Start Of High School Research Articles

Stawanie się miejskim rowerzystą. Biografie mobilności dojeżdżających do pracy rowerem

This article presents the results of semi-structured interviews with eight individuals whose primary or significant mode of transportation in the city is the bicycle. The purpose of the analysis was to describe the trajectory of becoming an urban cyclist. During the interview, three stages of bicycle use emerged: childhood, high school, and college and work. These stages were somewhat more clearly separated by interviewees, who were also able to distinguish periods of cycling and noncycling. At the same time, the beginning of a new stage may represent one of the key moments when survey participants may give up cycling (especially the start of high school) or take up the activity anew (e.g., children entering a period of greater independence). In addition, the start of cycling for transportation purposes may be easier to think about for those accustomed to physical activity, and especially for those cycling for recreational or sporting purposes. The city’s bike-sharing system can be a significant factor in initiating the practice of cycling for people who did not own bicycles and/or have not used them for many years.

The Developmental Significance of Looks from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence.

Physical appearance during the transition into adolescence matters for youths' socioemotional development. This study explored these implications by adding visual data to the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 1,049) to test how others' ratings of youths' looks (1 = very unattractive to 5 = very attractive) at the beginning (grade 3) and end (grade 9) of this transition shaped their emotional well-being, popularity/likability, and dating/sexual behavior. Results revealed recency effects of grade 9 looks on popularity/likability and dating/sexual behaviors and a lingering amplification effect of grade 3 looks on popularity/likability at the start of high school. Few associations were evident for emotional well-being. Thus, physical appearance offers an important lens for studying adolescent development.

Distress tolerance and subsequent substance use throughout high school

ObjectiveTo examine the association of perceived distress tolerance—one’s ability to endure aversive experiences—with subsequent substance use frequency during adolescence. MethodsHigh school students (N = 3,203) were surveyed semiannually from 2013 to 2017. The Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) was administered at baseline (9th grade) and self-reported past 30-day number of days used of alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cannabis, and opioids (range: 0–30) were assessed at all timepoints. Self-reported baseline ever (vs. never) use of each substance and depressive/anxiety symptom status (clinical and subclinical vs. none) were tested as moderators. ResultsAmong baseline never substance users, a greater baseline mean DTS score was associated with fewer days of alcohol, cigarette, and opioid use in past-30 days over 4 years of follow-up (IRR range = 0.60–0.84); among ever-users, baseline mean DTS was not significantly associated with substance use across follow-up timepoints (p-interaction = 0.03). The association of DTS and frequency of substance use did not differ by baseline mental health status for any substance (all ps > 0.05). ConclusionsGreater perceived distress tolerance at the start of high school may be a protective factor against substance use frequency prior to initial use. Interventions that build distress tolerance in early adolescence may be warranted to prevent higher frequency substance use throughout high school.

Examining the joint development of antisocial behavior and personality: Predictors and trajectories of adolescent indirect aggression and machiavellianism.

Indirect aggression has been associated with antisocial personality traits like Machiavellianism, but there is a lack of evidence on their longitudinal development across adolescence. Therefore, the joint developmental trajectories of adolescent indirect aggression and Machiavellianism across 3 years of high school (Grades 10 to 12) were investigated. Predictors of joint trajectory groups at the start of high school (Grade 9) were also explored. Participants included a sample of 513 individuals (Mage = 14.95 in Grade 10; SD = .37; 56.7% girls; 76.4% White) recruited from a school district that completed self-report measures of indirect aggression and Machaivellianism annually. Self- and parent-report measures of individual differences (e.g., approval seeking), peer relations (e.g., school bonding), and psychological features (e.g., anxiety) were explored as predictors of the trajectory groups. As predicted, a small subgroup of individuals indicated a high-risk joint trajectory pattern of moderate stable indirect aggression and high stable Machiavellianism. Additional trajectory patterns included a low-risk group indicating low stable indirect aggression and low stable Machiavellianism, and a high Machiavellianism only group indicating low stable indirect aggression and high stable Machiavellianism. Moderate indirect aggression was a better indicator of high Machiavellianism than the reverse. Individual differences, peer relations, and psychological features differentiated these trajectory groups. Findings have implications for the prevention of antisocial traits and behavior among young people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic/racial discrimination moderates the effect of sleep quality on school engagement across high school.

