The spillover effect of school suspensions on adolescents' classroom climate perceptions and academic achievement.

Proponents of exclusionary discipline claim that removing disruptive peers from the classroom benefits well-behaved students. Given educators' increasingly widespread use of suspensions in response to adolescents' minor behavioral infractions (e.g., dress code violations, backtalk), it is critical that we examine whether this theory translates into practice. Using two independent samples (Study 1: N = 1305 adolescents enrolled in 64 math classrooms; Mage = 13.00 years, range = 10-16; 53% White, 41% Black, 6% Other race; 50% girls; 64% economically disadvantaged. Study 2: N = 563 adolescents enrolled in 40 science classrooms; Mage = 12.83 years, range = 10-16; 55% White, 40% Black, 5% Other race; 51% girls; 62% economically disadvantaged), we adopted a two-study approach to examine the mediational role of classroom climate perceptions in the link between classroom-level suspension rates for minor infractions and adolescents' math and science achievement. Results indicated that high classroom-level rates of suspensions for minor infractions were associated with poor academic outcomes among suspended students as well as their non-suspended classmates. Students' classroom climate perceptions mediated the links between classroom suspension rates and non-suspended students' academic outcomes. Shifting away from strict and punitive disciplinary schedules may grant school-based adults the ability to create classroom climates more attuned to adolescents' developmental and learning needs.

Employment status and psychosocial adjustment among adolescents and parents during the COVID-19 pandemic: Multi-informant data from ecological momentary assessments.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many families experienced financial and health stressors associated with parental employment. Using multi-informant and daily-diary data from a nationwide U.S. sample of parents and children (626 dyads; 18,780 daily assessments across 30 days: May 18, 2020-June 1, 2020, October 19, 2020-November 2, 2020; parents: Mage = 43, 15% male; children: Mage = 15, 42% male; 36% Black, 26% White, 14% multiracial, 12% Latinx, 11% Asian American, and 1% Native American), this intensive longitudinal study investigated (a) the mediating role of health stress and financial stress in the link between parental employment status and psychosocial adjustment among adolescents and their parents and (b) whether this link differed by families' socioeconomic status or receipt of government subsidies. Results indicated that families who experienced job loss tended to report higher levels of health stress and financial stress, which in turn was associated with heightened negative affect and poorer sleep quality for both parents and adolescents. When parents work from home (WFH), families tended to have lower levels of health stress and financial stress, which in turn weakened the positive links with negative affect and sleep quality. Lower- (vs. higher-) income families experienced weaker protective effects associated with WFH arrangements. Government subsidies were associated with lower stress and better psychosocial outcomes in families experiencing job loss. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Fostering school equity: A racial socialization approach to creating an equitable school climate and reducing disciplinary infractions.

Despite numerous efforts to attenuate the Black-White discipline gap in U.S. schools, Black students are still suspended for minor infractions at a disproportionately higher rate than their White peers. Using a racially diverse sample (n = 1,515; Mage = 12.7; 50% boys; 72% Black, 28% White), this 3-year longitudinal study examined whether student perceptions of school racial socialization practices (i.e., cultural socialization, promotion of cultural competence) were linked to a lower likelihood of receiving a suspension for a minor infraction through improved school climate perceptions and whether these links differed between Black and White students. Results showed that school racial socialization was associated with a lower likelihood of receiving a suspension for a minor infraction and improved school climate perceptions for all students. Moreover, students' perceptions of school climate mediated the link between school racial socialization and suspensions among both Black and White students. Considering these results, school racial socialization is a promising means for improving students' school climate perceptions, reducing inequitable disciplinary practices, and fostering school equity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescent psychological adjustment and social supports during pandemic-onset remote learning: A national multi-wave daily-diary study.

