Preventing the Link Between SES and High-Risk Behaviors: “Value-Added” Education,Drug Use and Delinquency in High-Risk,Urban Schools

We examined whether schools achieving better than expected educational outcomes for their students influence the risk of drug use and delinquency among urban, racial/ethnic minority youth. Adolescents (n = 2,621), who were primarily African American and Hispanic and enrolled in Chicago public schools (n = 61), completed surveys in 6th (aged 12) and 8th (aged 14) grades. Value-added education was derived from standardized residuals of regression equations predicting school-level academic achievement and attendance from students’ sociodemographic profiles and defined as having higher academic achievement and attendance than that expected given the sociodemographic profile of the schools’ student composition. Multilevel logistic regression estimated the effects of value-added education on students’ drug use and delinquency. After considering initial risk behavior, value-added education was associated with lower incidence of alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use; stealing; and participating in a group-against-group fight. Significant beneficial effects of value-added education remained for cigarette and marijuana use, stealing and participating in a group-against-group fight after adjustment for individual- and school-level covariates. Alcohol use (past month and heavy episodic) showed marginally significant trends in the hypothesized direction after these adjustments. Inner-city schools may break the links between social disadvantage, drug use and delinquency. Identifying the processes related to value-added education in order to improve school environments is warranted given the high costs associated with individual-level interventions.     

Peer Reviewed: Risk and Protective Factors for Tobacco Use Among 8th- and 10th-Grade African American Students in Virginia

Introduction

Few studies have simultaneously examined the influence of multiple domains of risk and protective factors for smoking among African Americans. This study identified individual-peer, family, school, and community risk and protective factors that predict early cigarette use among African American adolescents.

Methods

Data from 1,056 African American 8th and 10th graders who completed the 2005 Community Youth Survey in Virginia were analyzed by using logistic regression.

Results

The prevalence of smoking among the weighted sample population was 11.2%. In univariate analyses, the strongest predictors of smoking were low academic achievement, peer drug use, and early substance use (individual domain). In multivariate analyses, these factors and being in the 10th grade were significant predictors. The single protective factor in multivariate analyses was in the school domain (rewards for prosocial behavior in the school setting). When family and community variables were entered into a model in which individual-peer and school factors were controlled for, these variables were not significantly associated with smoking, and they failed to improve model fit.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that tobacco prevention programs that aim to increase school connectedness while decreasing youth risk behaviors might be useful in preventing cigarette use among African American adolescents. Given the relative importance of peer drug use in predicting smoking among African American youth, more work is needed that explores the accuracy of youths'' perceptions of their friends'' cigarette use and how family factors may moderate this risk.     

Effects of School-Level Norms on Student Substance Use

This study examines the relationship between school norms of substance use disapproval (disapproval by the student body) and students' use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Data came from nationally representative samples of 8th (N = 16,051), 10th (N = 13,251), and 12th (N = 8,797) grade students, attending 150, 140, and 142 schools, respectively. These students participated in the Monitoring the Future Project in 1999. Measures of school norms of disapproval of substance use were obtained by aggregating students' personal disapproval of daily cigarette use, heavy drinking, and marijuana use within each school. Analysis using logistic nonlinear hierarchical models indicated that in general, school-level disapproval lowered the probability of students' use of these substances, controlling for their own disapproval and for student and school demographic characteristics. The beneficial effect of school-level disapproval of cigarette and marijuana use on 8th-grade students' probability of daily cigarette use and marijuana use was significantly higher than it was for the 12th-grade students. The effect of school-level disapproval of heavy drinking on the probability of students' drinking was not significantly different across the three grades. Further, a school environment of disapproval was also found to create a protective environment for those students in the 8th and 10th grades who were themselves not disapproving of daily cigarette use. These results argue for prevention programs that include creation of an overarching environment of disapproval of substance use in schools.     

