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This longitudinal study of 1,066 Finnish students examined bidirectional reciprocal relationships between changes in perceived supportive school climate and changes in self-reported truancy from the last year of primary school (Grade 6) to the last year of lower secondary school (Grade 9). The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel model showed, first, that a decrease in positive perceptions of school climate at the previous time point predicted more self-reported truancy at the following time point. Second, an increase in self-reported truancy predicted less positive perceptions of supportive school climate. The study indicates that students' perceptions of supportive school climate and truancy negatively predict each other over time. Thus, school climate can serve as a target for prevention and intervention efforts to tackle truancy. Moreover, effectively addressing truancy may lead to a more favorable student view of school climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) programs have rarely been used as tools for promoting adolescents' career preparation. This randomized controlled trial examined the possibility to promote the career preparation of Finnish ninth-grade adolescents (n = 249, 49% females) with a web-based five-week ACT-based online intervention program. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions, of which two groups received an iACT including support via SMS (iACTface: iACT+two face-to-face sessions; only iACT: iACT with no face-to-face sessions) and the third (control) group received no treatment. The results showed that career-related insecurity decreased as a result of the intervention irrespective of adolescent gender or academic achievement. Intervention effects in career-choice self-efficacy, in turn, were moderated by gender as such that girls benefited more from face-to-face support during intervention than boys. All the detected immediate effects were maintained at the six-month follow-up. In turn, delayed intervention effects in career-related insecurity and career-choice self-efficacy were mainly observed among adolescents with low academic achievement. The effect sizes of the found intervention effects were moderate. The results suggest that ACT-based online intervention programs have potential to promote adolescent career preparation. However, such interventions might be especially effective for subgroups of adolescents. • This study examined ninth-grade adolescents' career preparation. • The efficacy of a web-based Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) program was examined. • ACT was effective for career-related insecurity and career-choice self-efficacy, but not for preparation against setbacks. • ACT-based online intervention programs have potential to promote adolescent career preparation. • Such interventions might be especially effective for subgroups of adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the academic antecedents of declining peer social status. Participants included 545 (311 boys, 234 girls) Finnish students followed from the 1st through the 4th grade (ages 6–8 at outset). Each year, teachers completed assessments of academic task avoidance and students completed standardized measures of reading and math achievement. Acceptance was assayed through peer nominations. Supporting the hypothesized model, the results indicated that a lack of interest and motivation at the outset of primary school leads to a downward spiral of academic difficulties and diminished peer acceptance. Specifically, academic task avoidance in 1st and 2nd grade anticipated declining math and reading achievement one year later, which in turn, anticipated decreases in peer acceptance the following year. The findings held after controlling for factors known to contribute to school and peer difficulties, such as friendlessness, school readiness, and emotional and behavioural problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine associations between motivation, emotion, and task performance in simulated achievement situations. A group of sixth grade students (n = 190) completed an achievement task. Situational information on task value, success expectations, emotions, effort, task performance, and causal attributions was collected and information on subsequent academic achievement was obtained from school registers. The results showed, first, that high task value, high expectancy of success, and high positive emotions before a task contributed to a higher level of effort during the task. This, in turn, was related to better task performance. Second, high expectancy of success predicted increased positive emotions during the task, and these in turn, were related to better task performance. Conversely, high negative emotions during the task were related to poorer task performance. Third, high task performance was related to higher levels of effort, higher attributions of success to ability, and increased positive emotions after the task. Finally, both high task performance and attributions of success to ability were related to better subsequent academic achievement. • Task value and expectancy of success were assessed before the achievement task. • Effort was assessed during the task, and causal attributions after the task. • Positive and negative emotion were assessed before, during and after the tasks. • Direct and indirect associations between motivation, emotion and task performance were found. • Dynamics in achievement tasks was related to subsequent academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Academic emotions (e.g., enjoyment of learning or anxiety) play a significant role in academic performance and educational choices. An important factor explaining academic emotions can be students' temperament and the goodness-of-fit between their temperament and their social environment, including parents. Objective: This study investigated the unique and interactive effects of early adolescents' and their parents' temperament types on adolescents' academic emotions in literacy and mathematics. Method: The participants in the study consisted of 690 adolescent–parent dyads. Parents rated their own and their adolescents' temperaments, and adolescents reported their positive and negative emotions in literacy and mathematics. Results: The results showed that adolescents' temperament type was significantly related to their negative emotions in both school subjects. Adolescents with an undercontrolled temperament reported more anger compared to adolescents with a resilient or overcontrolled temperament, and more anxiety, shame, and hopelessness compared to resilient adolescents. In addition, undercontrolled adolescents reported more boredom in mathematics than resilient or overcontrolled adolescents. The parents' temperament type was related to positive emotions. Adolescents of resilient parents reported greater pride in mathematics than adolescents of undercontrolled or overcontrolled parents and higher hope in mathematics than adolescents of overcontrolled parents. Finally, overcontrolled adolescents with a resilient or overcontrolled parent reported higher enjoyment of mathematics and literacy in comparison to overcontrolled adolescents with an undercontrolled parent. Conclusions: The findings of the study provide new knowledge about the role of temperament in the school context by showing that differences in temperamental reactivity and regulation relate to adolescents' academic emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined factors anticipating adolescents' (N=232) adherence