Middle School Years Research Articles

Comparison of academic buoyancy, family’s emotional climate, and academic motivation between excellent and average students

Introduction: One of the most important concerns in school psychology is understanding how students strive for academic success. Aim: The present study aimed to compare the family’s emotional climate, academic motivation, and academic buoyancy between excellent and average students. Method: In this causal-comparative research, the statistical population consisted of male students in the first year of middle school in districts 5, 18, and 22 of Tehran, Iran, during the academic year 2021-2022. A multistage cluster sampling method was used to recruit 300 students (n=150 per group) from these districts. Data were collected using the Family Emotional Climate Questionnaire by Hill (1964), Harter's Academic Motivation Scale (1980), and Martin and Marsh's (2008) Academic Buoyancy Scale. The collected data were analyzed using Chi-square test, regression analysis, and independent t-test in SPSS-21. Results: The results indicated a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the family’s emotional climate and its components, including love (P<0.001), caressing (P<0.002), approval (P<0.003), shared experiences (P<0.003), gift-giving (P<0.002), encouragement (P<0.001), trust (P<0.001), and sense of security (P<0.002). Additionally, there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the variables of academic motivation (P<0.001) and academic buoyancy (P<0.001), with the mean scores of excellent students being higher than those of the average group. Conclusion: In the group of excellent students, the family’s emotional climate, academic motivation, and academic buoyancy were higher than those of the average group. Therefore; strengthening the relationship between family members and students, besides implementing skill development programs that focus on enhancing academic motivation and buoyancy in school education, can have a significant impact on the academic success of students.

Diversity protects: The role of school and classroom racial/ethnic diversity on the experience of peer victimization during the middle school years.

The effects of school and classroom racial/ethnic diversity on peer victimization, self-blame, and perceived school safety were examined in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of students followed over the three years of middle school. Sixth grade students (N = 5,991, 52% female; M = 11.63 years) were recruited from 26 urban middle schools that systematically varied in racial/ethnic diversity. Based on student self-report, the sample was 31.6% Latino/Mexican, 19.6% White, 17.4%, Multiethnic/Biracial, 13% East/Southeast Asian, 10.9% Black, and 6.9% Other very small racial/ethnic groups. Each school had a structural diversity score based on the number and size of racial/ethnic groups enrolled. Using a novel method based on course schedules and class rosters, each student's individual exposure to diversity in their classes was assessed to capture dynamic diversity. Latent growth modeling showed that structural school diversity and dynamic classroom diversity were both related to less victimization at the start of middle school and a decrease over time. Dynamic classroom diversity buffered the associations between victimization and self-blame and between victimization and perceiving school as unsafe. Dynamic classroom diversity was more protective than structural school diversity. Implications for practice, intervention and policies to promote school racial/ethnic diversity were discussed.

청소년의 사회적 위축과 친구관계 간 자기회귀교차지연 효과분석

Background/Objectives: This study sought to examine the correlation between peer relationships and social withdrawal, an internalized difficulty, in terms of adolescents' interpersonal relationships for the positive development of adolescents. Methods: To this end, the study analyzed 3-year longitudinal data (N = 2,103) of first-year middle-school students from the 2018 Korean Child and Youth Panel Survey for mutual effects using an autoregressive cross-lagged model. Results: The social withdrawal and peer relationships of adolescents remained notable and stable from the first to third years of middle school. In addition, pre-time social withdrawal exerted a significant negative effect on subsequent peer relationships, whereas pre-time peer relationships exhibited no effect on subsequent social withdrawal. Thus, social withdrawal and peer relationships displayed a self-effect that stabilizes over time in contrast to social withdrawal, which presented a stronger self-effect and was a risk factor from which spontaneous recovery was difficult. Conclusion/Implications: This study is significant in that it reveals the importance of adolescents' psychological relationships by revealing that social withdrawal is a factor with a strong self-effect that is difficult to recover on its own. In addition, by predicting social withdrawal and longitudinal changes in peer relationships, we promoted the healthy development of adolescents and presented basic data necessary for education and counseling.

