Self-regulation development and the transition to middle school

自我调节和向中学过渡 从小学到中学的过渡往往会导致学业的螺旋式下降。 表现为成绩下降，学术脱离，并最终高中辍学。 在同一时期，药物滥用和性冒险等危险行为增加。低收入 非裔美国人和拉丁美洲儿童特别容易受到这种过渡的负面影响。 解开导致低收入非洲裔美国人和非裔美国人的学术成功/失败的因素 拉丁裔青年需要将发展视为一个复杂的发展过程， 发展轨迹、社会途径和社会车队”（Benner，2011）。低收入非洲人 特别是美国和拉丁美洲的年轻人，重要的是要考虑社会阶层，文化， 为有色人种的孩子过渡到中学的种族。生命历程理论认为， 会对发展产生累积效应。因此，个人层面的脆弱性在多个层面上， 青少年生态（个人、家庭、学校和邻里）在接触到以下环境的时候可以得到加强： 额外的规范性压力源，如发展过渡点。来自低社会经济地位家庭的少数民族青年 不仅经历与贫困有关的困难，而且还经历文化压力（例如，同化， 歧视），这削弱了他们面对规范压力源的能力，例如过渡到中产阶级， 学校 我们建议跟踪一大批低收入的非洲裔美国人和拉丁裔儿童，他们首先在 2岁半作为达拉斯学前准备项目（DPReP）的一部分，因为他们过渡到中学。DPReP 参与者已经完成了四波数据收集，其中包括新兴自我的措施， 调节技能、学业成绩和行为问题。通过跟踪这个样本到中学， 我们将描述自律发展的轨迹，以实现以下主要目标： 目标1.研究自我调节发展轨迹的个体差异如何从2年半到2010年。 在中学阶段的学习和行为适应的差异有关， 低收入的非裔美国人和拉丁美洲人。 目标二。研究家庭、学校和邻里的相互关联的背景如何有助于中间 低收入非洲裔美国人和拉丁美洲人的学校学业和行为调整。 目标3：研究家庭、学校和邻里环境与学业和行为的关系 自我调节技能在中学适应中起中介和调节作用， 非洲裔美国人和拉丁裔美国人。 数据收集方法将包括家访、电话访谈、教师调查以及课堂和 邻里观察措施包括儿童自我调节、学业成绩评估和 社会能力、家庭环境、课堂环境、师幼关系、邻里关系 条件分析方法将包括结构方程模型和潜在差异模型。

Self-regulation and the transition to middle school The transition from elementary to middle school often precipitates a downward spiral in academic performance characterized by declining grades, academic disengagement, and eventual high school drop-out. During this same period, risky behaviors such as substance abuse and sexual risk-taking increase. Low-income African American and Latino children are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of this transition. Disentangling the factors contributing to the academic success/failure of low-income African American and Latino youth requires viewing development as a complex developmental process with “intertwined developmental trajectories, social pathways, and social convoys” (Benner, 2011). For low-income African American and Latino youth in particular, it is important to consider the intersection of social class, culture, and ethnicity for children of color transitioning to middle school. Life course theory suggests that early life stress can have a cumulative effect on development. Accordingly, individual level vulnerabilities at multiple levels of the youth ecology (individual, family, school, and neighborhood) can be potentiated during times of exposure to additional normative stressors, such as developmental transition points. Minority youth from low-SES families not only experience difficulties associated with poverty but also cultural stress (e.g., assimilation, discrimination) which undermine their ability to face normative stressors such as transitioning into middle school. We propose to follow a large cohort of low-income African American and Latino children first enrolled at age 2½ as part of the Dallas Preschool Readiness Project (DPReP) as they transition into middle school. DPReP participants have completed four waves of data collection that have included measures of emerging self- regulation skills, academic achievement, and behavior problems. By following this sample into middle school, we will characterize trajectories of self-regulation development to address the following primary aims: Aim 1. Examine how individual differences in trajectories of self-regulation development from 2½ years into middle school are related to differences in academic and behavioral adjustment in middle school for low-income African Americans and Latinos. Aim 2. Examine how the interrelated contexts of family, school and neighborhood contribute to the middle school academic and behavioral adjustment of low-income African Americans and Latinos. Aim 3. Examine how the relation of family, school, and neighborhood contexts to academic and behavioral adjustment in middle school is both mediated and moderated by self-regulation skills among low- income African Americans and Latinos. Data collection methods will include home visits, phone interviews, teacher surveys, and classroom and neighborhood observations. Measures include child self-regulation, assessments of academic performance and social competence, family environment, classroom environment, teacher-child relationship, and neighborhood conditions. Analytic methods will include structural equations modeling, and latent differences models.