Developmental trajectories of positivity from mid-childhood to early adolescence: Family and school environmental predictors.

This study examined the heterogeneity in positivity trajectories and the predictive roles of family and school environments (i.e., perceived parental warmth and basic psychological need satisfactions at school) from mid-childhood to early adolescence. Elementary school students in China (N = 2204, 54.9% boys, Mage  = 9.47 years) completed relevant measures on six occasions, every 6 months. Latent class growth modeling revealed four heterogeneous developmental trajectories of positivity: High-Increasing (50.6%), Moderate Low-Increasing (33.2%), Low-Stable (11.0%), and High-Decreasing (5.2%). Perceived parental warmth and satisfaction of relatedness and competence needs at school significantly predicted trajectory class membership. Findings underscore the value of identifying group difference in positivity development in youth and the need for specific interventions targeting their unique characteristics.

Co-developmental trajectories of parental involvement: Relations to academic achievement and externalizing and internalizing problems among Chinese elementary schoolchildren.

BACKGROUND: Parental involvement is an important multi-faceted factor in children's academic performance and school behaviour. However, most prior studies have involved cross-sectional designs, with few studies exploring the co-developmental nature of various parental involvement characteristics over time and their associations with children's academic achievement, externalizing, and internalizing problems. AIMS: This study explored (a) co-developmental trajectories of seven parental involvement characteristics in elementary schoolchildren, and (b) relations to children's academic achievement, externalizing, and internalizing problems. SAMPLE AND METHODS: A total of 3553 Chinese elementary schoolchildren (Mage  = 9.90, SD = .72; 53.9% boys) completed relevant measures on 4 occasions at 6-month intervals. Parallel process latent class growth modelling was used for examining study hypotheses. RESULTS: Four co-developmental trajectories of parental involvement were identified: 'High motivation and involvement', 'Low motivation and involvement', 'Incongruent motivation and involvement', and 'Incongruent motivation and high involvement'. The highest academic achievement and fewest externalizing and internalizing problems were observed for schoolchildren in the 'High motivation and involvement' class, followed by those who were in the 'Incongruent motivation and high involvement' and 'Incongruent motivation and involvement' classes, and finally, schoolchildren were the 'Low motivation and involvement' class. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of heterogeneous trajectories with differential outcomes highlights the importance of individual differences considerations in understanding the co-developmental patterns of parental involvement, suggesting that specific interventions need to be formulated for differing groups.

Longitudinal associations among academic achievement and depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in elementary schoolchildren: disentangling between- and within-person associations.

Prior cross-sectional and unidirectional longitudinal research has investigated the associations among academic achievement, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation without distinguishing between-person effects from within-person effects. Our study aimed to examine the longitudinal relations among academic achievement, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation in a sample of elementary school children at the within-person level using cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) and random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs). Also, multiple models replicated these findings by using three measures of academic achievement (i.e., objective academic achievement, subjective academic achievement, and teacher-assigned academic achievement). A sample of 715 Chinese elementary schoolchildren completed self-report measures of subjective academic achievement, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation on five occasions, using 6-month intervals. Objective academic achievement data were obtained from school records and teacher-assigned academic achievement data were reported by teachers. The results showed that: (a) In CLPMs, objective academic achievement negatively predicted suicidal ideation. However, RI-CLPMs supported the negative effect of suicidal ideation on objective academic achievement. (b) The CLPMs revealed reciprocal associations between subjective and teacher-assigned academic achievement and depressive symptoms, respectively. However, RI-CLPMs only provided support for the negative effect of depressive symptoms on subjective academic achievement. (c) Both the CLPMs and the RI-CLPMs showed bidirectional relations between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. These findings highlight that mental health problems (e.g., depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation) serve as antecedents of academic performance and that it is beneficial to distinguish between between-person and within-person effects in research informing the development of prevention and intervention programs.

Relations among positivity, positive affect in school, and learning flow in elementary school students: A longitudinal mediation model.

BACKGROUND: Learning flow is an optimal learning experience representing full engagement in one's studies. The belief-affect-engagement model and control-value theory suggest that positivity would be a motivator of learning flow, while positive affect in school would be a mediator of the relation between positivity and learning flow. AIMS: The current research aimed to examine (1) the longitudinal relations among positivity, positive affect in school, and learning flow, and (2) the mediational role of positive affect in school between positivity and learning flow. SAMPLE AND METHOD: A sample of 4681 Chinese elementary school students (44.9% girls; Mage = 9.87 years, SD = 0.70 at Time 1) completed reliable measures for each construct on four occasions across 2 years, using 6-month intervals. Structural equation modelling was used for examining study hypotheses. RESULTS: After controlling for gender, age, and family socioeconomic status, the results showed that (1) positivity, positive affect in school, and learning flow reciprocally facilitated each other directly; (2) positive affect in school mediated the relation between positivity and later learning flow, as well as the relation between learning flow and later positivity. CONCLUSIONS: These findings revealed that positivity, positive affect in school, and learning flow form a complex, dynamic system, suggesting that school professionals should consider monitoring and developing interventions based upon these variables as early as elementary school.