CAREER: Social and Emotional Processes Involved in Academic Competence

儿童的学习能力对他们的发展历程和未来的核心作用是显而易见的。尽管在学校表现良好和为学校做好准备很重要，但许多孩子在正式课程开始后不久就遇到了适应学校的巨大困难，并对学校产生了负面态度。许多这些早期与学校有关的问题都预示着辍学、青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习能力知之甚少，但关于孩子的气质成分如何以及为什么会对他们的学习能力产生影响，却知之甚少。这项由职业奖支持的研究建立在以下证据的基础上：儿童的情绪和行为能力对学校成功至关重要：(1)考察儿童的调节能力和情绪性对学业能力的联合和交互作用；(2)考察与教师和同伴的关系以及学校参与作为调节能力、情绪性和学业能力之间关系的中介作用；(3)使用纵向设计来检验假设的关系的强度是否随着儿童年龄的增长而变化。为了验证这些假设，卡洛斯·瓦林特博士和他的团队将跟踪调查250名从幼儿园到二年级的学生。将使用多方法、多记者方法来评估孩子的气质、与学校相关的关系、学校参与度和学习能力。每年，家长和老师将报告关键结构，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的成绩测试进行评估。最后，这个项目包括一个教育部分，指导本科生和研究生为学术研究职位做准备。此外，研究人员将开发一门课程，探讨家庭、孩子的气质和孩子的学校关系在促进学校成功方面所起的作用，并将就研究中检查的过程为小学教师提供教育讲习班。这些讲习班将为传播研究结果和增加研究的影响提供早期机会。学生融入学校环境的能力和良好的表现是具有潜在长期影响的重要发展任务。这个项目将阐明为什么儿童的调节能力和情绪性可以预测他们的学习能力。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，而且也有可能为教育工作者和干预者提供预防和干预计划的信息。这项研究的更广泛的影响是强调可以作为干预和预防计划的目标的结构和过程。作为这项产生更广泛影响的计划的一部分，瓦连特博士将为教育工作者和干预主义者提供信息，以增强他们的影响力。此外，这项研究的目的是向科学界广泛传播研究结果，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传播。

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.