Transitional pathways through middle school for First Nations students in the Northern Territory of Australia

The middle-school years (Year 7 to Year 9) is a particular challenge for socially disadvantaged populations, with high proportions of children either repeating school years or dropping out of school. In Australia, a group of particular concern is First Nations children for whom there is a collective effort by all governments to improve education outcomes, although there have been few studies of their transition through the middle-school years. This retrospective study, using individual-level linked data, followed a cohort of 7881 First Nations students for 2 years after enrolment in Year 7 (Y7) in any Northern Territory (NT) government school in the years from 2008 to 2014 to quantify the transitional pathways through middle school and identify the factors associated with faltering progress. We used multinomial multilevel logistic regression to identify the factors associated with school dropout and repeating Y7 or Y8 (Y7/8). Two years after Y7 enrolment, eight in ten First Nations students progressed to Y9 (78.8%), more than one in ten students had dropped out of school (13.3%) before reaching Y9, and one in 12 (7.9%) repeated Y7/8. The likelihood of either dropping out of school or repeating years was higher among students who were enrolled in Y7 when aged less than 11.5 years, had a low Y7 school attendance rate, moved to either interstate or non-government schools and who lived in a remote area. Students who were not born in the NT and those with a record of substantiated child maltreatment during Y7 were more likely to repeat Y7/8. Planning interventions to improve school retention through the middle-school years should consider these factors.

Life satisfaction in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among middle school adolescents in France: findings from a repeated cross-sectional survey (EnCLASS, 2012-2021).

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies have reported a decrease in adolescents' well-being. We aim to describe life satisfaction over the last decade and examine the factors associated with its variations between 2020 and 2021 among French students in their last year of middle school (around 14-15 years old). Data were drawn from a repeated biennial cross-sectional national survey conducted in French schools over the last decade (EnCLASS study), using a self-administered questionnaire. After describing life satisfaction trends between 2012 and 2021 using the Cantril ladder, we examined individual changes in life satisfaction between 2020 and 2021 and their associations with housing and studying conditions during the COVID-19 lockdown, using multinomial logistic regression analysis (decrease, increase, no change as reference). Among the 17,686 survey respondents, an overall slight decrease in the prevalence of adolescents reporting high life satisfaction (i.e., Cantril score ≥6) was observed since 2012 with the lowest proportion reported in 2021 (77.4%). Between 2020 and 2021, 16.3% of French adolescents experienced an improvement in life satisfaction, while 17.7% experienced the opposite. Decrease in life satisfaction between 2020 and 2021 was more likely experienced by adolescents living in reconstructed families [aOR 2.09 (95%CI, 1.58-2.77)], those who did not have their own room [aOR 1.58 (1.16-2.15)], nor access to the Internet to interact with their friends during the lockdown [aOR 1.47 (1.09-1.98)]. Interestingly, more girls than boys were represented in both those reporting increase and decrease in life satisfaction [aOR 1.82 (1.40-2.37) and 1.43 (1.14-1.79), respectively]. This study shows that the way adolescents experienced the first 2020 lockdown in France was not uniform, and that one must consider sex as well as housing and studying conditions when interpreting adolescents' life satisfaction decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The influence of social withdrawal and depression on the self-esteem of female adolescents: The mediating effect of grit.

Previous studies have shown that female adolescents are at a higher risk of low self-esteem than male adolescents, and self-esteem in adolescents is critical for academic performance, adult health, and economic status. Depression, social withdrawal, and grit are predicted to be internal factors that affect self-esteem, and an integrated exploration of the relationship between them is required for a proper approach to enhance self-esteem in female adolescents. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of social withdrawal and depression on self-esteem among female adolescents and explored the mediating effect of grit on self-esteem. Data collected from 1,106 girls in the third year of middle school of the third-year survey (2020) of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018 were analyzed in this study. For data analysis, partial least square-structural equation modeling was performed using SmartPLS 3.0. Social withdrawal was negatively related to grit, but not related to self-esteem. Depression was negatively related to grit and self-esteem. Grit was positively related to self-esteem. In addition, grit showed mediating effects in the associations between social withdrawal and self-esteem, and between depression and self-esteem in female adolescents. In conclusion, in female adolescents, the mediating effects of grit attenuated the negative effects of social withdrawal and depression on self-esteem. To enhance self-esteem in female adolescents, it is important to develop and implement strategies to strengthen grit and control negative emotional states, such as depression.

Comparison of behaviorally inhibited and typically developing children's play behaviors in the preschool classroom.

