This study used a person-centered approach to identify adolescents' peer status profiles and examined how these profiles differed regarding the development of school engagement and loneliness. A sample of 794 adolescents was followed from Grades 7 to 11 (MageWave1 = 13.81 years). Measures included peer nominations of peer status, and student reports of school engagement and peer-related loneliness. Latent class growth analysis identified three profiles: popular-liked, unpopular-disliked, and normative. The popular-liked class revealed the lowest levels of behavioral engagement and loneliness. The unpopular-disliked class had higher levels of behavioral engagement, less steep increases in behavioral disaffection, and showed more loneliness. The normative class revealed moderate trajectories of engagement and loneliness. Moreover, boys and girls differed in their academic and psychosocial development. Implications of the findings for school practitioners are discussed.

Internalizing symptoms, such as depressive and anxiety symptoms are prevalent in adolescence. We examined the mediational role of two self-esteem dimensions, that is, level and contingency, in comprehensive models linking parenting to adolescent internalizing symptoms. Using a cross-sectional design, a large sample of secondary school students (N = 1958; 56.28% female; mean age = 15.31 years) completed questionnaires on maternal responsiveness, psychological control, conditional regard, as well as on their own self-esteem, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Analyses yielded both direct and indirect effects of adolescent-reported parenting on internalizing symptoms. More perceived responsiveness was uniquely associated with higher self-esteem level which, in turn, predicted less depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived conditional negative and positive regard and psychological control were uniquely related to self-esteem level (negative relations) and contingency (positive relations) which, in turn, predicted more internalizing symptoms. In general, our study supported the mediational role of self-esteem level and contingency in the link between parenting and internalizing symptoms. Whereas low self-esteem increased adolescents' vulnerability for both depressive and anxiety symptoms, high self-esteem contingency appeared as a unique vulnerability factor for anxiety symptoms.

Conditional regard refers to regard dependent upon the receiver’s fulfillment of certain expectations. Using an experimental design, we examined the effect of conditional negative and positive regard on well-being and eagerness to learn in university freshmen ('N' = 131). Participants experienced either failure or success followed by conditional vs. unconditional regard. As expected, success and failure had opposite effects on well-being and eagerness to learn. More importantly, there was an increase in positive affect following success in the context of conditional regard, but not in the context of unconditional regard. Additionally, the decrease in positive affect following failure was more pronounced when accompanied by conditional as compared to unconditional regard. Conditional regard thus magnified the impact of success versus failure on students’ emotional experiences.

Social relationships can serve as important risk or protective factors for child development in general, and academic adjustment in particular. This study investigated the role of teacher–child interactions in academic adjustment among preschool boys at risk of externalizing behaviour, using a randomized controlled trial study with Playing-2-gether (P2G), a 12-week indicated two-component intervention aimed at improving the affective quality of the teacher–child relationship and teacher behaviour management. In a sample of 175 preschool boys showing signs of externalizing behaviour ( M age  = 4 years, 9 months, SD age   = 7 months) and their teachers, we investigated P2G effects on academic engagement as well as on language achievement. Academic engagement was rated by teachers at three occasions within one school year (T1 = pretest, T3 = post-test, and T2 = in-between intervention components). Language achievement was assessed by researchers at pre- and post-test, using a standardized test. Cross-lagged path analyses revealed a direct intervention effect of P2G on academic engagement at Time 2. In addition, a significant indirect intervention effect was found on academic engagement at Time 3 through academic engagement at Time 2. Finally, academic engagement at Time 2 was found to predict language achievement at post-test. A marginally significant indirect intervention effect was found on language achievement at Time 3, through academic engagement at Time 2. This intervention study suggests that teacher–child interactions predict academic engagement over time, which in turn improves language achievement among preschool boys at risk of externalizing behaviour.

The present article examined the development of relational aggression in middle childhood and the effects of observed teacher behavior on this development. Relying on social learning theory, we expected that teacher praise would slow down the increase of relational aggression, whereas teacher reprimands would promote the increase of relational aggression. A sample of 570 children (49% boys, Mage=7years and 5months, >95% Belgian) was followed from second to fourth grade. Teacher praise and reprimands were observed at the beginning of second grade. Child relational aggression was assessed using teacher and peer reports, collected at five points in time: at the beginning and end of the second grade, at the beginning and end of the third grade, and at the end of the fourth grade. Multilevel modeling showed that relational aggression generally increased from second to fourth grade. Moreover, when teachers displayed more praise, students' relational aggression increased at a slower rate; when teachers displayed more reprimands, students' relational aggression increased at a faster rate. Overall, the results stress the importance of supporting teachers to reduce reprimands and increase praise when interacting with children.

BACKGROUND:Social relationships can serve as important risk or protective factors for child development in general, and academic adjustment in particular.AIMS:This study investigated the role of teacher-child interactions in academic adjustment among preschool boys at risk of externalizing behaviour, using a randomized controlled trial study with Playing-2-gether (P2G), a 12-week indicated two-component intervention aimed at improving the affective quality of the teacher-child relationship and teacher behaviour management.SAMPLE:In a sample of 175 preschool boys showing signs of externalizing behaviour (Mage  = 4 years, 9 months, SDage  = 7 months) and their teachers, we investigated P2G effects on academic engagement as well as on language achievement.METHODS:Academic engagement was rated by teachers at three occasions within one school year (T1 = pretest, T3 = post-test, and T2 = in-between intervention components). Language achievement was assessed by researchers at pre- and post-test, using a standardized test.RESULTS:Cross-lagged path analyses revealed a direct intervention effect of P2G on academic engagement at Time 2. In addition, a significant indirect intervention effect was found on academic engagement at Time 3 through academic engagement at Time 2. Finally, academic engagement at Time 2 was found to predict language achievement at post-test. A marginally significant indirect intervention effect was found on language achievement at Time 3, through academic engagement at Time 2.CONCLUSIONS:This intervention study suggests that teacher-child interactions predict academic engagement over time, which in turn improves language achievement among preschool boys at risk of externalizing behaviour.

