Can locus of control compensate for socioeconomic adversity in the transition from school to work?

Internal locus of control is associated with academic success and indicators of wellbeing in youth. There is however less understanding regarding the role of locus of control in shaping the transition from school to work beyond the more widely studied predictors of socioeconomic background and academic attainment. Guided by a socio-ecological model of agency, the current study examines to which extent internal locus of control, understood as an indicator of individual agency, can compensate for a lack of socioeconomic resources by moderating the association between parental disadvantage and difficulties in the transition from school to work. We draw on data collected from a longitudinal nationally representative cohort of 15,770 English youth (48% female) born in 1989/90, following their lives from age 14 to 20. The results suggest that the influence of agency is limited to situations where socioeconomic risk is not overpowering. While internal locus of control may help to compensate for background disadvantage regarding avoidance of economic inactivity and unemployment to some extent, it does not provide protection against long-term inactivity, i.e. more than 6 months spent not in education, employment or training

A prospective longitudinal study of the transition to secondary school: exploring risk and protective factors

The transition to secondary school is an important developmental period that includes changes to children’s academic, physical, and social environments. This school transition also coincides with the average age for the onset of puberty. Most children express some concerns about this transition and a significant minority have ongoing difficulties after starting at secondary school. Drawing on a developmental psychopathology approach, this thesis aimed to outline a model for measuring successful transitions to secondary school and explore risk and protective factors related to ‘transition success’. Using data from a prospective, three-wave, multiple-informant longitudinal study of school transition, findings indicated that transition success is multidimensional, consisting of two broad domains of functioning at school: (1) academic and behavioural adjustment, and (2) school bonding. A number of risk and protective factors were identified for each domain. Particular attention was paid to the role of self-control, puberty, and social relationships (with parents and friends) as influences on children’s adjustment during this period. Self-control was found to decline over the transition and to predict children’s adjustment at secondary school. Support was found for parenting and puberty as influences on the development of children’s self-control over the transition. Aspects of children’s relationships over the transition were found to predict children’s adjustment at secondary school. For parent-child relationships, there were negative effects of maternal depression and parental hostility, and positive effects of parental warmth. Stable friendships were generally found to confer adjustment benefits but some negative effects were found when multiple low quality friendships were maintained over the transition. Overall the findings presented in this thesis advance understanding of the risk and protective factors associated with successful secondary school transitions, in particular, elucidating the nature of relationships between a number of individual-level and social-contextual factors

Co-Development of Educational Expectations and Effort: Their Antecedents and Role as Predictors of Academic Success

This study examined the co-development of educational expectations and effort (conceptualized as indicators of individual agency) during secondary school and assessed their role as predictors of academic success, controlling for prior academic attainment and parental social background. Drawing on data collected for the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), a nationally representative sample, the findings suggest reciprocal effects between expectations and effort, shaped by family SES and prior academic attainment. Agency is not a static construct, it is not fully determined by family SES and students adapt their functioning and choices in response to informative feedback loops

Drive: Measurement of a Sleeping Giant

Effective strategies for increasing work motivation will consider person factors and individual differences. This article expands on the theory and construct of drive in the context of the development of a new inventory and concurrent validation of a short form. The results support the measurement of drive, which hitherto had not been explicitly defined and operationalized accordingly. Exploratory structural equation modeling recovered 3 oblique factors, labeled "passion," "effort," and "ideation." The instrument also evidenced reliability (internal consistency and test-retest), as well as convergent/ discriminant, predictive, and incremental validity. Consistency between 2 forms and with previous results strengthens the robustness of findings. Applications of drive theory and assessment in organizational and career contexts are discussed

Does Taekwondo improve children's self-regulation? If so, how? A randomized field experiment

Emerging evidence suggests interventions can improve childhood self-regulation. One intervention approach that has shown promise is Taekwondo martial arts instruction, though little is known about its acceptability among stakeholders or its mechanisms of effect. We extend evidence on Taekwondo interventions in three ways: (a) testing the efficacy of a standard introductory course of Taekwondo, (b) assessing the acceptability of Taekwondo instruction among school children, and (c) investigating two self-regulatory mechanisms by which Taekwondo may operate (executive functions and motivation). This article reports findings from a randomized control trial implementing a standard 11-week beginners’ course of Taekwondo. Participants were from a mixed-sex, nonselective U.K. primary school (N = 240, age range 7 to 11 years). Measures of self-regulation included teacher-rated effortful control, impulsivity, prosocial behavior, and conduct problems; computer-based assessments of executive functions; and child self-reported expectancies and values to use self-regulation. Postintervention, children in the Taekwondo condition were rated by teachers as having fewer symptoms of conduct problems and better effortful control (specifically attentional control), and they also had better executive attention assessed by a flanker task. Effects were not found for teacher-rated inhibitory control, activation control, impulsivity, and prosocial behavior or for assessments of response inhibition, verbal working memory, and switching. Taekwondo was rated very positively by children. Finally, there was evidence that children who completed Taekwondo classes reported higher expectancies and values to use self-regulation and that expectancies and values mediated intervention effects on self-regulation. We conclude that short standard Taekwondo courses are well received by pupils, improve attentional self-regulation, and reduce symptoms of conduct problems

