British Journal of Educational Psychology最新文献

Background: Growth mindsets refer to the belief that personal attributes can be developed and improved through learning and effort. Much of the prior work on mindsets has focused on mindsets of intelligence, with little attention devoted to whether and how growth mindsets might also be relevant to the domain of social-emotional skills.

Aims: To address this gap, this study aimed to extend research on growth mindsets to the domain of social-emotional skills and examine the associations between growth mindsets and various types of social-emotional skills. We explored five broad social-emotional skills and 15 specific facet-level skills, including task performance (self-control, responsibility, persistence), emotional regulation (stress resistance, emotional control, optimism), engaging with others (energy, assertiveness, sociability), collaboration (empathy, cooperation, trust) and open mindedness (curiosity, creativity, tolerance).

Sample: We drew on data from 29,798 fifteen-year-old students from 10 cities across nine countries.

Methods: Hierarchical linear modelling was employed to investigate the association between growth mindsets and various types of social-emotional skills.

Results: Results indicated that a growth mindset of social-emotional skills was positively associated with five broad social-emotional skills: task performance, emotional regulation, engaging with others, collaboration, and open-mindedness. These results also applied to the 15 specific facet-level skills. Interestingly, we also found that mindsets of social-emotional skills were most strongly associated with emotional regulation.

Conclusion: This study extended the growth mindset literature by applying it to the domain of social-emotional skills. Our findings may have promising implications for future interventions aimed at improving students' social-emotional skills.

Background: The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model explains the formation of domain-specific academic self-concepts. The generalized I/E (GI/E) model extends the I/E model to other motivational constructs, such as intrinsic value, and to various school subjects. When extending the I/E model to various school subjects, the domains of music and visual arts have seldom been examined.

Aims: This study examined a GI/E model that included achievements, self-concepts and intrinsic values in eight school subjects, including music and visual arts.

Sample: We used a sample of N = 442 German secondary school students.

Methods: The analyses were built upon structural equation modelling.

Results: The findings demonstrated negative achievement-self-concept and achievement-intrinsic value relations between math-like and verbal-like domains, indicating contrast effects. In addition, the findings demonstrated positive achievement-self-concept and achievement-intrinsic value relations among math-like domains, indicating assimilation effects. The findings further indicated negative relations between physics achievement and music self-concept, implying a contrast effect. In addition, the findings showed a positive relation between music achievement and English self-concept and between visual arts achievement and German intrinsic value, implying assimilation effects. Academic self-concept was found to fully mediate the relation between achievement and intrinsic value within the same domains and across different domains in most cases. The findings were shown to be invariant across gender groups.

Conclusion: The present study adds to the broad field of research on the I/E and GI/E models by considering the two neglected domains of music and visual arts.

Background: Within China's rural educational landscape, students in residential primary boarding institutions face distinctive psychosocial difficulties, with mathematics-related anxiety demonstrating heightened prevalence in these settings. As primary sources of social interaction within school settings, teachers exert significant influence on students' academic outcomes and psychological well-being through shaping their perceptions of educator support.

Methods: In this study, we recruited 400 fifth-grade students from rural boarding primary schools in Northwestern China and employed validated scales to measure perceived teacher support, self-efficacy, academic procrastination, and mathematics anxiety. A structural equation modelling (SEM) framework was utilized to explore the pathways through which perceived teacher support impacts mathematics anxiety, with particular attention to the independent and chain mediating roles of self-efficacy and academic procrastination.

Results: Key findings indicated that: (i) Perceived teacher support exhibited significant negative correlations with academic procrastination and mathematics anxiety, while showing a significant positive correlation with self-efficacy; (ii) Both self-efficacy and academic procrastination independently mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and mathematics anxiety; (iii) A sequential chain mediation pathway was identified, whereby perceived teacher support enhanced self-efficacy, which subsequently reduced academic procrastination, ultimately alleviating mathematics anxiety.

Conclusion: These findings emphasize the critical role of perceived teacher support in mitigating mathematics anxiety among rural boarding students through cognitive and behavioural mechanisms, providing empirical foundations for targeted educational interventions.

Introduction: Self-regulated learning (SRL) interventions have been widely recognized for their potential to enhance students' academic achievement; however, their effects on math-related motivational constructs remain less explored. This study investigated the impact of an SRL intervention on multiple math-related motivational factors (math perseverance, math self-efficacy, math utility value, STEM vocational interest and theory of intelligence) and math performance among Year 6 and Year 7 middle school students (N = 382), assessing outcomes both immediately after the intervention (post-test) and 6 months later (follow-up).

Methods: Students in the SRL intervention group engaged in six sessions focusing on planning, performance monitoring and self-evaluation strategies. In contrast, a control group practiced the same math exercises without explicit SRL training.

Results: Findings revealed that, at post-test, the SRL group showed improvements in math perseverance, math utility value, and theory of intelligence, as well as in math performance, compared to the control group. No differences were observed in math self-efficacy and STEM vocational interest. However, gains in math perseverance, theory of intelligence and math performance persisted at the 6-month follow-up, suggesting persistent benefits of the SRL intervention.

Conclusion: These findings underscore the value of integrating SRL interventions into regular math instruction and highlight the potential of such interventions to foster both math motivation and performance.

Background: Early reading development, which is influenced by various factors, such as family environment, school environment, and individual psychological characteristics, plays a crucial role in children's later reading ability and academic achievement.

Aims: This study aims to establish a comprehensive bioecological longitudinal model of children's early reading development and provide a scientific basis for developing practical interventions to help children face reading challenges, such as poor economic conditions and negative psychological characteristics.

Samples: Longitudinal data from 9312 preschool children participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K: 2011) was used in this study.

Methods: Based on Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model, the present study applied a structural equation model to investigate the effects of distal factors (family socio-economic status and individual psychological characteristics) and proximal factors (home literacy environment, school environment, and approaches to learning) on early reading development in a longitudinal design. In addition, the study tested the mediation and moderation effects of proximal factors on the relationship between distal factors and children's reading ability.

Results: The results suggested that the model of early reading development incorporating proximal and distal factors effectively explains early reading development in children from preschool to primary school. Furthermore, proximal factors act as protective factors mediating and moderating the influence of distal factors on early reading ability.

Conclusions: Children's reading challenges due to economic conditions and psychological characteristics may be minimized by improving proximal factors, such as home literacy environment, school environment, and approaches to learning.

Background: Low socio-economic status (SES) is a persistent risk factor for educational attainment. Parent expectations and student's academic self-concepts contribute to this link; however, few studies have examined how changes in these constructs over time contribute to SES gaps in attainment and how teachers may buffer against the consequences of these changes.

Aims: We examine SES differences in (a) changes in parent expectations and academic self-concepts from primary to secondary school and (b) interactions between teacher-student interaction quality and parent expectations to uncover the role these processes play in SES differences in attainment.

Sample and methods: Using the Growing Up in Ireland cohort (N = 5190), children reported on their academic self-concepts (9 and 13 years); quality of teacher interactions (13 years); and third-level attainment (20 years). Primary caregivers reported on their educational expectations and SES (9 and 13 years).

Results: From 9 to 13 years, children from low SES families experience a steeper drop in academic self-concept and no rise in their parents' expectations compared with their high SES peers. Both initial levels and changes in children's self-concepts and parents' expectations predicted attainment, with parents' expectations a stronger influence in low SES families. Teacher-child interactions at age 13 moderated the effect of parents' expectations on attainment; however, this was cumulative for low SES children and compensatory for high SES children.

Conclusions: We discuss how findings regarding these developmental processes can be used in school policy and practices aimed at addressing SES differences in educational attainment.