Academic Functioning and Mental Health in Adolescence

Abstract

The current study examines patterns of academic functioning and mental health in 184 middle school children and the relation of such patterns to their prior and subsequent functioning. Data were collected from children during their second, third, fourth, eighth, and ninth grade school years. Cluster analyses were used to delineate patterns of academic functioning and mental health during eighth grade. The authors examined the relation of these patterns to academic functioning and mental health 1 year later the transition to high school, and then examined the long-term developmental roots of the eighth grade patterns using data collected during elementary school years. Results indicated variegated patterns of academic and emotional functioning at eighth grade and stability in these patterns across the high school transition. Some long-term continuity was found among children showing uniformly positive or negative functioning at eighth grade. Studying child functioning across multiple domains and time periods is discussed.Understanding different developmental pathways through childhood and adolescence has become an increasingly prominent topic among educationalists, developmentalists, and child clinicians (

Achievement goal orientations and academic well-being across the transition to upper secondary education

“…They have been often associated with negative outcomes such as decreased academic value and interest, decreased mastery goals, increased stress, and lower academic achievement Isakson & Jarvis, 1999;Roeser, Eccles, & Freedman-Doan, 1999;Rudolph, Lambert, Clark, & Kurlakowsky, 2001;Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & DavisKean, 2006). The fit between the person (student) and the environment (school) is a crucial factor affecting student's school adjustment and well-being during an educational transition.…”

Mediated effects of perceived discrimination on adolescent academic achievement: A test of four models

“…Under this "psychosocial" model, the effects of perceived discrimination on academic achievement are serially mediated, first through psychological adjustment, and then through school adjustment. The findings provide further support for studies that have demonstrated associations between perceived discrimination and psychological adjustment (e.g., Banks et al, 2006;Derluyn, Broekaert, & Schuyten, 2008;Seaton et al, 2008), between psychological and school adjustment (Hawker & Boulton, 2000;Roeser et al, 1999Roeser et al, , 1998Rueger & Jenkins, 2014), and between school adjustment and academic achievement (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011;Totura et al, 2014). In elucidating a pathway through which perceived discrimination likely hampers achievement, this model accentuates the potentially protective roles of psychological adjustment and school adjustment.…”

“…The model is consistent with a motivational deficit account of school failure: Receipt of perceived discrimination at school may lead to a lowering of expectancy beliefs, less ambitious goal-setting, reduced on-task behavior, and/or lower persistence levels (Al Ramiah et al, 2010;Roeser et al, 1999). It may even be manifested in self-defeating and self-handicapping behaviors, in accord with a learned helplessness explanation of school maladjustment (Maier & Seligman, 1976).…”

“…Second, research reveals strong relationships between indices of psychological adjustment and academic achievement (e.g., Roeser et al, 1999). Longitudinal research by Hishinuma, Chang, McArdle, and Hamagami (2012) shows that prior depressive symptoms predict subsequent academic achievement, and not the other way around.…”

“…First, there is abundant evidence of positive associations between adolescents' psychological adjustment and school adjustment (Rüppel et al, 2015;Roeser, Eccles, & Freedman-Doan, 1999). Specifically, poor psychological adjustment is associated with negative attitudes to school, weakened student-teacher relations, reduced student engagement and sense of school membership, maladaptive classroom behaviors, and frequent absenteeism (Bayram-Ozdemir & Stattin, 2014;Card & Hodges, 2008;Ingul, Kl€ ockner, Silverman, & Nordahl, 2012;Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996;Macmillian & Hagan, 2004;Roeser, Eccles, & Strobel, 1998;Rueger & Jenkins, 2014;Schmidt, 2003).…”