Jessica R. Toste

Non‐Suicidal Self‐Injury and Eating Pathology in High School Students

Although past research has explored self-injurious behaviors and disordered eating among adults in clinical settings, little research has been conducted examining nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and eating pathology in community samples of adolescents. Four hundred and 40 students were screened for the presence of NSSI; a prevalence rate of 13.9% was found. Those who indicated that they engaged in NSSI (n = 59) and a comparison group of non-self-injurers (n = 57) completed the Eating Disorders Inventory. Results indicate that students who engage in NSSI display significantly more eating pathology than their non-NSSI peers, including poor interoceptive awareness; difficulties with impulse regulation; an increased sense of ineffectiveness, distrust, and social insecurity; and increased bulimic tendencies and body dissatisfaction. Relationships were found between increased lifetime frequency of NSSI behaviors and poor impulse control and deficits in affective regulation. In addition, adolescents who had stopped self-injuring reported comparable rates of eating pathology as did adolescents who continued to self-injure. The theoretical connection between NSSI and eating pathology are discussed with reference to enhancing knowledge regarding the characteristics of NSSI.

“I Am Not Well-Equipped” High School Teachers’ Perceptions of Self-Injury

Fifty teachers completed a survey to investigate knowledge, self-perceived knowledge, and attitudes regarding self-injury (SI). Teachers were aware of basic facts concerning SI; however, 78% underestimated prevalence, and only 20% felt knowledgeable. Attitudes were mixed, with 48% finding the idea of SI horrifying; however, 68% disagreeing that SI was “often manipulative.” Principal components analysis indicated that perceived knowledge emerged as a separate construct from attitudes toward SI. Years of teaching experience was related to self-perceived knowledge, but not to attitudes. In addition, 74% of teachers reported having a personal encounter with SI, and 62% felt that SI is increasing in the schools. Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions revealed a strong desire for further knowledge and training. Results indicate that teachers’ perceptions are not consistent with studies of SI in clinical settings but are consistent with recent research in community and school samples. The need for teacher education about SI is emphasized.

Effective Classroom Instruction: Implications of Child Characteristics by Reading Instruction Interactions on First Graders' Word Reading Achievement.

Abstract Too many children fail to learn how to read proficiently with serious consequences for their overall well-being and long-term success in school. This may be because providing effective instruction is more complex than many of the current models of reading instruction portray; there are Child Characteristic × Instruction (CXI) interactions. Here we present efficacy results for a randomized control field trial of the Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) intervention, which relies on dynamic system forecasting intervention models to recommend amounts of reading instruction for each student, taking into account CXI interactions that consider his or her vocabulary and reading skills. The study, conducted in seven schools with 25 teachers and 396 first graders, revealed that students in the ISI intervention classrooms demonstrated significantly greater reading skill gains by spring than did students in control classrooms. Plus, they were more likely to receive differentiated reading instruction based on CXI interaction guided recommended amounts than were students in control classrooms. The precision with which students received the recommended amounts of each type of literacy instruction, the distance from recommendation, also predicted reading outcomes.

Reading First in Florida: Five Years of Improvement

Five years of reading comprehension data in Florida Reading First schools were analyzed to address questions regarding student improvement, reduction in the achievement gap, efficacy of site visits to schools making no achievement gains, and effects of student mobility on growth in reading comprehension. Participants were 120,000 students (about 30,000 each in grades K–3) in the 318 schools in the first cohort of Florida Reading First from 2003 to 2008. Outcome measures were the reading comprehension scores on the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-10) and the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The percentage of students on grade level (at or above the 40th percentile) increased, and the percentage of students at high risk (below the 20th percentile) decreased over the five years. Racial/ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged, and English language learner groups improved performance as well, but there was no evidence of narrowing the achievement gap. Reduction in risk for students with learning disabilities was noteworthy. Increased support to low-performing schools was associated with improved performance. Finally, there were significant reductions in growth in reading comprehension associated with leaving a Reading First school.

Adolescents’ Willingness to Access School-Based Support for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent behaviour among youth. School is an opportune setting for intervention with this population, but it is unknown how many youth who engage in NSSI would be willing to access school-based support. The current study surveyed 7,126 middle and high school students. Those that indicated that they engaged in NSSI (n = 654; 168 boys, 486 girls) responded to follow-up questions regarding the behaviour and willingness to participate in a school-based support program for NSSI. Self-injurers who responded that they would be willing to access help at school (n = 88; 13.5% of the sample) and a matched group of those who would not be willing were compared on a number of variables. Willingness to access school-based support did not differ by gender or ethnicity but differed between middle and high school students. On indices of NSSI and worries about safety, the adolescents willing to access support reported that they used more methods of injury as well as increased worries about safety in their neighbourhood and sexual harassment. L’automutilation non-suicidaire (AMNS) est un comportement commun parmi les jeunes. Le milieu scolaire pourrait s’avérer une situation idéale pour une intervention, mais ce n’est pas claire quel nombre de jeunes serait prêt a chercher du support à l’école. Ce projet a recensé 7,126 étudiants du niveau intermédiaire et secondaire. Ceux qui ont indiqué avoir pratiqué de l’automutilation (n = 654; 168 males, 486 femelles) ont complété un questionnaire concernant leur automutilation et leur désir de participer à un programme de support pour l’AMNS à l’école. Les participants qui ont indiqué qu’ils accepteraient de participer à un tel programme (n = 88, 13.5% de l’échantillon) et un groupe de jeunes, appariés pour l’âge et le sexe, qui n’accepteraient pas de participer ont été comparé sur un nombre de variables. Les groupes ne différaient pas par sexe ou ethnicité, mais différaient par niveau scolaire. Ceux qui accepteraient de participer à un programme de support pratiquaient plus de formes d’automutilation et rapportaient avoir plus d’inquiétudes concernant la sécurité de leurs quartiers et le harcèlement sexuelle.

