Objective: Using a two-point design, this study examined five parental identity development processes as predictors of personal growth following birth among first-time expecting mothers and fathers. Background: Although personal growth during the transition to parenthood has been documented and several factors promoting it have been identified, much remains unknown about what enables people to grow through this experience. Parental identity development, which has been linked to positive adjustment and well-being during this transition, represents an unexplored framework for understanding personal growth during this critical period. Method: A total of 169 first-time expectant parents (97 women, Mage = 31.9, SD = 3.46; 72 men, Mage = 32.1, SD = 3.43) participated in this two-point design study: 1-3 months before birth (T1) and 3-5 months after birth (T2). Results: Women showed an increase in personal growth following birth, while men showed a decrease. Only Identification with Commitment-one of the five parental identity processes-measured before birth predicted personal growth after birth for both genders. Among men, increases in three of these processes were associated with decreases in personal growth. Conclusions: These findings highlight the complex and gendered relationship between parental identity development and personal growth during the transition to parenthood, suggesting that these two frameworks are mutually informative: parental identity processes predict the emergence of personal growth, while personal growth outcomes reveal the complexity and nuance of parental identity formation during this pivotal period.

BACKGROUND:Academic achievement goals are important for student outcomes, including their well-being, collaboration with peers, and academic achievement. Theory and research also indicate that achievement goals are linked to students' social context, playing a role in forming and maintaining peer relationships within the school environment. AIMS:We examined relationships between students' achievement goals and their positioning in social networks. Specifically, we hypothesized that mastery approach goals are positively associated, and performance avoidance goals are negatively associated with social network centrality in the classroom. SAMPLE:472 high-school students (52% female; Mage = 15.71) from 23 classrooms participated in the study. METHODS:Multilevel Social Network Analysis examined relationships between academic achievement goals and social network centrality calculated based on sociometric data. RESULTS:Students with higher levels of mastery approach goals tended to be more central in the classroom, reaching out to more peers (out-degree), closer to their peers (closeness) and connecting classmates who are not directly connected (betweenness). On the other hand, students with higher levels of performance avoidance goals reached out to more classmates (out-degree) but were reached out to less by their peers (in-degree). CONCLUSIONS:Students with enhanced performance avoidance goals might try to engage in more social interactions with their peers, but these attempts appear to be ineffective. These findings help illustrate the contribution of achievement goals to students' social positioning in the classroom and provide insight for interventions to support both adaptive achievement goals and central social positioning in the classroom.

The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS) is a widely used measure aimed at assessing five identity processes (Exploration in Breadth, Commitment Making, Exploration in Depth, Identification with Commitment and Ruminative Exploration). Combining individuals' scores across these processes allows the identification of six distinct identity statuses. Originally developed in the context of nonspecific plans for the future, the scale was later adapted to examine specific identity-domains. The purpose of the current study was to adapt the DIDS to measure parental identity (DIDS-PI) and validate both its dimensions and clusters. Our sample included current (N = 360, 58.3% women, mean age = 34.7) and expectant (N = 171, 56.7% women, mean age = 30.7) Israeli parents, who completed DIDS-PI and a self-report Personal Growth questionnaire. Results demonstrated that the hypothesized five-dimensional model fit the data well for both groups. Cluster analysis further indicated that a six-cluster solution provided the best fit across groups. Personal Growth correlated with identity statuses among current parents, which supported the scale's convergent validity. The findings suggest that the DIDS-PI is a reliable tool for assessing parental identity development in current parents, with preliminary evidence supporting its use among expectant parents, though further validation is needed.

The importance of students' goal pursuit is well documented, yet little is known about how motivations of significant peers relate to students' individual goals. Accordingly, we investigated relationships between student's perceptions of peers' goals, peers' reported goals, and individual achievement goals of 472 Israeli high-school students in 26 classrooms. Both goals of the social peer-group (i.e., group of classmates a student spends much time with), and all classmates' goals were related to individual goals. Individual mastery goals had stronger links with social peer-group's mastery goals than with all classmates' mastery goals. Perceived peer goals were significantly related to individual goals after accounting for classmates' and social group's goals, suggesting that both perceived and actual reports are informative, likely targeting different processes of peer-group influence. Simultaneous examination of all classmates' and of particular social groups' goals suggests that focusing on certain groups rather than the entire classroom is beneficial when promoting mastery.