Previous research has indicated that school engagement tends to decline across high school. At the same time, sleep problems and exposure to social stressors such as ethnic/racial discrimination increase. The current study uses a biopsychosocial perspective to examine the interactive and prospective effects of sleep and discrimination on trajectories of academic performance. Growth curve models were used to explore changes in 6 waves of academic outcomes in a sample of 310 ethnically and racially diverse adolescents (mean age = 14.47 years, SD = .78, and 64.1% female). Ethnic/racial discrimination was assessed at Time 1 in a single survey. Sleep quality and duration were also assessed at Time 1 with daily diary surveys. School engagement and grades were reported every 6 months for 3 years. Higher self-reported sleep quality in the ninth grade was associated with higher levels of academic engagement at the start of high school. Ethnic/racial discrimination moderated the relationship between sleep quality and engagement such that adolescents reporting low levels of discrimination reported a steeper increase in engagement over time, whereas their peers reporting poor sleep quality and high levels of discrimination reported the worse engagement in the ninth grade and throughout high school. The combination of poor sleep quality and high levels of discrimination in ninth grade has downstream consequences for adolescent academic outcomes. This study applies the biopsychosocial model to understand the development and daily experiences of diverse adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record

High Body Mass Index and Hip Abductor Muscle Strength were Risk Factors for Non-contact ACL Injury in Female High School Basketball Players: A Prospective Three-year Cohort Study