In spring 2020, U.S. schools universally transitioned to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic's onset, thus creating a natural experiment for examining adolescents' risk and resilience during an ongoing school crisis response. This longitudinal study used a daily-diary approach to investigate the role of social support in the link between remote learning and psychological well-being across 64 days among a national sample of adolescents (n = 744; 42% Black, 36% White, 22% Other ethnicity/race; 41% boys; 72% eligible for free/reduced-priced lunch; Mage=14.60, SDage=1.71, age-range = 12-17 years). On days when youth attended remote learning, they reported lower daily positive affect, more daily stress, and higher parent social support. There were no significant differences in the effect of remote learning on affect or stress by race or economic status. On days when youth experienced more parent support, they reported lower daily stress and negative affect and higher daily positive affect. On days when youth experienced more peer support, they reported higher daily positive affect. Overall, the study highlights the impact of pandemic-onset remote learning on adolescents' psychological well-being and emphasizes the need for future research on school crisis contingency planning to address these challenges.

Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment during COVID-19: An Intensive Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 has presented threats to adolescents' psychosocial well-being, especially for those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This longitudinal study aimed to identify which social (i.e., family conflict, parental social support, peer social support), emotional (i.e., COVID-19 health-related stress), and physical (i.e., sleep quality, food security) factors influence adolescents' same- and next-day affect and misconduct and whether these factors functioned differently by adolescents' economic status. METHOD: Daily-diary approaches were used to collect 12,033 assessments over 29 days from a nationwide sample of American adolescents (n =546; Mage = 15.0; 40% male; 43% Black, 37% White, 10% Latinx, 8% Asian American, and 3% Native American; 61% low-income) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Peer support, parent support, and sleep quality operated as promotive factors, whereas parent-child conflict and COVID-19 health-related stress operated as risk factors. Although these links were consistent for adolescents irrespective of economic status, low-income adolescents experienced more conflict with parents, more COVID-19 health-related stress, less peer support, and lower sleep quality than higher-income adolescents. Food insecurity was connected to decreased same- and next-day negative affect for low-income adolescents only. Low-income adolescents also displayed greater negative affect in response to increased daily health-related stress relative to higher-income adolescents. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the role of proximal processes in shaping adolescent adjustment and delineate key factors influencing youth psychosocial well-being in the context of COVID-19. By understanding adolescents' responses to stressors at the onset of the pandemic, practitioners and healthcare providers can make evidence-based decisions regarding clinical treatment and intervention planning for youth most at risk for developmental maladjustment.

Does anyone benefit from exclusionary discipline? An exploration on the direct and vicarious links between suspensions for minor infraction and adolescents' academic achievement.

The intended purpose of exclusionary discipline is to improve the learning environment by removing disruptive students; however, emerging evidence has suggested that these practices may have the opposite effect. Exclusionary discipline-especially policies that use suspensions as punishment for minor, developmentally normative behavioral infractions-is a known threat to suspended students' academic achievement, but few have examined whether and how these suspensions may vicariously affect nonsuspended classmates' academic achievement. This article uses a two-study approach to examine the mechanisms linking suspensions for minor infractions and educational outcomes in science (N-student = 558; N-classroom = 41; Mage = 12.83; age range = 10-16; 40% Black, 55% White, 5% other race; 51% girls; 62% eligible for free/reduced-priced lunch) and math (N-student = 1,302; N-classroom = 64; Mage = 13.00; age range = 10-16; 41% Black, 53% White, 6% other race; 50% girls; 64% eligible for free/reduced-priced lunch) classrooms among both suspended and nonsuspended students. Results showed that students who received a suspension for a minor infraction were more likely to have poorer academic achievement in both studies. In classrooms where suspensions for minor infractions were used more frequently, students had lower academic achievement, with student engagement partially mediating this relation. These results add to a growing body of school discipline literature that advocates for replacing exclusionary discipline with more developmentally responsive policies and practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Family resilience during the COVID-19 onset: A daily-diary inquiry into parental employment status, parent-adolescent relationships, and well-being.