Although recent studies have found contingent self-esteem (CSE) to be negatively related to individuals’ well-being, research concerning its implications for motivation and engagement is scarce. In two studies, we investigated the relation between CSE, motivation, and engagement in achievement-related situations. A first cross-sectional study among second year high school students (N = 641; 54.1% female) confirmed the hypothesized motivational ambiguity associated with academic CSE. Beyond the contribution of academic self-esteem, academic CSE was positively related to behavioral and emotional engagement, but also to emotional disaffection and test anxiety. These associations could partially be explained by motivational quality, as CSE was also positively related to both autonomous and controlled types of motivation. In a second experimental study among university students (N = 72; 70.8% female), who participated in a tangram puzzle task under varying feedback circumstances, global CSE related to more tension, while predicting less behavioral task perseverance. These effects were not moderated by the type of feedback provided (i.e., positive vs. negative). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Self-esteem (SE) contingency refers to the extent to which one's level of self-esteem depends on meeting certain internal or external criteria and has been identified as a psychological risk factor. Addressing limitations of existing SE contingency questionnaires, we developed a domain-specific situation-response questionnaire for adolescents that (1) measures SE contingency in domains which are considered important for adolescents, based on multidimensional self-concept models, and (2) includes balanced numbers of positive and negative items per domain, allowing to distinguish between upward and downward contingencies. The current findings support the reliability and validity of the new 24-item questionnaire in a sample of high school students (N=599, age range 15–22). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the 4 (domains)×2 (valence) structure of our questionnaire and its convergent and discriminant validity was established. Finally, external validity was supported by finding the expected associations with psychological control and depressive symptoms.

Given its eminent role in student learning and development, it is important to understand how academic self-concept (i.e., how one perceives oneself in an academic context) is formed. Both internal and external comparisons are considered crucial antecedents: Students form their academic self-concept to a considerable extent by (externally) comparing themselves with others and by (internally) comparing their own performance in different academic domains. Building on previous research in secondary education, the main goal of this study is to test a model integrating both comparison processes in elementary education using a large sample of Grade 4 students (N = 4,436) nested in 241 classes. Including the proposed internal and external reference effects in one integrated model, the study provided evidence for the presence of both comparison effects on two academic self-concept domains (i.e., math and verbal self-concept). Specifically, students' achievement in one domain was positively related to self-concept in that domain and negatively related to self-concept in the other domain. Additionally, class-average achievement was negatively related to academic self-concept within each domain and positively across domains. In conclusion, this study stresses the need for further integration of the major models on academic self-concept formation in a unifying theoretical framework. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

According to the big-fish-little-pond (BFLP) model, the self-concept is not only influenced in a positive way by one's own achievement, but also in a negative way by one's relative achievement in comparison with one's immediate peers. This study investigates whether the BFLP effect also holds for second language acquisition. A random sample of 9167 Dutch-speaking students from Grade 8 took a reading comprehension test in French followed by a short background questionnaire in which they were asked for their self-concept of reading French. Multilevel regressions of the latter on individual and group achievement confirmed the BFLP effect but did not confirm an interaction of the effect with gender, individual achievement or class size. Moreover, in line with the local dominance hypothesis, it was shown that the negative effect of the average performance of peers is stronger for classmates than for schoolmates.

The school-based Playing-2-gether is a 12-week intervention with two components aimed at decreasing child externalizing behavior through improving teacher-child interactions. The first component is rooted in attachment theory and aimed at enhancing teacher-child relationship quality, and the second is based on learning theory and aimed at improving teachers' behavior management. In this three-wave randomized study, effects of Playing-2-gether on the teacher-child relationship quality and on teacher-rated child behavioral adjustment were investigated. To this aim, 175 dyads consisting of male preschoolers with relatively high levels of externalizing problem behavior and their teachers were randomly assigned to Playing-2-gether (n = 89) or an education-as-usual control condition (n = 86). Teacher-rated questionnaires were collected at pre-test, after the first intervention component, and at post-test. At post-test, the intervention group showed a larger decrease in teacher-child conflict, child conduct problems, and child hyperactivity/inattention. Supplementary analyses showed that all positive effects were already visible after the first intervention component and that teacher-child conflict, child conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention did not further reduce during the second component. In addition, an increase in closeness was found following the first component, but subsequently disappeared at post-test.

Parental self-criticism and dependency, referring to maladaptive expressions of self-definition issues and relatedness, respectively, confer vulnerability to psychopathology in the transition to parenthood, in part through their association with stress generation. This prospective study is the first to study the intergenerational transmission of vulnerability to distress associated with these stress-generation effects from first-time parents to offspring. Mother- and father-reported data concerning parental self-criticism, dependency, depression, parenting stress and child negative affectivity (N=121), measured when their child was in infancy and again 1year later, were analysed using multilevel structural equation modelling. Results showed that parenting stress partially mediated the relation between parents' self-criticism and child negative affectivity over time. Dependency, in contrast, did not show direct or indirect effects on child negative affectivity, and was characterized by small stress-generation effects. No child-to-parent effects were found. These findings shed new light on the intergenerational transmission of vulnerability to distress associated with both personality dimensions, with self-criticism having greater negative effects than dependency on vulnerability to distress in offspring.