Objectives:To prospectively evaluate risk factors for non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in female high school basketball players. We hypothesized that female high-school basketball players suffering non-contact ACL injuries would demonstrate weaker hip abductor and knee flexor muscle strength and poor static balance, when compared to those without ACL injury.Methods:Study Design: Prospective cohort study.195 new female high school basketball players underwent detailed examinations for various parameters that were documented at their first-year of high school. The parameters assessed were height (cm), body weight (kg), body mass index (kg/m2), anterior knee laxity (mm), general joint laxity (point), femoral anteversion (degree), navicular drop (mm), muscle strength of knee flexion (Nm/kg), extension (Nm/kg), and hip abduction (Nm/kg) and static balance. All ACL injuries that occurred during these 3 years were recorded. The data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 23.0. The parameters were compared using the Student t-test. Parameters with P values <0.2 were considered independent variables by logistic regression analysis (simultaneous). The level of significance for all statistical analyses was set at α = 0.05.Results:Of the 195 players, 24 were excluded because they either had a history of ACL injury or could not the study. The remaining 171 players were observed during the 3 years, from start of high school until graduation. A total of 16 ACL tears occurred. One of the ACL injury were contact injury, whereas the remaining 15 were noncontact ACL injuries. Nine players were injured during the games, 7 were injured during practices. The parameters were measured as follows for the ACL injury group and control group respectively: height, 161.3 ± 6.7 and 162.0 ± 5.7 cm, P = 0.63; body weight, 57.5 ± 7.8 and 55.4 ± 6.2kg, P = 0.22; body mass index, 22.1 ± 1.8 and 20.1 ± 2.7, P= 0.17; anterior knee laxity, 4.0 ± 1.0 and 3.8 ± 1.1 mm, P = 0.54;, general joint laxity, 1.8 ± 1.3 and 2.7 ± 2.2 points, P = 0.03; femoral anteversion, 16.2 ± 3.7 and 16.7 ± 3.3 degree, P = 0.60; navicular drop, 8.5 ± 6.2 and 8.0 ± 3.3 mm, P = 0.78; muscle strength of knee flexion, 0.97 ± 0.27 and 0.89 ± 0.20 Nm/kg, P = 0.17; muscle strength of knee extension, 1.73 ± 0.39 and 1.58 ± 0.35 Nm, P = 0.14; muscle strength of hip abduction, 1.42 ± 0.32 and 1.26 ± 0.24 N, P = 0.02; locus length per time, 1.35 ± 0.39 and 1.16 ± 0.26 cm/s, P = 0.09; and environmental area, 2.62 ± 1.64 and 2.20 ± 1.22 cm2, P = 0.37 (Table 1). Body mass index (P=0.008, 95% CI, 0.517-0.904) and muscle strength of hip abduction (P = 0.032, 95% CI, 0.002-0.477) were found to be independent risk factors in logistic regression analysis (Table 2).Conclusion:The most notable finding of this study was that greater hip abductor muscle strength is a risk factor for non-contact ACL injury in these athletes. This study is the first to identify the relationship between non-contact ACL injury and hip abductor muscle strength.Table 1. ACL injury group (n=14)Control group (n=156)P valueHeight (cm)161.3 ± 6.7162.0 ± 5.70.63Body weight (kg)57.5 ± 7.855.4 ± 6.20.22Body mass index (%)22.1 ± 1.820.1 ± 2.70.17Anterior knee laxity (mm)4.0 ± 1.03.8 ± 1.10.54General joint laxity (points)1.8 ± 1.32.7 ± 2.20.03Femoral anteversion (degree)16.2 ± 3.716.7 ± 3.30.60Navicular drop (mm)8.5 ± 6.28.0 ± 3.30.78Knee flex. (Nm/kg)0.97 ± 0.270.89 ± 0.200.17Knee ext. (Nm/kg)1.73 ± 0.391.58 ± 0.350.14Hip abd. (Nm/kg)1.42 ± 0.321.26 ± 0.240.02Locus length (cm/s)1.35 ± 0.391.16 ± 0.260.09Environmental area (cm2)2.62 ± 1.642.20 ± 1.220.37Table 2. Standard partial regression coefficientSEP valueOdds ratio95 % confidence intervalBody mass index-0.3810.1430.0080.6830.517~0.904General joint laxity0.3220.1850.0811.3930.961~1.982Knee flex.-0.6382.1990.7720.5290.007~39.321Knee ext.-0.2441.3090.8520.7830.060~10.183Hip abd.-3.4321.3740.0120.0320.002~0.477Locus length-1.6250.8710.0620.1970.036~1.086

The impact of conditional cash transfers on the matriculation of junior high school students into rural China’s high schools

ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to examine whether promising a conditional cash transfer (conditional on matriculation) at the start of junior high school increases the rate at which disadvantaged students matriculate into high school. Based on a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 1418 disadvantaged (economically poor) students in rural China, we find that a CCT voucher has no effect on increasing high school matriculation for the average disadvantaged student. The CCT voucher also has no differential impact on students at any point in the distribution of baseline academic achievement. This result suggests that CCTs, while shown to be effective in many contexts, do not always work.

Physical self-concept changes in a selective sport high school: a longitudinal cohort-sequence analysis of the big-fish-little-pond effect.

Elite athletes and nonathletes (N = 1,268) attending the same selective sport high school (4 high school age cohorts, grades 7-10, mean ages varying from 10.9 to 14.1) completed the same physical self-concept instrument 4 times over a 2-year period (multiple waves). We introduce a latent cohort-sequence analysis that provides a stronger basis for assessing developmental stability/change than either cross-sectional (multicohort, single occasion) or longitudinal (single-cohort, multiple occasion) designs, allowing us to evaluate latent means across 10 waves spanning a 5-year period (grades 7-11), although each participant contributed data for only 4 waves, spanning 2 of the 5 years. Consistent with the frame-of-reference effects embodied in the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), physical self-concepts at the start of high school were much higher for elite athletes than for nonathlete classmates, but the differences declined over time so that by the end of high school there were no differences in the 2 groups. Gender differences in favor of males had a negative linear and quadratic trajectory over time, but the consistently smaller gender differences for athletes than for nonathletes did not vary with time.

