Maciel M. Hernández

Cultural Socialization and Ethnic Pride Among Mexican-Origin Adolescents During the Transition to Middle School

The relation between cultural socialization and ethnic pride during the transition to middle school was examined for 674 fifth-grade students (50% boys; Mage = 10.4 years) of Mexican origin. The theoretical model guiding the study proposes that parent-child relationship quality is a resource in the transmission of cultural values from parent to child and that parental warmth promotes the childs positive response to cultural socialization. Results showed that mother and father cultural socialization predicted youth ethnic pride and that this relation was stronger when parents were high in warmth. The findings highlight the positive role parent cultural socialization may play in the development of adolescent ethnic pride. Furthermore, findings reveal the role of parent-child relationship quality in this process.

Relations of positive and negative expressivity and effortful control to kindergarteners’ student–teacher relationship, academic engagement, and externalizing problems at school

The current study examined the role of naturally-occurring negative and positive emotion expressivity in kindergarten and childrens effortful control (EC) on their relationships with teachers, academic engagement, and problems behaviors in school. Further, the potential moderating role of EC on these important school outcomes was assessed. Emotion and engagement were observed at school. EC was assessed by multiple methods. Teachers reported on their student-teacher relationships and students externalizing behaviors. Childrens emotion expressivity and EC were related to engagement and relationships with teachers as well as behavioral problems at school. Children low in EC may be particularly vulnerable to the poor outcomes associated with relatively intense emotion expressivity as they struggle to manage their emotions and behaviors in the classroom.

Concurrent and longitudinal associations of peers’ acceptance with emotion and effortful control in kindergarten

The purpose of the study was to evaluate bidirectional associations between peer acceptance and both emotion and effortful control during kindergarten (N = 301). In both the fall and spring semesters, we obtained peer nominations of acceptance, measures of positive and negative emotion based on naturalistic observations in school (i.e., classroom, lunch/recess), and observers’ reports of effortful control (i.e., inhibitory control, attention focusing) and emotions (i.e., positive, negative). In structural equation panel models, peer acceptance in fall predicted higher effortful control in spring. Effortful control in fall did not predict peer acceptance in spring. Negative emotion predicted lower peer acceptance across time for girls but not for boys. Peer acceptance did not predict negative or positive emotion over time. In addition, we tested interactions between positive or negative emotion and effortful control predicting peer acceptance. Positive emotion predicted higher peer acceptance for children low in effortful control.

Observed Emotions as Predictors of Quality of Kindergartners’ Social Relationships

This study evaluated whether positive and anger emotional frequency (the proportion of instances an emotion was observed) and intensity (the strength of an emotion when it was observed) uniquely predicted social relationships among kindergarteners (N = 301). Emotions were observed as naturally occurring at school in the fall term and multiple reporters (peers and teachers) provided information on quality of relationships with children in the spring term. In structural equation models, positive emotion frequency, but not positive emotion intensity, was positively related to peer acceptance and negatively related to peer rejection. In contrast, the frequency of anger provided unique positive prediction of teacher-student conflict and negative prediction of peer acceptance. Furthermore, anger intensity negatively predicted teacher-student closeness and positively predicted teacher-student conflict. Implications for promoting social relationships in school are discussed.

Elementary students’ effortful control and academic achievement: The mediating role of teacher–student relationship quality

This study evaluated the association between effortful control in kindergarten and academic achievement one year later (N = 301), and whether teacher-student closeness and conflict in kindergarten mediated the association. Parents, teachers, and observers reported on childrens effortful control, and teachers reported on their perceived levels of closeness and conflict with students. Students completed the passage comprehension and applied problems subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson tests of achievement, as well as a behavioral measure of effortful control. Analytical models predicting academic achievement were estimated using a structural equation model framework. Effortful control positively predicted academic achievement even when controlling for prior achievement and other covariates. Mediation hypotheses were tested in a separate model; effortful control positively predicted teacher-student closeness and strongly, negatively predicted teacher-student conflict. Teacher-student closeness and effortful control, but not teacher-student conflict, had small, positive associations with academic achievement. Effortful control also indirectly predicted higher academic achievement through its positive effect on teacher-student closeness and via its positive relation to early academic achievement. The findings suggest that teacher-student closeness is one mechanism by which effortful control is associated with academic achievement. Effortful control was also a consistent predictor of academic achievement, beyond prior achievement levels and controlling for teacher-student closeness and conflict, with implications for intervention programs on fostering regulation and achievement concurrently.

Developmental Outcomes of School Attachment Among Students of Mexican Origin

We used a longitudinal community study of 674 grade school children (Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8; 337 males, 337 females) of Mexican origin to examine outcomes of school attachment. Attachment to school is important in this population given the high level of school dropout rates of Mexican-origin students. Results indicated that, on average, school attachment from fifth to sixth grade remains stable, but declines from sixth to eighth grade. Boys had lower levels of school attachment at fifth grade but followed similar patterns of change as girls did. Attachment to teachers, peer competence, school aspirations and expectations, and substance-use cognitions emerged as longitudinal outcomes of level or changes in school attachment. Gender moderated associations of school attachment.

