What maternal educational mobility tells us about the mother's parenting routines, offspring school achievement and intelligence

BACKGROUND

Educational mobility at the macro-level is a common measure of social inequality. Nonetheless, the correlates of mobility of education at the individual level are less well studied. We evaluated whether educational mobility of the second generation (compared to the first generation level) predicts differences in parenting practices of the second generation and school achievement and intelligence in the third generation.

METHODS

Data from a population-based cohort of children in the Netherlands (N = 3547; 49.4% boys) were analyzed. Maternal, grandparental education and family routines, a parenting practice, were reported by the mother. Child school achievement at the end of primary school (∼12 years, with the national Dutch academic test score) and child intelligence (∼6 and 13 years) were measured in a standardized manner. Also, a child genome-wide polygenic score of academic attainment was calculated. To estimate the effect of educational mobility, inverse probability-weighted linear models and Diagonal Reference Models (DRM) were used.

RESULTS

Upward maternal educational mobility was associated with better offspring school achievement, higher intelligence, and more family routines if compared to offspring of mothers with no upward mobility. However, mothers did not implement the same level of family routines as similarly educated mothers and grandfathers who already had achieved this educational level. Likewise, children of mothers with upward educational mobility had lower school achievement and intelligence than children of similarly educated mothers with no mobility. Child's genetic potential for education followed a similar association pattern with higher potential in children of upward mobile mothers.

CONCLUSION

Policymakers might overlook social inequalities when focused on parental socioeconomic status. Grandparental socioeconomic status, which independently predicts child school achievement, intelligence, and parental family routines, should also be assessed. The child's genetic endowment reflects the propensity for education across generations that partly underlies mobility and some of its effect on the offspring.

The Sustained Effects of Achievement Goal Profiles on School Achievement across the Transition to Secondary School

Achievement goals play an important role in activating and sustaining students' ongoing motivation, emotional well-being, and achievement attainment over time. However, little is known empirically about the sustained effects of achievement goal profiles on students' subsequent school achievement, especially for early adolescents during the educational transition. Based on 1764 German students (M_age = 10.47, SD = 0.56; 50.6% female) who participated in a 3-year longitudinal study from Grade 4 to Grade 6, the present research aimed to examine the role of students' achievement goal profiles in the final year of elementary school in predicting their school achievement one year and two years after the transition to secondary school. Results of regression models showed that endorsing a mastery-oriented profile (vs. a high multiple profile or a low mastery profile) at the end of elementary school predicted higher German grades one year and two years after the transition to secondary school even after controlling for their prior achievement and basic cognitive abilities. Moreover, the sustained beneficial effects of a mastery-oriented profile (vs. a low mastery profile) on students' achievement gains can be explained by their higher joy of learning. These results indicate that a mastery-oriented profile in elementary school can be considered an important personal factor that facilitates students' smooth sailing after the transition to secondary school.

School Achievement and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: The Role of Self-efficacy and Peer Relationships at School

Depressive symptoms are common during adolescence. Failure at school often relates to low self-efficacy that, in turn, is associated with depressive symptoms. Several studies have supported the role of friends in counteracting depression in adolescence. The present study tested a mediation model in which the indirect effect between school achievement and depressive symptoms, mediated by perceived self-efficacy, was moderated by peer relationships at school. Self-report questionnaires were administered to 1004 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years (M = 15.5; SD = 1.2). The moderated mediation model showed that the mediation of self-efficacy in the relation between school achievement and depressive symptoms was moderated by peer relationships. Higher self-efficacy was associated to lower depressive symptoms, in particular in adolescents with more school friends. Conversely, the magnitude of this association is weaker for those with fewer school friends. Programs aimed at reducing psychological malaise should focus on fostering positive relationships among classmates.