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperamental trait characterized by a bias to respond with patterns of fearful or anxious behavior when faced with unfamiliar situations, objects, or people. It has been suggested that children who are inhibited may experience early peer difficulties. However, researchers have yet to systematically compare BI versus typically developing children's observed asocial and social behavior in familiar, naturalistic settings. We compared the in-school behaviors of 130 (M = 54 months, 52% female) highly inhibited preschoolers (identified using the parent-reported Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire) to 145 (M = 53 months, 52% female) typically developing preschoolers. Both samples were observed on at least two different days for approximately 60 min. Observers used the Play Observation Scale to code children's behavior in 10-s blocks during free play. Teachers completed two measures of children's behavior in the classroom. Regression models with robust standard errors controlling for child sex, age, and weekly hours in school revealed that preschoolers identified as BI engaged in significantly more observed reticent and solitary behavior, and less social play and teacher interaction than the typically developing sample. Children with BI also initiated social interaction with their peers and teachers less often than their counterparts who were not inhibited. Teachers reported that children identified as BI were more asocial and less prosocial than their non-BI counterparts. Significantly, the findings indicated that inhibited children displayed more solitude in the context of familiar peers. Previous observational studies have indicated behavioral differences between BI and unfamiliar typical age-mates in novel laboratory settings. Children identified as BI did not receive fewer bids for social interaction than their typically developing peers, thereby suggesting that children who are inhibited have difficulty capitalizing on opportunities to engage in social interaction with familiar peers. These findings highlight the need for early intervention for children with BI to promote social engagement, given that the frequent expression of solitude in preschool has predicted such negative outcomes as peer rejection, negative self-regard, and anxiety during the elementary and middle school years.

Integration of High-Intensity Interval Training into Middle School PE Classes

Because fitness and physical activity both tend to decline as students enter their middle school years, it is important to try to establish protocols and interventions to make this student population enjoy being active. Further, it has been shown that shorter exercise sessions are more likely to be executed. Using a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) station intertwined with usual instructional activities in a typical physical education class is one way to achieve these goals. This article gives direction on implementing this approach and provides results for a study to support considering it.

국어교과통합 진로탐색 프로그램이 중학생의 진로결정 자기효능감과 역기능적 진로 사고에 미치는 효과

The purpose of this study is to find out how it affects students’ career decision-making self-efficacy and career thinking by devising a career education program that integrates Korean language subjects and integrating the contents of Korean language classes with career education that enables students to develop their dreams. there is. The research method is as follows.
 First, the need for career education integrated with Korean subjects was examined for the third year of middle school. Second, a career education program integrated with Korean language subjects was conceived by converging Korean language subject achievement standards and career-related learning elements. Third, the Korean language integrated career education program was applied to the 8th class for an experimental group of 63 out of 127 third-year middle school students in Seoul.
 As a career decision self-efficacy test tool, the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale-SF developed by Taylor and Betz (1983) was validated by Lee Eunkyung(2001) for middle and high school students. used The self-efficacy scale for career decision-making consists of a total of 25 questions of 4 sub-factors: goal selection, job information, problem solving, and future planning (Lee Eunkyung 2001:49).
 The Career Thought Inventory (CTI) tool developed by Sampson et al. (1996) and validated by factor analysis by Jang Seon-Cheol(2003) was used. This questionnaire measures career-related dysfunctional career thinking and consists of a total of 26 questions in three sub-factors: generalized decision-making confusion, performance anxiety, and distorted identity regarding the career decision-making process.
 The collected data was verified for homogeneity between the two groups through an independent sample t-test using SPSS 25.0, followed by a paired samples t-test. As a result, the experimental group's total pre-average score for career decision self-efficacy was 84.35 points, and the post-average average score was 98.90 points. (t=-7.644, p<.001).
 In addition, the overall mean score of the career thinking test in the experimental group was 54.21 points, and the mean post-test score was 46.84 points. (t=3.430, p<.01).
 As such, it was confirmed that the overall self-efficacy in career decision-making improved and dysfunctional career thinking decreased after the implementation of the integrated Korean language career education program in the experimental group compared to before the implementation.
 This study has the following significance. First, the career decision-making self-efficacy of students was improved through the career education program integrated with Korean subjects. Second, it reduced the dysfunctional career thinking that interferes with students’ career exploration.