Emotions in school and symptoms of psychological maladjustment from kindergarten to first grade

The associations between childrens (N = 301) observed expression of positive and negative emotion in school and symptoms of psychological maladjustment (i.e., depressive and externalizing symptoms) were examined from kindergarten to first grade. Positive and negative emotional expressivity levels were observed in school settings, and teachers reported on measures of childrens externalizing and depressive symptoms. In longitudinal panel models testing bidirectional paths, depressive symptoms in kindergarten were negatively associated with positive expressivity in first grade but not vice versa. Childrens externalizing symptoms in kindergarten predicted higher negative expressivity in school in first grade. There was also significant prediction of externalizing in first grade by negative expressivity during kindergarten. Implications about child psychological maladjustment in early schooling are discussed.

Prediction of Children's Early Academic Adjustment From Their Temperament: The Moderating Role of Peer Temperament

The goal of the study was to examine whether target children’s temperamental negative emotional expressivity (NEE) and effortful control in the fall of kindergarten predicted academic adjustment in the spring and whether a classmate’s NEE and effortful control moderated these relations. Target children’s NEE and effortful control were measured in the fall via multiple methods, academic adjustment was measured via reading and math standardized tests in the spring, and observations of engagement in the classroom were conducted throughout the year. In the fall, teachers nominated a peer with whom each target child spent the most time and rated that peer’s temperament. Target children with high effortful control had high reading and math achievement (ps = .04 and < .001, respectively), and children with low NEE increased in engagement during the year (p < .001). Peers’ temperament did not have a direct relation to target children’s academic adjustment. Peers’ NEE, however, moderated the relation between target children’s effortful control, as well as NEE, and changes in engagement (ps = .03 and .05, respectively). Further, peers’ effortful control moderated the relations between target children’s NEE and reading and changes in engagement (ps = .02 and .04, respectively). In each case, target children’s temperament predicted the outcome in expected directions more strongly when peers had low NEE or high effortful control. Results are discussed in terms of how children’s temperamental qualities relate to academic adjustment, and how the relation between NEE and changes in engagement, in particular, depends on peers’ temperament.

Balance in Positive Emotional Expressivity Across School Contexts Relates to Kindergartners’ Adjustment

ABSTRACT Positive emotional expressivity has been associated with increased social competence and decreased maladjustment in childhood. However, a few researchers have found null or even positive associations between positive emotional expressivity and maladjustment, which suggests that there may be nuanced associations of positive expressivity, perhaps as a function of the social context in which it is expressed. We examined whether observed positive emotional expressivity balance across peer-oriented/recreational and learning contexts predicted kindergarten children’s adjustment (N = 301). Research Findings: Higher positive expressivity during lunch/recess compared to positive expressivity in the classroom was associated with lower teacher–student conflict, externalizing behaviors, and depressive symptoms. In addition, overall positive emotional expressivity predicted lower externalizing behaviors as well as lower depressive and anxiety symptoms. Practice or Policy: The results suggest the importance of assessing observed positive emotional expressivity in context as a potential indicator of children’s maladjustment risk and the need for children to adapt their emotions to different contexts. Implications for assessing and supporting positive emotional expression balance and training emotional regulation in school are discussed.

Trajectories of the Expression of Negative Emotion From Kindergarten to First Grade: Associations With Academic Outcomes

We examined individual trajectories, across four time points, of children’s (N = 301) expression of negative emotion in classroom settings and whether these trajectories predicted their observed school engagement, teacher-reported academic skills, and passage comprehension assessed with a standardized measure in first grade. In latent growth curve analyses, negative expressivity declined from kindergarten to first grade, with significant individual differences in trajectories. Negative expressivity in kindergarten inversely predicted first-grade school engagement and teacher-reported academic skills, and the slope of negative expressivity from kindergarten to first grade inversely predicted school engagement (e.g., increasing negative expressivity was associated with lower school engagement). In addition, we examined whether prior academic functioning in kindergarten moderated the association between negative expressivity (level in kindergarten and change over time) and academic functioning in first grade. The slope of negative expressivity was negatively associated with first-grade school engagement and passage comprehension for children who had lower kindergarten school engagement and passage comprehension, respectively, but was unrelated for those with higher academic functioning in kindergarten. That is, for children who had lower kindergarten school engagement and passage comprehension, greater declines in negative expressivity were associated with higher first-grade school engagement and passage comprehension, respectively. The findings suggest that negative emotional expressivity in school is associated with academic outcomes in first grade, and, in some cases, this association is more pronounced for children who had lower kindergarten academic functioning.