Early Adolescents' Development of Academic Self‐Concept and Intrinsic Task Value: The Role of Contextual Feedback

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112276/1/jora12140.pd

Implicit Prejudice in Eight-Graders

This study examines the automatic activation of negative prejudices towards Turks using a masked affective priming paradigm in a sample of German adolescents (aged 13 to 15). Pictures of Turks and Germans were used as masked primes; positive and negative adjectives conveying either other-relevant valence (e.g., honest, evil) or possessor-relevant valence (e.g., talented, dull) were used as targets. Results revealed that both explicit prejudices towards Turks living in Germany as well as prejudiced behaviour in a virtual ball-tossing game are meaningfully related to automatic prejudice activation. As expected, these correlations were found only for priming indices based on other-relevant targets, thereby emphasising the differentiation of implicit prejudice into (imputed) hostility and depreciation

Adolescents' attitudes towards foreigners: associations with perceptions of significant others' attitudes depending on sex and age

'The present study examines associations between adolescents' attitudes towards foreigners and their perceptions of the same attitudes among their parents, friends, and teachers. Questionnaire data from a sample of 518 students attending 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade of German high-track schools addressed students' own attitudes and their reports on the reference persons m their proximal contexts. Analyses of individual profile correlations suggest strong correspondences between adolescents and their perceived contexts which slightly decrease depending on age. Processes of projection are discussed as a possible explanation of the strong associations observed as well as to the age-graded pattern of correlations.' (author's abstract)

Individuelle Bedingungen für erfolgreiche Bildungskarrieren bei Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund

Die Autoren stellen das Projekt KuBiS ("Kompetenzunterschiede und Bildungsgangwechsel bei Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund") vor, welches individuelle Bedingungen untersucht, die bei Migrantenschülern Kompetenzunterschiede und Bildungsgangwechsel erklären können. Anhand einer Sekundäranalyse der PISA-E 2003 Daten sowie einer eigenen Längsschnittstudie an bayerischen Mittelschulen wird die Annahme überprüft, dass die Varianz innerhalb der Gruppe der Migrantenjugendlichen durch deren Bildungsaspirationen, akademisches Selbstkonzept und Lernmotivation erklärt werden kann. Dabei wird diesen drei Variablen eine vermittelnde Funktion zwischen den kontextuellen Merkmalen Migrationsstatus und Kapitalausstattung einerseits und den abhängigen Variablen Bildungsgang und Kompetenzniveau andererseits zugeschrieben. Aus den empirischen Ergebnissen des Projekts lassen sich auch pädagogische Schlussfolgerungen für die Praxis ableiten, die über eine Identifikation von Migranten als Risikogruppe hinausgehen. Gefördert wird das Projekt durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung in Ankopplung an Large-Scale-Assessments. Ziel dieses Programms ist die Förderung von Forschungsvorhaben, die internationalen und nationalen Large-Scale-Assessments im Schulbereich vorausgehen, diese begleiten oder ihnen folgen. (ICI2

Erfassung interkultureller Kompetenzen bei Kindern und Jugendlichen: das Würzburger Interkulturelle Kompetenz-Inventar (WIKI-KJ)

"Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt einen Fragebogen zur Erfassung interkultureller Kompetenz in Kindheit und Jugendalter vor. Die zentralen Dimensionen Kontakthäufigkeit mit anderskulturellen Peers, die Adaptivität des Kontaktverhaltens, die Offenheit für interkulturelle Kontakte sowie der interkulturelle Wissenstransfer werden zeitökonomisch und altersangemessen erfasst. Die Faktorenstruktur sowie die psychometrischen Eigenschaften des Fragebogens wird anhand einer Primar- (n=546) und einer Sekundarschulstichprobe (n=976) überprüft. In einer konfirmatorischen Faktorenanalyse erweist sich die Vier-Faktorenstruktur in beiden Stichproben als optimal. Die Reliabilitäten und Trennschärfen zeigen ebenfalls eine psychometrisch gute Erfassung interkultureller Kompetenz an." (Autorenreferat)"The present study presents a questionnaire for the measurement of intercultural competence in childhood and adolescence. The questionnaire economically and expeditiously measures the four major competence dimensions: intercultural contact frequency, adaptivity of contact behaviors, openness to intercultural contact and intercultural knowledge transfer. The factorial structure and psychometric properties of the measure were tested in an elementary school sample (n=546) and a secondary school sample (n=976). A confirmatory factor analyses indicated the four-factor structure was the optimal solution. The reliabilities and item-total correlation showed also good psychometric properties of the questionnaire." (author's abstract

