International note: Are Emirati parents' attitudes toward mathematics linked to their adolescent children's attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics achievement?

Drawing on data from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and employing multilevel modeling as an analytic strategy, this study examined the relations of adolescent children's perceptions of their parents' attitudes towards mathematics to their own attitudes towards mathematics and mathematics achievement among a sample of 5116 adolescents from 384 schools in the United Arab Emirates. The results of this cross-sectional study revealed that adolescents who perceived that their parents liked mathematics and considered mathematics was important for their children not only to study but also for their career tended to report higher levels of intrinsic and instrumental motivation to learn mathematics, mathematics self-concept and self-efficacy, and mathematics work ethic. Moreover, adolescents who perceived that their parents liked mathematics and considered mathematics was important for their children's career tended to report positive intentions and behaviors toward mathematics. However, adolescents who perceived that their parents considered mathematics was important for their children's career tended to report higher levels of mathematics anxiety. Finally, adolescents who perceived that their parents considered mathematics was important for their children to study performed significantly better on the mathematics assessment than did their peers whose parents disregarded the importance of learning mathematics.     

Performance and well-being of native and immigrant students. Comparative analysis based on PISA 2018

IntroductionThe emotional, cultural, and economic changes involved in the process of coping with migration can be particularly difficult during adolescence. How education systems respond to the challenges posed by the flow of immigration has profound implications for society. One of the ways that students can demonstrate their adaptation to the education system is by their academic performance. In addition, in many education systems well-being has been shown to be directly related to performance. Therefore, this study aims at examine the differences between native and immigrant students in mathematics and science skills, and in well-being indicators evaluated in PISA 2018.MethodWe performed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) based on the results of PISA 2018 evaluation, obtained from the official OECD database. The sample was 7099 Spanish students (49.5% girls; 50.5% boys), with a mean age of 15.83 years old (SD = 0.29). A little under half (42%) were native students, 35.5% were first generation-immigrant students, and 22.7% were second-generation immigrant students.ResultsThe native students demonstrated higher levels of mathematics and science skills than the two groups of immigrant students, and had significantly higher means in positive affect, self-efficacy–resilience, and feeling of belonging at school. Although life satisfaction was no different between the immigrant and native groups, the second-generation immigrants showed higher rates of positive affect, and a greater sense of belonging to the school than the first-generation immigrants.ConclusionsWe suggest future lines of research and the need to produce explanatory models that consider the complexity of migratory processes.     

English proficiency and peer interethnic relations as predictors of math achievement among Latino and Asian immigrant students

Studies show math achievement to be the best predictor of entering post-secondary education. However, less is known about the predictors of math achievement, particularly among immigrant youth. This study examined English proficiency and peer interethnic relations as predictors of mathematics achievement among Latino and Asian high school students, postulating an interaction between the predictors and mediation by academic motivation. A multilevel moderated-mediation model was used to analyze data from a national sample of 2113 non-native English speaking Latino and Asian students attending high school in the U.S. We found that higher academic motivation mediated the relationship between English proficiency during their sophomore year and gains in senior math achievement scores for both Asian and Latino students. For Latino students however, this indirect path was only significant for students whose perceptions of positive peer interethnic relations at school were average or above average.     

International note: Prediction of mathematics work ethic and performance from behavioral,normative, and control beliefs among Qatari adolescents

Over half-a-million adolescents take part in each cycle of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Yet often, researchers and policy makers across the globe tend to focus their attention primarily on the academic trajectories of adolescents hailing from highly successful education systems. Hence, a vast majority of the adolescent population who regionally and globally constitute the ‘long tail of underachievement’ often remain unnoticed and underrepresented in the growing literature on adolescents' academic trajectories. The present study, therefore, explored the relations of dispositions toward mathematics, subjective norms in mathematics, and perceived control of success in mathematics to mathematics work ethic as well as mathematics performance; and the mediational role of mathematics work ethic in the association between dispositional, normative, and control beliefs and mathematics performance among adolescents in one of the lowest performing education systems, Qatar. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that Qatari adolescents' dispositional, normative, and control beliefs about mathematics were significantly associated with their mathematics work ethic and mathematics performance, and mathematics work ethic significantly mediated the relationship between dispositional, normative, and control beliefs about mathematics and mathematics performance. However, multi-group SEM analyses indicated that these relationships were not invariant across the gender and the SES groups.     