Modeling the Effects of Grade Retention in High School

A dynamic discrete choice model is set up to estimate the effects of grade retention in high school, both in the short- (end-of-year evaluation) and long-run (drop-out and delay). In contrast to regression discontinuity designs, this approach captures treatment heterogeneity and controls for grade-varying unobservable determinants. A method is proposed to deal with initial conditions and with partial observability of the track choices at the start of high school. Forced track downgrading is considered as an alternative remedial measure. In the long-run, grade retention and its alternative have adverse effects on schooling outcomes and, more so, for less able pupils.

Early language impairments and developmental pathways of emotional problems across childhood.

Language impairments are associated with an increased likelihood of emotional difficulties later in childhood or adolescence, but little is known about the impact of LI on the growth of emotional problems. To examine the link between early language status (language impaired (LI), typical language (TL)) and the pattern and predictors of growth in emotional difficulties from school entry to the start of high school in a large cohort of Australian children. Unconditional latent growth curves of emotional difficulties were modelled across four waves (ages 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 and 10-11) using data from 1627 boys (280 LI, 1347 TL) and 1609 girls (159 LI, 1450 TL). Conditional latent growth curves estimated the main effects of LI on the severity and slope of growth in emotional problems. Simultaneous multiple regression tested the interaction between language status and the other predictors of the development of emotional symptoms. LI predicted a significant persistent elevation in severity of emotional difficulties across childhood among boys (d = 0.33-0.57) and girls (d = 0.25-0.39) but was not associated with their growth. LI moderated the association between hostile parenting and the severity of emotional symptoms for boys and the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) and temperamental sociability on the linear and quadratic growth of emotional problems for girls but had no impact on the influence of other predictors. There is no effect of LI on the characteristic rate and shape of growth in emotional symptoms across childhood although LI children maintain elevated severities of emotional difficulties. The associations between child reactivity, peer problems, prosocial behaviours, maternal distress and parental warmth and the development of emotional difficulties were the same for LI and TL children. LI enhanced the influence of hostile parenting on a higher severity of emotional symptoms for boys and of lower SES on a faster rate of development of emotional symptoms for girls. LI offset the usual protective effect of higher sociability and the usual vulnerability of higher social avoidance to a faster increase in emotional symptoms with age.

Family Background, School-Age Trajectories of Activity Participation, and Academic Achievement at the Start of High School

Applying latent class and regression techniques to data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 997), this study explored the potential academic advantages of time spent in out-of-school activities. Of particular interest was how these potential advantages played out in relation to the timing and duration of activity participation and the family contexts in which it occurred. Participation closer to the start of high school—including consistent participants and latecomers—was associated with higher grades at the transition into high school, especially for youth from low-income families. Sensitivity analyses indicated that this link between school-age activity participation and adolescent academic progress was unlikely to be solely a function of selection. It also tended to be more pronounced among youth from lower-income families, although without varying by other aspects of family status or process.

Family Socioeconomic Status, Peers, and The Pathto College.

Drawing on the primary/secondary effects perspective of educational inequality, this mixed methods study investigated connections between high school students' trajectories through college preparatory coursework and their relationships with parents and peers as a channel in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic inequality. Growth curve and multilevel analyses of national survey and transcript data revealed that having college-educated parents differentiated students' enrollment in advanced coursework at the start of high school and that this initial disparity was stably maintained over subsequent years. During this starting period of high school, exposure to school-based peer groups characterized by higher levels of parent education appeared to amplify these coursework disparities between students with and without college-educated parents. Ethnographic data from a single high school pointed to possible mechanisms for these patterns, including the tendency for students with college-educated parents to have more information about the relative weight of grades, core courses, and electives in college-going and for academically-relevant information from school peers with college-educated parents to matter most to students' coursework when it matched what was coming from their own parents.