Perceptions of Academic Performance: Positive Illusions in Adolescents With and Without Learning Disabilities

Children with academic and behavioral difficulties have been found to report overly positive self-perceptions of performance in their areas of specific deficit. Researchers typically investigate self-perceptions in reference to both actual performance and ratings by teachers, peers, and parents. However, few studies have investigated whether or not adolescents with difficulty report overly positive self-perceptions. The present study sought to investigate self-perceptions of performance in the domains of spelling and math among a sample of adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD). A total of 58 adolescents with and without LD participated. Adolescents with LD significantly overestimated their performance in math relative to their actual performance, but not in spelling, reflecting the predominant difficulty of the sample in the area of math rather than spelling. In addition, the magnitude of the gap between math predictions and actual performance was significantly greater for the group with LD than the group without LD. Findings support the existence of positive illusions in specific areas of deficit.

Perceived Social Support and Domain-Specific Adjustment of Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.

The perceived availability of social support has been documented as a protective mechanism among adults and adolescents. However, little research has explored the role of social support among children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (E/BD). The current study sought to investigate the effects of perceived social support from family, friends and teachers on domain-specific adjustment for children with E/BD. Fifty-four teacher-nominated children for E/BD completed questionnaires on perceived social support and behavioural, emotional and social functioning. Results suggest a pattern of intercorrelations between indices of child-rated social support and behavioural, emotional and social indicators of adjustment. Specifically, domain-specific social support was found to predict domain-specific adjustment outcomes for children with E/BD, once demographic variables were held constant. Interventions that are child-centred and domain-specific are suggested.

Positive Illusions in Adolescents: The Relationship between Academic Self-Enhancement and Depressive Symptomatology.

Positive illusions are systematically inflated self-perceptions of competence, and are frequently seen in areas of great difficulty. Although these illusions have been extensively documented in children and adults, their role in typical adolescent emotion regulation is unclear. This study investigated the relationship between positive illusions, depressive symptomatology, and school stress in a sample of 71 school-based adolescents. Findings revealed that adolescents who were achieving slightly below average in math significantly overestimated their performance, but adolescents did not overestimate their performance in spelling. Positive illusions in math were negatively related to depressive symptomatology. Implications for positive illusions theory are discussed.

Severity of Academic Achievement and Social Skills Deficits [Abstract]

This study explored the differences in the rated social skills of elementary ‐ aged students at ‐ risk for emotional/behavioural disorders (E/BD) based on severity of academic difficulties. Teachers nominated students at ‐ risk for E/BD who were classified into four groups of academic difficulty based on the Wide Range Achievement Test ‐ 3. Students, parents, and teachers completed the Social Skills Rating System. Teachers’ ratings indicated that academic strengths did not significantly affect perceptions of students’ social competence; all children were rated with notable social skills deficits. Consistent with previous positive research, self ‐ ratings were uniformly positive across groups. Parents’ ratings indicated highest social competence for children with most severe academic deficits. Key words: emotional disorders, behavioural disorders, academic performance, elementary school, social competence;,self ‐ perceptions, parent perceptions, teacher perceptions Cette etude a explore les differences chez des eleves du primaire presentant des risques de troubles affectifs et du comportement dans l’evaluation de leurs habiletes sociales , par rapport a la gravite de leurs difficultes academiques. Les enseignants ont designe ces eleves a risque, qui ont ete repartis en quatre groupes en fonction de leurs difficultes academiques evaluees en utilisant le Wide Range Achievement Test ‐ 3 . Les eleves, les parents et les enseignants ont rempli le questionnaire sur les aptitudes sociales ( Social Skills Rating System ). Les evaluations des enseignants revelent que les aptitudes scolaires n’ont pas une incidence importante sur les perceptions des aptitudes sociales des eleves ; tous les enfants ont ete evalues comme ayant d’importants deficits quant aux aptitudes sociales. Conformement a des recherches anterieures, les auto ‐ evaluations sont uniformement positives dans tous les groupes. Les evaluations des parents font etat d’aptitudes sociales plus fortes chez les enfants ayant les deficits scolaires les plus graves. Mots cles : troubles affectifs et du comportement, rendement scolaire, ecole primaire, aptitude sociale, autoperceptions, perceptions des parents et des enseignants