Dynamics of a dynamic interrelationship: Exploring whether bidirectional learning behaviors-achievement relations differ across student-teacher relationship profiles.

Children who engage more in classroom instruction tend to also have higher levels of academic achievement relative to their peers who engage less. Although research has clearly established an association between such learning behaviors and academic achievement, the directionality of this relationship, and the possibility of bidirectional relations, remain unclear. It is possible that this lack of clarity stems from the fact that interrelationships between achievement and learning behaviors may differ across student-teacher relationship contexts. We evaluated this possibility using a large nationally representative sample of kindergarten to third grade students (N = 2010) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 2011. Using latent profile moderation analyses, we identified three profiles of student-teacher relationships across kindergarten through third grade students: (a) Close (68%), (b) Conflictual (16%), and (c) Uninvolved (16%). Our follow-up models identified bidirectional relations that differed across these profiles, indicating more robust bidirectional learning behavior-achievement interrelationships in the Close profile and more unidirectional achievement to learning behavior relations in the Conflictual and Uninvolved profiles. These findings illustrate how differences in environmental contexts impact the relationship between students' learning behaviors and their achievement. Future studies should consider contextual influences when investigating children's academic growth processes and developing interventions.

Victimization and depressive symptoms in early adolescence: The role of perceived school climate.

Nearly 4 million adolescents in the United States experience clinical depression, and this alarming rate has increased in recent years. Adolescents' perceptions of their school's climate may moderate the association between victimization and depressive symptoms, including suicidality; however, it is unclear whether perceived school climate would act as a buffer or intensifier of the association between victimization and depressive symptoms. The present study examined how different types of victimization (traditional, cyber, and homophobic) are associated with depressive symptoms in middle schoolers (N = 1,151), and whether these associations are buffered or exacerbated by how adolescents perceive school climate. Multiple moderated regression analyses revealed traditional and cyber victimization were significantly positively associated with depressive symptoms, whereas homophobic victimization was not directly associated with depressive symptoms. Further, perceived school climate moderated these associations, exacerbating the link between cyber victimization and depressive symptoms, and buffering the link between homophobic victimization and depression. Results support the importance of middle schoolers' perceptions of school climate in understanding the associations between victimization experiences and depressive symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A cohort study examining the association between children's symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity, internalizing symptoms, and mindful parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: Increased mental health difficulties have been reported in Canadian children as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emerging research suggests that children with high levels of symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity have been disproportionately impacted. Accordingly, the pandemic has impacted families as well. The purpose of this study was the following: (1) to examine whether children's symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the beginning of the 2020 and 2021 academic year were associated with mindful parenting at the end of the academic year and (2) to examine whether children's depressive and anxiety symptoms at the end of the year moderated this relationship. Methods: Parents of 114 young children in a large Canadian city participated in this study in the Winter of 2020 and the Spring of 2021. Parents completed several self-report scales used to measure children's mental health symptomatology and mindfulness in parenting. Results: Children's symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity were significantly, negatively associated with mindful parenting across the pandemic year, and children's depressive symptoms moderated this relationship. Specifically, when children's depressive symptoms were low or average it was found that higher symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity were associated with lower levels of mindful parenting. However, when children's depressive symptoms were high their symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity were not predictive of mindful parenting. Conclusions: Children's mental health, namely symptoms of inattention/hyperactivity and depression, are related to challenges in mindful parenting during COVID-19. These results may inform practitioners about which families require additional support during the pandemic.

Examining daily parent involvement in caregivers of children with ADHD using electronic diaries.

Limited research has examined the associations between child ADHD symptoms and parent involvement and has generally relied on the use of parents' retrospective reports of parent involvement and ADHD symptoms. Using daily reports, the current study explored the pathways between child ADHD symptoms and home-based parental involvement beliefs and behaviors. Data were collected daily from 26 parent participants over a 2-week period for a total of 315 time points. Daily surveys asked parents to report on child ADHD symptoms, parental self-efficacy, parental time/energy, and home-based involvement quality. Results indicated that parental self-efficacy mediated the association between children's inattentive symptoms and parental home-based involvement quality. Children's hyperactive/impulsive symptoms moderated the association between parental time/energy and parental home-based involvement quality. These results suggest that parental self-efficacy is an important factor in explaining how children's inattention is associated with parental quality of home-based involvement. In addition, the association between parental time/energy and home-based involvement quality was lower when parents perceived their child to have higher levels of symptoms.