Obesity, family instability, and socioemotional health in adolescence

The last two decades have witnessed dramatic increases in obesity and family instability. To the extent that the social stigma of obesity is a risk factor and family instability represents the potential compromise of important protective factors, their convergence may disrupt socioemotional health, especially during periods of heightened social uncertainty. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study found that obese youth at the start of high school had higher levels of internalizing symptoms and lower levels of perceived social integration in school only when they had also experienced multiple family transitions since birth. This pattern, however, did not hold for boys, and it did not extend to overweight (as opposed to obese) adolescents of either gender.

Stability and volatility of STEM career interest in high school: A gender study

AbstractThis retrospective cohort study characterizes how interest in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) careers changes during high school for more than 6,000 students in a representative national sample of 34 two‐ and four‐year colleges taking mandatory college English courses. Overall, large gender differences in career plans were found, with males showing far more interest particularly in engineering, whereas females were more attracted to careers in health and medicine during their high school years. The key factor predicting STEM career interest at the end of high school was interest at the start of high school. There was an additional effect of gender, indicating both a lower retention of STEM career interest among females and a greater difficulty in attracting females to STEM fields during high school. During the high school years, the percentage of males interested in a STEM career remained stable (from 39.5 to 39.7), whereas for females it declined from 15.7 to 12.7. The students' initial specific (disciplinary) career interests were found to influence the stability of their interest in a STEM career, with those interested in physics careers at the start of high school having the highest retention in STEM. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 96:411–427, 2012

Puberty and the Education of Girls

This study extends previous research on the social psychological implications of pubertal timing to education by applying a life course framework to data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study. Early pubertal timing, which has previously been associated with major social psychological changes in girls' lives during middle school, predicted girls' grade point average and probability of course failure at the start of high school. Because of this initial failure during the high school transition, it also predicted their probability of dropping out of high school, and, among those who graduated, their grade point average at the end of high school. Such research demonstrates one way in which the immediate social psychological risk of early pubertal timing, measured as the age at menarche, translates into long-term disadvantage for girls, thereby opening up new avenues of research for social psychologists interested in youth development, health, and education.

Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap

Prior research has demonstrated that summer learning rooted in family and community influences widens the achievement gap across social lines, while schooling offsets those family and community influences. In this article, we examine the long-term educational consequences of summer learning differences by family socioeconomic level. Using data from the Baltimore Beginning School Study youth panel, we decompose achievement scores at the start of high school into their developmental precursors, back to the time of school entry in 1st grade. We find that cumulative achievement gains over the first nine years of children's schooling mainly reflect school-year learning, whereas the high SES-low SES achievement gap at 9th grade mainly traces to differential summer learning over the elementary years. These early out-of-school summer learning differences, in turn, substantially account for achievement-related differences by family SES in high school track placements (college preparatory or not), high school noncompletion, and four-year college attendance. We discuss implications for understanding the bases of educational stratification, as well as educational policy and practice.

Academic and Health-Related Trajectories in Adolescence: The Intersection of Gender and Athletics

This study takes a life course approach to adolescent academic and health-related behavior. Researchers have often studied academic achievement and substance use as unrelated, static, and de-contextualized phenomena. Applying latent growth curve modeling to a sample of 2,651 high school freshmen and sophomores in California and Wisconsin (1987-1990), this study treats achievement and substance use as dynamic trajectories, inter-related to each other, and influenced by proximate and structural contexts. In general, achievement is high at the start of high school and then declines. This downward trend is driven by male non-athletes. Substance use is initially low and then increases, with boys driving this increase. Finally, academic and health-related trajectories are most related among athletes, who experience long-term academic consequences from risky health-related behavior. Overall, gender-athletic status can serve as either protective or risk factor, depending on the behavior and the temporal perspective.