Educational gains of in-person vs. distance learning in primary and secondary schools: A natural experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic school closures in Switzerland

Using data from a computer‐based formative feedback system, we compare learning gains in the 8 weeks of school closures related to the COVID‐19 pandemic in Switzerland with learning gains in the 8 weeks before these school closures. The school performance in mathematics and language of N = 28,685 pupils is modelled in second‐order piecewise latent growth models with strict measurement invariance for the two periods under investigation. While secondary school pupils remain largely unaffected by the school closures in terms of learning gains, for primary school pupils learning slows down and at the same time interindividual variance in learning gains increases. Distance learning arrangements seem an effective means to substitute for in‐person learning, at least in an emergency situation, but not all pupils benefit to the same degree.

The Moderating Influence of School Achievement on Intelligence in Young Adulthood

Education has been suggested to be possibly the most consistent, robust, and durable method available for raising intelligence, but little is known about the genetic and environmental interplay underlying this association. Therefore, we investigated how school achievement, as measured by grade point average in lower secondary school at 15 years of age, moderated intelligence variation in young adulthood. The sample consisted of all Danish male twin pairs who had left lower secondary school since 2002 and appeared, typically at age 18, before a draft board through 2015 (N = 2660). Shared environmental variance unique to intelligence (10% of total variance) was found to be greater among individuals with poor school achievement. However, school achievement did not moderate the genetic influences or the non-shared environmental influences on intelligence. We discuss the implications of this in light of the constraints imposed by the statistical models we used.

Decomposition of income-related inequality in upper secondary school completion in Sweden by mental health, family conditions and contextual characteristics

Background

While previous research has evidently and extensively acknowledged socioeconomic gradients in children's education, we know very little about the determinants of socioeconomic-related inequality in children's education at the population level in Sweden. Therefore, we aimed: (i) to assess the extent of income inequality in upper secondary school completion in Sweden; (ii) to examine the contribution of mental health and other determinants to income inequality; and (iii) to explore gender differences in the magnitude and determinants of the inequalities.

Method

We utilised data from a population-based cohort available in Umeå SIMSAM Lab, linked with several national registries in Sweden. The dataset includes all children who were born in Sweden in 1991 and completed or not completed their upper secondary education in 2010, n = 116,812 (56,612 girls and 60,200 boys). We analysed the data using a Wagstaff-type decomposition method.

Results

The results first show substantial income-related inequality in upper secondary school incompletion concentrated among the poor in the Swedish setting. Second, these inequalities were in turn to a large degree explained jointly by parental, family and child factors; primarily parents' income and education, number of siblings and child's poor mental health. Third, these inferences remained when boys and girls were considered separately, although the determinants explained a greater share of the inequalities in boys than in girls.

Conclusion

Our results highlighted substantial income-related inequality in upper secondary school incompletion concentrated among the poor in the Swedish setting. Apart from family level characteristics, which explained a large portion of the inequalities, mental health problems appeared to be of particular importance as they represent a central target for both increasing the population average in upper secondary school completion and for reducing the gap in income-related inequalities in Sweden.

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Income gradients in upper secondary school completion are well-known.

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What is less known is what determines income-related inequality.

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Mental health increases school completion and reduces income-related inequality.

Acculturation and school adjustment of children and youth from culturally diverse backgrounds: Predictors and interventions for school psychology

In recent decades, classrooms in many countries have become more culturally diverse. However, students from ethnic minorities and students with immigrant backgrounds are at greater risk of lower social, psychological, and academic adjustment than their native peers. Therefore, schools all over the world are challenged by the question of how to help diverse students adjust to school independent of their ethnic background and family resources. The current special issue focuses on how schools and school psychologists can support positive interethnic attitudes and positive relationships in ethnically diverse classrooms as well as individual well-being, belonging, and academic achievement as different facets of school adjustment. The special issue includes three studies with empirical findings on the role of contextual and individual factors for school adjustment among minority and majority youth in diverse school contexts: Geerlings, Thjis, and Verkuyten study the modeling of outgroup attitudes via teachers' attitudes and more or less consistent behavior, Guerra, Rodrigues, Aguiar, Carmona, Alexandre, and Costa Lopes focus on the interplay of acculturation strategies and of perceived discrimination with school achievement and well-being. Caravita, Strohmeier, Salmivalli, and Di Blasio compare bullying and moral disengagement processes in majority and minority children. Five other studies report evaluations of evidence-based interventions that were tested among ethnically diverse youth in different school settings in two European countries, in Israel, and in the US - two on prejudice reduction (Brenick, Lawrence, Carvalheiro & Berger; Mäkinen, Liebkind, Jasinskaja-Lahti, & Renvik), and three on the effects of 'wise interventions' - self-affirmation and belonging interventions - on trust in teachers and behavioral conduct (Binning et al.), on students' sense of belonging and academic outcomes (Marksteiner, Janke, & Dickhäuser), and on math performance of students (Lokhande & Müller). The evaluation studies show differential effects across contexts and samples that point toward important mechanisms and moderators that may help practitioners adjust these programs to specific contexts.