DISTINGUISHABLE HARDSHIPS FOR A SAMPLE OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM VRANCEA COUNTY

The present research is part of the project “Sustainable social and educational integration by sport activities”. The project aims to lower truancy rates and enhance educational attainment up to ISCED3 levels. Vrancea county is characterised by a prominent level of impoverishment (below the national level) and a notablerate of school dropout during the middle school years (above the national level). Our study aims to outline the multifaceted difficulties experienced by middle school students in Vrancea County, which can be categorized into eight distinct groups. These categories include Roma students, students with one or both parents working abroad, remigrated students, students from disorganized or single-parent families, students from child protection institutions, student coming from a family of immigrants/refugees in Romania, students with disabilities, and students at risk of early school dropout. This research is of an applied nature and was carried out over a period of 3 years, focusing on students enrolled in two schools with a moderate ISCED3 transition level, comprising a total of 204 students, including 124 boys and 80 girls. It is worth noting that specific difficulties and vulnerabilities differ between genders. The risk of early school leaving, mainly due to poverty, is more prevalent among g, while belonging to the Roma ethnicity poses a greater challenge for boys. The findings from this study serve as a foundational resource for guiding the counselling activities within the project

The predictive role of early childhood dysregulation profile on the parallel growth trajectories of reading and math performance across elementary and middle school

This study examined the heterogeneity in the co-developmental trajectories of reading and math performance (i.e., parallel changes in the initial scores and growth patterns) and identified the number, size and shape of the co-developmental trajectory across elementary and middle schools. In addition, this investigation focused on how an early childhood dysregulation profile (DP; indexed by a high co-occurrence of emotional, behavior, and attention problems) was associated with distinct co-developmental trajectories of reading and math performance. Specifically, we examined whether early childhood DP level can predict (a) membership assignment into each distinct co-development group and (b) variability in initial scores and changes in growth with each distinct co-development group. Participants were 784 academically at-risk students (47 % girls) predominantly from low socioeconomic status families who were recruited in first grade (Mean age = 6.57 years) and followed annually through the final year of middle school (ninth grade). Results revealed two distinct co-developmental trajectories of reading and math performance, including (a) a lower initial reading (higher increasing) and higher initial math (lower increasing) class (85.3 %) and (b) a lower initial math (higher increasing) and higher initial reading (lower increasing) class (14.7 %). Our results provided evidence for the compensatory pattern of co-developmental trajectories, indicating initial lower skills grow at a faster rate than the initial high. Further, early childhood DP was not associated with the membership assignment for these two distinct classes, which means that regardless of children’s early DP level, they have equal chances to be assigned to each of the classes. However, children with higher parent and teacher-reported DP in first grade demonstrated lower initial scores and a slower improvement rate in both classes after controlling for kindergarten literacy skills, gender, ethnicity, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and grade retention. Our study findings demonstrated (a) substantial heterogeneity in the co-developmental trajectories of reading and math performance across elementary and middle school ages; and (b) the importance of promoting self-regulation beginning in early childhood, especially for academically at-risk children in families facing economic challenges.

School and Bicultural Factors as Mediators between Immigrant Mothers' Acculturative Stress and Adolescents' Depression in Korea.

In Korea, marriages between Korean men and foreign women have surged since the late 1990s, resulting in public interest in the psychosocial adjustment of their children. This study examined the mediating effects of immigrant mothers' school involvement, adolescents' school adjustment, and bicultural acceptance on the relationship between the mothers' acculturative stress and adolescents' depression, as well as whether the structural relationships differed by the sex of adolescents. Data were collected from 1238 dyads of first-grade students (605 boys, 633 girls; age = 12.97 ± 0.35 years) in Korean middle schools and their immigrant mothers (age = 43.52 ± 5.13 years) who participated in the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study. The structural equation modeling analysis revealed that mothers' acculturative stress was indirectly and positively related to adolescents' depression through (1) the serial mediations of mothers' school involvement and adolescents' school adjustment and (2) the individual mediation of adolescents' school adjustment. Furthermore, the multigroup analysis indicated that the relationships between adolescents' school adjustment and depression and between adolescents' bicultural acceptance and depression significantly differed between male and female adolescents. The study provides directions for schools and communities to increase immigrant mothers' school involvement and to facilitate their children's school adjustment and bicultural acceptance.