Comparison of self-reported emotional and behavioral problems in Turkish immigrant,Dutch and Turkish adolescents

Abstract.Objective: The aim of this study was to compare self-reported emotional and behavioral problems for Turkish immigrant, native Dutch and native Turkish adolescents.Method: A total of 379 Turkish immigrant adolescents living in the Netherlands, and 1,039 Dutch adolescents from the general population completed the Dutch translation of the Youth Self-Report (YSR); 2,151 Turkish adolescents from the general population completed the Turkish translation of the YSR; parents of Turkish immigrant adolescents filled in the Turkish translation of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/4–18).Results: Turkish immigrant adolescents scored themselves significantly higher than Dutch adolescents on five of the 11 YSR syndromes, most markedly on the Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn and Internalizing scales. Dutch adolescents scored themselves higher than immigrant adolescents on the Somatic Complaints and Delinquent Behavior scales. Turkish immigrant adolescents scored themselves higher than Turkish adolescents on five of the 11 scales, most markedly on the Delinquent Behavior scale. Total problems scores for Turkish immigrant adolescents were higher than for Dutch and Turkish adolescents. Turkish immigrant adolescents scored themselves higher than their parents assessed them on seven of the 11 scales.Conclusion: Turkish immigrant adolescents reported more problems in comparison to their Dutch and native Turkish peers. Different patterns of parent-child interaction, family values and delay of Dutch language skills are considered to be responsible for these differences in scores.     

Intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and host-national families and their impact on psychological adaptation

This study investigated the relationship between intergenerational value discrepancies and psychological adaptation among adolescents with immigrant background (mean age=15.5 years) in Norway and Sweden. Results from two cohorts (parents and their children) of immigrant and host-national families in the two countries (n=574) indicated that immigrant adolescents on the whole neither differed from their host peers with respect to psychological adaptation nor on value discrepancies. Value discrepancies were weakly related to psychological adaptation. Results are discussed as to whether the findings may reflect a general phenomenon for all adolescents or specific to those with immigrant background.     

Understanding ethnic differences in mental health service use for adolescents’ internalizing problems: the role of emotional problem identification

Although immigrant adolescents are at least at equal risk of developing internalizing problems as their non-immigrant peers, immigrant adolescents are less likely to use mental health care. The present study is the first to examine ethnic differences in problem identification to find explanations for this disparity in mental health service use. Specifically, the extent to which emotional problem identification mediates the relationship between immigrant status and mental health service use for internalizing problems in three immigrant populations in the Netherlands (i.e., Surinamese, Turkish, and Moroccan) was investigated. A two-phase design was used to include adolescents at risk for internalizing problems. Data were used from the second phase, in which 349 parents and adolescents participated (95 native Dutch, 85 Surinamese, 87 Turkish, and 82 Moroccan). Results indicated that mental health service use for internalizing problems is far lower among immigrant adolescents than among native Dutch adolescents, although differences between immigrant groups were also substantive. A lack of emotional problem identification was identified as an essential mediator in the relationship between immigrant status and mental health service use. Since the results suggest the low levels of problem identification in our immigrant samples may serve an explanatory role in the relationship between immigrant status and mental health service use, future research should aim at understanding these ethnic differences in problem identification.     

