CAREER: Social and Emotional Processes Involved in Academic Competence

儿童的学业能力对他们的发展过程和未来的中心作用是显而易见的。尽管在学校表现良好和做好入学准备很重要，但许多儿童在适应学校方面遇到很大困难，并在正式课程开始后不久就对学校产生消极态度。许多这些早期学校相关的问题预示着辍学，少年犯罪和心理健康问题。尽管人们对课堂结构和师生比例如何提高学生的学术能力了解很多，但对儿童气质成分如何以及为什么有助于他们的学术能力却知之甚少。由CAREER奖支持的研究建立在儿童的情绪和行为能力对学校成功很重要的证据基础上，（1）研究儿童的调节能力和情绪对学术能力的联合和互动作用，（二）研究与教师和同龄人的关系以及在学校的参与作为调节能力和情绪性与学术能力之间关系的中介的作用，（3）采用纵向设计，考察假设关系的强度是否随儿童年龄的增长而变化。为了验证这些假设，卡洛斯瓦连特博士和他的团队将跟踪250名学生从幼儿园到二年级的进展。一个多方法，多报告者的方法将被用来评估儿童的气质，学校相关的关系，学校参与，和学术能力。每年，家长和老师都会报告关键的结构，孩子们将完成一系列评估他们调节能力的任务。此外，学生的学术能力将使用标准化成绩测试进行评估。最后，该项目包括一个教育部分，指导本科生和研究生，因为他们准备学术研究职位。此外，研究者将开发一门课程，介绍家庭、儿童的气质和儿童的学校关系在促进学校成功方面所起的作用，并将为小学教师提供关于研究中所研究的过程的教育讲习班。这些讲习班将为传播研究结果和扩大研究影响提供早期机会。学生融入学校环境和表现良好的能力是重要的发展任务，具有潜在的长期影响。这个项目将阐明解释为什么儿童的调节能力和情绪预测他们的学术能力的措施的过程。更全面地了解促进学校成功的社会过程不仅是一个相关的发展问题，而且还可能为教育工作者和干预者提供预防和干预方案的信息。这项研究的更广泛的影响是强调可以成为干预和预防计划目标的结构和过程。 作为这项计划的一部分，Valiente博士将为教育工作者和干预者提供信息，以提高他们的影响力。此外，这项研究旨在向科学界，包括未来的研究人员和学术专业人员、小学教师，并通过这些教师向学生广泛传播研究结果。

The central role of children's academic competence to their developmental course and future is clear. Despite the importance of performing well in school and school readiness, many children experience significant difficulties adapting to school and develop negative attitudes toward school soon after formal classes begin. Many of these early school-related problems predict school dropout, delinquency, and mental health difficulties. Although much is known about how the classroom structure and teacher-child ratios can improve students' academic competence, much less is known about how and why components of children's temperament contribute to their academic competence. The research supported by the CAREER award builds on evidence that children's emotional and behavioral competence is important for school success by (1) examining the joint and interactive roles of children's regulatory abilities and emotionality to academic competence, (2) examining the roles of relationships with teachers and peers and engagement at school as mediators of the relations between regulatory abilities and emotionality and academic competence, and (3) using a longitudinal design to examine if the strength of the hypothesized relations change as children age. To test these hypotheses, Dr. Carlos Valiente and his team will follow 250 students as they progress from kindergarten to 2nd grade. A multimethod, multireporter methodology will be used to assess children's temperament, school-related relationships, school engagement, and academic competence. Each year parents and teachers will report on the key constructs, and children will complete a series of tasks that assess their regulatory abilities. In addition, students' academic competence will be assessed using a standardized achievement test. Finally, this project includes an educational component to mentor undergraduate and graduate students as they prepare for academic research positions. Moreover, the investigator will develop a course on the roles that the family, children's temperament, and children's school relationships play in fostering school success and will offer educational workshops for elementary school teachers on the processes examined in the research. These workshops will provide early opportunities for disseminating findings and increasing the impact of the research. Students' abilities to integrate into the school setting and perform well are important developmental tasks with potential long-term implications. This project will elucidate processes that explain why children's regulatory abilities and emotionality predict measures of their academic competence. A more complete understanding of social processes that promote school success is not only a relevant developmental question, but it also has the potential to provide educators and interventionists with information for prevention and intervention programs. The broader impact of this research is to highlight constructs and processes that can be the target of intervention and prevention programs. As part of this plan for broader impacts, Dr. Valiente will provide educators and interventionists with information to enhance their influence. Moreover, the study is designed to broadly disseminate findings to the scientific community, including future researchers and academic professionals, elementary school teachers and, through these teachers, to students.