The effect of sleep quality on academic performance is mediated by Internet use time: DADOS study

OBJECTIVE

The aims of the present study were to analyze the association of sleep patterns with academic and cognitive performance in adolescents, and to test the potential mediating effect of different activities of screen media usage on this association.

METHODS

A sample of 269 adolescents (140 boys) aged 14 years from the baseline data of the Deporte, ADOlescencia y Salud study completed questionnaires about sleep quality, cognitive performance, and leisure-time sedentary behaviors. Sleep duration was objectively computed using a wrist-worn GENEActiv accelerometer and academic performance was analyzed through school records.

RESULTS

Sleep quality (but not sleep duration) was associated with all the academic performance indicators (all p<0.05). Analysis of covariance revealed higher grades among adolescents with better sleep quality (PSQI≤5; all p<0.05). These analyses showed no differences regarding cognitive performance. Internet use time was revealed as a mediator of the association between sleep quality and academic performance, being significant for all academic performance indicators (P_M ranging from 15.5% to 16.0%).

CONCLUSIONS

The association between sleep quality and academic performance in adolescents is mediated by time of Internet use. Overall, reducing Internet use in adolescents could be an achievable intervention for improving sleep quality, with potentially positive effects on academic performance.

Implications for school achievement and causality: A commentary

This article is a commentary on a study published in this issue by Levine et al. (2019). They reported that the relation they observed between sex-related discrepancies in success on standardized tests and health outcomes is significant only in males. We suggest that this finding has important implications for educators and future research and we examine possibilities related to sex differences in school achievement. We also offer arguments suggesting that it is premature to propose a causal explanation for the results presented by Levine and colleagues, given that crucial conditions to establish such causality are not met in their studies. We conclude with a proposal for a study that could potentially determine whether the temporal ordering required to establish causality arises in the relation between health outcomes and the sex-related discrepancies.

Polygenic Risk Scores, School Achievement, and Risk for Schizophrenia: A Danish Population-Based Study

BACKGROUND

Studies have suggested that poor school achievement is associated with increased risk of schizophrenia; however, the possible genetic contribution to this association is unknown. We investigated the possible effect of the polygenic risk score (PRS) for schizophrenia (PRS_SCZ) and for educational attainment (PRS_EDU) on the association between school performance and later schizophrenia.

METHODS

We conducted a case-cohort study on a Danish population-based sample born from 1987 to 1995 comprising 1470 individuals with schizophrenia and 7318 subcohort noncases. Genome-wide data, school performance, and family psychiatric and socioeconomic background information were obtained from national registers and neonatal biobanks. PRS_SCZ and PRS_EDU were calculated using discovery effect size estimates from a meta-analysis of 34,600 cases and 45,968 controls and 293,723 individuals.

RESULTS

Higher PRS_SCZ increased the risk (incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19-1.36), whereas higher PRS_EDU decreased the risk of schizophrenia (IRR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.82-0.92) per standard deviation. Not completing primary school and receiving low school marks were associated with increased risk of schizophrenia (IRR, 2.92; 95% CI, 2.37-3.60; and IRR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.27-1.97, respectively), which was not confounded by PRS_SCZ or PRS_EDU. Adjusting for social factors and parental psychiatric history, effects of not completing primary school and receiving low school marks were attenuated by up to 25% (IRR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.75-2.73; and IRR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.11-1.75, respectively). Increasing PRS_EDU correlated with better school performance (p < .01; R² = 7.6%). PRS_SCZ and PRS_EDU was significantly negatively correlated (r = -.31, p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

The current PRS did not account for the observed association between primary school performance and risk of schizophrenia.

