Thomas A. Kindermann

A Motivational Perspective on Engagement and Disaffection: Conceptualization and Assessment of Children's Behavioral and Emotional Participation in Academic Activities in the Classroom

This article presents a motivational conceptualization of engagement and disaffection: First, it emphasizes childrens constructive, focused, enthusiastic participation in the activities of classroom learning; second, it distinguishes engagement from disaffection, as well as behavioral features from emotional features. Psychometric properties of scores from teacher and student reports of behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, behavioral disaffection, and emotional disaffection were examined using data from 1,018 third through sixth graders. Structural analyses of the four indicators confirm that a multidimensional structure fits the data better than do bipolar or unidimensional models. Validity of scores is supported by findings that teacher reports are correlated with student reports, with in vivo observations in the classroom, and with markers of self-system and social contextual processes. As such, these measures capture important features of engagement and disaffection in the classroom, and any comprehensive assessment should include markers of each. Additional dimensions are identified, pointing the way to future research.

Further observational data on the behavioral and social world of institutions for the aged.

This study is an extension of previous observational work on the social ecology of dependence and independence in the institutionalized elderly. Observations of everyday, naturally occurring interactions between elderly residents of two different long-term institutions and their social partners were extended such that, aside from the identification of type of behavior, the dyadic form and continuity of each behavior was specified. The following were among the major results: (a) Previously found interaction patterns between elderly residents and their social partners, replicated in both a nursing home and a home for the chronically ill, supported the notion of discrepant social ecologies for dependent versus independent behaviors of residents: (b) specification of each behavioral act as to its dyadic form underscored the fact that the interactions were controlled largely by social partners and not by the elderly residents; (c) coding continuity or discontinuity of behavior suggested that independent behaviors were maintained by chaining; and (d) elderly residents in the home for the chronically ill evinced, as expected, more dependence-related behaviors.

A Social Relations Analysis of Liking for and by Peers: Associations with Gender, Depression, Peer Perception, and Worry.

We used social relations modeling (SRM; mixed modeling and SOREMO) to examine liking among peers (affective preferences) in relation to gender and socioemotional problems. Participants (N=278, age 10 to 13) rated how much they liked each other and reported depressive symptoms, negative beliefs, and social worries. Boys and girls were equally liked, but liked same-gender more than cross-gender peers. Genders showed similar consensus about liking for same-gender peers; rater differences were important for cross-gender liking. Depressed preadolescents were liked less but did not like classmates less. Participants who attributed more negative qualities to peers were less liked and liked others less. SRM showed no associations between worry and affective preferences, whereas others analyses indicated those with high worry were less liked. SRM results were compared to results using more typical methods, and recommendations were made for using same-gender vs. cross-gender ratings and summary affective preference scores.

Fostering Independence in Mother-Child Interactions: Longitudinal Changes in Contingency Patterns as Children Grow Competent in Developmental Tasks

The study attempted to reconstruct changes in naturalistic interactions between mother and child while children gained competence in three basic developmental tasks, namely, while they were learning to walk, eat, and dress themselves alone. Cross-sequentially organised observations focused on independent and dependent child behaviours and corresponding supportive mother reactions. At four measurement points across a period of 100 days, six children, two each at the age of 9, 12, and 21 months, were videotaped at home interacting with their mothers; at each point, mothers were interviewed about childrens competencies. Changes in behaviour frequencies and interaction patterns were consistent with hypotheses that mothers adjust their socialising interactions to childrens growing competencies in developmental tasks. Before tasks were begun, interactions could be characterised as nurturant (contingent maternal support for dependent behaviour only); when children were actively learning in a task, interactions evolved into complementary patterns (maternal support for both dependent and independent behaviours); and when competence was firmly established, mothers rarely showed contingent support for either dependent or independent task-related behaviours. The discussion contrasts processes of developmental change in socialising contexts with assumptions about the stability of childrearing practices.

How Do Naturally Existing Peer Groups Shape Children's Academic Development During Sixth Grade?

This study examined whether peer groups can indirectly affect children’s academic develop ment in sixth grade (ages 11 to 13) by influencing their engagement in the classroom. From the entire cohort of 366 sixth graders in a town, 87% provided information at the beginning and end of the school year. Peer groups were assessed using Socio-Cognitive Mapping; as an indicator of motivation, teachers reported on students’ classroom engagement. Achievement scores were averages of students’ grades (summed across performance and effort scores in reading, writing, and mathematics) and achievement scores. Levels of classroom engagement within children’s peer groups in the fall predicted children’s own motivation at the same time, and, in turn, children’s individual motivation scores predicted changes in their achievement over the school year. Implications are discussed for the cumulative effects of children’s peer groups on their academic development during middle school.

In Peer Matters, Teachers Matter: Peer Group Influences on Students' Engagement Depend on Teacher Involvement.