and dropout in an online acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention targeted at promoting well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, results showed that adolescents with high academic achievement and educational expectations were more likely to participate in the induction meeting and start the program. Second, adolescents in the human-supported model fulfilled the adherence criteria more often than adolescents supported by virtual coach only. Finally, though male participants were less likely to participate in the study, participants who started the online program were likely to adhere to it regardless of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined bidirectional associations between mothers' homework involvement (autonomy support and psychological control in homework situations), Finnish adolescents' academic motivation (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation), and school well-being (school satisfaction, school-related stress) across the transitions to lower and upper secondary school. The sample consisted of Finnish adolescents (n = 841; 457 girls; age 12 at T1) and their mothers (n = 652; T1). The results showed that increased levels of maternal psychological control in Grade 7 predicted adolescents' decreased school satisfaction in Grade 9 but only indirectly via increased amotivation. In turn, adolescents' increased levels of school satisfaction decreased maternal psychological control via increased intrinsic motivation within Grade 9 and the first year of upper secondary education. Taken together, more knowledge and understanding should be provided to mothers to help them to support adolescents' motivation and school well-being in more optimal ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study compares two methods for assessing peer influence: the longitudinal actor–partner interdependence model (L-APIM) and the longitudinal social network analysis (L-SNA) Model. The data were drawn from 1,995 (49% girls and 51% boys) third grade students (M age = 9.68 years). From this sample, L-APIM (n = 206 indistinguishable dyads and n = 187 distinguishable dyads) and L-SNA (n = 1,024 total network members) subsamples were created. Students completed peer nominations and objective assessments of mathematical reasoning in the spring of the third and fourth grades. Patterns of statistical significance differed across analyses. Stable distinguishable and indistinguishable L-APIM dyadic analyses identified reciprocated friend influence such that friends with similar levels of mathematical reasoning influenced one another and friends with higher math reasoning influenced friends with lower math reasoning. L-SNA models with an influence parameter (i.e., average reciprocated alter) comparable to that assessed in L-APIM analyses failed to detect influence effects. Influence effects did emerge, however, with the addition of another, different social network influence parameter (i.e., average alter influence effect). The diverging results may be attributed to differences in the sensitivity of the analyses, their ability to account for structural confounds with selection and influence, the samples included in the analyses, and the relative strength of influence in reciprocated best as opposed to other friendships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between internalizing and externalizing symptoms and deficits in executive functions (EF) as well as to examine the overall heterogeneity of EFs in a sample of preschool children attending a psychiatric clinic (n = 171). First, based on cut-off points signifying clinical levels of impairment on the parent-completed Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), children were assigned into groups of internalizing, externalizing, combined or mild symptoms and compared to a reference group (n = 667) with regard to day care teacher ratings of EFs on the Attention and Executive Function Rating Inventory-Preschool (ATTEX-P). Second, latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify distinct subgroups of children representing different EF profiles with unique strengths and weaknesses in EFs. The first set of analyses indicated that all symptom groups had more difficulties in EFs than the reference group did, and the internalizing group had less inhibition-related problems than the other symptom groups did. Using LPA, five EF profiles were identified: average, weak average, attentional problems, inhibitory problems, and overall problems. The EF profiles were significantly associated with gender, maternal education level, and psychiatric symptom type. Overall, the findings suggest that the comparison of means of internalizing and externalizing groups mainly captures the fairly obvious differences in inhibition-related domains among young psychiatric outpatient children, whereas the person-oriented approach, based on individual differences, identifies heterogeneity related to attentional functions, planning, and initiating one's action. The variability in EF difficulties suggests that a comprehensive evaluation of a child's EF profile is important regardless of the type of psychiatric symptoms the child presents with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As companion dogs spend most of their lives with humans, the human–dog relationship and owner temperament may affect the dog behavior. In this study (n = 440), we investigated the relationship between the dog owner temperament (ATQ-R), owner-perceived dog–owner relationship (MDORS) and the dog behavior in three behavioral tests: the object-choice test, the unsolvable task, and the cylinder test. Dog owner temperament influenced the dog–owner relationship. Owners with high negative affectivity showed higher emotional closeness and perceived costs of their dog, whereas owners with high effortful control showed lower emotional closeness and perceived costs. Higher dog activity during the behavioral tests was also connected with owner-perceived lower emotional closeness. Furthermore, dog breed group modulated the connection between the owner temperament and dog behavior. Owner's high negative affectivity correlated with herding dogs' lower scores in the object choice test, while the behavior of primitive type dogs was unaffected by the owner temperament. Our results confirm that human characteristics are associated with the owner-reported dog–owner relationship, and owner temperament may have a modulatory effect on the dog social and cognitive behavior depending on the dog breed group, which should be investigated further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-lagged longitudinal study examines the evocative impact of a child’s psychological adjustment on teachers’ affective response and instructional support for a child, and the influence this support and response has on the child’s subsequent adjustment. A hundred and seventeen Finnish teachers self-rated the instructional support they gave, and the affect they experienced while teaching 307 children from school grades 1, 2 and 3. Teachers also rated the level of prosocial and externalizing problem behaviour among children. Results showed that the more children exhibited externalizing problem behaviour in grades 1 and 2, teachers not only did provide more instructional support for them a year later but, at the same time, they reported feeling less positive affect. Low levels of positive affect were also reported by teachers a year later with regard to children who had received more instructional support from them in grades 1 and 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines