Commitment to community and political involvement: A cross-cultural study with Italian and American adolescents

Human Affairs ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Crocetti ◽  
Parissa Jahromi ◽  
Christy Buchanan

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to test whether personal commitment to community was related to political involvement in two cultural contexts: Italy and the USA. Participants were 566 adolescents (48.2% males) aged 14–19 years (M = 16 years; SD = 1.29): 311 Italians and 255 Americans. Participants filled out a self-report questionnaire. Analyses of variance revealed that American high school students reported higher levels of personal commitment to community than did their Italian peers and that many forms of political involvement were significantly more common among American adolescents. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that personal commitment to community was strongly and positively associated with involvement in political activities in both adolescent samples. Thus, fostering personal commitments to community could potentially lead youth to political engagement.

2001 ◽  
Vol 88 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1201-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoko Yashima ◽  
Tomoko Tanaka

Intercutlural adjustment of Japanese high school students who sojourned in the United States for one year is the focus of the study. Building relationships with host nationals using limited English competency is the challenge that seems basic to successful adjustment to life in the USA. A path model was constructed in which English competence leads to better social skills, which in turn affects the amount of social support gained from host nationals. This model was tested through structural equation modeling, and the model's fit to the data was satisfactory. The predictive roles of English proficiency and personality were suggested in a supplementary analysis.


Author(s):  
Tali Heiman ◽  
Dorit Olenik-Shemesh

The current study examined whether perceived social support mediated the effects of loneliness and self-efficacy on well-being among students with or without a learning disability (LD). Participants included 834 elementary, middle, and high school students from Israel (29.6% students with LDs) who completed self-report questionnaires. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that social support mediates the indirect effects of age, gender, loneliness and self-efficacy on well-being. In addition, the results show differences between groups, as non-LD girls noted a higher self-efficacy and well-being than boys, and well-being had indirect effects in the non-LD group than in the LD group. These results indicate students with LDs have a unique social-emotional profile that affects their well-being. The study highlights the importance of enhancing self-efficacy and reducing loneliness in order to increase social support, thus predicting positive well-being. Effective and practical educational programs are needed for both groups across age and gender.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Abdollahi ◽  
Simin Hosseinian ◽  
Hannaneh Panahipour ◽  
Mahmoud Najafi ◽  
Fariba Soheili

Happiness plays a key role in influencing adolescent performance in a variety of contexts. The present study was designed to investigate the relationships between perfectionism, emotional intelligence, and happiness and to test the moderating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between perfectionism and happiness among Malaysian adolescents. The participants were 412 Malaysian high-school students from Selangor, all of whom completed self-report questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine whether students with high levels of personal standards perfectionism, low levels of evaluative concerns perfectionism, and high levels of emotional intelligence reported higher levels of happiness. Multigroup analyses showed that emotional intelligence emerged as a significant moderator in the link between evaluative concerns perfectionism and happiness. These findings highlight the importance of emotional intelligence in mitigating the devastating effects of evaluative concerns perfectionism on happiness.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016327872199679
Author(s):  
Minsun Kim ◽  
Ze Wang

The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is the most widely used self-report instrument for assessing affect. However, there are inconsistent findings regarding the factor structure of the PANAS. In this study, we applied Bayesian structural equation modeling (BSEM) to investigate the structure of the PANAS using data from a sample of 893 Chinese middle and high school students. Four models, the orthogonal two-, the oblique two-, the three-, and the bi-factor models were tested with prior specifications including approximately zero cross-loadings and residual covariances. The results indicated that the orthogonal two-factor model specified with informative priors for both cross-loadings and residual correlations has the best model fit. Confirmatory factor analysis with the maximum likelihood estimator (ML-CFA) based on modifications from BSEM analysis showed improved model fit compared to ML-CFA based on frequentist analysis, which is the evidence for the merit of BSEM for addressing misspecifications.


Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nir Madjar ◽  
Ella Sarel-Mahlev ◽  
Anat Brunstein Klomek

Abstract. Background: Previous studies indicated that perception of school experiences (i.e., teachers' psychological support and perceived peer climate) is associated with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors among adolescents. Aims: The purpose of the current study was to explore whether depression symptoms mediate the relationship between sense of loneliness in school and NSSI behaviors among adolescents. Method: The sample included high-school students ( N = 306; 51.6% girls) who completed surveys assessing their subjective sense of loneliness (feeling lonely, spending their time alone in school, and reporting a small number of friends), depression symptoms, and NSSI behaviors. Results: Multiple-group structural equation modeling, stratified by gender, supported the hypothesized model. Sense of loneliness was associated with depression symptoms, which in turn were associated with NSSI. Positive school attitudes were associated with depression symptoms only for girls. Results were robust when controlling for the relationships with parents. Limitations: The study is based on cross-sectional data, which limits the ability to make causal conclusions, and the instruments are based on self-report scales. Conclusion: Mental health professional are advised to note the significant role of subjective sense of loneliness in school as a possible risk factor for depression symptoms, which may be associated with NSSI behaviors.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110063
Author(s):  
Miriam Junco-Guerrero ◽  
Ana Ruiz-Fernández ◽  
David Cantón-Cortés