중학생의 학업적 자기효능감, 학업무기력, 학업성취의 종단적 관계

This study empirically analyzed the longitudinal interrelationships among academic self-efficacy, academic helplessness, and academic achievement of middle school students using data from the 1st-3rd wave of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey. By applying the autoregressive cross-lagged model, academic self-efficacy, academic helplessness, and academic achievement are seen to be stable over time, and the level of academic self-efficacy, academic helplessness, and academic achievement at the previous time point are verified to affect each variable at the later time point. As a result, first, academic self-efficacy, academic helplessness, and academic achievement at the time of the first year remained stable until the second and third year of middle school. Second, academic self-efficacy at the previous time negatively predicted academic helplessness at the later time and positively predicted academic achievement. Third, academic helplessness at the previous time predicted academic self-efficacy and academic achievement at the later time negatively. Fourth, while academic achievement at a previous time point positively predicted academic self-efficacy at a later time point, it was found that academic helplessness did not significantly predict academic self-efficacy. Based on the results, it was suggested that the academic self-efficacy intervention program is needed as a preventive measure to resolve academic helplessness in middle school students.

Do adolescence peer victimization experiences hamper healthy relationships in young adulthood?

ABSTRACT The current study examines whether peer victimization experienced in early adolescence is associated with compromised social functioning 14 years later in young adulthood. The sample involved 1533 young adults (65.1% female, Mage = 27.06) who had participated in a large research project as middle school students (7th and 8th graders, with 13–14 years of age at wave 1) in Finland. Self-reported victimization during 1 year in middle school across three time points (waves 1–3) was first used to predict young adults' romantic relationship satisfaction and victimization at workplace (wave 4), while controlling for gender and initial grade level. The model suggested that peer victimization was associated with lower level of romantic relationship satisfaction and an increased risk for workplace victimization. When middle school depression, social anxiety, and bullying perpetration were added as covariates, peer victimization in middle school was no longer directly related to romantic relationship satisfaction. Peer victimization and bullying perpetration were each predictive of workplace victimization in this model. Adolescence bullying perpetration did not moderate the impact of victimization on adult outcomes. The findings suggest that the prevention of bullying and peer victimization as well as depression in adolescence is important to lower the long-term risks for social adjustment.

Structural Racism in Behavioral Health Presentation and Management.

Nia is a first-grade student with a history of trauma who was brought in by ambulance to the pediatric emergency department for "out of control behavior" at school. This is the first of multiple presentations to the emergency department for psychiatric evaluation, stabilization, and management throughout her elementary and middle school years. Several of the visits resulted in admission to the inpatient pediatric service, where she "boarded" while awaiting transfer to an inpatient psychiatric facility. At times, clinical teams used involuntary emergency medications and physical restraints, as well as hospital security presence at the bedside, to control Nia's behavior. Nia is Black and her story is a case study of how structural racism manifests for an individual child. Her story highlights the impact of adultification bias and the propensity to mislabel Black youth with diagnoses characterized by fixed patterns of negative behaviors, as opposed to recognizing normative reactions to trauma or other adverse childhood experiences-in Nia's case, poverty, domestic violence, and Child Protective Services involvement. In telling Nia's story, we (1) define racism and discuss the interplay of structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism in the health care, education, and judicial systems; (2) highlight the impact of adultification bias on Black youth; (3) delineate racial disparities in behavioral health diagnosis and management, school discipline and exclusion, and health care's contributions to the school-to-prison pipeline; and finally (4) propose action steps to mitigate the impact of racism on pediatric mental health and health care.

How growth mindset influences mathematics achievements: A study of Chinese middle school students.

It has been suggested that students with growth mindsets are more likely to achieve better mathematics learning results than their counterparts with fixed mindsets. However, inconsistent and some even contradictory results have been reported in recent studies which examined the associations between growth mindset and mathematics achievements, suggesting the complexity regarding the effects of growth mindset on academic achievements. This study aims to examine students' growth mindsets, failure attributions, intrinsic motivation, mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievements in one model to capture the sophisticated functioning processes of growth mindset. A total number of 266 middle school students in China participated in this study. Students' mindset and related variables (i.e.,motivations to learn mathematics, attributions of failure in mathematics, mathematics anxiety, mathematics self-efficacy) were measured at year 7, the first year of junior middle school in China. These students' mathematics learning outcomes were tracked from year 7 to year 9, the end of junior middle school. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the relations among students' growth mindsets, failure attributions, intrinsic motivation, mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievements. The results show that: (1) growth mindset doesn't directly predict mathematics achievements; (2) growth mindset indirectly influences mathematics achievements through intrinsic motivation; (3) failure attributions and mathematics self-efficacy sequentially mediate the association between growth mindset mathematics achievements; (4) failure attributions and mathematics anxiety sequentially mediate the relationship between growth mindset mathematics achievements. The results of this study contribute a better understanding about how growth mindsets make impacts on middle school students' mathematics achievements. These findings have important implications for mathematics education in that we could not simply cultivate students' growth mindset in schools with expectations of higher mathematics learning outcomes. Instead, along with the growth mindset intervention, it is fundamental to make interventions on students' intrinsic motivation, failure attribution, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics anxiety in mathematics teaching and learning.

