Margaretha van der Werf

Predicting Peer Acceptance in Dutch Youth A Multilevel Analysis

This article uses an ecological approach to predict students’ peer acceptance within junior high school classes. The authors investigate whether various characteristics (self-perception of physical attractiveness and athletic competence, cognitive ability, agreeableness, extraversion, age, parents’ education, number of siblings, siblings at same school, parental control, percentage of classmates who attended the same primary school, ethnicity) predict peer acceptance and whether effects are consistent across classes. Participants are 6,847 students (±13 years) from 461 classes in the Netherlands. Girls’ and boys’ data are analyzed separately using multilevel analyses. Extraversion and the percentage of classmates from the same primary school are the strongest predictors of peer acceptance for boys and girls. Smaller effects are observed for self-perception of athletic competence (boys and girls), agreeableness (girls), and ethnicity (boys). The effects are consistent across classes. The need for more complex models of peer acceptance is discussed.

Effects of the Attributes of Educational Interventions on Students’ Academic Performance: A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis examined the influence of attributes related to the implementation of learning strategy instruction interventions on students’ academic performance, and also examined how the attributes related to the method of testing the intervention effects affected the actual effects measured. Using metaregression, we analyzed the influence of the subject domain in which the intervention was implemented, the implementer, its duration and intensity, student cooperation, and research method aspects (including measurement instrument). Most attributes moderated the intervention effect. Using forward regression analysis, we only needed four attributes to obtain the best model, however. This analysis showed that the intervention effect was lower when a standardized test was used for evaluation instead of an unstandardized test. Interventions implemented by assistants or researchers were more effective than those implemented by teachers or using computers. Cooperation had a negative, and session duration a positive, contribution. Together, these attributes explained 63.2% of the variance in effect, which stresses the importance of emphasizing not only the instructional focus of an intervention but also its other attributes.

Personality as a Moderator of Context Effects on Academic Achievement.

We investigated whether personality moderates group influence of classmates on academic achievement and whether these so-called context effects can be attributed to peer pressure. The sample consisted of 2498 students in their first year of Dutch secondary education. The data were analyzed by a two-level (students within classes) analysis, separately for boys (n=1033, in 92 classes) and girls (n=1465, in 119 classes). For both sexes, we found a context effect on Dutch language achievement but not on mathematics achievement. Emotional Stability appeared a moderator of this context effect but for girls only. The results suggest further that peer pressure is not a likely mechanism of group influence of classmates on academic achievement.

Influence of misaligned parents’ aspirations on long-term student academic performance

This article deals with the concept of misaligned parents’ aspirations, its relationship with student background characteristics, and its effects on long-term student performance. It is defined as the difference between parents’ educational ambitions for their child and the childs actual capacities. Multilevel regression analyses on a sample of 10,433 Dutch students, who were followed for 5 years, showed that misaligned aspirations are related to parental education level and ethnicity, and have a small/medium positive effect on student performance. Based on ecology theory, we proposed that misaligned aspirations relate to differences in parent involvement, student achievement motivation, and teacher expectation bias, and that these factors subsequently influence student performance. The findings, however, indicate that this only applies to teacher expectation bias.This article deals with the concept of misaligned parents’ aspirations, its relationship with student background characteristics, and its effects on long-term student performance. It is defined as the difference between parents’ educational ambitions for their child and the childs actual capacities. Multilevel regression analyses on a sample of 10,433 Dutch students, who were followed for 5 years, showed that misaligned aspirations are related to parental education level and ethnicity, and have a small/medium positive effect on student performance. Based on ecology theory, we proposed that misaligned aspirations relate to differences in parent involvement, student achievement motivation, and teacher expectation bias, and that these factors subsequently influence student performance. The findings, however, indicate that this only applies to teacher expectation bias.