whether mothers’ positive work-related experiences, work engagement and recovery from work, are indirectly linked to their children’s life satisfaction via mothers’ perceived life satisfaction and closeness with their children. Theoretically the study is based on the spillover and crossover models of work-family interface with a particular focus on positive interface, as this is a gap in the existing research. The sample consisted of 671 Finnish mother-child dyads. Survey-based data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that mothers’ work engagement and recovery from work were positively and indirectly associated with children’s life satisfaction via mothers’ life satisfaction and closeness with their children. The findings suggest that work-to-family crossover of positive work-related experiences does indeed occur from mothers to children. Employers should pay attention to mothers’ work engagement and recovery from work, because these positive work-related experiences are likely to promote mothers’ life satisfaction and a positive mother-child relationship which, in turn, may be reflected in children’s life satisfaction. Job resources and mental detachment from work while not working are vital for work engagement and recovery from work, and should be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student–teacher relationships are crucial for adolescents' adjustment in the school context. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of teacher closeness in academic emotions and achievement among adolescents with and without learning difficulties during the first year in lower secondary school. Students' learning difficulties (LDs) were identified based on tested reading and math skills. In addition, students evaluated their teacher relationships and rated academic emotions in literacy and math domains. The results indicated that higher teacher closeness was related to increasing positive emotions and increasing literacy achievement during seventh grade, whereas lower levels of teacher closeness were associated with increasing learning-related anger and boredom. The results were mostly similar for students with and without LDs, which indicates that students in general benefit from close teacher relationships during the first year in lower secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Relatively little is known about individual differences in adolescent psychological flexibility and its associations with symptoms of stress and depression. This study examined different profiles of adolescent stress and depressive symptoms and their associations with developing psychological flexibility before the critical educational transition. Methods: The data were derived from a general sample of 740 Finnish ninth‐grade adolescents (Mage = 15.7 years, 57% female) who were assessed twice during the final grade of their basic education. The data were analyzed using growth mixture modeling. Results: Four profiles of stress and depressive symptoms were identified during a school year: (1) no stress and no depressive symptoms (None; 69%); (2) mild and decreasing stress and depressive symptoms (Decreasing; 15%); (3) low but increasing stress and depressive symptoms (Increasing; 6%); and (4) high and stable levels of stress and depressive symptoms (High; 10%). The adolescents in these profiles differed from each other in their initial levels and changes of psychological flexibility. The initial level of psychological flexibility was highest in the no‐symptom profile group. We observed simultaneous change trends in symptoms and psychological flexibility during a school year. When symptoms decreased, psychological flexibility increased, and when symptoms increased, psychological flexibility decreased. Conclusions: A bidirectional pattern of relationships between psychological flexibility and psychological symptoms was found. Despite initially high level of skills in psychological flexibility, some adolescents, unexpectedly, experienced increased symptoms of stress and depression during the school year. The results call for further studies to explore in‐depth the developmental diversity in adolescents' well‐being and its antecedents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the developments in children’s externalizing problems and interest in reading during their first four years of school (Grades 1–4) and investigated whether this development predicted the children’s Grade 6 reading skills and educational aspirations. Data comprised (1) teachers’ ratings of externalizing problems and children’s ( N = 642; 43% girls) self-ratings of their interest in reading, collected between Grades 1 and 4, and (2) measures of reading fluency and comprehension, and children’s self-reports of educational aspirations, collected at Grade 6. First, latent growth modeling showed that a higher level of externalizing problems in Grade 1 was associated with a lower concurrent interest in reading. Second, a positive association between the initial level of interest in reading and a linear change in externalizing problems indicated that children with a lower interest in reading in Grade 1 were rated by teachers as exhibiting higher levels of externalizing problems, which nonetheless declined over the course of their first four years of school more than among other children. Third, a higher initial level of externalizing problems with a linear change in these problems across Grades 1–4 was a predictor of lower subsequent educational aspirations and poorer reading comprehension in Grade 6. Analysis of the indirect effects indicated that a higher level of externalizing problems was associated with a lower concurrent interest in reading, which, in turn, was related to poorer future reading fluency and lower educational aspirations. The findings imply that problem behaviors are interlinked with academic skill development and motivation across the first six years of school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated friend influence over mathematics achievement in 202 same-sex friendship dyads (106 girl dyads). Participants were in the third grade (around age 9) at the outset. Each friend completed a questionnaire describing interest in mathematics and a standardized mathematical reasoning assessment. Peer nominations provided a measure of peer acceptance. The results revealed evidence that interest in mathematics moderates both the degree to which the higher-accepted friend was influential and the degree to which the lower-accepted friend was susceptible to influence. Specifically, the third-grade mathematical reasoning of the higher-accepted friend predicted an increase in the mathematical reasoning of the lower-accepted friend from third grade to fourth grade only when one friend was above average on interest in mathematics. These effects held after controlling for maternal support, parental education, friendship duration, friendship group norms, friend similarity on peer acceptance, friend similarity on interest in mathematics, and general academic functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examined whether maternal perceived job insecurity (JI) affected depressive symptoms in their adolescent children. Specifically, we tested a mediator-moderator model in which we hypothesized that maternal JI was related to adolescent depressive symptoms indirectly via maternal depressive symptoms. Most importantly, we also explored whether this indirect path was moderated by two buffering resources, i.e., maternal off-job recovery and adolescent self-esteem. There is little research on the effects