associated with self‐concept when compared with talk about ongoing events and situations. Fifty‐one five‐ and six‐year‐old New Zealand children and their parents discussed four emotional past events and two ongoing conflicts. Children's moral self, self‐esteem and language ability were also assessed. When parents referred to a greater number of positive emotions and evaluations, regardless of conversation type, their children had higher self‐esteem. Past event talk also uniquely predicted children's self‐esteem: Parents who used more explanations during conversations regarding past negative emotions, and more explanations and confirmations of past positive emotions, had children with higher self‐esteem. We discuss these results with respect to an autobiographical memory approach to self‐concept development.     

Self‐report of emotional experience and peer nominations of expressivity: Predictability of change in teacher‐rated social behavior

We investigated individual differences in self‐reported emotional experience and peer‐perceived expressivity among children in mid‐ to late‐elementary school years. Specifically, we examined the constructs’ correspondence and temporal stability and also compared the degree to which each predicts change in classroom social behavior over 2 years. Participants were 199 children (Mage = 10 years, Time 1) and their classroom teachers who have participated in two times of assessment. We used self‐report of emotional experience and peer nominations of expressivity regarding happiness, anger, and sadness. Teachers rated children's social skills, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems. The correspondence was generally small in magnitude between self‐reported experience and peer nominations of expressivity. The stability of peer nominations of emotional expressivity was medium and comparable to that of self‐reported experience with the exception of happiness. The predictability of change in social behavior was more robust for peer nominations of expressivity than for self‐reported experience. We discussed the relevance of different dimensions of emotionality as well as informants in understanding the predictability of social behavior from emotionality. We also discussed the role of sociodemographic variables in emotional experience and expressivity and offered practical implications of peer nominations in the assessment of children's emotionality.     

SHORT‐ AND LONG‐TERM HOMELESSNESS AND ADOLESCENTS' SELF‐ESTEEM,DEPRESSION, LOCUS OF CONTROL AND SOCIAL SUPPORTS

The study investigated the effect of length of homelessness, (less than three months as against six months or longer), on four variables: self‐esteem, depression, locus of control and social supports. Respondents, (50 homeless adolescents, 25 male and 25 female, aged between 16–21), completed four questionnaires. Multivariate Analysis of Variance indicated that a combination of the four variables was dependent on the length of homelessness. The short‐term homeless group reported significantly higher levels of self‐esteem and significantly lower levels of depression compared with the long‐term homeless. Furthermore, the long‐term homeless group scored towards a more external locus of control, as compared with the short‐term homeless. While no significant difference was found between the two groups in the number of social supports, the short‐term homeless group reported significantly greater levels of satisfaction with their supports. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

Social Self‐Control,Externalizing Behavior,and Peer Liking Among Children with ADHD‐CT: A Mediation Model

This study investigated the role of externalizing behavior as a mediator of the relation between social self‐control and peer liking among children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder‐combined type (ADHD‐CT). A model was proposed whereby externalizing behavior would fully statistically account for the direct relation of social self‐control to peer liking. One hundred seventy‐two children ages 7.0–9.9 years with ADHD‐CT were rated by their teachers regarding their social self‐control and by their parents and teachers regarding their rates of externalizing behavior. Same‐sex classmates provided ratings of overall liking. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the proposed model. Results supported the proposed model of externalizing behavior as fully statistically accounting for the relation of social self‐control to peer liking. This study demonstrated the crucial role that externalizing behaviors play in the social impairment commonly seen among children with ADHD‐CT.     

Assessing low‐income African‐American pre‐schoolers' behaviour problems in relationship to community violence,inter‐partner conflict,parenting, informal social support and social skills

This study examined the relations among community violence exposure, inter‐partner conflict and informal social support and the behaviour problems of pre‐schoolers, and explored how mothers' parenting skills and children's social skills may mediate the child outcomes associated with such exposure. Participants were 185 African‐American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start children who completed study measures in a structured interview. Path analyses revealed that greater inter‐partner conflict was associated with more internalizing and externalizing child behaviour problems. Positive parenting was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Higher levels of child social skills were associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Child social skills fully mediated the relationship between community violence and externalizing behaviours as well as between informal support and externalizing behaviours. Social skills partially mediated the relationships between positive parenting and externalizing behaviours. No mediating effect was found on the relationships between inter‐partner conflict and child behaviour problems. Implications of the findings for intervention and future research are discussed.     