Reading assessment in ADHD and dyslexia in Brazilian teenagers

IntroductionAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Dyslexia are among the most frequent developmental disorders in school-aged students, and both often cause an impact on scholar reading performance. Therefore, it is fundamental to trace the differential profile in reading performance in such diagnoses. Competent reading occurs through the interaction of several cognitive processes, such as decoding, fluency, and oral and reading comprehension, that should be assessed in an evaluation.ObjectivesThe study aimed to characterize the performance of students with ADHD and dyslexia.MethodsWe assessed 25 adolescents, aged between 11 and 14 years old, from 6th to 9th year of middle school of public and private schools in Brazil, divided into two groups: the group with ADHD (16 students) and the group with dyslexia (9 students). The diagnoses were established by a multidisciplinary center and there were no comorbidities for any case. The instruments used were: Comprehension Test of Words and Pseudowords II (TCLPP II) to assess decoding (indicate if the word is correct or incorrect); Reading Fluency Test (TFL) to assess fluency in single words and in text reading; Cloze Reading Comprehension Test (TCCL) to measure reading comprehension; and the WISC vocabulary subtest to assess auditory comprehension.ResultsNon-parametric analyzes revealed statistically significant differences in measures of textual comprehension, especially in the tasks that involved decoding and fluency processes, evidencing superior performance of the group with ADHD in these tests. Participants with dyslexia had a significantly higher performance in relation to the number of word omissions, that is, they had lower omission errors. There was no significant difference between groups in auditory comprehension.ConclusionsA differential profile was found in reading performance, consistent with the cognitive deficits classically pointed out in the literature for each diagnosis: phonological deficits in dyslexia, with problems in decoding and fluency; and attentional deficits in ADHD, with omission errors. In the comprehension measures, dyslexic group had significant lower performance than ADHD in the Cloze Reading Comprehension Test, but there was no difference in the Vocabulary subtest-WISC. An explanatory hypothesis is that, to understand the text, it is necessary to recognize the words previously, whereas, in the WISC, it is not necessary to read, since the questions are oral. These results corroborate the hypothesis that deficits in reading comprehension in dyslexia are more related to difficulties in word recognition and fluency skills than in general listening comprehension.Financial support: CAPES Proex [grant 0426/2021, no. 23038.006837/2021-73]; CNPq [grant 310845/2021-1]Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Freelancing

Freelancing Stan Hollingworth (bio) When the alarm rang, Lisa struggled into a standing position. A dull ache rested just behind her eyes and her mouth was dry. Trudging into the guest cottage kitchen, she pushed a button on a coffee maker. The digital display indicated six o'clock. The cottage was a quaint addition to a spacious, custom home in an affluent suburb of sprawling lawns and tree-lined streets. Lisa wasn't a guest; she and her husband, Kevin, owned the valuable but heavily-mortgaged property. She had adopted the guest house as a sanctuary from marital and financial problems. With a cup of steaming coffee, she sat in a breakfast nook. For a few moments, she drifted into visual memories of better times. She and Kevin were hosting a pool party for friends and business associates. Conversation and laughter filled the backyard as the smell of grilled seafood and steak wafted over an array of guests. A door slamming in the main house brought Lisa back to the present. An engine growled as Kevin started his aging BMW and backed from the driveway. Lisa finished her coffee and quickly dressed. She left the cottage and approached the house, passing a water-starved lawn and an empty swimming pool. Entering a spacious kitchen that was once state of the art but now needed upgrades, she rushed down a long hallway and paused in front of a bedroom door. She turned the knob and teased the door open. Stepping through a maze of electric guitars, amplifiers, and video game equipment, she made her way to the bedside of her fourteen-year-old son, Barry. Tall for his age with long hair and pale skin, he was sprawled among pillows and blankets. She gently nudged his shoulder until his eyes opened. "Barry," she whispered. "It's time for school." "I'm not going today," he mumbled. "Get out of my room." "You have to go, honey," she continued. "You know what the counselor said. Any more absences and you might not move on to high school." "Screw the counselor," Barry said. "Get out of my room." Lisa bit her lip and brushed hair from her forehead. She had always been insecure as a mother. Unassertive and lacking the knack for child-rearing, she struggled from the day Barry was born. If he cried or fussed as an infant, she always picked him up. As a toddler and preschooler, she bought him whatever he asked for or pointed at in a store. His room filled [End Page 59] with every gadget and toy imaginable. As he grew older, the toys changed to expensive electronic devices. Kevin, who had been ambivalent about having a child, spent as little time as possible with his son. School and Barry clashed from the first day of kindergarten. He couldn't cope with a world that didn't treat him as his mother did. Either he was uncooperative and sat alone for days at a time or he acted out in clever, devious ways. He was passed from one grade to another because the school district didn't know what else to do with him. Now, in the last year of middle school, he had become sullen and distant. "Listen, honey," Lisa pleaded, sitting on the bed. "If you go to school until the end of the grading period, which is only two weeks away, I'll buy you two tickets to a rock festival in the city this weekend. You can take one of your friends." Showing signs of life, Barry peered at his mother. "How about two of my friends?" he asked. When Lisa agreed, he pushed himself up and rummaged through clothes strewn about the room. He pulled on an extra-large sweatshirt, worn jeans, and high-top canvas sneakers. Lisa rushed to the kitchen and made a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. After eating a piece of toast he'd dipped into an egg yolk, Barry left the rest untouched. Lisa retrieved Barry's backpack from his room. Together they walked to the car. ________ Kevin maneuvered from one lane to another through congested morning traffic. His hair was pulled back into...