Extended physical education in children aged 6-15 years was associated with improved academic achievement in boys

AIM

Physical activity (PA) has been associated with enhanced cognition, brain development and concentration. This study evaluated whether increased physical education (PE) improved academic achievement.

METHODS

We recruited 304 children (55% boys) from a Swedish school in Skane County in 1998-2002 when they were six to seven years of age and followed them through all nine mandatory school years. Their PE level was increased from 60 to 200 minutes per week, and their results were compared with 73 885 control children (51% boys) in the county who graduated in the same years and did the standard 60 minutes of PE per week. Their academic achievements were measured as their final grade scores and the proportion of students eligible for upper secondary school.

RESULTS

The eligibility for further education increased in the intervention boys by 6.8 percentage points and the mean grade score by 12.1 points, while in the control group as a whole, the eligibility rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points and the mean grade score increased by 1.7 points. No changes in eligibility rates or mean grade scores were seen in the intervention girls.

CONCLUSION

Increasing weekly PE over nine years was associated with improved academic achievement in boys.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of screen time and physical activity with school performance at different types of secondary school

Background

Previous studies have already reported associations of media consumption and/or physical activity with school achievement. However, longitudinal studies investigating independent effects of physical activity and media consumption on school performance are sparse. The present study fills this research gap and, furthermore, assesses relationships of the type of secondary school with media consumption and physical activity.

Methods

The consumption of screen-based media (TV/video, game console, PC/internet, and mobile phone) and leisure physical activity (organized and non-organized) of 10 – to 17-year old adolescents participating in the LIFE Child study in Germany were related to their school grades in two major school subjects (Mathematics and German) and in Physical Education. In addition to a cross-sectional analysis at baseline (N = 850), a longitudinal analysis (N = 512) investigated the independent effects of these activities on the school grades achieved 12 months later. All associations were adjusted for age, gender, socio-economic status, year of data assessment, body-mass-index, and school grades at baseline. A further analysis investigated differences in the consumption of screen-based media and physical activity as a function of the type of secondary school (highest vs. lower secondary school).

Results

Adolescents of lower secondary schools reported a significantly higher consumption of TV/video and game consoles than adolescents attending the highest secondary school. Independently of the type of school, a better school performance in Mathematics was predicted by a lower consumption of computers/internet, and a better performance in Physical Education was predicted by a lower consumption of TV/video and a higher frequency of non-organized physical activity. However, the association between non-organized physical activity and subsequent grades in Physical Education was significant in girls only.

Conclusion

The present results suggest that media consumption has a negative effect on school achievement, whereas physical activity has a positive effect, which, however, is restricted to the subject Physical Education. Future studies might explore the relationship between media consumption and school career, for example, the choice or change of the secondary school type, in more detail.

Trial registration

LIFE Child study: ClinicalTrials.gov, clinical trial number NCT02550236

Childhood Obesity, Obesity Treatment Outcome, and Achieved Education: A Prospective Cohort Study

PURPOSE

Childhood obesity represents a social burden. This study aims to investigate whether achieved educational level differs in young adults who have suffered obesity in childhood compared with the general population and to determine how obesity treatment influences achieved educational level.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study includes subjects from the Swedish Childhood Obesity Treatment Registry (BORIS, n = 1,465) who were followed up after 20 years of age. They were compared with a randomly selected matched population-based group (n = 6,979). Achieved educational level was defined as ≥12 years in school (completers). Covariates include sex, migration background, and attention deficit disorders for both groups. Furthermore, age and degree of obesity at start of obesity treatment, treatment duration, and efficacy were analyzed in the obese cohort.

