Adolescence: Developmental, Clinical, and School Psychology – Lecture 4 (UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM)

The goal of secondary education is to promote independent thinking and make your own well-informed choices. In the past, the goal was more about socialization and conformity. Secondary education was for the elite and males only before the last century. However, after the last century, a knowledge economy started to develop so secondary education was needed. In developing countries, there is a similar but delayed pattern. This means that secondary education cannot be taken for granted.

There are differences between developed countries when it comes to secondary education. In Europe, children have to decide about their future at an earlier age. The advantage of this is that children will have an early idea of future and this allows for better tailoring of teaching. However, the disadvantage is that there are children who are developing a bit later and those will be disadvantaged.

In the United States, there is a distinction between public and private schools and funding depends on state. In Japan and China, the admission to university is only for the highest performing students. This does not make them more unhappy and they still see and use college as a time of fun and exploration.

There are several factors promoting educational success and engagement:

• Socioeconomic status
  A higher socioeconomic status is associated with better nutrition (1), fewer health problems (2), fewer stressors (3), more involved parents (4) and a higher IQ (5).
• School environment
  The school should have a size of 500 to 1000 students (i.e. allows for extracurricular activities without losing individuality) and classes should be between 20 to 40 students. However, for at-risk students, the classes should be smaller. The school climate (i.e. quality of interactions between teachers and students) should be characterized by an authoritative teaching style (i.e. high on demandingness; high on support).
• Individual characteristics
  The individual should not have a job for more than 10 hours a week and motivation is essential. Abundant leisure (e.g. socializing with friends) also interferes with adolescents’ school work.
• Peer characteristics
  Higher achieving peers will lead to enhanced educational success. However, it may lead to a lower self-concept (i.e. comparison to very positive peers).
• Parent characteristics
  An authoritative parenting style leads to the best educational success. Parents with high expectations also tend to be more involved and this contributes to school success. However, this may be dependent on parent SES and IQ.
• Cultural beliefs
  The value placed on education ultimately influences school performance of adolescents.

All factors are interconnected. This makes causality difficult to establish. Teaching should be characterized by a combination of warmth (1), clear communication (2), high standard for behaviour (3) and a moderate level of control (4). However, it may be necessary that students, parents and teachers have the same beliefs as a school which reinforces already existing beliefs could promote outcomes.

Engagement refers to the quality of being psychologically committed to learning. It includes being alert and attentive in the classroom and approaching educational assignments with the aim of learning the material rather than passing. Unstructured socializing is negatively related to school performance whereas organized activities are beneficial as long as they are not longer than 10 hours per week. The immigration paradox refers to the finding that the longer an immigrant family has been in the United States, the worse the children do in school. This may be because they internalize the cultural values.

Absenteeism is predicted by several factors:

• A negative attitude towards school.
• Externalizing or internalizing problems.
• Substance abuse.
• Low parent involvement.

Dropping out can be the consequence of prolonged absenteeism. It is predicted by several factors:

• Low socioeconomic status.
• Low grades.
• Low IQ.
• Poor school climate.
• Culmination of problems over time.

People who drop out are more often aggressive (1), active (2) and score high on sensation-seeking (3). Dropping out is more common in larger schools as it is more difficult to maintain a healthy school climate. A solution to dropping out could be using caring teachers (1), small classes (2) and starting intervention early (3). Supplemental academic training and employment-oriented training could also prove to be beneficial. Programmes need to be adapted to individual needs.

Females outperform males academically, potentially because girls tend to enjoy the school environment more (e.g. more positive relationships with teachers). Adolescent girls are also more likely than adolescent boys to feel supported by their parents and have supportive relationships with adults outside of the family.

There are four characteristics of students who are gifted:

1. Precocity
   This refers to the fact that signs of giftedness were evident at an early age.
2. Independence
   This refers to the fact that gifted students tend to prefer to work independently.
3. Drive for mastery
   This refers to the fact that gifted students display an intense drive to master the area of their gifts and are capable of focusing for long periods.
4. Excellence in information processing
   This refers to the fact that gifted students process information faster (1), learn more quickly (2), make fewer reasoning errors (3) and use more effective learning strategies (4).