Family and Individual Contexts of Middle-School Years and Educational Achievement of Youths in Middle-Aged Adulthood.

Although educational development of youths can profoundly affect their other domains of health and well-being across later life trajectories, little research has investigated the prolonged effects of family and individual contexts of youths in middle-school years, a most critical developmental and formative stage, on their educational achievement in middle-aged adulthood. The current study employed data of a nationwide representative sample of middle-school youth students in the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) to examine how grade-7 parental support for college education, family SES, and educational expectations of youths contribute to their educational achievement in adulthood of mid-thirties through their development of grade-8 academic commitment and grade-9 educational performance in terms of English, mathematics, science, and social studies grade scores. Results based on structural equation modeling of longitudinal relationship found that grade-7 parental support for college education, family SES, and educational expectations of youths had significant and direct effects on youths' higher educational achievement in adulthood, and youths' grade-8 academic commitment and grade-9 educational performance significantly mediated the effects of grade-7 family SES, parental support for college education, and educational expectations of youths on their educational achievement in adulthood respectively and/or concurrently. Furthermore, interaction analysis supported the promotive but not buffering effects of grade-7 educational expectations of youths by family SES on their grade-9 educational performance and educational achievement in adulthood. Implications related to the important findings of the current study pertaining to educational development of youths are discussed.

Pengaruh Penggunaan Media Pembelajaran Berbasis Aplikasi (Kahoot) terhadap Hasil Belajar Peserta Didik pada Mata Pelajaran Fiqih Kelas VII di MTs Muhammadiyah 06 Banyutengah

This research is motivated by the increasing development of technology in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, educators can make learning innovations to make the learning process more interesting, namely by utilizing various programs that are able to produce an interactive learning media. The lack of use of learning media that is used especially in Fiqh learning, makes students' learning motivation decreases and feels bored in the learning process which tends to use conventional methods. One of the latest application programs that can be used as interactive learning media is the Kahoot educational game application. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an influence of application-based learning media (Kahoot) on student learning outcomes at MTs Muhammadiyah 06 Banyutengah. This study uses a quantitative approach with a One-group pretest-posttest research design and the number of respondents is 26 respondents, using sample data. Collecting data using pre-test and post-test questions. The collected data were analyzed by validity test, reliability test, normality test, homogeneity test, correlation test, significance test and coefficient of determination. Based on the calculation results obtained manually by testing the hypothesis using the product moment correlation formula, the results obtained are rcount = 0.730 > rtable = 0.3882. Meanwhile, for the significance test, the results obtained tcount = 5,228 > ttable = 2,063 at a significance level of 5%. From the discussion as mentioned above, it can be concluded that Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted or there is a positive and significant influence between Application-Based Learning Media (Kahoot) on Student Learning Outcomes in Fiqh Subjects Class VII at MTs Muhammadiyah 06 Banyu Middle School Year 2020/2021.