Ninth-grade Boys Research Articles

Do Two Weeks in a Learning Camp after Ninth Grade Make a Difference? Experiences of Demotivated Boys with an Increased Risk of School Dropout.

School dropout may have important negative consequences for the individual as well as for society. Because school grades in lower secondary education are essential for the completion of upper secondary school, remotivating demotivated ninth graders with an increased risk of dropping out seems vital. This study focuses on the experiences of Norwegian ninth grade boys at a learning camp aimed at preventing school dropout through increasing school engagement, learning, and well-being before tenth grade. We interviewed 17 of the 29 participants in one particular camp to study their experiences and analyze how they were related to the theoretical underpinning of the camp. The participants described the learning camp as a motivation boost, focusing on experiences with academic progress and increased self-regulation, factors aligning with central theoretical underpinnings of the intervention. The participants placed "connecting with others", as in peers and teachers, among the top two factors that contributed to their re-motivation, well-being, and academic progress.

Using National Data to Understand the Contextual Factors and Negative Experiences that Explain Racial Differences in the School Misbehavior of Ninth Grade Boys and Girls.

The literature linking adulthood criminality to cumulative disadvantage and early school misbehavior demonstrates that understanding the mechanisms underlying student behavior and the responses of teachers and administrators is crucial in comprehending racial/ethnic disparities in actual or perceived school misbehavior. We use data on 19,160 ninth graders from the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to show that boys' and girls' negative achievement and negative experiences with teachers relate more closely to school misbehavior than the contextual measures (e.g., negative peer climate, proportion Black) that have often been emphasized as most salient for misbehavior. Differences in negative achievement and experiences completely explain Black boys', Latinx boys', and Black girls' heightened levels of school misbehavior relative to White youth, and Asian boys' and girls' lower levels of school misbehavior. In contrast, differences in negative achievement and experiences only partially explain Latinx girls' higher levels of school misbehavior relative to White girls.

COMPARING SELECTED TYPES OF AGGRESSIVENESS AND INDIVIDUAL TYPES OF HOSTILITY AMONG STUDENTS OF SPORTS HOCKEY CLASSES

Aim of the research was to find out and compare individual subsystems of selected types of aggressiveness and individual types of hostility within age categories of learners of sports hockey classes. Research sample consisted of sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grade boys from primary schools. Age of learners varied from 11 to 14 years. Total sample consisted of 120 learners. The research was it was implemented with the help of a standardized psychological questionnaire B – D – I. In the results we‘re comparing the differences in individual subspecies of aggressive behaviour and also in overall aggressiveness between younger and older learners grade. It turned out that in all of the observed comparisons older learners achieved higher average values of the weighted score than younger. The difference was confirmed also by the nonparametric Mann Whitney U test, which at the unilateral test of 5 % level of demonstrability tells that between younger and older learners there‘s statistically significant difference p = 0.031. Also, any increased value of the resentment didn‘t occur neither among younger learners who achieved the average value of the weighted score 4.19 nor among older learners with the average value of the weighted score 4.81 and therefore there is not statistically significant difference (p = 0.681). Our research revealed that controlling emotions such as aggression is very important. Therefore, it‘s important to pay enough attention to the young athletes and their coaches to prevent any manifestations of aggressiveness from their performers and to encourage them to play fair-play sports.

Effects of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Intonation on Secondary Science Teachers’ Evaluation of Spoken Responses

To explore the role of teachers’ biases in the underrepresentation of minorities and women in STEM, 128 secondary science teachers were asked to evaluate responses spoken with either falling or rising intonation by African American, Latino, and White ninth-grade boys and girls. Responses spoken by minority students were evaluated less favorably than identically worded responses spoken by White students, and rising intonation responses were evaluated less favorably than falling intonation responses. Female speakers have been shown to use rising intonation nearly twice as often as male speakers, so this bias against rising intonation responses disproportionately affects female students (an indirect effect of gender).