of parental JI on adolescent children from the viewpoint of buffering moderators. Due to growing insecurity in the labor markets we need more information about resources that mitigate the harmful effects of JI within families. We tested the model via structural equation modeling among Finnish mother-adolescent dyads (N = 601, mothers aged 32–60 years; adolescents aged 14–18 years). Our results showed that mothers' depressive symptoms did not mediate the relationship between mothers' JI and adolescents' depressive symptoms, but mothers' JI was directly related to increased depressive symptoms among both adolescents and their mothers. Mothers' off-job recovery and adolescents' self-esteem buffered against mothers' JI in relation to depressive symptoms. When off-job recovery (in mothers) and self-esteem (in adolescents) were high, the higher level of JI was not associated with increased depressive symptoms. Off-job recovery among working mothers should be improved as it has potential to protect against JI. Moreover, adolescents' self-esteem should be boosted as it mitigates the effects of mothers' job stress (e.g., JI) on adolescents' well-being. Highlights: Parents' job insecurity may affect negatively their children. Mothers' job insecurity related to depressive symptoms among mothers and children. Mothers' off-job recovery mitigated the effect of job insecurity on their depressive symptoms. Adolescents' self-esteem mitigated the effect of mothers' job insecurity on their depressive symptoms. Buffering resources need more attention in exploring family-related consequences of job insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined to what extent teacher–student conflict and closeness, on the one hand, and students' self-concepts of ability in literacy and mathematics, on the other, are related to students' achievement emotions (enjoyment, anxiety and boredom) in mathematics and literacy among Finnish early adolescents (N = 854). We also investigated the extent to which these associations are moderated by student temperament (surgency/extraversion, negative affectivity and effortful control). The results showed, after accounting for relevant covariates, that in both school subjects, teacher–student conflict was negatively related to enjoyment and positively to anxiety and boredom, whereas teacher–student closeness was positively related to enjoyment and negatively to boredom. Self-concepts of ability in both school subjects were positively related to enjoyment and negatively to anxiety, whereas the self-concept of ability was only negatively related to boredom in mathematics. Student temperament also moderated some of the associations in the literacy domain. Lower levels of conflict in the teacher–student relationship were related to higher levels of enjoyment in literacy, particularly among students who had lower levels of surgency/extraversion. Also, a closer relationship with the teacher or a lower self-concept of ability in literacy was related to higher levels of anxiety, particularly among students who had low effortful control. In the mathematics domain, the associations between the self-concept of ability and achievement emotions were somewhat stronger than in literacy, and the domain-specific associations were not dependent on student temperament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of 901 Finnish adolescents' (M = 15.3 at T1, SD = 0.37) adjustment behaviors (prosocial behavior and externalizing problems) across the transition to upper secondary education. The role of adolescents' temperament and relationship with parents and teachers were investigated. Four trajectories of adjustment behaviors were distinguished: moderate prosocial and high externalizing (25.8 %), high prosocial and low externalizing (64.9 %), decreasing prosocial and increasing externalizing before the transition (7.4 %), decreasing prosocial and increasing externalizing after the transition (1.9 %). Adolescents' higher negative affectivity, lower effortful control, and less close and conflicting relationship with parents and teachers are positively associated with the trajectory of moderate prosocial behavior and high externalizing problems. In contrast, high effortful control, high closeness, and low conflict are positively associated with the trajectories of high prosocial and low externalizing problems as well as decreasing prosocial and increasing externalizing after the transition. • We examined adjustment behaviors across the transition to upper secondary school. • Adolescents followed four distinct trajectories of adjustment behaviors. • Adolescents' temperament predicted membership to distinct trajectories. • Closeness with parents and teachers predicted successful adjustment behaviors. • Conflicts with parents and teachers predicted difficulties in adjustment behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of learning difficulties in academic emotions and achievement across the transition to lower secondary school among 848 Finnish adolescents. Reading difficulties (RD) and math difficulties (MD) were identified based on test scores in Grade 6 and 7. Students with difficulties were identified as having resolving, emerging, or persistent RD/MD. Students rated their academic emotions and information on students' academic achievement was acquired from school registers. The results showed that a decline in academic emotions and achievement was typical among all students across the transition. Resolving, emerging, or persistent types of RD/MD were also meaningfully reflected in the development of academic emotions across the transition. Generally, the results showed that RD/MD students had a higher proclivity to experience more negative academic emotions than their peers, and they lagged behind their peers in achievement across the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students experience increasing pressure to perform well and worry about their academic performance before critical school transitions. These challenges may compromise students' school well-being. Drawing on the Model of Personality and Affect for Education (Matthews et al., 2005) as well as on the Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989), we investigated the buffering role of high academic buoyancy and supportive class- and school climate against decreases in school well-being (i.e., school-related stress, anti-school attitude, and satisfaction with school) among Finnish lower secondary school students (N = 1024) from grades seven to nine. Controlling for gender, fluid intelligence, and parental education, the results of latent structural equation models indicate that academic buoyancy contributed to school satisfaction, while class- and school climate buffered against the increase of anti-school attitude. The study underlines the importance of both personal and contextual factors, contributing differently to students' school well-being. • High academic buoyancy buffers the relationship of school-related stress from grade seven to nine among Finnish students. • High academic buoyancy contributes to school satisfaction from grade seven to nine among Finnish students. • A positive class- and school climate protect students against the increase of anti-school attitude from grade seven to nine. • Academic buoyancy and class- and school climate contribute differently to students' school-related well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined adolescent and maternal factors of the quality of maternal homework involvement and the extent to which the factors predicted adolescents' subsequent achievement through adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of the quality of maternal homework involvement. The sample consisted of 847 Finnish adolescents and their 662 mothers who both rated the quality of homework involvement (i.e. autonomy support and psychological control) in the fall of Grade 6. Adolescents rated their positive and negative academic emotions. Mothers rated their beliefs about adolescents' school success, their positive and negative emotions, and adolescents' task avoidance in homework situations. Information on adolescents' achievement was obtained from school registers. The results showed that adolescent and maternal factors were differently associated with adolescent-and mother-perceived quality of maternal homework involvement. Moreover, higher levels of adolescent task avoidance, mothers' lower beliefs, and negative emotions predicted poorer subsequent achievement via mothers' perception of high psychological control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Academic buoyancy refers to students' ability to come through ordinary challenges they face in the academic context, and it can positively contribute to students' beliefs and behaviours in learning situations. Although buoyancy has been found to be related to positive academic outcomes, previous studies have not examined how buoyancy influences academic emotions in learning situations and how these emotions further affect students' learning‐related expectations and behaviours. Aims: This study investigated to what extent academic buoyancy predicts students' failure expectations, avoidance behaviour, and task‐oriented planning in learning situations, and to what extent academic emotions mediate the effect of academic buoyancy on these expectations and behaviours. Sample: A total of 845 Finnish students in the sixth grade of primary school. Methods: Self‐report data for academic buoyancy and academic emotions in the autumn semester and learning‐related expectations and behaviours in the spring semester were analysed using structural equation modelling, controlling for gender, grade point average, and previous levels of learning‐related expectations and behaviours. Results: The findings showed that high academic buoyancy indirectly predicted lower avoidance behaviour, fewer failure expectations, and higher task‐oriented planning via academic emotions. High academic buoyancy was related to high enjoyment and hope as well as low boredom and hopelessness, which further predicted low failure expectations. High hope and low boredom also predicted low avoidance behaviour, and high hope was associated with high task‐oriented planning. Conclusions: The findings suggest that academic buoyancy supports positive expectations and adaptive behaviours in learning situations through the regulation of emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children who are not accepted in their peer group are at risk of developing internalizing problem behaviors. It is possible, however, that supportive parenting can provide a buffer against the detrimental effects of low peer acceptance. Objective: This study examined maternal and paternal affection and psychological control as moderators of the association between children's peer acceptance during the critical transition to primary school and level and subsequent development of internalizing problem behaviors from first to sixth grade. Method: A total of 608 children (264 girls, 344 boys) were rated by their teachers on their internalizing problems in grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Children's peer acceptance was measured in the first grade using a sociometric nomination procedure. At the same time point, mothers (n = 432) and fathers (n = 281) completed questionnaires measuring their levels of affection and psychological control. Results: The results of latent growth curve modelling showed, first, that on average children's internalizing problems decreased over the school years. Second, peer acceptance was associated with the development of internalizing problems: the higher the peer acceptance, the bigger the decrease—and the lower the peer acceptance, the smaller the decrease—in the level of internalizing problems across time. However, high maternal affection provided a buffer against this impact of low peer acceptance. Among boys, low levels of maternal psychological control also provided a buffer against the effects of low peer acceptance. No significant results were found on the moderating role of fathers' parenting styles. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggested that mothers' emotionally sensitive and supporting caregiving may protect children from the harmful long-term effects of low peer acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Cognitive assessment in natural group settings facilitates data collection but poses threats to the validity. In this study, tablet‐based working memory (WM) tasks, the counting span, and reading span were used in predicting 12‐year‐old children's (N = 837) scholastic skills and fluid intelligence in a classroom with environmental noise. WM tasks had excellent internal consistency, correlated with scholastic skills, and accounted for more of the variance in cognitive performance (grade point average, fluid intelligence, scholastic skills) compared with individually administered (n = 190) digit span task. Furthermore, the multilevel analysis revealed that compared with the classrooms with no noise, when naturally occurring speech or nonspeech types of environmental noises were present during assessment, WM scores or the reliability estimates were not lower. In contrast, when both types of noises were present, the relationships between some of the WM and achievement scores were even stronger. Thus, assessments in natural classroom contexts may promote revealing the individual differences in WM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines associations between learning difficulties (LD), academic emotions, and academic achievement among 845 Grade 6 adolescents (455 girls, 390 boys). Reading difficulties (RD) and math difficulties (MD) were identified based on tested reading and math skills in the fall semester of Grade 6. At this time, the students also rated their hope, enjoyment, and anxiety regarding literacy and math. Information on students' achievement in literacy and math, as well as their overall academic achievement, was gathered using questionnaires in both the fall and spring semesters of Grade 6. The results show, first, that students with RD had lower hope and higher anxiety toward reading than those without RD. Also, students with MD reported lower enjoyment, lower hope, and higher anxiety than those without MD. Furthermore, the results show that hope partly played a mediating role between LD and academic achievement in both the literacy and math domains. In addition, enjoyment played a mediating role in the math domain. The present study's results indicate that subject-specific academic emotions should be taken into account when considering relations between LD and academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acceptance and commitment therapy programs have rarely been used as preventive tools for alleviating stress and enhancing coping skills among adolescents. This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of a novel Finnish web- and mobile-delivered five-week intervention program called Youth COMPASS among a general sample of ninth-grade adolescents (n= 249, 49% females). The intervention group showed a small but significant decrease in overall stress (between-group