Cynthia Hudley

Attributions of Aggressive and Nonaggressive African-American Male Early Adolescents: A Study of Construct Accessibility.

This study proposed that aggressive and nonaggressive children might differ in the readiness with which biased causal beliefs are accessed from memory and used as guides to interpersonal judgment. Aggressive and nonaggressive African-American male early adolescents were randomly assigned to a condition that primed the perception of negative outcomes as intentionally caused or unintentionally caused or to a no-priming control condition. Participants then read a description of hypothetical peer provocation, and they made inferences about the peers intent, the amount of blame and anger, and the likelihood of aggressive retaliation. In the unintentional and control conditions, aggressives made more extreme judgments than nonaggressives. In the intentional priming condition, the judgments of aggressives and nonaggressives were equally extreme

Stereotypes of achievement striving among early adolescents

We conducted two studies to examine the influence of achievement-related cultural stereotypes among early adolescents. In Study 1 male and female African–American junior high school students (N = 62) read hypothetical descriptions of students who displayed high or low levels of achievement striving and school engagement. Their task was to select one photograph that they believed matched each hypothetical description from a set of photos of unknown junior high school students of diverse ethnicities and both genders. We replicated our procedures in Study 2 with a more ethnically diverse sample of African–American, Latino, and Anglo junior high school students (N = 197). Results indicated that all adolescents most frequently selected photos of ethnic minority males for scenarios of academic disengagement, consistent with cultural stereotypes of these young men. Photos of females across all ethnicities were selected most frequently for scenarios of achievement strivings. Findings are discussed in terms of the need for greater support for minority males in school settings and the potential impact of school programs on the attitudes and behaviors of students.

CULTURAL MISTRUST, ACADEMIC OUTCOME EXPECTATIONS, AND OUTCOME VALUES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENT MEN

This study measured the relationship between outcome expectations, outcome value, and cultural mistrust among African American male high school students (N = 75) attending an urban, Southern California school. We hypothesized that a negative perception of the dominant culture would negatively affect academic outcome expectations and academic achievement values. The results indicated, as hypothesized, a significant inverse relationship between cultural mistrust and outcome expectations. There was also a significant relationship between cultural mistrust and outcome value. In addition, cultural mistrust and outcome value were significant predictors of academic outcome expectations. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of understanding sociocultural influences on achievement motivation among ethnic minority youth.

Comparing Teacher and Peer Perceptions of Aggression: An Ecological Approach.

Teacher and peer perceptions of aggression were investigated in a sample of 899 students. Teachers rated their students in Grades 3 through 8 on an 8-item scale assessing peer-directed aggression. Students completed a questionnaire within classrooms that measured acceptance, rejection, and peer-directed aggression. Both teachers and peers reported higher levels of aggression in boys than in girls. Teacher and peer perceptions of aggressive behavior were more congruent for boys than for girls, but this congruence differed significantly as a function of ethnicity. Significant differences among individual classrooms also existed in both teaacher and peer ratings, as well as in the relationships between the 2 measures

Ethnic and Racial Identity and Adolescent Well-Being

Identity is a major developmental task for adolescents, and the development of ethnic identity is a unique and significant developmental task for many adolescents. This article reviews theoretical and empirical literature that informs our understanding of the development of a positive ethnic identity, and the consequences for adolescent mental health. The review includes research on both psychological and behavioral outcomes for adolescents; the relationships among ethnic identity, discrimination, and mental health; and the role of racial socialization in ethnic identity development and mental health. The authors also pay particular attention to ethnic identity and academic achievement. Overall, this review supported the conclusion that a strong, positive ethnic identity benefits adolescent mental health and academic success. The authors conclude with a discussion of strategies for parents, teachers, and schools to support the development of a positive ethnic identity in adolescents of color.

Roles of Gender, Race, and SES in the College Choice Process Among First-Generation and Nonfirst-Generation Students

The authors examined students’ reports of their college choice process to understand the influence of a set of psychological, personal, and institutional factors. The authors also examined potential moderating influences of generational status, gender, race, and SES on our variables of interest. A diverse sample of college freshmen (N 1,339), including 42% who were the first in their families to attend college, responded to a self-reporting, Web-based survey. Findings indicate that psychosocial factors and academic quality of the college were most influential for first-generation students as compared to their nonfirst-generation peers in the college choice process. However, gender, race, and SES moderated these influences in complex ways. For example, females rated the psychological variables higher than males; Asian American and African American first-generation students rated higher than their parents’ preferences for which college to attend as compared to nonfirst-generation peers. First-generation females, African American in particular, considered academic quality more important than other groups. Our findings should be of value to counselors and other personnel who facilitate students’ college choice process as well as college recruitment, retention, and diversity enhancement programs.

Reducing aggressive Behavior and increasing motivation in school: The evolution of an intervention to strengthen school adjustment

The pervasive links between problem behaviors and school adjustment suggest that effective intervention programs to enhance school adjustment must focus both on decreasing the motivation to aggress and increasing the motivation to achieve. We describe a program of intervention research to improve social behavior and academic motivation in elementary school students organized around principles of attribution theory. Our intervention curriculum initially focused on reducing childrens aggression and was then expanded to include enhancing personal responsibility. A series of efficacy and effectiveness studies have demonstrated that childrens attributions in both the social and academic domains can be changed with cost-effective, educational strategies. These changes in childrens cognitions have reliably produced positive changes in behavior. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our work for the design of effective interventions.

The Multiple Worlds of Successful Cambodian American Students.

Educational policy usually overlooks Cambodian American students as a unique ethnic group, attending instead to the positive statistics that aggregate Asian American students into a single group of successful students. Through ethnographic interviews, this article examines how successful Cambodian American students interpreted values from their multiple worlds in relation to their paths into the university and provides insight into the academically supportive features of their different worlds. Family obligation emerged as a coherent theme that figured prominently in their school experiences. This study complicates the simplistic view of how traditional cultural values influence immigrant ethnic minority school achievement.

School-based interventions for aggressive African-American boys

Abstract Four school-based interventions for aggressive African-American boys were reviewed. The interventions were respectively designed to (a) alter biased attributions to hostile intent, (b) develop more adaptive social problem solving skills, (c) enhance peer relations through pair therapy, and (d) improve self-esteem and academic achievement with instruction in all male classrooms. The strengths and limitations of each intervention were evaluated. The article concludes with recommendations for future intervention research with African-American boys labeled as aggressive.

Multiple perceptions of children's aggression: Differences across neighborhood, age, gender, and perceiver

We investigated how overtly aggressive behavior was differentially perceived by two types of perceivers, teachers and peers, as a function of student neighborhood, gender, and grade level. Participants (N= 765) were predominantly African American students in grades 3-5 recruited from two urban public schools in southern California. The neighborhoods surrounding the two schools differed in levels of identified violent crime and economic levels. Teachers in the community experiencing more violence perceived student behavior to be relatively less aggressive and more similar across genders than did teachers in the less violent community. Peers in the community experiencing more violent crime perceived both boys and girls to be somewhat aggressive, whereas in the less violent community, boys were perceived as aggressive more so than were girls. In general, agreement between teacher and peer perceptions was stronger for boys than for girls.