School Obesity Prevention Policies and Practices in Minnesota and Student Outcomes: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

The School Obesity-related Policy Evaluation (ScOPE) Study uses existing public surveillance data and applies a rigorous study design to evaluate effectiveness of school policies and practices impacting student behavioral and weight outcomes. The ScOPE Study used a cohort of 50 combined junior-senior and high schools in Minnesota to evaluate the change in weight-related policy environments in 2006 and 2012 and test the effect of policy change on students attending those schools in 2007 and 2013. Exposure variables included school practices about foods and beverages available in school vending machines and school stores, physical education requirements, and intramural opportunities. Primary study outcomes were average school-level ninth grade student BMI percentile, obesity prevalence, daily servings of fruits/vegetables, and daily glasses of soda. Availability of fruits/vegetables in schools was associated with a significant increase in total daily intake among ninth grade students by 0.4 servings. Availability of soda in schools was associated with a significant increase in total daily intake among ninth grade boys by 0.5 servings. Less-healthy snack and drink availability in schools was associated with a small, significant increase (1%) in student BMI percentile at the school level. Use of a school-level longitudinal cohort study design over a 6-year period uniquely adds to the methodologic rigor of school policy and practice evaluation studies. The ScOPE Study provides marginal evidence that school policies and practices, especially those that restrict vending and school store offerings, may have small effects on weight status among ninth grade students.

Proactive and Reactive Criminal Thinking and Self-Reported Offending: A Cross-National Survey of Seventh- Through Ninth-Grade Boys and Girls

The purpose of this study was to assess the cross-national generalizability of the moderately strong relationship between proactive criminal thinking (PCT) and reactive criminal thinking (RCT) and whether RCT correlates better with self-reported offending than PCT across gender and international cluster. Correlations between PCT, RCT, and self-reported offending were calculated and compared in a cross-national sample of 59,992 (29,083 boys, 30,909 girls) seventh through ninth graders. These correlational analyses were conducted on the total sample as well as on six different international clusters. Consistent with predictions, the PCT and RCT correlated highly in all samples (.51-.62) and though the two scales achieved similar correlations with offending, the RCT correlated significantly better with offending after controlling for PCT than PCT correlated with offending after controlling for RCT. These results provide cross-national support for the supposition that RCT is a more important correlate of offending than PCT in early to mid-adolescence.

Investigation of the relationship of cognitive learning styles and self-efficacy beliefs in mathematics anxiety among high school students

The present study was aimed to investigation of the relationship of cognitive learning styles and self-efficacy beliefs in mathematics anxiety among high school students. The present study was a descriptive and correlational study. The study population consisted of all ninth-grade high school girls and boys of Tehran's 15 district education in 2011–2012. The number of 105 boys and 99 girls were selected using randomized multistage cluster sampling. Data were collected through the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), the General Self-Efficacy scale (GSE) and the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS). Also, according to the study's variables, data were analyzed by Correlation, Variance analysis and Regression Tests. Results showed that there is a correlation (0.555%) between cognitive style and self-efficacy with mathematics anxiety of students (both boys and girls), and the variation of mathematics anxiety can be explained by cognitive style and self-efficacy beliefs (30.8%).

Gambling and Problem Behavior Among 14- to 16-Year-Old Boys and Girls in Finland

The aim of this study is to examine the associations between problem behavior and gambling frequency among eighth- and ninth-grade boys and girls (N = 101,167). Data were obtained from the cross-sectional School Health Promotion Study. Outcome measures were adolescents' truancy, bullying, delinquency, and substance use. Polychotomous logistic regression analyses were used to study the relationship between gambling frequency and risk behaviors in a total sample, as well as separately for boys and girls. In 2010, 62% of the adolescents had gambled during the previous year, and in 2011, 61% of the adolescents had done so. Engaging in different levels of truancy, bullying, delinquency, and substance abuse were associated with higher risks for frequent gambling. Similar patterns of associations were found among boys and girls. Adolescents who engaged in gambling on a daily or weekly basis were the most vulnerable group for problem behavior. However, even infrequent gambling was associated with different problem behaviors.

Methods of Pedagogical Control of Motor Abilities Development in Seventh-Ninth Grade Boys

The research objective is to define methodological approaches to pedagogical control of the level of motor abilities development in middle schoolers.Materials and methods. To achieve the objectives set, the research relied on following methods used: analysis of scientific and methodological literature, pedagogical testing and methods of mathematical statistics. The participants in the study were 24 seventh grade boys, 17 eighth grade boys, and 17 ninth grade boys.Research results. The discriminant function can serve as a classifier for the age peculiarities of motor and functional readiness in seventh-ninth grade boys. The discriminant function equations allow to correctly classify 95.8% of the grouped data.The priority in the factor structure of readiness of the seventh grade boys belongs to the functional, coordination and strength readiness. For the eighth grade boys, it is functional, coordination and strength readiness, and for the ninth grade boys — strength, functional and coordination readiness.Conclusions. The final pedagogical control of motor and functional readiness of the seventh grade boys can use the first discriminant function with emphasis on the most informative variables. Such physical education can be considered effective if the results shown by the seventh grade boys are classified as results similar to those displayed by the eighth grade boys.In the final pedagogical control of motor and functional readiness in eighth grade boys, the reference point is the results of the ninth grade boys with emphasis on the most informative indicators of the discriminant function.