Incidence of schizophrenia among second-generation immigrants in the jerusalem perinatal cohort

Objective: Increased incidence of schizophrenia is observed among some immigrant groups in Europe, with the offspring of immigrants, ie “second-generation” immigrants particularly vulnerable. Few contemporary studies have evaluated the risk of schizophrenia among second-generation immigrants in other parts of the world. Methods: We studied the incidence of schizophrenia in relation to parental immigrant status in a population-based cohort of 88 829 offspring born in Jerusalem in 1964–1976. Parental countries of birth were obtained from birth certificates and grouped together as (1) Israel, (2) Other West Asia, (3) North Africa, and (4) Europe and industrialized countries. Cox proportional hazards methods were used in adjusting for sex, parents’ ages, maternal education, social class, and birth order. Results: Linkage with Israel''s Psychiatric Registry identified 637 people admitted to psychiatric care facilities with schizophrenia-related diagnoses, before 1998. Incidence of schizophrenia was not increased among second-generation immigrants in this birth cohort, neither overall nor by specific group. Conclusions: The difference in risk of schizophrenia among second-generation immigrants in Europe and in this Israeli birth cohort suggests that the nature of the immigration experience may be relevant to risk, including reasons for migration, the nature of entry, and subsequent position in the host country for immigrants and their offspring. Minority status may be of importance as, in later studies, immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia had increased risk of schizophrenia.     

Self-concept in adolescence: A longitudinal study on reciprocal effects of self-perceptions in academic and social domains

Fostering social and academic self-concepts are central educational goals. During mid-adolescence academic engagement and success seem to be devalued by peers and to be negatively associated with students' social standing. For this age group, is the development of a positive academic self-concept compatible with the development of a positive social self-concept? We investigated relations among academic self-concept, social self-concept, and academic achievement. 1282 students (47.60% female) participated in three-waves of measurement in Grade 5, 6, and 8. Earlier social self-concept of acceptance negatively predicted changes in academic self-concept over time while earlier social self-concept of assertion positively predicted changes in academic self-concept. There were no significant relations between social self-concepts and achievement but positive reciprocal relations between academic self-concept and achievement. Results indicate that fostering adolescents self-concept in social and academic domains are compatible goals. However, some students need support in managing the challenge to coordinate social and academic goals.     

Latino adolescents' academic success: the role of discrimination, academic motivation, and gender

Guided by the academic resilience perspective, the current longitudinal study examined whether academic motivation mediated the relation between Latino adolescents' (N = 221) experiences with discrimination and their academic success. The potential moderating role of gender was also examined. Using multiple group analysis in structural equation modeling, findings indicated that perceived discrimination at Wave 2 significantly predicted academic motivation at Waves 2 and 3 for boys but not girls. Additionally, for boys, academic motivation significantly mediated the relation between perceived discrimination and academic success. Findings underscore the importance of considering the long-term implications of discrimination for Latino boys' academic success. Furthermore, findings encourage moving beyond the examination of gender differences in specific academic outcomes (e.g., academic success) and focusing on how the processes leading to academic success vary by gender.     

Ethnic density of neighborhoods and incidence of psychotic disorders among immigrants

OBJECTIVE: A high incidence of psychotic disorders has been reported in immigrant ethnic groups in Western Europe. Some studies suggest that ethnic density may influence the incidence of schizophrenia. The authors investigated whether this increased incidence among immigrants depends on the ethnic density of the neighborhoods in which they live. METHOD: This was a prospective first-contact incidence study of psychotic disorders in The Hague, by ethnicity and neighborhood of residence. Over a 7-year period, individuals who made contact with a physician for a suspected psychotic disorder underwent diagnostic interviews and received DSM-IV diagnoses. A comprehensive municipal registration system provided the denominator for incidence rates. Data were sufficient to examine incidence rates in native Dutch and in first- and second-generation immigrants from Morocco, Suriname, and Turkey. The ethnic density of a neighborhood was computed for each immigrant group as the proportion of residents belonging to that group. Multilevel regression analyses predicted the incidence of psychotic disorders as a function of individual ethnicity and neighborhood ethnic density. Models were fitted for all immigrants together and for each immigrant group separately. RESULTS: A total of 226 native Dutch and 240 immigrants were diagnosed as having a psychotic disorder. Compared with native Dutch, the adjusted incidence rate ratio for immigrants was significantly increased in low-ethnic-density neighborhoods (2.36) but not in high-ethnic-density neighborhoods (1.25). There was a strong interaction between individual ethnicity and neighborhood ethnic density as predictors of incidence of illness. These findings were consistent across all immigrant groups. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of psychotic disorders was elevated most significantly among immigrants living in neighborhoods where their own ethnic group comprised a small proportion of the population.     