School‐Related Parental Involvement and Adolescent Academic Achievement: The Role of Community Poverty

Although most current studies have established the importance of school‐related parental involvement to adolescents' academic achievement, they are limited in that they do not address macrolevel community influences on such an association. This may be due in part to the lack of community‐level data or the use of inappropriate statistical strategies that cannot account for the influence of factors at the community level. To address this limitation, in this study, the authors examined the influence of community poverty on the association between school‐related parental involvement and adolescents' academic achievement. Using a large, nationally representative sample, results from a multilevel model suggested that, compared to adolescents living in more affluent communities, the positive effect of school‐related parental involvement on adolescents' academic achievement was significantly weaker for adolescents living in poor communities. Such findings suggested the importance of community poverty in influencing the effectiveness of school‐related parental involvement on adolescents' academic achievement.     

The Effect of School‐Specific Parenting Processes on Academic Achievement in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

There is inconsistency in the current literature regarding the association between dimensions of parenting processes and academic achievement for adolescents. Further, few studies have extended such an association into young adulthood. In this study, we examined the effect of three dimensions of parenting processes, including school‐specific involvement, general parental support, and parental expectations, on academic achievement in adolescence and in young adulthood. Using a large, nationally representative, and longitudinal sample, we found that results from regression analyses suggested that all three dimensions of parenting processes had a significant effect on adolescents' academic success. In particular, school‐specific involvement had a stronger effect than general parental support and parental expectations. Further, parenting processes were indirectly associated with academic achievement later in young adulthood, partially through academic achievement in adolescence. Implications of the findings are also discussed.     

The relationship of school absenteeism with body mass index, academic achievement, and socioeconomic status among fourth-grade children

BACKGROUND: Data from a school‐based study concerning fourth‐grade children's dietary recall accuracy were linked with data from the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) through the South Carolina Budget and Control Board Office of Research and Statistics (ORS) to investigate the relationships of children's school absenteeism with body mass index (BMI), academic achievement, and socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS: Data for all variables were available for 920 fourth‐grade children during 2 school years (2005–2006, 2006–2007). Number of school days absent for each child and eligibility for free/reduced‐price school meals (SES measure) were provided to ORS by SCDE. Children's weight and height were measured by research staff; age/sex‐specific BMI percentile was calculated and grouped into categories. For academic achievement, Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests scores were provided by the school district. The associations of absenteeism with BMI, academic achievement, SES, and school year were investigated with logistic binomial models using the modified sandwich variance estimator to adjust for multiple outcomes within schools. RESULTS: The relationships between absenteeism and each of BMI percentile category and SES were not significant (all coefficient p values > .118). The relationship between absenteeism and academic achievement was inversely significant (p value < .0001; coefficient = ?.087). CONCLUSIONS: These results support the inverse relationship between absenteeism and academic achievement that was expected and has been found by other researchers. The lack of significant results concerning the relationships between absenteeism and both BMI and SES differs from earlier, limited research. More research to investigate these relationships is needed.     

Surveying teens in school to assess the prevalence of problematic drug use

BACKGROUND: Illicit drug use by school‐aged teens can adversely affect their health and academic achievement. This study used a survey administered in schools to assess the prevalence of problematic drug use among teenagers in a Midwestern community. METHODS: Self‐report data were collected from 11th‐ and 12th‐grade students (N = 3974) in 16 school districts in the Dayton, Ohio, area. Students responded to a drug use survey that also included CRAFFT, a brief substance abuse screening instrument. Binomial and zero‐inflated Poisson regressions were used to examine the association between CRAFFT scores and drug use practices, including abstinence. RESULTS: More than one third of students had CRAFFT scores suggestive of problematic use. Of these, 14.1% had scores suggesting drug dependence. Although alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco were the drugs most commonly used, an array of other drugs including opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants, hallucinogens, and dextromethorphan were also commonly used. Higher CRAFFT scores were associated with a greater number of drugs used (p < .0001). Proportionately more 12th graders than 11th graders had CRAFFT scores indicating problems (p < .0001). Among 12th graders, boys were more likely than girls to have CRAFFT scores indicating dependence (p = .01). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that problematic drug use among high school students is more prevalent than has been recognized previously. CRAFFT can be used easily to assess the prevalence of problematic drug use among teenagers in school settings. CRAFFT results can also inform prevention and intervention activities, particularly if the CRAFFT instrument is paired with a drug use survey.     