The Interaction between Negative Emotionality and Effortful Control in Early Social‐emotional Development

Interactions between reactive and regulatory dimensions of temperament may be particularly relevant to children's adjustment but are examined infrequently. This study investigated these interactions by examining effortful control as a moderator of the relations of fear and frustration reactivity to children's social competence, internalizing, and externalizing problems. Participants included 306 three‐year‐old children and their mothers. Children's effortful control was measured using observational measures, and reactivity was assessed with both observational and mother‐reported measures. Mothers reported on children's adjustment. Significant interactions indicated that children with higher mother‐reported fear or higher observed frustration and lower executive control showed higher externalizing problems whereas children with higher observed fear and higher delay ability demonstrated lower externalizing problems. These results highlight effortful control as a moderator of the relation between reactivity and adjustment, and may inform the development of interventions geared toward the management of specific negative affects.     

Relations of Temperament to Maladjustment and Ego Resiliency in At‐risk Children

The relations of control/regulation‐related temperamentally based dispositions (effortful control (EC), impulsivity, and approach/avoidance) to externalizing problems and personality ego resiliency were examined in a sample of 467 children (M age = 7.46 years), some of whom were children of alcoholics (COAs). In addition, we examined if the relations of temperamental regulation/control to maladjustment/ego resiliency were moderated by COA status or sex of the child. In general, regulated, controlled temperament was negatively related to externalizing problems and EC was positively related to ego resiliency. Relations between a problematic temperament and externalizing problems were stronger and sometimes only found for COAs, especially male COAs. Ego resiliency was positively related to high father‐reported approach for boys who were not sons of alcoholics. In addition, COA status was related to high impulsivity, approach behavior, and externalizing problems and low EC.     

Children's Appraisal of Peer Rejection Experiences: Impact on Social and Emotional Adjustment

In the current study, 95 children of different social status classifications (rejected, neglected, average, and popular) were exposed to hypothetical vignettes designed to assess their ‘generalized’ rejection sensitivity (GRS) and a mild social rejection experience designed to assess their ‘on‐line’ rejection sensitivity (ORS). Measures of internalizing and externalizing problems were assessed through a composite of peer‐ , parent‐ , and self‐reports. As expected, sociometric rejection was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. More importantly, both types of rejection sensitivity were associated with internalizing and externalizing problems after controlling for the effect of peer rejection. High levels of GRS were associated with more internalizing problems for both boys and girls. In addition, rejection sensitivity emerged as a significant moderator of the relation between rejection and externalizing problems. The nature of the moderating effect varied as function of type of rejection sensitivity and gender. Rejected girls with low GRS and rejected boys with high ORS displayed the highest levels of externalizing behavior problems.     

Toddler Inhibitory Control,Bold Response to Novelty,and Positive Affect Predict Externalizing Symptoms in Kindergarten

Poor inhibitory control and bold approach have been found to predict the development of externalizing behavior problems in young children. Less research has examined how positive affect may influence the development of externalizing behavior in the context of low inhibitory control and high approach. We used a multi‐method approach to examine how observed toddler inhibitory control, bold approach, and positive affect predicted externalizing outcomes (observed, adult‐, and self‐reported) in additive and interactive ways at the beginning of kindergarten. Children who were 24‐month‐olds (N = 110) participated in a laboratory visit and 84 were followed up in kindergarten for externalizing behaviors. Overall, children who were low in inhibitory control, high in bold approach, and low in positive affect at 24 months of age were at greater risk for externalizing behaviors during kindergarten.     

