Coping with Academic Difficulty: An Examination of Conversations Between Friends

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，艾伦·阿尔特马特博士将对儿童科普学业困难的能力进行为期两年的研究。鉴于儿童花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，预计儿童与朋友的互动将在他们的应对中发挥关键作用。本研究的主要目的是（a）观察儿童遇到学习困难后与朋友的对话，（B）从对话的特点预测儿童对困难的反应变化。应对策略，友谊支持过程，和承诺相关的信念将通过问卷调查和录像观察进行评估。该项目的长期目标是更好地了解同龄人在社会化积极的自我评价和激励信念方面所发挥的作用，特别是在学术环境中。 这项研究将提高对朋友之间的社会互动有助于儿童的成就相关行为和信念的变化的过程的理解。它回应了应对和友谊文献的呼吁，补充了儿童应对行为和友谊经验的自我报告，并观察了亲密朋友之间的实际社会交往。鉴于有证据表明，不成功的应对日常压力可能会导致负面的，长期的人际关系，心理和成就相关的结果，这项研究具有重要的实际意义，改善儿童的社会和情感健康，促进学校的成功。

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.