Girls and boys gambling with health and well-being in Finland.

The aim of this study was to examine the associations among gambling frequency, health status, health risk behavior, and sexual risk-taking among eighth and ninth grade boys and girls (N = 101,167). Data were obtained from the nationwide School Health Promotion Study conducted in Finland 2010 and 2011. Outcome measures were adolescents' health and sexual behavior. Associations with gambling frequency were studied separately for boys and girls using polychotomous logistic regression models where grade level was adjusted. Approximately 62% of adolescents had gambled during the previous year. Gambling was more common among boys than girls in both grade levels. Gambling frequency was associated with several health and sexual risk-taking indicators such as signs of school burnout, staying up late, and having more than 1 sexual partner. Those who gambled the most had a higher risk for poorer health and taking health risks. Girls and those who had gambled on a weekly basis were the most vulnerable groups. It would be beneficial to raise teacher, parent, and adolescent awareness of the wide range of negative health outcomes and risks associated with gambling.

Journal Digest

Journal Digest

Rates of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth: Age, Sex, and Behavioral Methods in a Community Sample

The goal was to assess the rate and behavioral methods of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a community sample of youth and examine effects of age and sex. Youth in the third, sixth, and ninth grades (ages 7-16) at schools in the community were invited to participate in a laboratory study. A total of 665 youth (of 1108 contacted; 60% participation rate) were interviewed about NSSI over their lifetime via the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview. Overall, 53 (8.0%) of the 665 youth reported engaging in NSSI; 9.0% of girls and 6.7% of boys reported NSSI engagement; 7.6% of third-graders, 4.0% of sixth-graders, and 12.7% of ninth-graders reported NSSI engagement. There was a significant grade by gender interaction; girls in the ninth grade (19%) reported significantly greater rates of NSSI than ninth-grade boys (5%). Behavioral methods of NSSI differed by gender. Girls reported cutting and carving skin most often, whereas boys reported hitting themselves most often. Finally, 1.5% of youth met some criteria for the proposed fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) diagnosis of NSSI. Children and adolescents engage in NSSI. Ninth-grade girls seem most at risk, as they engage in NSSI at 3 times the rate of boys. Behavioral methods of NSSI also vary by grade and gender. As possible inclusion of an NSSI diagnosis in the fifth edition of the DSM-5 draws near, it is essential to better understand NSSI engagement across development and gender.

Depressed mood and drinking occasions across high school: Comparing the reciprocal causal structures of a panel of boys and girls

Does adolescent depressed mood portend increased or decreased drinking? Is frequent drinking positively or negatively associated with emotional well-being? Do the dynamic relations between depression and drinking differ by gender? Using block-recursive structural equation models, we explore the reciprocal short-term effects (within time, t) and the cross-lagged medium-term effects ( t +1 year) and long-term effects ( t + 2 years) of depressed mood and monthly drinking occasions. Data come from the high school waves of the Youth Development Study, a randomly selected panel of 1015 ninth graders followed to 12th grade. We found that for both genders, depressed mood consistently decreased short-term drinking in each grade measured. However, depression increased drinking for both genders in the medium-term but only for girls in the long-term. In the other direction, drinking tended to increase depression in the short-term only among ninth-grade boys and 12th-grade girls. Observed trends and differences in the magnitude of the reciprocal effects vary by gender, with drinking being especially deleterious to emotional well-being for boys early in high school (10th grade) but for girls on the cusp of the post-high school world (12th grade).

Body Dissatisfaction and Physical Development Among Ethnic Minority Adolescents

The present study examined the association between body dissatisfaction and adjustment, and the role physical development plays in this association, in an ethnically diverse sample of over 1100 urban, ninth grade boys and girls (M age = 14). More similarities than differences were found across ethnic groups: Caucasian, African American, Latino, Asian, and multiethnic boys reported similar areas of body dissatisfaction, levels of body dissatisfaction, and associations between body dissatisfaction and psychosocial maladjustment. For girls, only mean level differences were found with African American girls reporting lower levels of body dissatisfaction than girls from other ethnic backgrounds. Higher levels of body dissatisfaction predicted more psychological and social maladjustment for both boys and girls. For boys, faster development predicted stronger associations between feeling overweight and peer victimization. Feeling too small only predicted victimization if boys were actually low in physical development. For girls, physical development directly predicted less peer victimization, while perceived faster development predicted more victimization. Thus, it appears that physical development can protect both girls (directly) and boys (buffering against the negative effects of body dissatisfaction) from peer victimization, whereas perceived faster timing of development can exacerbate peer victimization.