Achievement goals are associated with varied students’ outcomes, such as academic achievement and well-being. Exploring factors shaping adolescents’ achievement goals, such as perceptions of significant others’ goals, may benefit efforts to advance positive student outcomes. Prior research focuses on perceived teacher goals and considerably less on perceived peer goals. Even rarer are studies of variation in teachers’ and peers’ achievement goals over time. High-school students (N = 588; 53% female) completed questionnaires regarding their achievement goals and perceived teacher and peer goals, twice, six months apart. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that perceived teachers’ mastery goals predicted increased student mastery goals and perceived teachers’ performance goals predicted decreased student mastery goals. Perceived peer mastery goals predicted decreased performance goals and perceived peers’ performance goals predicted increased students’ performance goals. Half-longitudinal mediation analyses revealed that perceived peer mastery goals mediated the relationship between perceived peer performance goals and achievement goals. Results demonstrate that teacher and peer perceived goals predict changes in students’ achievement goals differently. Awareness of class motivational dynamics and adaptation of classroom practice to encourage a group climate of peer mastery goals among students, alongside emphasizing mastery goals for individual students, will likely help promote beneficial achievement goals in students.

Immigrant students bring to school multiple identities, shaped by language exposure at home and in school. The present study examined the relationship between the multiple identities of 264 immigrant students' and their classroom engagement. Participants from French (n = 105), Russian (n = 63), English (n = 55) and Kuki (n = 41) speaking backgrounds in elementary, middle and high schools rated their current, preferred and future Israeli and heritage identities. Five identity clusters emerged: Strong Israeli (n = 27), Future Israeli (n = 43), Bicultural (n = 96), Current home (n = 49) and Strong home identity (n = 49). No differences were found among immigrant groups in terms of the identity cluster they fall under except for Kuki-Hebrew immigrants. Classroom engagement as measured by class attendance, participation, textbook use and assignment submission differed for the different identity clusters. Bicultural and Future Israeli identity clusters showed the highest engagement levels. Furthermore, younger students who opted for Current home identity exhibited the lowest engagement levels. The discussion argues for a multiple identities approach, challenging the conventional Home-School dichotomy used to study identity. This approach proposes using pedagogical approaches, such as translanguaging, to foster a sense of belonging and promote achievement among immigrant students by acknowledging their diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

AbstractObjectiveGuided by Self‐Determination Theory, the study explored how maternal and paternal prenatal childbearing motivations relate to toddlers' adjustment via parental competence and parenting style.BackgroundAlthough considerable research shows consistent effects of parenting styles on child adjustment, why some parents adopt any specific style is unclear. To explore this, two broad types of childbearing motivations (autonomous and controlled) were conceptualized as early markers of parental competence, specific parenting styles, and subsequent child adjustment.MethodOne‐hundred and fifty‐five married, heterosexual, Israeli couples (N = 310) participated in a 2‐year longitudinal study from pregnancy through 20 months postpartum. Childbearing motivations were measured during pregnancy (T1), parental competence at 4 months postpartum (T2), and parenting styles and child behavior problems at 20 months postpartum (T3).ResultsA dyadic longitudinal path model revealed that childbearing motivations of both parents were positively associated with an adaptive, authoritative parenting style via parental competence. Moderate indirect effects of controlled childbearing motivations on toddlers' behavior problems were evident through the less adaptive—authoritarian and permissive—parenting styles.ConclusionThis study underscores the importance of childbearing motivations as early indicators of future parenting styles and child adjustment and sheds light on parenting as a complex dyadic process.

Our study examined how students’ perceived teacher beliefs and classroom goal structures, gender (of teachers and students) and own perceived talent, controlling for prior achievements, together explained motivational outcomes of students’ achievement goals, intrinsic value and enrollment choices in mathematics and English. Participants were 1086 grades 9–11 students (respective N s = 380, 369, 337) from 3 coeducational middle-class schools in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed student-perceived teacher beliefs as the most consistent predictor of motivational outcomes in mathematics and English, over and above the effects of other measured influences. Perceived teacher beliefs moderated the effects of classroom goal structures, as well as relationships of gender with motivational outcomes in English. Grade-level effects were more positive among older students which coincided with the grade 11 transition.