RESULTS

In the obese cohort, 55.4% were school completers, compared with 76.2% in the comparison group (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = .42, p < .0001). Subjects with moderate obesity had a completion rate of 64.4%, compared with 50.9% among subjects with morbid obesity (adjusted OR = .57, p < .0001). Successful obesity treatment was associated with increased future educational level, compared with those experiencing no treatment effect (61.9% vs. 51.3% completers; adjusted OR = 1.4, p < .05). In children with attention deficit disorder, obesity was not an extra risk for not completing 12 or more years of schooling, p = .11.

CONCLUSIONS

Obesity in childhood was associated with low educational level in early adulthood. Children and adolescents with obesity may require special support at school in addition to health care treatment to lose weight.

Ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, life satisfaction and school achievement of Roma ethnic minority youth

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant Youth across Cultures. This study tested a mediation model of ethnic socialization (i.e., parental practices that promote children's knowledge about their history, heritage culture, cultural authenticity, and ethnic bias management) in Roma youth. Roma are the largest ethnic minority group in Europe subjected to severe discrimination, both currently and historically. Participants were 202 Roma youth aged 14 to 19 years old (M = 16.25, 53% females), who provided self-reports on their experience of ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, school achievement, and life satisfaction. Cultural pride reinforcement was related to better school achievement, whereas cultural coping with antagonism was positively related to life satisfaction. The study confirmed the model in that ethnic socialization was positively related to life satisfaction through effects on ethnic identity but negatively associated with school achievement. Findings have implications for adaptive cultural mechanisms promoting positive developmental outcomes among historically disadvantaged groups including those intersecting immigrant and multigenerational ethnic minority group categories.

The importance of working memory for school achievement in primary school children with intellectual or learning disabilities

BACKGROUND

Given the well-known relation between intelligence and school achievement we expect children with normal intelligence to perform well at school and those with intelligence deficits to meet learning problems. But, contrary to these expectations, some children do not perform according to these predictions: children with normal intelligence but sub-average school achievement and children with lower intelligence but average success at school. Yet, it is an open question how the unexpected failure or success can be explained.

AIMS

This study examined the role of working memory sensu Baddeley (1986) for school achievement, especially for unexpected failure or success.

METHOD AND PROCEDURES

An extensive working memory battery with a total of 14 tasks for the phonological loop, the visual-spatial sketchpad and central executive skills was presented in individual sessions to four groups of children differing in IQ (normal vs. low) and school success (good vs. poor).

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Results reveal that children with sub-average school achievement showed deficits in working memory functioning, irrespective of intelligence. By contrast, children with regular school achievement did not show deficits in working memory, again irrespective of intelligence.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Therefore working memory should be considered an important predictor of academic success that can lead both to unexpected overachievement and failure at school. Individual working memory competencies should be taken into account with regard to diagnosis and intervention for children with learning problems.

From classroom environment to mathematics achievement: The mediating role of self-perceived ability and subject interest

Drawing on Bandura's triadic reciprocal causation model, perceived classroom environment and three intrapersonal factors (mathematics self-efficacy, maths interest and academic self-concept) were considered as predictors of test performance in two correlated mathematics assessments: a public examination (GCSE) and an on-line test, both taken by UK pupils at age 16 (n = 6689). Intrapersonal factors were significantly associated with both test scores, even when the alternative score was taken into account. Classroom environment did not correlate with mathematics achievement once intrapersonal factors and alternative test performance were included in the model, but was associated with subject interest and academic self-concept. Perceptions of classroom environment may exercise an indirect influence on achievement by boosting interest and self-concept. In turn, these intrapersonal factors have direct relationships with achievement and were found to mediate the relationship between perceived classroom environment and maths performance. Findings and their implications for mathematics education are discussed.

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Can learning environment (classroom) and intrapersonal factors (self-perceived ability and interest) predict maths at age 16?

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Intrapersonal factors are associated with maths performance at 16.

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Learning environments are associated with intrapersonal factors at this age.

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In particular, perceived maths classroom environment predicts interest in maths.

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Intrapersonal factors mediate the relationship between perceived classroom environment and maths performance.

