Investigation Of Developmental Differences Research Articles

Work–family conflict, educational involvement, and adolescent academic engagement during COVID‐19: An investigation of developmental differences

AbstractObjectiveIn this research, we examine the mediating effect of educational involvement between parental work–family conflict and adolescent academic engagement during COVID‐19, as well as the differences among developmental stages.BackgroundOnline learning during the COVID‐19 lockdown created challenges for adolescent academic engagement. One of the toughest challenges was that parents experienced increased work–family conflict, making it difficult for them to be involved in adolescent education. In this context, it is essential to understand the impact of parental work–family conflict on adolescent academic engagement.MethodA total of 886 dual‐income families participated in the study. Mothers and fathers completed the questionnaire, including questions regarding work–family conflict and educational involvement. Adolescents completed an academic engagement scale.ResultsThe structural equation model in the total sample showed that parental educational involvement mediated the effect of maternal work–family conflict on adolescent academic engagement. In addition, paternal educational involvement mediated the effect of paternal work–family conflict on adolescent academic engagement. Multigroup analysis indicated the impact of work–family conflict only existed in middle and late adolescence, and mother played a more important role in late adolescence.ConclusionThe study results confirmed the mediating role of parental educational involvement between the relationship of paternal work–family conflict and adolescent academic engagement. Furthermore, this relationship may vary for families with an adolescent at different developmental stages.

Children’s wellbeing and their academic achievement: The dangerous discourse of ‘trade-offs’ in education

Research conducted in England over the last decade has documented sustained, significant decreases in children’s wellbeing. While recent changes to curriculum policy promoting children’s wellbeing have been introduced, a notable feature of the discourse surrounding the promotion of children’s wellbeing is that wellbeing is regarded as opposed to, or in tension with, children’s academic achievement. Recently, Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren proposed that there is an inevitable ‘trade-off’ between children’s ‘wellbeing’ and their academic achievement. Using PISA 2012 data, Heller-Sahlgren argues that pupil happiness and high achievement do not go hand in hand; implying policymakers have a decision to make about which they uphold as the priority. In this article, I discuss the theoretical assumptions underpinning transnational comparisons of children’s wellbeing and review evidence from psychology and education to ascertain whether a trade-off is empirically supported. I argue that far from being incompatible, children’s wellbeing and achievement are positively associated. However, this relationship is not straightforward and requires careful disentangling of the hedonic and eudaimonic components of wellbeing. I underline four main gaps in current knowledge of the wellbeing-achievement relationship to date: the need for (1) multidimensional conceptualisation and measurement of wellbeing, (2) exploration of mediating mechanisms/constructs explaining the wellbeing-achievement relationship, (3) objective operationalisation of achievement, and (4) investigation of developmental differences. To conclude, I argue that when making policy recommendations researchers should avoid ‘all or nothing’ thinking which lures governments into false dichotomies.

Coparenting Conflict Behavior, Parent-Adolescent Attachment, and Social Competence with Peers: An Investigation of Developmental Differences.

Coparenting conflict, which refers to the conflict between parents regarding parenting, has played a central role in children's development and adjustment. The perspective of family and peer systems linkage has suggested that coparenting conflict is linked to peer-related development, but this view has yet to be clarified. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among coparenting conflict behavior, parent-adolescent attachment, and social competence with peers as well as the developmental differences of these relationships in early, middle, and late adolescence within Chinese families. Families (N = 808) that included fathers, mothers, and focal adolescents (53% female, Mage = 13.66 ± 2.53) participated in this study. Fathers and mothers reported their coparenting conflict behaviors separately, and the adolescents rated parent-adolescent attachment and social competence with peers. Results showed that fathers' overt coparenting conflict behavior was related to social competence with peers through the indirect effects of father- and mother-adolescent attachments, whereas mothers' covert coparenting conflict behavior was related to social competence with peers through the indirect effect of mother-adolescent attachment in the total sample. The multigroup analysis revealed that these relationships were significant in early and late adolescence. In addition, fathers' covert coparenting conflict behavior was related to mother-adolescent attachment in late adolescence and all the relationships were insignificant in middle adolescence. The findings support the systematic perspective of family-peer system linkage and highlight the gender differences of parents in the effects of coparenting conflict on social competence with peers and the developmental differences during adolescence.

Diurnal coupling between testosterone and cortisol from adolescence to older adulthood

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axes are typically conceptualized as mutually inhibitory systems; however, previous studies have found evidence for positive within-person associations (i.e., coupling) between cortisol and testosterone. One developmental hypothesis is that positive testosterone-cortisol coupling is unique to the adolescent period and that coupling becomes attenuated, or even switches direction, in adulthood. This study used a lifespan sample (N=292, ages 11–88) to test for age-related differences in coupling between cortisol and testosterone in daily life. Participants provided salivary hormone samples at waking, 30min after waking, and during the evening for two days. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the within-person and between-person associations between testosterone and cortisol. Within-person associations were further decomposed into associations due to coupled diurnal change versus coupled variability around diurnal change. Results indicated positive associations between cortisol and testosterone at all levels of analysis. Additionally, positive coupling was evident across the lifespan, even in older adults who are no longer expected to reproduce, but further investigation of developmental differences with a larger sample is necessary. Potential mechanisms and functions for positive coupling are discussed.

“Show and Tell” in the Gymnasium: An Investigation of Developmental Differences in Modeling and Verbal Rehearsal of Motor Skills

Abstract Although a great deal of research has been conducted on the relationship between modeling and motor skill acquisition, the role that developmental factors play in the observational learning of motor skills has been virtually unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine developmental differences of modeling and verbal rehearsal on performance of a sequential motor task. The sample consisted of 128 children representing two age groups: 5–0 to 6–11 years and 8–0 to 9–11 years. These children were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2 × 2 × 4 (Sex by Age by Instructional Type) factorial design, and were asked to perform a 6-part motor skill course. The instructional conditions included: verbal model only, verbal model plus verbal rehearsal, verbal rehearsal only, and no model/no rehearsal. Analyses of variance revealed that, regardless of age, the verbal model plus rehearsal and verbal rehearsal only groups performed significantly better than the model only and control groups. Qualitat...

Children's Identification of Category Relations in Lists Presented for Recall

Abstract In an investigation of developmental differences in awareness of category relations 108 children (36 each from kindergarten, third grade and sixth grade) were presented with one list of taxonomically-related materials and a second list of complementarily-related items for recall. Immediately prior to recall, children were asked whether they had noticed in the lists any “groups of pictures that were alike or went together in some way.” Results (ps < .001) were as follows: (a) measures of category identifications increased with age with kindergarteners in a standard condition generally being unaware of categories; (b) at all grade levels, category identifications were greater with the taxonomic than with the complementary items; (c) Ss made significantly more identifications when categories were made more salient by blocking and informing manipulations; (d) third-graders identified significantly more categories following item recall than did either the kindergarteners or sixth-graders. The results ...

Compositional structure in recall: an investigation of developmental differences.

Compositional structure in recall: an investigation of developmental differences.