What explains the link between childhood ADHD and adolescent depression? Investigating the role of peer relationships and academic attainment

There is increasing evidence that childhood Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) elevates risk of later depression, but the mechanisms behind this association are unclear. We investigated the relationship between childhood ADHD symptoms and late-adolescent depressive symptoms in a population cohort, and examined whether academic attainment and peer problems mediated this association. ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) is an ongoing prospective longitudinal population-based UK cohort that has collected data since September 1990. 2950 individuals with data on parent-reported ADHD symptoms in childhood (7.5 years) and self-reported depressive symptoms in late adolescence (17.5 years) were included in analyses. 2161 individuals with additional data at age 16 years on parent-reported peer problems as an indicator of peer relationships and formal examination results (General Certificate of Secondary Education; GCSE) as an indicator of academic attainment were included in mediation analyses. Childhood ADHD symptoms were associated with higher depressive symptoms (b = 0.49, SE = 0.11, p < 0.001) and an increased odds of clinically significant depressive symptoms in adolescence (OR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.15–1.41, p < 0.001). The association with depressive symptoms was mediated in part by peer problems and academic attainment which accounted for 14.68% and 20.13% of the total effect, respectively. Childhood ADHD is associated with increased risk of later depression. The relationship is mediated in part by peer relationships and academic attainment. This highlights peer relationships and academic attainment as potential targets of depression prevention and intervention in those with ADHD. Future research should investigate which aspects of peer relationships are important in conferring later risk for depression

Synergies for Improving Oil Palm Production and Forest Conservation in Floodplain Landscapes

Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world’s tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates ($413/ha?yr–$637/ha?yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of $-299/ha?yr-$-65/ha?yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy and practice, may provide conservation and economic opportunities within these seemingly high opportunity cost landscapes

Higher cognitive ability buffers stress-related depressive symptoms in adolescent girls

Stress has been shown to have a causal effect on risk for depression. We investigated the role of cognitive ability as a moderator of the effect of stressful life events on depressive symptoms and whether this varied by gender. Data were analyzed in two adolescent data sets: one representative community sample aged 11–12 years (n = 460) and one at increased familial risk of depression aged 9–17 years (n = 335). In both data sets, a three-way interaction was found whereby for girls, but not boys, higher cognitive ability buffered the association between stress and greater depressive symptoms. The interaction was replicated when the outcome was a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. This buffering effect in girls was not attributable to coping efficacy. However, a small proportion of the variance was accounted for by sensitivity to environmental stressors. Results suggest that this moderating effect of cognitive ability in girls is largely attributable to greater available resources for cognitive operations that offer protection against stress-induced reductions in cognitive processing and cognitive control which in turn reduces the likelihood of depressive symptomatology

Exploring the longitudinal association between interventions to support the transition to secondary school and child anxiety

School transition at around 11-years of age can be anxiety-provoking for children, particularly those with special educational needs (SEN). The present study adopted a longitudinal design to consider how existing transition strategies, categorized into cognitive, behavioral or systemic approaches, were associated with post-transition anxiety amongst 532 typically developing children and 89 children with SEN. Multiple regression analysis indicated that amongst typically developing pupils, systemic interventions were associated with lower school anxiety but not generalized anxiety, when controlling for prior anxiety. Results for children with SEN differed significantly, as illustrated by a Group × Intervention type interaction. Specifically, systemic strategies were associated with lower school anxiety amongst typically developing children and higher school anxiety amongst children with SEN. These findings highlight strategies that schools may find useful in supporting typically developing children over the transition period, whilst suggesting that children with SEN might need a more personalized approach

Origin of symbol-using systems: speech, but not sign, without the semantic urge

Natural language—spoken and signed—is a multichannel phenomenon, involving facial and body expression, and voice and visual intonation that is often used in the service of a social urge to communicate meaning. Given that iconicity seems easier and less abstract than making arbitrary connections between sound and meaning, iconicity and gesture have often been invoked in the origin of language alongside the urge to convey meaning. To get a fresh perspective, we critically distinguish the origin of a system capable of evolution from the subsequent evolution that system becomes capable of. Human language arose on a substrate of a system already capable of Darwinian evolution; the genetically supported uniquely human ability to learn a language reflects a key contact point between Darwinian evolution and language. Though implemented in brains generated by DNA symbols coding for protein meaning, the second higher-level symbol-using system of language now operates in a world mostly decoupled from Darwinian evolutionary constraints. Examination of Darwinian evolution of vocal learning in other animals suggests that the initial fixation of a key prerequisite to language into the human genome may actually have required initially side-stepping not only iconicity, but the urge to mean itself. If sign languages came later, they would not have faced this constraint