Influence of school-related factors on smoking among Chilean adolescents: a cross-sectional multilevel study

Background

Adolescent tobacco smoking is a major health concern in Chile. Schools may be able to influence adolescent behaviour regarding smoking; however, this topic has received limited research attention in Latin-American countries. Moreover, the prevalence of cigarette smoking varies between schools, and some of this variability may be explained by school factors. This article examines the inter-school variability in student smoking in a large sample of Chilean schools and identifies the school- and student-level characteristics associated with cigarette smoking.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used self-reported student-level data from 45,273 students from 1462 schools and official data from these schools provided by the Chilean Ministry of Education (2007). Student smoking behaviour was used as an outcome, and individual-level and school-level features were used as explanatory variables. Logistic multilevel modelling was used to analyse the data.

Results

The mean prevalence of smoking in the 1462 schools was 39.9 %. The null model indicated that 8 % of the variance in smoking behaviour was explained by schools; and in the final model, controlled by individual- and school-level variables, the variance explained by schools dropped to 2.4 %. The main school-level variables explaining the school influence were school bonding, school truancy and school achievement.

Conclusions

This is the first study to examine the extent to which student smoking varies between Chilean schools and to identify some of the school factors associated with this inter-school variability. Although most variation in smoking prevalence lies between students within schools, there is sufficient between-school variation to be of interest to educators and policy makers.

Mental health problems are rising more in Swedish adolescents than in other Nordic countries and the Netherlands

Mental health problems increased in adolescents and young adults in Europe between 1950 and 1990, and the cause is largely unknown. Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden form a relatively homogenous group of countries with favourable conditions for children. Our review examined the time trends for mental health problems in these countries between 1990 and 2010.

CONCLUSION

In general, there were only small changes in mental health problems in the countries studied. However, we did note a marked rising trend in mental health problems among adolescents in Sweden, which also has more issues with school achievement and unemployment rates.

Minorities' acculturation and social adjustment: The moderator role of meta-perceptions of majority's acculturation attitudes

Two studies addressed the role of Black meta-perception of acculturation attitudes on the relation between minority acculturation attitudes and their social adjustment (school achievement and perceived quality of intergroup relations). Participants in both studies were Black Lusophone adolescents living in Portugal. Study 1 (N = 140) indicated that participants' attitude regarding the host culture was positively correlated with their school achievement and to their evaluation of intergroup relations. It also indicated that participants' meta-perception of majority attitude add to the explained variance of participants' social adjustment. Study 2 (N = 62) manipulated the perceived majority high/low support of immigrants' learning the host culture. The dependent variable (DV) was perceived quality of intergroup relations. Only in the low support condition were participants' attitudes towards the host culture positively related to perceived quality of Black-White relationships. These results suggest that perceived social context is central to understand the relationship between minority adolescents' acculturation attitudes and key dimensions of their adjustment to host societies.

The association between compulsory school achievement and problem gambling among Swedish young people

PURPOSE

We aimed to examine the association between school grades at the age of 16 years and problem gambling at the age of 17-25 years among Swedish females and males.

METHODS

In a cohort design, we followed the 16- to 24-year-old participants in the representative Swedish Longitudinal Gambling Study for 2 years, 2008/2009 and 2009/2010, generating 3,816 person-years of follow-up time. The outcome, incidence of mild and moderate/severe gambling problems, was measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index in telephone interviews. The exposure was register-linked information about final grades in compulsory school. The association between school grades and problem gambling was estimated in multinomial logistic regressions.

RESULTS

Low and average school grades were associated with increased incidence of mild and moderate/severe problem gambling compared to high grades, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, psychological distress, and alcohol use. Low grades, compared to high grades, were associated with a higher risk of mild gambling problems for adolescent males, whereas the incidence proportion of moderate/severe problem gambling was high for males aged 20-25 years with low grades, among whom unemployment was also very high. Furthermore, we found a strong and graded association between school grades and moderate/severe problem gambling for women in both age groups, despite a low prevalence of gambling participation among females compared to males.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings show that Swedish youth with low school achievement have an increased risk of gambling problems up to 8 years after school graduation, after control for confounding from sociodemographic characteristics, psychological distress, and alcohol use, and that this association is stronger for females than males.