Cohen's d = 0.22) and an increase in academic buoyancy (d= 0.27). Academic skills did not influence the intervention gains, but the intervention gains were largest among high-stressed participants. The results suggest that the acceptance and commitment based Youth COMPASS program may be well suited for promoting adolescents' well-being in the school context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The present study examined to what extent sixth-grade students' academic buoyancy and temperament contributed to their school-related stress. A total of 845 students rated their school-related stress at the beginning and end of the school year and their academic buoyancy at the beginning of the year. Parents rated students' effortful control and negative affectivity. The results showed that high academic buoyancy, high effortful control, and low negative affectivity at the beginning of the school year were related to lower school-related stress at the end of the school year, after controlling for gender, GPA, and previous level of stress. Effortful control and negative affectivity had no significant interaction effect with academic buoyancy on students' school-related stress. The findings of the study suggest that interventions aiming at supporting students' academic buoyancy may also decrease their feelings of school stress. In particular, students with high negative affectivity or low effortful control may need training in stress management skills. Highlights • Sixth-grade students' school-related stress was studied over one school year. • Academic buoyancy predicted low school stress, controlling for prior stress level. • The effect of buoyancy remained after controlling for gender, GPA, and temperament. • Effortful control and negative affectivity also had unique effects on school stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study examined the role of adolescents' (n = 190) temperament in their emotional reactions in achievement situations. Adolescents rated their temperament (i.e., surgency/extraversion, negative affectivity, effortful control) and completed achievement tasks in Grade 6. They also reported their emotions before and during challenging and non-challenging tasks. In addition, adolescents' autonomic nervous system reactions (i.e., skin conductance levels) were recorded. The results showed that high effortful control was related to higher levels of positive emotions independent of the degree of task difficulty. Low negative affectivity and high effortful control were related to lower levels of negative emotions before and during the achievement tasks. High surgency/extraversion was related to lower levels of negative emotions only before the achievement tasks. Finally, low negative affectivity and high effortful control were related to higher skin conductance level before the achievement tasks, whereas high effortful control was related to higher skin conductance level during both challenging and non-challenging achievement tasks. The findings enhance current understanding of the connection between adolescents' temperament and emotions in real-time achievement situations. Highlights • High effortful control was related to more positive academic emotions. • High negative affectivity was related to more negative academic emotions. • High effortful control was related to less negative academic emotions. • High effortful control was related to higher skin conductance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated longitudinal associations between mathematics- and literacy-related causal attributions and self-concepts of ability among Finnish adolescents (N = 237). Questionnaires were administered to adolescents in Grades 7 and 9 to obtain information on their causal attributions and self-concepts of ability. The results showed that adolescents attributed their successes and failures in a self-consistent way. Specifically, self-concepts of ability predicted subsequent causal attributions in both school subjects. In mathematics, a higher self-concept of ability contributed to more self-enhancing and self-protective attributions. However, in both school subjects, a lower self-concept of ability contributed to more maladaptive attributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined adolescents’ and mothers’ temperament types and their roles in the socioemotional functioning of early adolescents. A total of 869 sixth-grade students and 668 mothers participated in the study. The students rated their temperament and socioemotional functioning and the mothers rated their own temperament. Latent profile analyses identified four temperament types among the adolescents (resilient, reserved, average, and mixed) and three types among the mothers (resilient, average, and mixed). The results showed that the adolescents with resilient or reserved temperaments reported significantly fewer conduct problems and emotional symptoms, less hyperactivity, and higher prosociality than adolescents with a mixed temperament type. The most adaptive adolescent–mother temperament matches were between a resilient or reserved adolescent and a resilient or average mother; these adolescents reported the highest levels of socioemotional functioning. Mothers with mixed or average temperaments were related to fewer conduct problems and emotional symptoms and less hyperactivity among adolescents with a mixed temperament, while mothers with a resilient temperament type were beneficial for prosocial behavior among adolescents with a mixed temperament. These findings increase understanding of the role of temperament and the interplay between adolescents’ and mothers’ temperaments in the development of early adolescents’ socioemotional adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the child-related competence beliefs of mothers are associated with the development of Finnish adolescents' self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability during their transition from primary to lower secondary school and whether these associations depend on adolescents' level of performance. The results showed that, first, adolescents' self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability decreased over time. The impact of maternal beliefs on the linear trend of the self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability was dependent on the level of students' performance. Mothers' high beliefs buffered against the decrease in adolescents' self-concept of ability in mathematics, but only among high-performing adolescents. In turn, mothers' high beliefs in adolescents' literacy ability were detrimental to the development of low-performing adolescents' self-concept of ability in literacy, whereas mothers' beliefs had no effect on the change in the self-concept of students with average or high literacy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preterm birth is associated with low mathematical skills in children. This study on five-year-old Finnish children investigated whether mathematical skill profiles would differ between prematurely and full-term born children and how such profiles and other cognitive skills would be related. Mathematical skills included digit knowledge, spontaneous focusing on numerosity, arithmetic, counting and geometric skills. The investigated cognitive skills were phonological processing, working memory, instruction comprehension, speeded naming, inhibition and visuomotor skills. The participants were 119 preterm children with birth weight < 1501 g and 100 full-term born children with normal birth weight. The results of latent profile analyses showed that preterm and