Bidirectional associations between biased language exposure and school-based relationships across gender.

Students often hear their peers use biased language regarding race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability status in the school setting. Prior research has indicated that biased language is related to school climate, and specifically to school-based relationships between peers and between students and their teachers. This study investigated the longitudinal associations among student-student relationships, teacher-student relationships, and being the target of or hearing biased language in middle school students. Students (N = 501; 46.5% White, 21.8% Hispanic, 13% African American, and 15% Multi-Racial; 48.7% female) reported on how much they were targeted or heard biased language related to race/religion, sexual orientation, and disability status. Students also reported on their relationships with their peers and teachers. Using a cross-lagged panel model with the overall sample, a negative unidirectional association from being the target of or hearing biased language and student-student relationships and teacher-student relationships was identified. Separate models for boys and girls identified unique patterns. For boys, biased-language exposure predicted more negative student-student relationships and teacher-student relationships, whereas for girls, biased-language exposure was not associated with school-based relationships. Implications include addressing language use and building positive student-student and teacher-student relationships.

Academic enablers as dynamic moderators: Exploring academic enablers and achievement across elementary school.

The purpose of the current study was to advance the understanding of the cross-grade dynamics of academic enablers in three ways: (a) to compare overall levels of academic enablers across children's elementary school years, (b) to determine if the relationship between academic enablers and academic achievement remained consistent across children's elementary school years, and (c) to determine if the interrelationships between academic enablers remained consistent across elementary school. We examined cross-grade dynamics using a sample of elementary-aged children (N = 536) and structural equation modeling methodology to compare primary (K-3rd grade) and intermediate (4th-5th grade) students. After establishing measurement invariance, we tested whether (a) academic enabler means and variances were equivalent for younger and older elementary students, (b) the relationships between academic enablers and academic achievement were equivalent for younger and older elementary students, and (c) the interrelations between academic enablers were equivalent for younger versus older students. The findings revealed few differences in mean levels of academic enablers but several differences in the relationships between academic enablers and academic achievement, as well as academic enabler interrelations across grade groups. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Parents' and teachers' ratings of family engagement: Congruence and prediction of outcomes.

This study examined parent-teacher agreement regarding three forms of family engagement in kindergarten: home-school communication, school-based involvement, and parent-teacher trust, as well as whether parent-teacher agreement predicted children's behavioral and academic outcomes. Parent and teacher ratings of parent engagement and child internalizing and externalizing behavior were obtained for a sample of kindergarten students (N = 122). Academic outcomes were directly assessed. Parents and teachers showed high levels of agreement in their perceptions of home-school communication, school-based involvement, and parent-teacher trust. Parents' educational background moderated the level of agreement for school-based involvement between parents and teachers. Parents and teachers reported higher levels of involvement for parents with higher educational levels; however, the differences in involvement levels were greater between parents from higher and lower educational backgrounds when using teacher ratings versus parent ratings. Positive associations between parents' and teachers' ratings of all engagement types were small to moderate. Higher levels of parent-teacher trust predicted lower levels of parent and teacher-reported externalizing behavior. Discrepancies in parents' and teachers' ratings of school-based involvement predicted lower internalizing symptoms for children. Findings replicated research suggesting positive associations between parental engagement and children's behavioral/academic functioning, while also expanding the limited understanding of how parent-teacher agreement regarding family engagement predict outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Process and context: Longitudinal effects of the interactions between parental involvement, parental warmth, and SES on academic achievement.