Parental perceptions of children's agency: Parental warmth,school achievement and adjustment

The present study examined Swedish mothers’ and fathers’ warmth towards their children in relation to their children's agency. It also examined the longitudinal relation between agency and children's externalising, internalising, and school achievement. Swedish children's mothers and fathers (N?=?93) were interviewed at three time points (when children were 8, 9, and 10 years old) about their warmth towards their children, children's agency, and children's externalising and internalising behaviours and school achievement. Parental warmth at Time 1 was significantly correlated with child agency at Time 2, which was significantly correlated with child externalising and internalising behaviours and academic achievement at Time 3. There were no differences between girls and boys. Results from this study indicate that Swedish parents’ warmth is directly related to subsequent perceptions of children's agency, which in turn are related to subsequently lower child externalising and internalising problems and higher academic achievement. These findings held in the context of a three-year longitudinal study and for both boys and girls, suggesting the importance of child agency in the link between parental warmth and children's adjustment.     

Adolescent health behavior, contentment in school, and academic achievement

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between health behavior indicators, school contentment, and academic achievement. METHODS: Structural equation modeling with 5810 adolescents. RESULTS: Our model explained 36% of the variance in academic achievement and 24% in school contentment. BMI and sedentary lifestyle were negatively related to school contentment and academic achievement, but physical activity was positively related to school contentment and academic achievement (P < .01). School contentment was strongly related to academic achievement but only a weak mediator of the health behavior indicators. CONCLUSION: Findings may inform the efforts to improve academic achievement and the general health status of youth.     

Effects of the Positive Action Program on Achievement and Discipline: Two Matched-Control Comparisons

This paper reports on the effectiveness of an integrated comprehensive school model for character development, problem behavior prevention, and academic achievement enhancement. The Positive Action program consists of a school curriculum, together with schoolwide climate, family, and community components. As evaluated here, the yearly K-6 curriculum consists of over 140 fifteen-to-twenty-minute lessons per year delivered in school classrooms on an almost daily basis. The program is based on theories of self-concept, learning, behavior, and school ecology. We use a matched control design and school-level achievement and disciplinary data to evaluate program effects on student performance and behavior in two separate school districts. The program improved achievement by 16% in one district and 52% in another, and reduced disciplinary referrals by 78% in one district and 85% in the other. We discuss implications of these replicated findings for the prevention of substance abuse and violence, the improvement of school performance, and the reform of American schools.     

Do Social and Behavioral Characteristics Targeted by Preventive Interventions Predict Standardized Test Scores and Grades?

This study assessed whether characteristics of individuals that are predictors of youth problem behavior such as substance use, delinquency, and violence also predict academic achievement. Longitudinal data from 576 students participating in the Raising Healthy Children (RHC) project were analyzed. The RHC project is a study of students recruited from a suburban Pacific Northwest school district. Tenth-grade academic achievement was measured by scores on a standardized test administered to students in Washington State (as part of compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act) and by student self-report of grades. Measures of social and behavioral characteristics at seventh grade were based on data from student, parent, and teacher surveys. Researchers assessed overall correlations between 7th-grade predictors and 10th-grade academic achievement as well as partial correlations adjusted for demographic characteristics and scores on an earlier achievement test, the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, in 4th grade. Results indicated that higher levels of school bonding and better social, emotional, and decision-making skills were related to higher test scores and higher grades. Lower test scores and lower grades were predicted by elevated levels of attention problems, negative behavior of peers, and disruptive and aggressive behavior. Lower test scores also were predicted by early use of alcohol and cigarettes. These findings support the premise that school-based social development interventions that address specific risk factors, curb early manifestations of antisocial behavior, and promote school bonding and social and emotional skills are likely to improve student academic achievement.     