full-term born children differed in both number and shape of latent mathematical skill profiles, indicating quantitative and qualitative disparities. After controlling for birth weight or gestational age, maternal education, and other cognitive skills phonological processing, visuospatial working memory and speeded naming were uniquely associated with prematurely born children's five mathematical profiles. In full-term born children, only verbal working memory was related to their four mathematical profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Stability and change of motivational patterns across school transition were examined. • Latent transition analysis revealed four different patterns. • Based on SEVT all four task values in both math and literacy were considered. • "struggling ambitious" students performed highest intelligence and test scores. • "positively engaged" students more probably change to one of the disengaged profiles. Following the situated expectancy-value model of achievement motivation, this 3-wave study examines the stability and change of motivational patterns of students (M age at the outset = 12.33 years; SD = 0.37 years; 54.5 % female) transferring from primary to lower secondary school. Four task values (attainment, cost, intrinsic, utility value) and success expectancies (self-concept) in the domains of mathematics and literacy were assessed three times with questionnaires. Latent transition analysis for task values and success expectations with gender and parental education as control variables and test scores of fluid intelligence, math and literacy as outcomes was performed. The results reveal four different motivational patterns: (1) "disengaged strained", 27–31 % (low motivation and high cost), (2) "disengaged relaxed", 19–25 % (low motivation and low cost), (3) "positively engaged", 14–20 % (high motivation and low cost), (4) "struggling ambitious", 31–34 % (high motivation and high cost). Except for the "positively engaged" profile, probabilities of staying in the same profile were relatively high. During the transition to lower secondary school the groups characterized by high motivation combined with either low ("positively engaged") or high ("struggling ambitious") cost became smaller, whereas the two other groups characterized by low motivation combined with either low ("disengaged relaxed") or high ("disengaged strained") cost became bigger. Particularly, students with a "positively engaged" profile have a higher probability to change to one of the disengaged profiles over time. Students with a "struggling ambitious" profile had the highest test scores in fluid intelligence, math, and literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined patterns of mothers' homework involvement (n = 680 in Grade 6 and 665 in Grade 7) and changes in them during 12-year-old Finnish adolescents' (n = 848; 391 boys) transition to lower secondary school. Moreover, the extent to which adolescents' motivational behavior and prior academic achievement predicted these patterns was examined. The latent transition analyses identified four relatively stable latent patterns of maternal homework involvement in Grades 6 and 7: averagely involved, psychologically controlling and intrusive, noninvolved, and intrusive monitoring and helping. The higher task avoidance and the poorer achievement adolescents showed, the more likely their mothers were to utilize a psychologically controlling and intrusive pattern, or an intrusive monitoring and helping pattern. Overall, these results suggest that some mothers may benefit from understanding of how to best support struggling and task-avoidant adolescents during the transition from primary to lower secondary school. • Four maternal homework involvement patterns were discovered. • Maternal homework involvement patterns were relatively stable across the educational transition. • High task avoidance and poor prior achievement predicted maternal controlling homework involvement patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study examined cross-lagged relations between self-concepts of ability and emotions. • Both mathematics and literacy domains were investigated among adolescents. • For mathematics significant longitudinal associations were found. • For literacy no cross-lagged relations were detected. • Gender and academic skills were controlled for in the analyses. This longitudinal study examined cross-lagged relations of self-concepts of ability and achievement emotions (i.e., enjoyment, boredom, anxiety) in two central school subjects (i.e., mathematics and literacy). Adolescents (N = 848) reported their achievement emotions and self-concepts of ability four times during Grades 6 and 7. The pattern of results was different for mathematics and literacy subjects. For mathematics the results of random intercept cross-lagged panel models showed a positive reciprocal relationship between self-concepts of ability and enjoyment and a negative reciprocal relationship between self-concept and anxiety. Lower self-concepts of ability in mathematics also predicted higher boredom in mathematics but not vice versa. For literacy, in turn, self-concept of ability did not predict any of the achievement emotions and emotions did not predict literacy self-concept of ability. The results suggest that achievement emotions act as sources as well as consequences of adolescents' self-concepts of ability, particularly in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to investigate the cohort trends of the experienced social connectedness in secondary school students between 2017 and 2021 and whether these trends vary by gender, school level and sociodemographic background. We used nationally representative Finnish data of 450,864 students in lower and upper secondary education. Social connectedness was measured by number of close friends, feelings of loneliness and sense of belonging at school. Adjusted regression analyses included year, gender, school level and sociodemographic factors (parental education, immigrant status of the student and urban-rural area of the school). The results showed that social connectedness declined from 2017 to 2021: 11% decline in having 3+ close friends, 15% increase in loneliness and 8% decline in belonging at school. The decline was especially large in girls and upper secondary school. Although some socio-demographically disadvantaged groups showed lower levels of social connectedness, there were differences by gender, school level and year. Many differences diminished because the more advantaged groups declined faster, i.e. moved towards the less advantaged groups. Declining social connectedness in young people is a worrying trend that requires a public health focus on the whole cohort while accommodating the variation by the individual and environmental context., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Read et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background and Aims: Peer relationships during adolescence play an important role in shaping academic outcomes. The present study examined friend influences on emotions towards math, as well as the role of temperament in these influences., Sample: The sample consisted of 350 Finnish students (mean age 13.29 years; 64% girls) who were involved in stable friendship dyads from fall to spring of Grade 7., Methods: In this two-wave study, information on adolescents' temperament (i.e., negative emotionality, extraversion, effortful control) and on seven emotions towards math (i.e., enjoyment, hope, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom) was collected