COVID-19 changed the landscape of employment and financial security in the USA, contributing to multi-systemic disruptions in family life. Using dyadic, daily-diary parent-adolescent data from a nationwide American sample (18,415 daily assessments; 29 days: 4/8/2020-4/21/2020 and 5/18/2020-6/1/2020; N = 635 parent-adolescent dyads), this intensive longitudinal study investigated how COVID-19-related job loss and working-from-home (WFH) arrangements influenced parents' and children's daily affect indirectly through family functioning (i.e., parent-adolescent conflict, inter-adult conflict, and parental warmth) and whether these links varied by family socioeconomic status (SES). Parental employment status was linked to these family relational dynamics, which were then connected to parents' and adolescents' daily affect. Although SES did not moderate these links, low-income families were more likely to experience job loss, parent-adolescent conflict, and inter-adult conflict and less likely to WFH than higher-income families. As inter-relations within the family are a malleable point for intervention, clinicians working with families recovering from the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are encouraged to use approaches that strengthen family relationships, especially between adolescents and their parents. Unemployment subsidies are discussed as a means to support families struggling with job loss, and organizations are urged to consider the benefits of WFH on employee health and work-life balance.

Social Distancing and Adolescent Psychological Well-Being: The Role of Practical Knowledge and Exercise.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This intensive longitudinal study investigated 1) the extent to which engaging in social distancing predicted adolescents' same- and next-day stress and positive affect and 2) whether COVID-19-related knowledge and exercise moderated these links during statewide stay-at-home orders that mandated schools and nonessential businesses to close during the coronavirus pandemic. METHODS: Over the course of 28 days at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationwide sample of 349 adolescents (Mean age = 15.0; 40% male; 44% Black, 39% White, 9% Latinx, 6% Asian American, 2% Native American) completed daily surveys about their social distancing behaviors, knowledge about the coronavirus, and exercise habits. Analysis was conducted on a total of 9372 assessments using longitudinal multilevel modeling approaches. RESULTS: Daily engagement in social distancing predicted increases in adolescents' stress and decreases in their positive affect. Practical knowledge about COVID-19 and daily exercise moderated these links. Specifically, practical knowledge and exercise weakened the positive link between social distancing and stress as well as the negative link between social distancing and positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents' practical knowledge and exercise have the potential to buffer against the adverse effects of social distancing on stress and positive affect. However, it is critical for health care providers to recognize that youth are experiencing significant stress due to the disruption of developmentally normal patterns of social interaction. Pediatricians should focus on explaining the rationale behind social distancing while encouraging exercise as an adaptive coping mechanism that has benefits for psychological well-being.

COVID-19 Employment Status, Dyadic Family Relationships, and Child Psychological Well-Being.

PURPOSE: COVID-19 has led to soaring unemployment rates and the widespread adoption of working-from-home (WFH) arrangements that have disrupted family relationships and adolescent psychological well-being. This longitudinal study investigated how parental employment status (i.e., job loss and WFH) influenced adolescents' daily affect indirectly through family functioning (i.e., parent-adolescent conflict and parental warmth) and whether these links varied by family's socioeconomic status. METHODS: Daily-diary approaches were used to collect dyadic parent-adolescent data from a nationwide American sample (6,524 daily assessments from 447 parent-adolescent dyads; 45% black, 36% white, 10% Latinx, 7% Asian American, 2% Native American) over the course of 15 consecutive days at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Parents who experienced job loss demonstrated increases in parent-child conflict, which in turn predicted decreases in child positive affect and increases in child negative affect. Furthermore, parents' WFH status predicted increases in parental warmth, which in turn predicted increases in child positive affect and decreases in child negative affect. Parents of low-income families were more likely to experience job loss (24% vs. 13%) and less likely to WFH (44% vs. 73%) than middle-high income parents. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents from families facing economic hardship and employment shifts during COVID-19 experienced changes in parent-child relational dynamics that influenced their emotional well-being. Recognizing these shifts in family ecology is critical to health providers' ability to screen for mental health, assess existing family supports, and provide timely, targeted information about stress management and contending with family conflict.