Adolescents' academic achievement goals are associated with their perceptions of teacher and peer goals. Earlier research focused on perceived teacher goals, mostly disregarding perceived peer goals' effects. However, since peer-group influence becomes prominent during adolescence, research on students' perceptions of both peer and teacher goals should contribute to understanding achievement goals. Our main hypothesis was that perceived peer goals mediate the relationship between perceived teacher goals and students' achievement goals. The research comprised three independent studies: a pilot study (N = 183) validated a measure of perceived peer goals adapted for this study. Study 1 (N = 122) found that perceived peer goals explained more variance in students' achievement goals than did perceived teacher goals. Study 2 (N = 415) showed that perceived peer goals fully mediated the relationship between perceived teacher goals and students' achievement goals. These results demonstrated that the simultaneous examination of perceptions of peers and teachers enhances our theoretical understanding of significant others' goals' relationships with student achievement goals. Researchers and practitioners may benefit from considering the interdependence between social and academic aspects of motivation in classrooms.

Objective Guided by Self-Determination Theory, the study explored how maternal and paternal prenatal childbearing motivations relate to toddlers' adjustment via parental competence and parenting style.Background Although considerable research shows consistent effects of parenting styles on child adjustment, why some parents adopt any specific style is unclear. To explore this, two broad types of childbearing motivations (autonomous and controlled) were conceptualized as early markers of parental competence, specific parenting styles, and subsequent child adjustment.Method One-hundred and fifty-five married, heterosexual, Israeli couples (N = 310) participated in a 2-year longitudinal study from pregnancy through 20 months postpartum. Childbearing motivations were measured during pregnancy (T1), parental competence at 4 months postpartum (T2), and parenting styles and child behavior problems at 20 months postpartum (T3).Results A dyadic longitudinal path model revealed that childbearing motivations of both parents were positively associated with an adaptive, authoritative parenting style via parental competence. Moderate indirect effects of controlled childbearing motivations on toddlers' behavior problems were evident through the less adaptive-authoritarian and permissive-parenting styles.Conclusion This study underscores the importance of childbearing motivations as early indicators of future parenting styles and child adjustment and sheds light on parenting as a complex dyadic process.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a global crisis, with profound implications on public mental health. The current review focuses on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of mothers and their infants during pregnancy and shortly after delivery. Literature shows that in similar disaster situations, mothers' stress reaction and mental health have a critical impact on infant development. Research data on perinatal mental health during the current COVID-19 pandemic is reviewed in conjunction with studies on the relationship between maternal stress, infant development, and psychopathology. Recommendations for perinatal mental health enhancement are discussed and topics for future research suggested.

This study explored whether personal attitudes toward drug users are associated with professional approaches and whether the association between personal and professional attitudes varies across different mental health professions. Participants (N = 347) included medical (psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses) and other (clinical psychologists and social workers) mental health professions from all 13 mental health centers in Israel. They completed questionnaires aimed to assess familiarity with medical usage of hallucinogenic drugs, personal attitudes toward recreational drug users and willingness to use five hallucinogens in research of clinical practice. Hypotheses were tested using multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM). Psychiatrists reported the highest levels of familiarity with and willingness to use all types of hallucinogenic drugs, as compared to other mental health professionals. Psychiatrists held the strongest belief in the potential utility of hallucinogenic drugs; yet, their personal attitudes toward drug users affected negatively their willingness to try hallucinogenic drugs in clinical practice. This was the only significant association that was found. Future research and treatment programs should address the topic of hallucinogenic drug therapy, and specifically the need to separate between individual beliefs and professional clinical decision-making.

Previous research revealed that internalized symptoms of depression and anxiety are associated with adolescents' academic motivation. However, a gap remains regarding the longitudinal relationships between students internalized symptoms and their motivational functioning. Using achievement goals to conceptualize motivational functioning, this study examined the longitudinal relationships between adolescents' trajectories of achievement goals and their symptoms of depression and anxiety over a 6-year period. The sample included 762 students (55% girls) who completed an annual survey across adolescence (M-age at Time 1 = 11.80 years, SD = 0.44). Growth curve analyses with time-varying covariates revealed that an increase in students' depression symptoms predicted a decrease in their mastery goals, while an increase in their anxiety symptoms predicted an increase in their performance-approach and avoidance goals. Results were robust when controlling for students' gender, perceived classroom goal structures, and age. These findings corroborate, from a longitudinal perspective, theoretical frameworks that linked student motivation and emotions, and emphasize the importance of considering trajectories of adolescent symptoms of depression and anxiety in understanding their motivational development across adolescence.