Retention refers to maintaining students in college until they graduate. Students’ previous academic background (1), ethnic background (2) and family SES (3) are associated with retention. Retention is higher among students of higher academic ability. People who attend college become less dogmatic (1), less authoritarian (2) and less ethnocentric in their political and social views (3).

People take a gap year for several reasons:

• Desire for a break from formal education.
• To gain a broader perspective on life.
• To develop interpersonal skills.
• To earn money.
• To experience other people, places and cultures.
• To do some good in the world.

People who take a gap year have higher motivation when they enter tertiary education. They develop life skills (1), social values (2), non-academic skills (3) and qualifications (4). However, it is important to have a plan.

Motivation refers to a willingness to invest one’s capacities. It is an important predictor of school success. The Jenkins Curve holds that the percentage of students who like school decreases with age. This shows that motivation drops with age and grade while motivation is essential for learning as motivated students learn more (1), persist longer (2), produce higher quality work (3) and score higher on tests (4).

Motivation can be measured in a school context by viewing it as a trait using several questionnaires:

1. Need for cognition scale
   This questionnaire measures the tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavours. This is seen as indicative of motivation.
2. Academic delay of gratification
   This questionnaire measures whether one is able to delay gratification to promote academic performance. This is seen as indicative of motivation.
3. Self-regulation questionnaire-academic (SRQ-A)
   This questionnaire assesses one’s autonomous (i.e. motivation to do something because you want to do it) and controlled motivation (i.e. motivation to do something because of external sources).

Autonomous motivation consists of two parts:

• Intrinsic motivation (i.e. motivation because of enjoyment or fun of task).
• Identified motivation (i.e. motivation because of a self-valued goal; personal importance).

Controlled motivation also consists of two parts:

• Introjected motivation (i.e. motivation for self- and other approval; avoidance of disapproval).
• External motivation (i.e. motivation to follow rules; avoidance of punishment).

The disadvantage of using trait indices is that it cannot be used in experimental studies. However, motivation can also be seen as a state rather than a trait. There are several ways to measure motivation when it is viewed as a state:

1. Motivation manipulation
   This refers to motivation assessed by increase in performance in motivated vs. unmotivated conditions (e.g. give an incentive)
2. Academic diligence task
   This refers to motivation assessed by time spent on the academic task (e.g. play a game or watch a movie).
3. Effort discounting task
   This refers to motivation assessed by asking how much a person should be paid to re-do a difficult instead of an easy task. In the case of a small additional amount, a person is motivated.

Motivation seems to depend on performance in a difficult task when it comes to effort discounting. Diligence is domain general. There are several theories about motivation:

1. Mindset
   This theory holds that motivation depends on one’s mindset (e.g. fixed vs. growth).
2. Self-determination theory
   This theory holds that people have three basic needs; competence (1), autonomy (2) and relatedness (3). The fulfilment of those needs increases autonomous motivation.
3. Having goals (i.e. goal setting theory)
   This theory holds that having a goal enhances motivation. Interventions that help students set specific and realistic academic goals through direct instruction could thus enhance motivation.
4. Extrinsic rewards
   This theory holds that providing people with extrinsic rewards enhances motivation.

Mindset is poorly related to performance and mindset interventions are only slightly effective. Furthermore, they are only effective for low SES and at-risk students. Increasing competence, autonomy or relatedness increases performance. However, this is mainly when extrinsic rewards are not salient.

Having a goal seems to enhance motivation. This can be targeted using a motivational interviewing intervention. Academic goals are among the highest ranked by adolescents. There are two type of achievement goals:

1. Mastery goals
   This refers to goals aimed at the development of competence. This means that negative feedback is considered as good as it fosters development.
2. Performance goals
   This refers to goals aimed at the demonstration of competence. This means that negative feedback is considered as bad as it hinders demonstration.

Delay discounting states that the value of a goal is discounted by its delay. This is especially the case in adolescents. This could explain why adolescents value academic goals but do not devote a lot of time to school.

Extrinsic rewards improve performance although it is not clear whether it decreases intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic rewards should be used for tasks that are not intrinsically motivating.

Overall, motivation interventions seem to be effective and are not significantly impacted by moderators. Motivation can be a key process or mechanism for enhancing student learning outcomes