Parents' involvement in their children's education and parental warmth have been linked to many positive child outcomes. In addition to these positive associations, contemporary developmental theory stresses the interaction between different parenting variables and the interaction between parenting and broad contextual factors such as family socioeconomic status (SES). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine main and interaction effects of parent home-based involvement and parental warmth on achievement outcomes. Additionally, we evaluated whether these variables also interacted with SES to predict students' achievement growth. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 (N = 2352), growth of academic outcomes was modeled from kindergarten to the fourth grade. We then used latent variable interaction (Maslowsky, Jager, & Hemken, 2015) procedures to examine interaction effects of our primary study variables. Few significant effects were noted for children's reading and mathematics scores, but more substantial main (home-based involvement) and interaction (parental warmth and SES) effects emerged for science achievement. At high SES levels, warmth negatively predicted growth in science, whereas at lower SES levels, warmth positively predicted growth. Findings are discussed in relation to importance of parent involvement, differential effects across SES contexts, and curricular emphasis in contemporary schools.

Longitudinal Relationships Between Parent Involvement, Parental Warmth, ADHD Symptoms, and Reading Achievement.

Objective: This study examined potential bidirectional relationships between parental warmth, parent involvement in education, child symptoms of ADHD, and achievement between ages five and nine. Method: Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study, associations between ADHD symptoms, parental warmth, parental involvement, and reading achievement in a cross-lagged panel model were analyzed with a sample of 3,386 children. Results: Parental warmth at the age of 5 years was a negative predictor of ADHD symptoms at the age of 9 years; ADHD symptoms at the age of 5 years negatively predicted parental warmth at the age of 9 years. ADHD symptoms at the age of 5 years negatively predicted later parental involvement, but involvement did not predict later ADHD symptoms. Conclusion: Findings provide support for bidirectional associations between parental warmth and ADHD symptoms across time but unidirectional effects from ADHD to parental involvement. These findings have implications for informing intervention efforts to consider both parenting and child-evocative effects.

Parent involvement, approaches to learning, and student achievement: Examining longitudinal mediation.

Although there is evidence to suggest that parent involvement (PI) in children's education positively impacts their academic success, the mechanisms of this effect are less well studied. One potential mechanism is a set of student-level motivational and behavioral factors labeled approaches to learning (ATL). The purpose of the current study was to utilize rigorous longitudinal methodology to evaluate whether ATL mediate the relationship between PI and student academic achievement. Using a large sample drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), three sets of analyses were conducted focusing on three different types of PI (home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home-school communication). Longitudinal mediation analyses indicated that only school-based involvement and home-school communication predicted student reading achievement and that this relationship was only mediated by ATL for school-based involvement. These findings contribute to the literature base on PI and represent a methodological advance to addressing these important mediational questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Parent involvement and children's externalizing behavior: Exploring longitudinal bidirectional effects across gender.

The current study longitudinally examined potential bidirectional associations between parents' home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home-school communication and their children's externalizing behavior across child gender. Using the Early Childhood-Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-99, three sets of analyses were conducted examining home involvement (n = 16,555), school involvement (n = 12,011), and home-school communication (n = 16,555). Cross-lagged panel analyses indicated a small effect of school-based involvement in kindergarten on externalizing behavior in the first grade but no other significant effects with no differences in patterns across gender. The utilized methodology also enabled an examination of longitudinal trends in different types of parent involvement across gender, which revealed important developmental differences in average parent involvement. Ultimately, the results of this study did not indicate robust unidirectional or bidirectional effects between parent involvement and student externalizing behavior. These findings are an important step forward in understanding the family variables influencing student behavior at school.

Use of Polynomial Regression to Investigate Biased Self-Perceptions and ADHD Symptoms in Young Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated biased self-perceptions of academic and social competence among young adolescents with a range of ADHD symptoms. The goal was to better understand how to measure agreement and disagreement between competence ratings from multiple informants. METHOD: The commonly used discrepancy methodology was used along with polynomial regression/response surface analyses to explore the relationship between biased self-perceptions and ADHD symptoms. Participants were 164 middle school students and their homeroom teachers. Students and teachers completed measures about academic and social competence, and teachers rated ADHD symptoms. RESULTS: Discrepancy score and polynomial regression/response surface analyses both supported the relationship between student overestimation of competence and ADHD symptoms. Response surface analyses also suggest that some students with ADHD symptoms accurately perceive their impairments, particularly in the academic domain. CONCLUSION: Findings demonstrate the importance of using more advanced methods to understand the relationship between both accurate and discrepant perceptions of competence and ADHD symptoms.

The Relationship Between Life Satisfaction and ADHD Symptoms in Middle School Students: Using a Bifactor Model.