Child-to-parent violence (CPV) constitutes a serious social problem due to its short and long-term consequences, which not only directly affect the victim but also generate a rupture of the family system. In this study, direct and indirect effects of exposition to violence within the family, insecurity in the family system (manifested as disengagement and/or preoccupation), and justification of violence on CPV toward mothers and fathers were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM). Davies and Cummings emotional security theory (1994) was applied. A total of 904 high school students between 13 and 20 years old participated in this study. Information regarding each participant’s committed CPV was obtained from the Child-to-Parent Aggression Questionnaire. Emotional insecurity was assessed with the Security in the Family System scale. To assess exposition to violence and justification of violence, the Exposure to Violence Questionnaire and Irrational Beliefs Inventory for Adolescents were applied, respectively. Strong relationships between exposition to violence within the family, emotional insecurity, justification of violence, and CPV toward mothers and fathers were observed. The results show that adolescents who are exposed to violence at home are more aggressive in the future. In addition, this relationship is mediated, at least in part, by the justification of violence and emotional insecurity. These results suggest that prevention and treatment of CPV aggressors should focus on improving security within the survivors’ family system as well as modifying attitudes toward violence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022098759
Author(s):  
Kristia A. Wantchekon ◽  
Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor ◽  
Elana R. McDermott ◽  
Michael R. Sladek ◽  
Deborah Rivas-Drake ◽  
...  

The current cross-sectional study examined how adolescents’ appraisal of how positively others viewed their ethnic-racial group (i.e., public regard) and how integral their ethnic-racial background was to their self-concept (i.e., centrality) related to their intergroup contact approach and avoidance attitudes. Participants were Black, Latinx, and White high school students ( N = 2,609; Mage = 16.39, SD = 1.16; 52% female) from the U.S. Southwest and Midwest. Utilizing multigroup structural equation modeling, results indicated that across all ethnic-racial backgrounds, and regardless of geographical context, public regard was positively associated with approach attitudes. Conversely, findings for avoidance attitudes varied by ethnic-racial background. Specifically, public regard was negatively associated with avoidance attitudes for White adolescents, whereas this relation was null for Black and Latinx adolescents. Additionally, although centrality was positively associated with avoidance attitudes among all adolescents, the relation was stronger among White adolescents than among Black and Latinx adolescents.


Author(s):  
Fatma Alkan

The study aimed to investigate how high school students' achievement goal orientation, positive teacher behaviour, classroom engagement, gender and class perceptions are related to chemistry motivation. The research was designed using relational survey model. The sample consisted of 688 high school students. Chemistry motivation questionnaire, achievement goal orientations scale, positive teacher behaviours scale and classroom engagement inventory were used as data collection tools. The correlations between the variables were examined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results showed that there were positive and significant correlations between chemistry motivation and achievement goal orientations, achievement goal orientations and positive teacher behaviours, classroom engagement and positive teacher behaviours. Negative and significant correlations were also found to exist between achievement goal orientation and classroom engagement, positive teacher behaviours and chemistry motivation. Achievement goal orientations and positive teacher behaviours were also found to be significantly related to class engagement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Martin ◽  
Herbert W. Marsh

What is the relationship between academic buoyancy and academic adversity? For example, does the experience of academic adversity help build students’ academic buoyancy in school—or, does academic buoyancy lead to decreases in subsequent academic adversity? This longitudinal study of 481 high school students (Years 7–12) investigated the relations between academic buoyancy and academic adversity. Harnessing a cross-lagged panel design spanning two consecutive academic years, we employed structural equation modeling to investigate the extent to which prior academic buoyancy predicted subsequent academic adversity and the extent to which prior academic adversity predicted subsequent academic buoyancy—beyond the effects of sociodemographics, prior achievement, and auto-regression. We found that prior academic buoyancy significantly predicted lower subsequent academic adversity, but prior academic adversity did not significantly predict higher subsequent academic buoyancy. Interestingly, however, there was a marginal interaction effect such that students who experienced academic adversity but who were also high in academic buoyancy were less likely to experience academic adversity one year later. We conclude that it is important to instill in students the capacity to effectively deal with academic adversity—that is, academic buoyancy. We also conclude that some experience of academic adversity can have positive effects but predominantly when accompanied by high levels of academic buoyancy. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 089443932092608
Author(s):  
Cassidy Puckett

Past research suggests the ability to adapt to technological change by learning new technologies is a core feature of technological competence and consequential for inequality. Yet there exists no definition or measure of what people do to learn technologies that are new to them and empirically link this to inequality. To address this gap, I conducted studies involving over 2,000 adolescents to develop and validate a measure of what I call “digital adaptability,” the use of five habits that help individuals learn technologies that are new to them. The studies included observation and cognitive interviews to describe adaptability and develop an initial item pool, a pilot to narrow items using structural equation modeling, a full test with 897 eighth-grade students in Chicago with analysis of convergent and discriminant validity, and a replication study with 1,285 high school students near Boston. Finally, using Chicago and Boston area data, I find adaptability correlates with students’ educational plans and career aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics —linking digital adaptability to students’ futures. Overall, the digital adaptability measure provides a critical theoretical and empirical tool for digital inequality research, practice, and policy.


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