Familias Unidas: The Efficacy of an Intervention to Promote Parental Investment in Hispanic Immigrant Families

This paper reports a test of the efficacy of Familias Unidas, a Hispanic-specific, ecologically focused, parent-centered preventive intervention, in promoting protection against and reducing risk for adolescent behavior problems. Specifically, the intervention was designed to foster parental investment, reduce adolescent behavior problems, and promote adolescent school bonding/academic achievement, all protective factors against drug abuse and delinquency. One-hundred sixty seven Hispanic families of 6th and 7th grade students from three South Florida public schools were stratified by grade within school and randomly assigned to intervention and no-intervention control conditions. Results indicated that Familias Unidas was efficacious in increasing parental investment and decreasing adolescent behavior problems, but that it did not significantly impact adolescent school bonding/academic achievement. Summer-vacation rates of adolescent behavior problems were six times higher in the control condition than in the intervention condition. Furthermore, change in parental investment during the intervention was predictive of subsequent levels of adolescent behavior problems. The findings suggest that Familias Unidas is efficacious in promoting protection and reducing risk for adolescent problem behaviors in poor immigrant Hispanic families.     

留守初中生学校气氛、心理资本与学业成就的关系研究

目的探讨留守初中生学校气氛、心理资本和学业成就之间的关系。方法采用学校气氛量表、心理资本问卷和学业成就量表,对广西壮族自治区4所初级中学392名留守初中生进行测查。结果不同性别留守初中生的学业成就存在显著差异,不同年级留守初中生在学校气氛、心理资本和学业成就上存在显著差异;留守初中生的学校气氛、心理资本及学业成就两两之间相关显著;心理资本在学校气氛和学业成就之间起完全中介作用。结论留守初中生感知到的学校气氛通过心理资本间接影响学生的学业成就。     

Self‐concept,achievement and occupation in gifted Taiwanese adolescents

The education of gifted adolescents that underachieve is a significant problem that impacts on the child's educational opportunities and possible career trajectory. Many researchers propose that a child's self‐concept is predictive of academic achievement. Using an occupational science paradigm, this study examined the notion that an adolescent's self‐concept and academic achievement are also related to the types and time expended in occupation. Eighteen gifted achieving and under‐achieving Taiwanese junior high school students completed the Multidimensional Self‐concept Scale and a time diary for one week in the summer. The results indicated that self‐concept, achievement and time expended in academic occupations are positively related. Furthermore, there are differences between these two groups of students in the time expended in academic and social activities. The study has cross‐cultural implications regarding the time use of young Taiwanese teens. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd.     

Second-year medical students' motivational beliefs, emotions, and achievement

Medical Education 2010: 44 : 1203–1212 Context A challenge for medical educators is to better understand the personal factors that lead to individual success in medical school and beyond. Recently, educational researchers in fields outside medicine have acknowledged the importance of motivation and emotion in students’ learning and performance. These affective factors have received less emphasis in the medical education literature. Objectives This longitudinal study examined the relations between medical students’ motivational beliefs (task value and self‐efficacy), achievement emotions (enjoyment, anxiety and boredom) and academic achievement. Methods Second‐year medical students (n = 136) completed motivational beliefs and achievement emotions surveys following their first and second trimesters, respectively. Academic achievement was operationalised as students’ average course examination grades and national board shelf examination scores. Results The results largely confirmed the hypothesised relations between beliefs, emotions and achievement. Structural equation modelling revealed that task value beliefs were positively associated with course‐related enjoyment (standardised regression coefficient [β] = 0.59) and were negatively related to boredom (β = ? 0.25), whereas self‐efficacy beliefs were negatively associated with course‐related anxiety only (β = ? 0.47). Furthermore, student enjoyment was positively associated with national board shelf examination score (β = 0.31), whereas anxiety and boredom were both negatively related to course examination grade (β = ? 0.36 and ? 0.27, respectively). The overall structural model accounted for considerable variance in each of the achievement outcomes: R² = 0.20 and 0.14 for the course examination grade and national board shelf examination score, respectively. Conclusions This study suggests that medical students’ motivational beliefs and achievement emotions are important contributors to their academic achievement. These results have implications for medical educators striving to understand the personal factors that influence learning and performance in medical training.     