during grade 7. The data were analysed using longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models., Results: The results showed that friends resembled each other in all the investigated math-related emotions. Furthermore, over and above these initial similarities, friends mutually influenced each other's math-related enjoyment and anger towards math. Students characterized by higher negative emotionality also influenced their friends with lower levels of negative emotionality towards an increase in math-related anger and a lack of effortful control made adolescents more susceptible to friend influence over math-related shame and anxiety., Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that friends influence each other over time in math-related enjoyment and frustration. Furthermore, high negative emotionality may make adolescents more influential over their friends' math-related anger and a lack of effortful control may make adolescents more susceptible to friend influence over math-related shame and anxiety. Thus, the current findings have implications for how peer relations may impact individual outcomes in mathematics, for better or worse., (© 2024 The Author(s). British Journal of Educational Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Academic engagement in adolescence is shaped by influences from the peer environment, yet the types of peers impacting engagement remain unclear. This study explores the roles of friends, popular students, and intelligent students in shaping peers' behavioral and emotional (dis)engagement. Data were analyzed from 3409 Flemish eighth-grade students (M age = 13.48 years, SD = 0.46, 50.09% female), utilizing self-reports and peer nominations to measure (dis)engagement and map friendship, popularity, and intelligence networks in the fall and spring. Longitudinal network analysis revealed that, while accounting for selection and network structure, friends influenced all dimensions of engagement. Popular students influenced emotional disengagement, and intelligent students impacted emotional engagement. These findings underscore the intricate nature of peer dynamics, highlighting the need for a multidimensional approach to studying peer influences on engagement., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This longitudinal study (N = 1078, 46% boys; 54% girls) examined profiles of loneliness and ostracism during adolescence and their consequences and antecedents. Longitudinal latent profiles analyses identified four distinct profiles: (1) High emotional loneliness (25%), High and increasing social loneliness (15%), High peer exclusion and high social impact (9%) and No peer problems (51%). Subsequent internalizing problems were typical for the High and increasing social loneliness profile and externalizing problems for the High emotional loneliness and High peer exclusion and high social impact profiles. Furthermore, effortful control, prosocial skills, and relationship quality with parents and teachers were highest in the No peer problems profile, whereas the High and increasing social loneliness profile had the lowest self-esteem and was characterized by low surgency/extraversion, high affiliativeness, and high negative affectivity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Although some adolescents managed to cope well with the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the well-being of many was adversely affected due to school closures, distance education, restrictions on gathering with friends, and limited access to mental health services. Many adolescents reported increased anxiety and depression as well as decreased psychological wellbeing due to the pandemic. Consequently, there is a need for psychological support that exceeds the strained resources available to schools to support young people during times of crisis and societal pressure., Objective: The present study aimed to explore the effects of an online-delivered ACT intervention to promote adolescent psychological flexibility and self-compassion and decrease psychological distress during the second wave of COVID-19 in the fall of 2020., Methods: A total of 348 adolescents aged 15-16 were randomly divided into three equal groups: 1) the iACT student coach + virtual coach group, n = 116; 2) the iACT virtual coach group, n = 116; and 3) the control group with no intervention, n = 116). Among these adolescents, 234 participated in a pre-measurement (iACT, n = 154; control, n = 80; intent-to-treat) and completed measures of psychological flexibility, self-compassion, anxiety, and depression., Results: An investigation of all the adolescents who participated in the pre-measurement (intent-to-treat analysis, n  = 234) revealed no significant differences between the three groups with regard to psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, upon combining the two intervention groups and examining the adolescents who completed at least 30% of the Youth Compass program (per-protocol analysis, n  = 137), small but significant differences between the iACT intervention and control groups were found regarding the psychological flexibility subscale valued action, self-compassion, and anxiety in favor of the intervention group., Conclusions: Active use of an ACT-based online intervention under adverse circumstances may decrease symptoms of anxiety and increase psychological flexibility skills in adolescents., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Understanding adolescent usage activity and experiences in web-based psychological intervention programs helps in developing universal programs that can be adopted for promotion of adolescent well-being and prevention of mental health problems. This study examined the usage activity, perceived usefulness (i.e., learning of mindfulness, acceptance and value-related skills), and program satisfaction of 157 Finnish ninth-grade adolescents, who participated in a school-based five-week universal acceptance and commitment therapy web intervention called Youth Compass. Individual and growth environment-related antecedents were measured before the five-week intervention, adolescents' usage activity during the intervention, and perceived usefulness and satisfaction after the intervention. The results showed that female adolescents and adolescents with high self-regulation were more active program users and had more positive experiences of the program. Most of the adolescents used the program on at least a moderate level and perceived it to be moderately or highly useful and satisfactory. Four subgroups of adolescents were identified based on their usage activity, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction: adolescents in the satisfied group (41%) had average activity and high perceived usefulness and intervention satisfaction, the dissatisfied group (18%) had low activity and very low perceived usefulness and intervention satisfaction, the active group (8%) had very high activity and average perceived usefulness and intervention satisfaction, and the moderate group (33%) had average activity, perceived usefulness and intervention satisfaction. Gender, academic achievement, closeness to mother and teacher, and conflict with teacher were significantly related to subgroup membership. The results suggested that adolescent usage activity, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction with the Youth Compass program may to some extent be predicted based on different factors., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors have no financial relationship to the program under examination., (© 2021 The Authors.)