Engaging students in inquiry is a key component in order to fulfill essential goals in science education. To achieve successful engagement in inquiry process, students need to feel competent and autonomous in spite of the cognitive and mental challenges the process entails. The study focuses on the problematizing mechanisms of scaffolds and highlights the centrality of metacognition in the inquiry process. The study's primary goal was to examine how providing students involved in inquiry with individual, social, or a combination of both metacognitive scaffoldings affected their expressions of competence and autonomy. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, we examined middle-school students' expressions of competence and autonomy in an online asynchronous forum that accompanied a year-long socio-scientific inquiry process. The process included four research conditions which differed by the metacognitive scaffolding students received: only individual, only social, both individual and social, and no metacognitive scaffolds. Although no significance difference was observed in students' expressions of competence in the initial phases of the inquiry among the research groups, students who received individual or social metacognitive scaffolding increased these expressions as they progressed through the process. Expressions of competence by students who received a combination of both types of support remained constant. In contrast, a significant decrease in students' expressions of competence was observed in the control group. Regarding autonomy, students' expressions of autonomy from all scaffolded conditions remained constant throughout the inquiry process, except for a significant decrease, experienced by students in the control group. The results are discussed through the lens of problematizing mechanism by which metacognitive scaffolding operate.

Background: Previous studies indicated that perception of school experiences (i.e., teachers' psychological support and perceived peer climate) is associated with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors among adolescents. Aims: The purpose of the current study was to explore whether depression symptoms mediate the relationship between sense of loneliness in school and NSSI behaviors among adolescents. Method: The sample included high-school students (N = 306; 51.6% girls) who completed surveys assessing their subjective sense of loneliness (feeling lonely, spending their time alone in school, and reporting a small number of friends), depression symptoms, and NSSI behaviors. Results: Multiple-group structural equation modeling, stratified by gender, supported the hypothesized model. Sense of loneliness was associated with depression symptoms, which in turn were associated with NSSI. Positive school attitudes were associated with depression symptoms only for girls. Results were robust when controlling for the relationships with parents. Limitations: The study is based on cross-sectional data, which limits the ability to make causal conclusions, and the instruments are based on self-report scales. Conclusion: Mental health professional are advised to note the significant role of subjective sense of loneliness in school as a possible risk factor for depression symptoms, which may be associated with NSSI behaviors.

To have a child is among individuals' most important and meaningful decisions, with far-reaching implications. Despite evidence linking this decision to a wide variety of consequences, little is known about what motivates people to have children, and even less so about the long-term effects of different childbearing motivations on parenting and child adjustment. This study took a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, examining how prenatal maternal autonomous and controlled childbearing motivations are related to child behavior problems through parenting styles. The rationale was that prenatal autonomous (sense of volition and self-fulfillment) and controlled (feeling pressured) childbearing motivations would shape later parental styles (autonomy-supportive vs. controlling, respectively) and, consequently, child adjustment. Over a period of 2 years beginning at pregnancy, 326 Israeli mothers reported their prenatal childbearing motivations, as well as parental styles and child behavior problems 20 months postpartum. Results of a path analysis revealed that prenatal autonomous childbearing motivation predicted autonomy-supportive parenting, yet the latter was not associated with children's behavior problems. Prenatal controlled motivation predicted controlling parenting, which, in turn, predicted children's internalizing and externalizing problems. No direct effects of childbearing motivation on children's behavior problems are observed, suggesting that childbearing motivation is a distal antecedent operating through more proximal factors such as parenting style. Findings were robust to children's temperamental tendencies and sociodemographic risk factors such as maternal age, high-risk pregnancy, and preterm birth. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for the discourse on motivations underlying the childbearing decision and their effects on parenting and child adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The purpose of the current study was to explore whether depression symptoms mediate the relationships between perceptions of social support from three sources; namely parents, teachers, and peers, and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation. We also tested the interactions between the different sources of support. Focusing on the Arab-Israeli population is unique as it is an ethnic minority characterized with strong familial support, and less access to mental health services compared to the ethnic majority. Adolescents (N = 276; 65.6% girls; mean age 15.1 years) from the Arab minority in northern Israel were sampled (74% response rate). Participants were evaluated using validated scales assessing perceived social support, NSSI and suicidal ideation. Path analysis with Bayesian estimation supported the hypothesized model. Depression symptoms fully mediated the relationships between school-related social support (i.e., teachers and peers) and NSSI, and partially between parents’ support and suicidal ideation. Interactions between the social support sources were not significant, and cluster analysis indicated that each source is independently essential to understand NSSI and suicide ideation. This model emphasizes the importance of school-related factors in adolescents’ particular aspects of mental health, and suggests that one source of social support may not compensate for a lack of another.