The roles of stress, coping, and parental support in adolescent psychological well-being in the context of COVID-19: A daily-diary study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has introduced novel stressors into American adolescents' lives. Studies have shown that adolescents adopt an array of coping mechanisms and social supports when contending with stress. It is unclear, though, which strategies are most effective in mitigating daily pandemic-related stress, as few micro-longitudinal studies have explored adolescents' daily affect during COVID-19. Parental support may also be a critical component of adolescents' pandemic-related coping, as adolescents' peer networks have been limited by public health measures. METHODS: This longitudinal study examined links between stress, coping, parental support, and affect across 14 consecutive days and 6216 assessments from a national sample of adolescents (N=444; Mage=15.0; 60% female; 44% Black/African American, 39% White/Europen American, 9% Latinx, 6% Asian American, 2% Native American) during school closures and state-mandated stay-at-home orders between April 8 and April 21, 2021. RESULTS: Adolescents' health and financial stress predicted increases in same-day (health stress' effect size = .16; financial stress' effect size = .11) and next-day negative affect (health stress' effect size = .05; financial stress' effect size = .08). Adolescents' secondary control engagement coping predicted increases in same-day (effect size = .10) and next-day (effect size = .04) positive affect and moderated the link between health stress and negative affect. Parental social support predicted increases in same-day (effect size = .26) and next-day (effect size = .06) positive affect and decreases in same-day (effect size = .17) negative affect and moderated the link between financial stress and negative affect. LIMITATIONS: Results are indicative of conditions at the immediate onset of COVID-19 and should be interpreted as such. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide information as to how health providers and parents can help adolescents mitigate the impact of COVID-19-related health and economic stressors on their psychological well-being. It remains critical to monitor the psychosocial impact of the pandemic on adolescents' affect while continuing to identify personal and environmental protective factors for reducing harm and maximizing resilience.

Safely Social: Promoting and Sustaining Adolescent Engagement in Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: Adolescents are at risk for violating COVID-19 social distancing measures owing to salient developmental needs for autonomy and relatedness. This intensive longitudinal study investigated the initiation and sustainment of adolescents' daily social distancing behaviors. METHODS: Focus group and daily-diary approaches were used to collect 6,216 assessments from a nationwide American adolescent sample (n = 444; Mage = 15.1; 40% male; 42% black/African American, 40% white/European American, 10% Latinx, 6% Asian American, 2% Native American) over the course of 14 days at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: When adolescents were motivated by preventing others from getting sick, they were more likely to engage in social distancing (same day: B = .50, SE = .09, 95% confidence interval [CI] [.32, .68] p < .001; next day: B = .49, SE = .09, 95% CI [.31, .67] p < .001). Daily social support from friends (same day: B = .04, SE = .02, 95% CI [.01, .08] p < .05; next day: B = .08, SE = .02, 95% CI [.05, .12] p < .001), connectedness with friends via technology (same day: B = .23, SE = .04, 95% CI [.14, .32] p < .001; next day: B = .12, SE = .05, 95% CI [.03, .21] p < .001), and practical knowledge about ways to prevent contracting and transmitting COVID-19 (same day: B = .12, SE = .02, 95% CI [.08, .17] p < .001; next day: B = .05, SE = .02, 95% CI [.01, .10] p < .05) positively predicted adolescents' same- and next-day engagement in social distancing. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who were motivated by the desire to protect others were more likely to engage in social distancing. In addition, adolescents who learned about preventative health behaviors for mitigating COVID-19, received peer support, and remained virtually connected with friends were more likely to engage in daily social distancing at the onset of the pandemic.

Socially Anxious Science Achievers: The Roles of Peer Social Support and Social Engagement in the Relation Between Adolescents' Social Anxiety and Science Achievement.

Socially anxious youth are at an increased risk for academic underachievement, withdrawal from school, and negative peer relationships. Given that learning tasks in science classes rely heavily on peer collaboration and social skills, this study aimed to investigate the link between high-school adolescents' social anxiety and their science achievement while also determining whether and how peer social support and social engagement mediated the relation. Data was collected from 805 high-school students (48.7% female; 30.9% in 9th, 24.0% in 10th, 25.3% in 11th, 19.8% in 12th grade; 51.2% White, 29.8% Black, 11.4% Biracial, 7.6% Other). The results showed that socially anxious adolescents were more likely to report lower social engagement, which in turn predicted lower science performance. In addition, adolescents with social anxiety tended to experience less peer social support, which led to lower social engagement and subsequent lower science performance. These findings have important implications for guiding teaching practice and school-based interventions that support socially anxious adolescents in learning tasks.