Motivational factors, school atmosphere, and SES: Determinants of children's probability task performance

Resilient Hispanic Youths' Self-Concept and Motivational Patterns

This is a study of 36 Hispanic youths taken from a pool of 123 Hispanic youths. It examines the role of self-concept, motivation, and environmentalfacilitation in ameliorating risk and promoting resiliency. For the purposes of this study, high school sophomore youths from impoverished, stressful backgrounds with grade point averages of 2.75 or above were considered academically resilient. This study differs from traditional and contemporary studies of resilience in that itfocuses on academic competence rather than on social competence. Self-concept and motivation are measured by the High School Assessment of Academic Self-Concept and the Assessment of Personal Agency Beliefs. The findings of this study indicate that resilient youths'self-concepts differfrom the nonresilient youths'self-concepts in the cognitive and belongingness areas. Findings also show that the school environment is supportive of theyouths'personal and social needs. However, it does not support their cognitive, belongingness, and extracurricular needs.

The Effect of School Culture on Adolescent Behavioural Problems: SelfEsteem, Attachment to Learning, and Peer Approval of Deviance as Mediating Mechanisms

Adopting a social ecological perspective, this study examined the role of adolescent personality and social traits as mediating mechanisms linking school culture with adolescent behavioural problems. Data were obtained from the self-reports of 1,100 grade nine students attending four southern Ontario high schools. Structural equation model results revealed that student exposure to an unfavourable school culture (marked by perceptions of low teacher and classmate support, student conflict, unfair school rules and disciplinary practices, and low student autonomy in school decision-making and affairs) was positively associated with low attachment to learning and peer approval of deviance each of which were positively associated with disciplinary problems, conduct disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity, and substance use. Low self-esteem emerged as a significant mediator in two models. Significant direct effects of school culture were found for most outcomes. Discussion focused on the significance of study findings for future program development and research.

Vulnerability and resilience: a study of high-risk adolescents

Factors that allow children to maintain socially competent behaviors despite stress were examined among 144 inner-city ninth-grade students with a mean age of 15.3 years. Stress was operationalized by scores on a negative life events scale, and definitions of social competence were based on peer ratings, teacher ratings, and school grades. Moderator variables examined included intelligence, internal locus of control, social skills, ego development, and positive life events. Following theoretical models by Garmezy and Rutter, distinctions were made between compensatory factors (which are directly related to competence) and protective/vulnerability factors (which interact with stress in influencing competence). Ego development was found to be compensatory against stress. Internality and social skills proved to be protective factors, while intelligence and positive events were involved in vulnerability processes. This study also revealed that children labeled as resilient were significantly more depressed and anxious than were competent children from low stress backgrounds.