This study focused on the joint effects of teachers and peer groups as predictors of change in students’ engagement during the first year of middle school, when the importance of peer relationships normatively increases and the quality of teacher–student relationships typically declines. To explore cumulative and contextualized joint effects, the study utilized 3 sources of information about an entire cohort of 366 sixth graders in a small town: Peer groups were identified using sociocognitive mapping; students reported on teacher involvement; and teachers reported on each student’s engagement. Consistent with models of cumulative effects, peer group engagement and teacher involvement each uniquely predicted changes in students’ engagement. Consistent with contextualized models suggesting differential susceptibility, peer group engagement was a more pronounced predictor of changes in engagement for students who experienced relatively low involvement from teachers. These peer effects were positive or negative depending on the engagement versus disaffection of each student’s peer group. Person-centered analyses also revealed cumulative and contextualized effects. Most engaged were students who experienced support from both social partners; steepest engagement declines were found when students affiliated with disaffected peers and experienced teachers as relatively uninvolved. High teacher involvement partially protected students from the motivational costs of affiliating with disaffected peers, and belonging to engaged peer groups partially buffered students’ engagement from the effects of low teacher involvement. These findings suggest that, although peer groups and teachers are each important individually, a complete understanding of their contributions to students’ engagement requires the examination of their joint effects.

Validity of the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale During Toddlerhood

This study examined the validity of the Nursing Child Assessment of Feeding Scale (NCAFS) during toddlerhood, using a longitudinal design to assess the scales convergence with the Toddler Snack Scale (TSS) between 12 and 36 months, and comparing videotaped interactions of 116 mother—toddler dyads. Differences between TSS mutuality classifications were found for the NCAFS subscales at each age. The pattern of mean scores followed expected directions at 12 and 36 months, but only two of the six NCAFS subscales maintained this pattern at 24 months. Significant differences were found between TSS mutuality classifications and NCAFS dyadic scores at each age. With one exception, “connected” and “marginal” dyads had consistently higher dyadic scores than dyads classified as “poor” in mutuality. There were no differences between connected and marginal dyads. The NCAFS does not appear to capture control-autonomy balance as well as the TSS, and a revision for toddlerhood may be needed.

Capturing the peer context: Developmental issues, statistical methods, and new directions☆

The study of adolescents’ relationships with their peers has flourished over the past 30 years. At the same time, there have been marked shifts in the orientation of peer research. In the 1970s and 1980s, research tended to focus on the importance of friendship and the social status of children and adolescents within their group of peers. Key measurement techniques developed during these decades were based on selfas well as peer-reports about classmates. Since the early-1990s, however, there has been a surge of interest in dating and romantic relationships during adolescence and emerging adulthood, and this has become a significant area of developmental research by itself. By the late 1990s, renewed interest in Moreno’s (1934) framework, Sullivan’s (1953) conceptualizations, and Dunphy’s (1963) paradigmatic study, as well as many new theories of peer relationships and social development (e.g., Davila, 2008; Dishion, Spracklen, Andrews, & Patterson, 1996; Furman, Brown, & Feiring, 1999; for review, see Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006), resulted in further shifts in the focus of research. These shifts included an increasing emphasis on mapping social networks, as well as more efforts towards understanding how friendships and the peer group are related to and transform into romantic relationships (Connolly, Furman, & Konarski, 2000; Furman et al., 1999; Furman & Collins, 2009), how romantic relationships can be added and change existing friendships (Brown, 1999; Connolly et al., 2000; Connolly & Goldberg, 1999; Zimmer-Gembeck, 1999), how multiple peer-relational forms exist within peer networks, and how there are multiple ways to capture the important influential elements in even a single relational form (Collins, 2003; Connolly et al., 2000; Zimmer-Gembeck, Siebenbruner, & Collins, 2001). However, despite the broadened interests, it remains quite rare for studies of peer groups and friendships to sit side-by-side with studies of romantic relationships in a Special Issue on the peer context and peer influence. A central aim of this Special Issue was to include studies of the many aspects of adolescents’ peer relationships to show howwork in one domain adds to, and can be useful for work in another. Wewill address such synergies in our Epilogue at the end of this issue. Much of the research in this area also has undergone a transformation through the now widespread availability of statistical techniques that can capture and analyze individual factors at the same time as capturing complex group and dyad level phenomena. Such software is indispensible for researchers who need to test both group level and individual correlates of behaviors, emotions and cognitions (for a review, see Rubin et al., 2006; also see Card, Selig, & Little, 2009; Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006). The sophistication of available analytical methods continues to challenge existing conceptualizations of peer relationships and contexts, and researchers may need to formulate theoretical and conceptual accounts to keep pace with the methodological developments. We include studies in this Special Issue that have used a range of established and newer techniques, while also inviting commentary to highlight the strengths, as well as the continuing limitations, of all of our methods (Laursen, 2010). Although rapid development in a field is exciting, there is a danger that conceptual integration may come to lag behind analytical advancement and that research areas continue to be split up into subspecialties that produce their own dynamics. One main goal of this Special Issue, Capturing the Peer Context, was to underscore common threads and to illustrate how current methodological developments permeate research on peer relationships at different ages and in different target