Dashed Hopes,Dashed Selves? A Sociometer Perspective on Self‐esteem Change Across the Transition to Secondary School

The transition from primary to secondary school challenges children's psychological well‐being. A cross‐transitional longitudinal study (N = 306; mean age = 12.2 years) examined why some children's self‐esteem decreases across the transition whereas other children's self‐esteem does not. Children's expected social acceptance in secondary school was measured before the transition; their actually perceived social acceptance was measured after the transition. Self‐esteem and Big Five personality traits were measured both pre‐ and posttransition. Self‐esteem changed as a function of the discrepancy between children's expected and actually perceived social acceptance. Furthermore, neuroticism magnified self‐esteem decreases when children's ‘hopes were dashed'—when they experienced disappointing levels of social acceptance. These findings provide longitudinal support for sociometer theory across the critical transition to secondary school.     

Contingent Self‐worth in Chinese Adolescents and Young Adults: Relations with Global Self‐Esteem and Depressive Symptoms

Contingent self‐worth (CSW) is the extent to which an individual's sense of self‐worth is dependent on performance in a particular domain. CSW has been linked to poorer psychological health (e.g., lower global self‐esteem, greater depression and anxiety). However, the majority of work on CSW has been conducted with US college students. Far less is known about the influence of CSW for younger individuals or for non‐Western populations. This study examined relations between CSW domains and two indicators of well‐being (depressive symptoms and global self‐esteem) with Chinese adolescents (ages 13–16) and young adults (ages 19‐22). Results indicated that CSW in the domains of academic performance and others’ approval were positively related to depressive symptoms, whereas CSW in the domain of family support was negatively related to depressive symptoms. Others’ approval CSW was negatively related to self‐esteem for both adolescents and young adults, whereas CSW in the domains of academic performance and family support were related to self‐esteem for adolescents but not young adults. This study indicates that CSW is a meaningful and predictive construct for Chinese youth, and that cultural, environmental, and developmental factors may impact the relations between CSW and psychological health.     

The transition of Israeli men to fatherhood: a comparison between new fathers of pre-term/full-term infants

The study compared a group of 62 new Israeli fathers of pre‐term infants with a comparison group of 58 new fathers of full‐term infants with respect to parental stress, depression symptoms, mastery, self‐esteem and involvement with the child. Findings indicated that fathers of pre‐term infants had significantly greater stress and depression scores and lower involvement rate with the child compared with fathers of the matching group. No differences were found with respect to the fathers' mastery and self‐esteem. New fathers of full‐term infants, aged 30 years and more, had significantly higher self‐esteem compared with fathers aged less than 30 years. Findings are discussed with respect to practice in neonatal units.     

Longitudinal patterns of anger reactivity and risk‐taking: The role of peer‐context

The current study examined the interplay between children's dispositional anger and susceptibility to peers' influence in increasing children's risk‐taking behaviors. Participants in the current study were children from a larger study of temperament and social–emotional development who were followed across 9, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months. Dispositional anger was measured using mothers' reports across 9 and 48 months. At 60 months, children played a risk‐taking computer game in presence of an unfamiliar peer who watched the child play. The child's risk‐taking was assessed during the game as the unfamiliar peers' reactions were coded based on comments that were peer directed, reflective of praising the target child's performance, or object directed, indicative of excitement toward the game. A latent profile analysis revealed three longitudinal anger profiles across infancy to early childhood: high stable, average stable, and low stable anger. Results suggested that as peers' object‐directed comments predicted risk‐taking independent of children's anger, the association between peer‐directed comments and risk‐taking was dependent on children's dispositional anger. Specifically, when peers praised the target child's performance, children in the high stable anger profile showed increased risk‐taking propensity. Findings are discussed based on the importance of considering both temperamental characteristics and aspects of the peer context in relation to children's risk‐taking.     

What Do Grandmothers Think about Self‐esteem? American and Taiwanese Folk Theories Revisited

The study investigates European American and Taiwanese grandmothers’ folk theories of childrearing and self‐esteem, building on an earlier comparison of mothers from the same families. Adopting methods that privilege local meanings, we bring grandmothers’ voices into the conversation about childrearing, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of intergenerational nuances in folk theories. In each cultural case, 16 grandmothers of 3‐year‐olds participated in in‐depth interviews that were customized according to local communicative norms. Although self‐esteem emerged as a central organizing concept in the folk theories of European American mothers, grandmothers spoke in two voices, either echoing their daughters or invoking a counter‐discourse of wariness towards self‐esteem. By contrast, Taiwanese mothers and grandmothers resembled one another—but differed from their American counterparts—in treating self‐esteem as peripheral in childrearing. Results contribute to the growing consensus that self‐esteem is a culture‐specific childrearing goal and suggest that the European American tendency to valorize self‐esteem varies by generation.     