Objective: Parents of adolescents with mental problems do not always recognize the symptoms in their children, particularly regarding depression, and therefore do not seek professional help. Adolescents themselves tend to seek help from school personnel for their emotional or social difficulties. In contrast, adolescents do report somatic complaints and parents are likely to seek help for these problems. The current study explored whether the divergence between maternal and child reports of depression symptoms is associated with child's help seeking in school and patterns of somatic complaints. Method: A sample of 9th grade students (N = 693; 56% girls; mean age = 15.1) and their mothers representing the Muslim and Druze populations in northern Israel were interviewed simultaneously and independently. Maternal reports were classified either as underestimating, matching, or overestimating their own child self report of three core symptoms of depression (depressed mood, anhedonia, and irritability). Adolescents reported whether they had consulted school staff and were classified into clusters based on self-reported somatic complaints. Results: Maternal misidentification of their child's depression symptoms was associated with increased help seeking in school, particularly by boys if depressed mood or irritability were misidentified and particularly by girls if anhedonia was misidentified. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that the number and severity of somatic complaints was higher among adolescents whose depression symptoms were not identified, regardless of gender. Conclusion: Mental health professionals, educators and parents should be aware that adolescents may attempt to communicate their emotional difficulties through somatic complaints and by seeking help in school.

Methylphenidate (MPH) is a common and effective treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but little is known about the relationship between early childhood intake of MPH and onset of antidepressant treatment during adolescence. The study aimed to examine whether adherence to MPH during early childhood predicts the initiation of antidepressants during adolescence. This is a 12-year historical prospective nationwide cohort study of children enrolled in an integrated care system who were first prescribed MPH between the ages of 6 and 8 years (N = 6830). We tested for an association between their adherence to MPH during early childhood (as indicated by medication possession ratio from MPH onset through the age of twelve) and the likelihood of being prescribed any antidepressant during adolescence (age 13–18). As all country citizens are covered by mandatory health insurance, and full services are provided by one of the four integrated care systems, data regarding patients’ diagnoses, prescriptions, and medical purchases are well documented. Logistic regression analysis indicated that those with higher adherence to MPH had a 50% higher risk (95% CI 1.16–1.93) of receiving antidepressants during adolescence when controlling for other comorbid psychiatric conditions and parental use of antidepressants. In this large-scale longitudinal study, MPH adherence during early childhood emerged as a predictor for antidepressant treatment during adolescence, which may reflect increased emotional and behavioral dysregulation in this group. The highly adherent patients are at higher risk and should be clinically monitored more closely, particularly into adolescence.

Children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are advised to study in quiet settings; yet, many professionals assert that environments devoid of external stimulus, are often unnecessary to facilitate optimal learning conditions. Empirical controlled trials examining this assertion are scarce. This study explored whether music improves reading performance of preadolescents with ADHD compared with typically developed (TD) peers, and its correlation with changes in heart rate variability (HRV), an autonomic nervous system indicator. After a pilot phase (N = 20; age = 12.05), additional independent sample of ADHD (n = 25; age = 10.28) and TD (n = 25; age = 10.44) preadolescents completed reading tasks under four conditions: without background music, with calm music without lyrics, calm music with lyrics, and rhythmic music with lyrics. Reading comprehension and mean-levels of HRV changes (before and during each task) were assessed using validated instruments. Reading comprehension significantly improved under the music conditions in ADHD group and deteriorated among TD. Differences in HRV changes were significant between groups, and explained reading performance. These findings suggest that music may improve attentive skills of preadolescents with ADHD, but not TD, and urge the need to identify an optimal fit between individual and contextual characteristics.