Supportive Role Models Research Articles

The effect of social support on attitudes towards inclusive education and self‐efficacy among pre‐service special education teachers in Egypt

AbstractThe primary socializing agents have been found to play a key role in shaping teachers' attitudes. In the realm of inclusive education (IE), one of the most extensively researched themes is teachers' attitudes regarding inclusion. Contrary to a plethora of attitudinal studies that are solely concentrating on describing teacher attitudes, the present study sought to investigate the perceived social support (PSS) perceptions of pre‐service special education teachers in terms of their attitudes towards inclusive education and their self‐efficacy beliefs (TSE). The population of this correlational research design study consists of 525 pre‐service special education teachers from six different colleges of education in Egypt's northern, central and southern big cities. Using a correlation technique and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, the research data were analysed. The findings revealed that the PSS scales' sub‐dimensions indicate having a significant and positive relationship with TSE as well as attitudes towards IE. In addition, research revealed that pre‐service special education teachers' PSS significantly predicted their TSE beliefs and attitudes towards IE. The study's findings reflect crucial implications for teacher education policymakers in addressing pre‐service teachers' needs of professional learning programmes that should include a career development stage targeted at generating socially supportive role models.

Promoting Inclusive Environments: In-group Organizational Endorsement as a Tool to Increase Feelings of Identity-Safety among Black Women

Black women face unique and harmful biases because of their intersecting and multiple marginalized identities, which are different from those experienced by Black men and White women (Crenshaw in s. Cal. l. Rev., 65, 1467., 1991). As organizations work to create more inclusive environments for minoritized employees, it is important to test effective messaging and identity-safe cues (i.e., cues that enhance feelings of identity acceptance) for Black women. In the current research, we investigate a new identity-safe cue — in-group organizational endorsement. This technique involves two components: (a) learning about the successful experiences of a former Black female employee and (b) a persuasive message asserting that out-group employees can be supportive role models and mentors within the organization. In a pilot experiment (N = 182) and Study 1 (N = 236), Black female participants were more likely to believe role models and mentors can have different identities, to anticipate more identity-safety, and to have higher attraction to an organization that was endorsed by a former Black female employee compared to a White woman employee. Study 2 (N = 214) further demonstrated that in-group organizational endorsement was effective among Black female students early in their college career. Relative to a control group, Black female students in their 1st – 3rd year who received the in-group endorsement intervention indicated higher identity-safety at their university and were more likely to pursue professional interactions with out-group members. For institutions that are actively working to promote inclusivity and pro-diversity norms among their employees, in-group organizational endorsement is one effective identity-safety signal for communicating such environments.

Writing While Black

In this critical personal narrative Keeton explores how identity is negotiated at the site of their Black, queer body. They use autoethnography as a method to record their lived experiences in the context of the social, cultural, and political world. This writing explores their experiences with the education system and how their identities and experiences have influenced how they interact with the world, their perception of self, and their relationship with writing. Throughcritical reflection, Keeton describes how embodying an ethic of love and experiencing supportive role models within the education system allowed them to resist racist indoctrination and find their way to embodying healing and black self-love.

‘Models of possible selves: teachers’ reflections on childhood memories of parents’

ABSTRACT This study draws from theories of attachment to examine prospective teachers’ reflections on the role of the parent in their childhood memories in shaping the imagination of their future selves. As part of a larger qualitative study, we collected and analyzed the memory narratives of teacher candidates and undergraduate students preparing to work with children, and selected 53 of the 116 narratives that featured parents. These memories demonstrate three ways in which parents figured into the participants’memories and reflections on their motivations to work with children: 1) as supportive role models, 2) as catalysts of sympathy for children whom teachers imagine as lacking the privileges their own parents provided, and 3) as spurs for empathy towards children whom they identify with as experiencing challenging situations. In each case, the participant created an internal working model of the child-adult relationship in their memory and imagined themselves taking up a parallel role as the adult in a future child-adult relationship. As teacher educators concerned with the identity work of preservice teachers, our findings highlight the importance of critically exploring childhood memories of parents as models for the teacher-child relationship.