How does community service promote prosocial behavior? Examining the role of agency and ideology experience

This study examines community service effects on adolescents\u27 prosocial behaviors as mediated through experiences made during service. Based on theoretical assumptions by Youniss and Yates, we suggest that personal agency experiences and being confronted with situations that can challenge the own world views (ideology experiences) serve as mediators. The data were collected in a two-wave longitudinal study surveying 2,408 German adolescents aged between 14 and 15 years. Based on true intraindividual change models, the results support the expected mediation of service effects on prosocial behaviors through agency, but not ideology experiences. The findings suggest that community service affects prosocial behaviors through a behavioral pathway

How does community service promote prosocial behavior?

This study examines community service effects on adolescents’ prosocial behaviors as mediated through experiences made during service. Based on theoretical assumptions by Youniss and Yates, we suggest that personal agency experiences and being confronted with situations that can challenge the own world views (ideology experiences) serve as mediators. The data were collected in a two-wave longitudinal study surveying 2,408 German adolescents aged between 14 and 15 years. Based on true intraindividual change models, the results support the expected mediation of service effects on prosocial behaviors through agency, but not ideology experiences. The findings suggest that community service affects prosocial behaviors through a behavioral pathway

Predictors of intentions to participate in politics and actual political behaviors in young adulthood

Drawing on data from a three-wave longitudinal study, the present research examined predictors of young adults' intentions to participate in politics and their actual political activities while referring to the broader assumptions of the theory of planned behavior. The analyses were based on a sample of university students from the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. The results showed that attitudes toward political behaviors and internal political efficacy beliefs explained changes in students' intentions to participate in politics. However, the perceived meaning that political participation has for important others had no additional effect. Furthermore, students' intentions to participate in politics and their internal political efficacy beliefs predicted changes in their actual behaviors. Together, the findings supported the theory of planned behaviors as a useful framework helping to predict young adults' intentions and actual involvement in political activities

Two Sides of a Story: Mothers' and Adolescents' Agreement on Child Disclosure in Immigrant and Native Families

Research on immigrant families often has suggested that the process of immigration can lead to a distancing of adolescents and their parents. This study examined the actual agreement of immigrant and native mother-adolescent dyads in their reports on children's disclosure as an indicator for a trusting mother-child relationship. The research questions related to group-level differences (immigrant vs. native dyads) in mother-adolescent agreement, the prediction of interdyadic differences in mother-adolescent agreement, and the associations between mother-adolescent agreement and both family conflicts and adolescents' depressive symptoms. The sample was comprised of mother-adolescent dyads: 197 native German dyads (adolescents: mean age 14.7years, 53% female) and 185 immigrant dyads from the former Soviet Union (adolescents: mean age 15.7years, 60% female). Agreement was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient. The results revealed that mother-adolescent agreement was lower in immigrant dyads than in native dyads. In both samples, higher levels of adolescent autonomy predicted lower mother-adolescent agreement. Among immigrants, language brokering was an additional predictor of lower levels of mother-adolescent agreement. The interaction of language brokering and autonomy also turned out to be significant, indicating that if an adolescent was high in language brokering or autonomy, the effect of the other variable was negligible. In both groups, mother-adolescent agreement was negatively related to family conflicts. The study shows that processes in immigrant and native families are rather similar, but that in immigrant families some additional acculturation-related factors have to be considered for a full understanding of family dynamics