Coping with Academic Difficulty: An Examination of Conversations Between Friends

在国家科学基金会的支持下，艾伦·阿尔特马特博士将针对儿童应对学业困难的能力进行为期两年的研究。鉴于孩子们花费大量时间与朋友在一起，并将朋友视为支持和指导的重要来源，因此预计孩子们与朋友的互动将在他们的应对过程中发挥关键作用。这项研究的主要目标是（a）观察儿童在遇到学业困难后与朋友的对话，以及（b）从这些对话的特征中预测儿童对困难的反应的变化。应对策略、友谊支持过程和与成就相关的信念将通过问卷和录像观察进行评估。该项目的长期目标是更好地了解同伴在社交积极的自我评价和激励信念方面所发挥的作用，特别是在学术背景下。 这项研究将增进对朋友之间的社交互动有助于改变儿童与成就相关的行为和信念的过程的理解。它响应了应对和友谊文献的呼吁，通过对亲密朋友之间实际社交互动的观察来补充儿童应对行为和友谊经历的自我报告。有证据表明，不成功应对日常压力可能会导致负面的、长期的人际、心理和成就相关的结果，这项研究对于改善儿童的社交和情感福祉以及促进学业成功具有重要的实际意义。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Ellen Altermatt will conduct two years of research on children's ability to cope with academic difficulties. Given that children spend a substantial amount of time with friends and view friends as an important source of support and guidance, it is expected that children's interactions with friends will play a critical role in their coping. This research has as its primary goals (a) to observe children's conversations with friends after they encounter academic difficulty, and (b) to predict changes in children's responses to difficulty from the features of these conversations. Coping strategies, friendship support processes, and achievement-related beliefs will be assessed by questionnaires and videotaped observations. The project's long-term goal is to better understand the role that peers play in socializing positive self-evaluative and motivational beliefs, particularly in academic contexts. This research will improve understanding of the processes by which social interactions between friends contribute to changes in children's achievement-related behaviors and beliefs. It answers calls from the coping and friendship literatures to supplement self-reports of children's coping behaviors and friendship experiences with observations of actual social interactions between close friends. Given evidence that unsuccessful coping with daily stressors can lead to negative, long-term interpersonal, psychological, and achievement-related outcomes, this research has important practical implications for improving the social and emotional well-being of children and for promoting school success.