Competitive Agents and Adaptive Difficulty Within Educational Video Games

The entity players compete with is an important element of competitive mechanisms. However, this crucial element is barely investigated within educational video games, as educational psychology research focuses mainly on supportive role models (e.g., pedagogical agents, intelligent tutorial systems). Nevertheless, the influence on learning must be explored, as interaction with an opponent might accompany the whole learning process. Thus, an experiment was conducted comparing three forms of social competition with an emphasis on external valid applications. More specifically, playing against a human competitive agent, playing against an artificial competitive agent, and playing against an artificial leaderboard were compared. Additionally, methods of adaptive difficulty adjustment were included within these groups to harness the potential of artificial systems. The results of the study (N = 102) revealed a beneficial effect of adaptive mechanisms on learning performance and efficiency. Furthermore, a difference in play behavior could be observed. The participants reported a lowered feeling of shame, increased empathy, and behavioral engagement when facing competitive agents. In contrast, calculations revealed no significant impact on mental strains by potentially demanding social competitors. These results highlight the potential for the future development of adaptive game systems and help choose the optimal implementation of social competition within different educational video games.

Peer Actors and Theater Techniques Play Pivotal Roles in Improving Social Play and Anxiety for Children With Autism.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significant difficulty in social functioning to include engaging in natural play with peers. Many children with ASD exhibit significantly less interactive play and more physiological stress during benign social encounters with same-age peers on a playground. Theatrical role-playing and performance with expert role models may provide a unique opportunity for children with ASD to learn to engage with other children in a safe, supportive environment. SENSE Theatre® is a peer-mediated, theater-based program aimed at improving social competence in youth with ASD. Previous studies have shown significant improvements in social and communication skills following SENSE Theatre® intervention. The current project examined play with novel peers and self-reported anxiety before and after participation in SENSE Theatre®. Participants included 77 children between 8 and 16 years with high-functioning (IQ ≥ 70) ASD. The combined sample of three cohorts was randomized to the experimental (EXP, N = 44) or waitlist control (WLC, N = 33) group. Participants in the EXP group received 40 h (10, 4-h sessions) of SENSE Theatre®. The Peer Interaction Paradigm (PIP), an ecologically valid measure of natural play, was administered before and after the intervention. Group Play and Self Play on the playground equipment during solicited (T4) and unsolicited (T1) play were used in the current study. The State Trait Anxiety Scale for Children (STAIC; Spielberger et al., 1983) was used to measure self-reported current and persistent anxiety, respectively. Following treatment, children in the EXP group engaged in significantly more Group Play with novel peers [F(2,73) = 7.78, p = 0.007] and much less Self Play [F(2,73) = 6.70, p = 0.01] during solicited play compared to the WLC group. Regression analysis revealed that pretreatment play and group status were significant predictors of solicited Group Play. Children in the EXP group reported significantly less Trait anxiety following intervention [F(2,71) = 6.87, p = 0.01]; however, State anxiety was comparable. Results corroborate previous findings of significant changes in social and play behavior in children with ASD following the peer-mediated, theater-based intervention. Acting and theatrical performance with supportive role models facilitates social engagement in everyday settings with novel peers and reductions in self-reported anxiety.

Recruiting Quality Academics: The Relationship of Passion, Role Model, Workplace Flexibility, and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

Quality academics are crucial to enhance universities’ visibility in attracting more international students to pursue their tertiary education. Consequently, this may lead to the nation aspiration of becoming higher education hub in the region. Thus, understanding individuals’ interest towards pursuing academic career may lead to the recruitment of quality academics. A quantitative study was carried out involving 463 third year undergraduate students in selected universities. Passion, role model, and workplace flexibility had been found to significantly predict the intention to pursue academic career based on social cognitive career theory. In addition, career decision-making self-efficacy was found to be a significant intervening role that motivate further one’s confidence in pursuing academic career. Factor analyses led to the identification of new variables which significantly predict the criterion variables. However, the strength of relationship between each variable to criterion variable differs. Passion, supportive role models, and perceived workplace flexibility were found to be significantly predicting intention to pursue academic career. On the other hand, perceived workplace flexibility was found to have less influence when compared to the other two variables. Meanwhile, career decision-making self-efficacy of assessing personal and occupational features and career decision-making self-efficacy of gathering occupational information were well reported to partially mediate the relationship of passion and supportive role models, and the criterion variable.