Family Relationships, Parenting Behavior, and Adolescent Deviance in Three Ethnic Groups

This was a study of adolescent deviance from a family and developmental perspective. Seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade boys and girls from Mexican American (N = 2549), African American (N = 1837), and Euro-American (N = 3025) ethnic groups were surveyed about their family relationships, parental behavior, and their deviant activities. Some significant ethnic and gender differences were found. Implications for practice and prevention are discussed.

Factors Affecting the Creation of a New Ecology in a Boys-Only Physical Education Class at a Military School

This study describes the changes which occurred in the instructional ecology of a boys' physical education class with a change of teacher. Moreover, it examines the critical incidences which promoted and inhibited that teacher's attempts to change the accountability system of the class from one of attendance and minimal participation to one of performance quality. Twenty-two eighth and ninth grade boys participated in a 6-week program of physical activity with the researcher as the new teacher. Through an action research methodology, using the teacher's reflective accounts of lessons together with formal and informal interviews with the students, it was determined that three factors were critical in the change process: the students' previous history with the subject, the nature of the set tasks, and the emotional climate of the class.

Birth Order and Family Size: Influences on Adolescents' Achievement and Related Parenting Behaviors

The purposes of this study were to confirm birth-order and family-size differences in achievement, to confirm birth-order and family-size differences in parenting, and to examine whether parenting style and parental involvement serve as mediators of birth-order and family-size differences in achievement. Subjects were 195 ninth-grade boys and girls and their parents from urban, suburban, and rural communities in the southeast and the midwest. Questionnaire measures of adolescents' and parents' perceptions of parenting style and parental involvement were used. Birth-order and family-size differences were found in adolescents' achievement and perceptions of parenting style and parental involvement but not in parents' perceptions of parenting. However, these parenting characteristics did not mediate the differences seen in achievement by birth order and family size. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Relations of Parenting Style and Parental Involvement with Ninth-Grade Students' Achievement

The purposes of this study were to explore the influence of both parenting style (demandingness and responsiveness) and parental involvement on the achievement outcome of early adolescents and to explore the relations both adolescents' and their parents' perceptions ofparenting, and to compare the influence that the differentperceptions have on adolescents' achievement. Subjects were 247 ninth-grade boys and girls and their parents from urban, suburban, and rural communities in the southeast and the midwest. Questionnaire measures of adolescents' and parents' perceptions of maternal and paternal demandingness, responsiveness, and parental involvement were designed for this program of research. Adolescents'reports ofparenting were found to correlate only moderately with parents' reports. Adolescents'(both boys'and girls'), but not parents', reports of parenting significantly predicted their achievement outcome, with parental involvement significantly predicting achievement above and beyond dimensions of parenting style. The importance of considering both adolescents'and parents'perceptions of parenting is discussed.

The cognitive moderation of daily stress in early adolescence

Utilized daily diary data to investigate age differences in the moderation of stressful daily events. Data from 243 fifth- to ninth-grade boys and girls, collected over a period of 1 week, were used to examine the moderation effect that expectation and past experience have upon affective response to daily stressors and uplifts. Responses indicate that across a variety of contexts expected daily events are less upsetting than unexpected events for both children and young adolescents. However, among the older students in the sample expectation of chronic negative events appears to exacerbate, rather than alleviate, their upsetting quality. These findings are discussed in terms of the increase in stress associated with early adolescence and the possibility that the chronic stress experienced during this period diminishes the utility of anticipatory coping.

Gender, Depression, and Body Image in Early Adolescents

As clinicians and researchers have begun to document the prevalence of depressive symptomatology among children and adolescents, efforts are being undertaken to identify correlates, and possible determinants, of depressive disorders occurring before adulthood. With this aim, a study was undertaken to assess the relation between depression and body image in a sample of ninth grade boys and girls. Findings were that (a) depressed adolescents-both boys and girls-had poorer body images than their non-depressed peers, (b) gender differences in body image appeared among non-depressed adolescents, with boys more satisfied with their bodies than girls, while (c) no gender differences appeared in body image among depressed adolescents. These findings contribute to the clinical-developmental literature in two principal ways: The relation between depression and body satisfaction for adolescent boys versus girls is clarified and, in so doing, new light is shed on the broader issue of body image in early adolescence.