Self-reported school difficulties and tobacco use among fourth- to seventh-grade students

This study examined the relationship between academic and behavioral difficulties at school, and tobacco use in students. Participants included 1,219 students in fourth to seventh grade at the time of enrollment. Interviews were repeated eight months later with 85% of baseline participants. Telephone interviews assessed use of cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco; students also were asked if they liked school, how often they got in trouble at school, and how well they were doing in school. At baseline, students reporting school difficulties were 1.4-5.6 times more likely to report a lifetime history of cigarette, cigar, and chewing tobacco use relative to students who did not report these difficulties. Average to below-average academic performance at baseline was predictive of new cigarette use at the eight-month follow-up (Relative Risk = 3.35; 95% Confidence Interval = [1.36, 8.22]). Self-reported school difficulties are associated with lifetime use of all major forms of tobacco and are predictive of future cigarette use in fourth- to seventh-grade students.     

Is There a Relationship Between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement? Positive Results From Public School Children in the Northeastern United States

OBJECTIVES:  To determine relationships between physical fitness and academic achievement in diverse, urban public school children.
METHODS:  This cross-sectional study used public school data from 2004 to 2005. Academic achievement was assessed as a passing score on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) achievement tests in Mathematics (fourth, sixth, and eighth grade, n = 1103) and in English (fourth and seventh grade, n = 744). Fitness achievement was assessed as the number of physical fitness tests passed during physical education (PE). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the probability of passing the MCAS tests, controlling for students' weight status (BMI z score), ethnicity, gender, grade, and socioeconomic status (school lunch enrollment).
RESULTS:  The odds of passing both the MCAS Mathematics test and the MCAS English test increased as the number of fitness tests passed increased (p < .0001 and p < .05, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS:  Results show statistically significant relationships between fitness and academic achievement, though the direction of causation is not known. While more research is required, promoting fitness by increasing opportunities for physical activity during PE, recess, and out of school time may support academic achievement.     

School-based health centers and academic performance: research, challenges, and recommendations

School-based health centers (SBHCs) provide physical and mental health services on school campuses to improve student health status, and thereby potentially facilitate student academic success. With a growing emphasis on school accountability and the simultaneous dwindling of resources at the federal, state, and local levels, SBHCs face increasing pressures from school administrators and funders to document their impact on student academic achievement. This article reviews the methods, findings, and limitations of studies that have examined the relationship between SBHCs and academic performance. It also describes methodological challenges of conducting and interpreting such research, and discusses factors and intermediate variables that influence student academic performance. Recommendations are offered for SBHC researchers, evaluators, and service providers in response to the pressure they are facing to document the effect of SBHC services on academic outcomes.     

Health-as-a-Value, Spirituality, and Cigarette and Alcohol Use Among Russian High School Students

National estimates suggest that the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use is higher among adolescents in Russia than among adolescents in the United States and other European countries. However, research on the psychosocial correlates of, as well as protective factors for, tobacco and alcohol use among Russian adolescents has been relatively limited. Research conducted primarily in the United States has shown that spirituality and health-as-a-value are plausible predictors of adolescent substance use. However, these constructs have not been extensively studied in regions outside the United States. In this study, we tested whether spirituality and heath-as-a-value had protective effects on past-month cigarette and alcohol use behaviors and next-year cigarette and alcohol use intentions among Russian high school students (N?=?354, mean age?=?15.7?years), after controlling for known predictors of adolescent substance use such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, peer substance use, and sensation seeking. We found a significant inverse relationship between health-as-a-value and recent cigarette and alcohol use as well as future cigarette use intentions. However, we did not find a significant relationship between spirituality and any substance use variables. Implications of these findings for school-based substance use prevention are discussed.