Prevalence and correlates of conduct disorder and problem behavior in Caribbean and Filipino immigrant adolescents

This study investigates the prevalence and subtypes of conduct disorder (CD) and behavioral problems among youth in two communities characterized by prolonged parent-child separation upon immigration. CD and problem behaviors were assessed in 252 Caribbean-Canadian and Filipino-Canadian adolescents (12-19-year-old) using the DISC-C, the YSR and the CBCL cross-informant construct. Adolescents reported less problem behaviors than their host country peers, despite immigrant background or parent-child separation. The high adolescent-onset CD rate supports the hypothesis that psychosocial stressors play a role in the emergence of the disorder. Specifically, high levels of perceived racism and low collective self-esteem predicted problem behaviors in these youngsters.     

Academic self-concept in children with epilepsy and its relation to their quality of life

Abstract

Objectives:

Academic achievement in children with epilepsy is a highly studied topic with many important implications. However, only little attention has been devoted to academic self-concept of such children and the relation of academic self-concept to their quality of life. We aimed to examine academic self-concept in children with epilepsy, to assess its relationship to academic achievement and to determine possible correlations between academic self-concept and quality of life.

Methods:

The study group consisted of 182 children and adolescents aged 9–14 years who completed the student’s perception of ability scale (SPAS) questionnaire to determine their academic self-concept and the modified Czech version of the CHEQOL-25 questionnaire to determine their health-related quality of life.

Results:

We found that academic self-concept in children with epilepsy was on average significantly lower than in their peers without seizures, especially with regard to general school-related abilities, reading, and spelling. On the other hand, the variance in the data obtained from the group of children with epilepsy was significantly higher than in the whole population and the proportion of individuals with very high academic self-concept seems comparable among children with and without epilepsy. Moreover, it was found that correlations between academic self-concept and academic achievement are significantly lower in children with epilepsy than in the whole population.

Discussion:

The presented results suggest that considerable attention should be paid to the role of academic self-concept in education of children with epilepsy and to the factors influencing this self-concept in this group.     

Effectiveness of psychodrama group therapy on pupils with mathematics anxiety

The present study focuses on the effectiveness of psychodrama group therapy on adolescents suffering from mathematics anxiety. Five secondary school pupils in Merano, aged 17–19 years, took part in 10 group sessions of 90 min, held weekly over a period of about 3 months. The changes generated by psychodrama therapy in the pupils’ problem areas, such as, high stress levels before tests, impaired working memory, low self-esteem and motivation to learn mathematics, were measured with the help of the Personal Questionnaire (Elliott and Shapiro, Simplified personal questionnaire procedure, 1999) and the Self-efficacy scale—Mathematics, two quantitative measuring instruments, and with the Client Change Interview, a qualitative measuring instrument. The results of the data collected indicate that psychodrama treatment brought forth significant changes in some pupils’ problem areas.     

Cultural identity and psychological adjustment of adolescent Chinese immigrants in New Zealand

Based on an integration of acculturation and developmental models, this study examined the relationship between psychological adjustment and cultural identity determined by the relative strength of identification with own ethnic group, and the mainstream society. Over 400 immigrant Chinese students completed questionnaires and 24 participated in interviews. Results indicated that adolescents who were integrated had higher self-esteem than their peers who were separated or marginalized p<0.001). This finding is consistent with research on ethnic minority adolescents in other countries, and suggests that integration has important implications on the psychological well-being of these adolescent immigrants.     

The longitudinal role of mathematics anxiety in mathematics development: Issues of gender differences and domain-specificity