OBJECTIVE: ADHD is associated with increased academic and social difficulties and comorbid psychopathology which may lead to decreased life satisfaction (LS). METHODS: The current study utilized a bifactor model of ADHD consisting of a general factor and two specific factors (inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity) to determine if ADHD symptoms place middle school students (n= 183) at risk for diminished LS and if this relationship differed depending on whether teachers versus students reported ADHD symptoms. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the bifactor model provided very good fit to the ADHD symptoms reported by students (comparative fit index [CFI] = .995; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .028) and teachers (CFI = .997; RMSEA = .043). Results also demonstrated that when students rated ADHD symptoms, the general ADHD factor and inattention were negatively related to LS; however, when teachers rated ADHD symptoms, only inattention was negatively related to LS. CONCLUSIONS: Implications and future directions related to these results are discussed.

Understanding the relationship between inattention and early literacy trajectories in kindergarten.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between inattention, academic enabling behaviors (i.e., motivation, engagement, and interpersonal skills), and early literacy outcomes. Kindergarten students (N = 181; 55.2% male; 62% white) from two research sites (Southeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada) were assessed using the Letter Naming and Letter Sound Fluency AIMSweb Tests of Early Literacy (Shinn & Shinn, 2012) at three points across the school year. Their teachers provided information on the level of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms (ADHD Symptom Checklist-4; Gadow & Sprafkin, 2008) and academic enabling behaviors (Academic Competence Evaluation Scales; DiPerna & Elliott, 2000). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine predictors of initial level and growth in early literacy. Specifically, a series of models were tested to determine if a multidimensional model of academic enablers (AEs) mediated the relationship. Engagement predicted students' initial levels of early literacy, suggesting that this is an important mediator to consider between inattention and early literacy skills. Motivation related positively to engagement. Inattention also predicted both motivation and interpersonal skills in the negative direction. These findings suggest that AEs play an important role in the relationship between inattention and early literacy. AEs provide malleable targets for intervention and should be considered when developing intervention for youth at risk for academic failure. (PsycINFO Database Record

Attendance and implementation of strategies in a behavioral parent-training program: comparisons between English and Español programs.

Low levels of attendance and implementation of strategies in behavioral parent-training programs may limit their impact. The purpose of this study was to examine attendance and implementation across a behavioral parent-training program delivered in English and Español. Participants included parents (n = 739) of young children who attended a behavioral parent-training program. The mean number of sessions attended for the entire sample was 4.46 (SD = 1.66, range = 1-6) of six sessions, and the mean number of strategies implemented was 17.66 (SD = 11.43, range = 0-35) of a possible 35. There were no significant differences across the number of sessions attended among the participants in the English (M = 4.45) and Español versions (M = 4.48) of the course, t(737) = -0.20, p = .85. There also were no significant differences between the English (M = 17.97) and Español (M = 16.87) versions for the number of Tip Trackers completed, t(737) = 1.18, p = .24. Only child diagnosis predicted parent attendance in the English group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Middle school students' willingness to engage in activities with peers with ADHD symptoms: a multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) model.

Researchers examining peers' behavioral intentions toward students diagnosed with ADHD have frequently used vignettes and asked students to indicate their willingness to engage with an individual described either with or without symptoms of ADHD. The Shared Activities Questionnaire (SAQ-B) is one instrument that has been used to measure students' intentions to engage with students represented in these vignettes. Confirmatory factor analysis results from 183 middle school students supported the three-factor model underlying the SAQ-B, although there were some areas of model misfit. To examine the effects of experimentally manipulating two vignette conditions (describing a peer displaying ADHD symptoms or a peer without these symptoms) on students' responses to items on the SAQ-B, a multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) analysis was used. Results of the MIMIC analyses identified 4 of the 24 SAQ-B items that exhibited statistically significant uniform differential item functioning between the experimental vignette conditions. Comparisons of the latent variable means between experimental conditions indicated that participants expressed greater willingness to engage with a peer without ADHD symptoms than with one with symptoms on academic activities; no differences were found on the latent variable means for social and recreational activities. Familiarity with ADHD did not have a significant relation to participants' willingness to engage in any of the three types of activities. Implications for practice and research are discussed.