Sink or Swim: Promoting Youth Development Through Aquatics Programs in Baltimore, Maryland

Youth participation in structured recreational activities promotes positive youth development. Engagement with others as part of a team or through group activities allows youth to develop skills in social interaction, goal setting, discipline, emotional maturity, physical activity competence, and many other abilities. As a recreational activity, group-oriented sport, and life skill, swimming has the potential to positively affect youth development in many different domains. Despite the promise of swimming for youth development, large disparities exist in access to and use of pools and swim programming. Swimming opportunities are much less available and less utilized by minority populations, especially in inner-city urban areas. In Baltimore City, Maryland, programs have attempted to improve youth swimming abilities and promote pool use for physical fitness, but participation has been low. The objective of this study is to understand the factors influencing use of swim programming offered in Baltimore, in order to identify suggestions for improving swim programs to more effectively engage inner city minority youth. Researchers conducted 13 in-depth-interviews, three focus group discussions, and six pool observations. Informants included Baltimore City parents, teachers, young adults (18-24 years old), aquatics staff, and city officials from both swimming and non-swimming backgrounds. Findings suggest that important barriers to youth participation in swimming include inconsistent availability of swim programs, limited knowledge of swimming opportunities, variant local definitions of swimming ability, and a lack of role models. Motivators to swimming participation include supportive role models and perceptions of swimming as a gateway to employment opportunities. To improve programs promoting youth development through swimming, the identified barriers and motivators should be addressed by developing messaging focused on: skills of competent swimmers, pool and class schedules, financial costs and support, pool safety, transportation options, benefits of indoor pools, the growing diversity of swimmers, family-oriented aquatic activities, the social and physical appeal of swimming, and employment opportunities swimming can provide. Community outreach and engagement with schools and parent organizations could help change social norms and increase youth participation in swimming. This would provide youth, both in Baltimore and other urban populations, with more opportunities for positive development. Subscribe to JPRA

Role Models and the Psychological Characteristics That Buffer Low‐Socioeconomic‐Status Youth From Cardiovascular Risk

Little is understood about why some youth from low-socioeconomic-status (SES) environments exhibit good health despite adversity. This study tested whether role models and "shift-and-persist" approaches (reframing stressors more benignly while persisting with future optimism) protect low-SES youth from cardiovascular risk. A total of 163 youth, ages 13-16, completed role model interviews and shift-and-persist measures while cholesterol and inflammatory markers, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein were assessed. Low-SES youth with supportive role models had lower IL-6. Low-SES youth high in shift-and-persist also had lower IL-6. Shift-and-persist partially mediated the interaction of SES and role models on IL-6. Benefits were not found among high-SES youth. Identifying psychological buffers in low-SES youth has implications for health disparities.

Teaching Imagination Skills to Lower Socioeconomic Youth

Imagination is an important ability for adolescents that is related to cognitive, affective, and coping skills (Donahue & Tuber, 1993; Pikard, 1990; Singer & Singer, 1981). This study involved eleven 12 to 14-year-old lower socioeconomic youth involved in a delinquency prevention program in a small, rural midwestem community. The first segment of the study involved a structured interview with each participant, indicating that most of these youth spent little time in imagination. Furthermore, they lacked the necessary environmental factors that enhance the development of imagination, (e.g., privacy, supportive role model, and storyteller). Each of the youth (nine boys and two girls) then participated in a 16 session, eight-week psychoeducational intervention aimed at teaching them imagination skills. The pre and post assessment data showed nine of the eleven improved in their ability to be more fluent thinkers. Furthermore, eight of the eleven showed better divergent thinking ability in the area of originality. Seven improved in richness in storytelling, evidenced by a greater ability to use concrete images in subject created endings to scenarios. Finally, all the youth reported a greater ability to relax and were able to describe various imaginative experiences they had during the intervention. The findings of this study suggest imaginative skills training was useful for this group of adolescents and may have promise for future research.