Associations of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems with Facial Expression Recognition in Preschoolers: The Generation R Study

Altered patterns of facial expression recognition (FER) have been linked to internalizing and externalizing problems in school children and adolescents. In a large sample of preschoolers (N = 727), we explored concurrent and prospective associations between internalizing/externalizing problems and FER. Internalizing/externalizing problems were rated by parents at 18 and 36 months using the Child Behavior Checklist. FER was assessed at 36 months using age‐appropriate computer tasks of emotion matching and emotion labeling. Internalizing problems were associated with emotion‐specific differences at both ages: at 18 months they predicted more accurate labeling of sadness; at 36 months they were associated with less accurate labeling of happiness and anger. Externalizing problems at both ages were associated with general FER deficits, particularly for matching emotions. Findings suggest that in preschoolers, internalizing problems contribute to emotion‐specific differences in FER, while externalizing problems are associated with more general FER deficits. Knowledge of the specific FER patterns associated with internalizing/externalizing problems can be proven useful in the refinement of emotion‐centered preventive interventions.     

Mother–Adolescent Conflict: Stability,Change, and Relations with Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior Problems

Stability and change in mother–adolescent conflict reactions (CRs) and the prediction of CRs from adolescents' earlier behavior problems (and vice versa) were examined with 131 mothers and their adolescents (63 boys). Dyads engaged in a 6‐min conflict discussion twice, 2 years apart [M age was 13 at Time 1 (T1)]. Non‐verbal expressive and verbal CRs during the conflict discussion were coded. Mothers, fathers, and teachers reported on adolescents' problem behaviors. There was inter‐individual (rank‐order) stability for adolescents' CRs whereas mothers' reactions were less stable. Mean levels of mothers' negativity, anger, and positive reactions and adolescents' negativity declined with time. Mothers’ CRs, more often than adolescents’ CRs, predicted and were predicted by adolescents’ problem behaviors in zero‐order correlations. In structural equation models with the stability of the constructs accounted for, adolescents' externalizing problems at T1 predicted higher maternal anger at Time 2 (T2). Mothers' anger and positive CRs at T1 predicted fewer T2 adolescents' internalizing problems. Stability and change in CRs are discussed.     

Currents in a Stream: College Student Identities and Ethnic Identities and Their Relationship with Self‐Esteem,Efficacy, and Grade Point Average in an Urban University*

Objectives. We investigate how college student identities and ethnic identities vary among black, white, and Asian students and among immigrant, second‐, and third‐generation students at a large public urban university (in counterpoint to recent studies at highly selective schools). In addition, we explore how those identities are related to college students' sense of self‐esteem and efficacy and their academic performance. Methods. We use survey data from a sample (N=652) of students attending a large diverse public urban university to create new indexes for several dimensions of college identity and ethnic identity and use existing self‐esteem and efficacy indexes to compare black, white, and Asian students, as well as immigrant, second‐generation, and third‐generation students. Results. Among several significant identity differences, we find: (1) whites are lower than blacks on college identity indexes, and immigrant students are higher than subsequent‐generation students on college student identity measures; (2) whites are lower than blacks and Asians on ethnic identity measures; only the ethnic activities index declines linearly from immigrant to second‐ to third‐generation students; (3) blacks have higher self‐esteem and efficacy than whites or Asians; whites have higher GPAs than blacks or Asians, while immigrant students have higher GPAs than third‐generation students; and (4) at least one college student identity dimension and one ethnic identity dimension is related to self‐esteem, efficacy, and GPA. Conclusions. How young adults conceive of themselves as college students and the way they formulate their own racial‐ethnic identities is related to their self‐esteem, efficacy, and academic performance. Moreover, the pattern that these relationships take is somewhat different at a large diverse public urban university than at highly selective universities.