IntroductionMathematics anxiety (MA) is an important risk factor hindering the development of confidence and capability in mathematics and participation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. The aim of the present study is to further our understanding of these relations in adolescence by adopting a threefold approach. First, we adopted a longitudinal design to clarify the temporal order in the developmental relations between (a) MA and mathematics achievement and (b) MA and mathematics self-perceived ability. Second, we investigated whether the developmental relations between MA and mathematics achievement/self-perceived ability differed between boys and girls. Finally, we explored the domain-specificity of MA by examining its role in foreign language (L2) learning.MethodsData were collected from 1043 Italian high school students. Students reported their anxiety, self-perceived ability, and school achievement in mathematics and L2 over two separate waves, one semester apart.ResultsUsing multi-group cross-lagged panel analyses, we found that (a) mathematics achievement predicted MA longitudinally, whereas MA did not predict subsequent mathematics achievement; (b) there was a negative reciprocal relation between MA and mathematics self-perceived ability in male, but not female students; and (c) there were longitudinal relations between MA and L2 achievement and self-perceived ability above and beyond L2 anxiety.ConclusionsThese findings support the deficit view of the developmental relation between MA and mathematics achievement, highlight high school male students as a vulnerable group evincing vicious transactions between high anxiety and low self-efficacy in mathematics, and reveal the importance of internal cross-domain comparison processes in MA development.     

Patterns of relationship and sexual behaviors in Mexican adolescents and associations with well-being: A latent class approach

To broaden our understanding of romance and sexuality during adolescence in Latin American countries, we used a person-oriented approach (latent class analysis) to examine classes marked by different patterns of romantic and sexual behaviors in Mexican adolescents. We found 5 classes: Inactive (8.53%), Early stage (37.8%), Waiting class (27.5%), Physical (8.4%) and Committed (17.9%); but no group dating class. We also explored how these classes were associated with adolescents' mental health and school performance. Middle school adolescents in the Committed class (high in romantic and sexual behaviors) had the highest level of depressive symptoms. Girls in the Inactive class and boys in the Physical class had the lowest level of symptoms. Adolescents in the Committed class also reported less academic motivation and achievement, whereas adolescents in the Inactive class reported higher motivation. This study expands our knowledge of adolescent romantic and sexual development in Mexico.     

Does the act of migration provoke psychiatric breakdown?

This article describes a community psychiatric survey of a random sample (n = 291) of Greek Cypriot immigrants living in London. Over three quarters of the immigrants were first generation. Information from the subject and from hospital case records were used to date previous episodes of psychiatric disorder. Datable episodes had occurred in 52 subjects. There was no evidence that the risk of breakdown was increased in the immediate aftermath of immigration. For 34 subjects who experienced their first illness after migration, the mean interval was 15 years. In only 9% did breakdown occur within 2 years of migration. The age-specific incidence of psychiatric disorder was the same as that seen in a native British sample. Although there were differences in the age of onset of first- and second-generation subjects, this was in the opposite direction to that expected if immigration appreciably provoked breakdown.     

Psychosocial adaptation of immigrant Greek children from the former Soviet Union

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess psychiatric disorders in, and the psychosocial adaptation and academic performance of, children of immigrant families of Greek origin from countries of the former Soviet Union. METHOD: At a preliminary stage, all immigrant children (276) aged 8-12 years attending 22 schools in a working-class suburb of Athens were assessed by their teachers in terms of behaviour and academic performance. They and their families had migrated to Greece within the previous three years. A matching control group of native children (251) attending the same schools and classes was also assessed. For an in-depth assessment of psychopathology and social adaptation, 65 immigrant and 41 native children were randomly selected from the two larger groups and were further assessed. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed between the immigrant and native children in terms of psychopathology and social adaptation, although a few differences were observed in subscales. However, there were significant differences between the groups in academic performance, that of the immigrant group being poorer, particularly in language-related areas (p < 0.01). In the light of these results, language enrichment classes are suggested for immigrant children who need them.     

The causal ordering of mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement: a longitudinal panel analysis

Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), we aimed to determine the causal ordering between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement. Results of structural equation modelling showed that, across the entire junior and senior high school, prior low mathematics achievement significantly related to later high mathematics anxiety, but prior high mathematics anxiety hardly related to later low mathematics achievement. Mathematics achievement was more reliably stable from year to year than mathematics anxiety. There were statistically significant gender differences in the causal ordering between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement. Prior low mathematics achievement significantly related to later high mathematics anxiety for boys across the entire junior and senior high school but for girls at critical transition points only. Mathematics anxiety was more reliably stable from year to year among girls than among boys.