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predictors of whether or not an individual would founder
-1. ses -Kids of higher income parents who had a strong academic orientation and worked steadily at a paid job during hw were more likely to follow the college pathway -Those with a weaker academic orientation but who found steady hs work were more likely to follow the associates'/vocational work path -Academic orientation -Work experiencing during hs
evidence that environment is important for info processing
-A supportive environment is crucial for the development of many aspects of info processing skills in adolescents -Ex: Romanian children intervention -Never institutionalized group was superior to both groups on measures of visual recognition memory and EF -Foster placements did not have a measurable impact on these skills -Institutional rearing continues to affect specific aspects of memory and EF in early adolescents
decision making skills
-Adolescents are just as aware of the risks and consequences of risky behavior ▪Eliminates the hypothesis that they think they are invulnerable -Perceptions of benefits are stronger predictors of later substance use and sexual activity than perceptions of risks of these behaviors for kids and adolescents -Once they begin to engage in smoke, drinking, drug use, or early sex, their previous estimates of the risks of the these behaviors decrease (presumably bc most of them don't experience any immediate negative consequences) ▪Preventative efforts should expand beyond informing teens about health behavior risks, highlighting the benefits of discontinuing certain behaviors
family and SES status
-Adolescents from higher ses homes are more likely to choose high status jobs -Lower ses families are more likely choose blue collar, service industry, or jobs in the trades -Children of higher ses parents are more likely to finish college than kids of lower ses parents -Parents may know more about the college app process and be better able to advise their kids on choice of a major that suits their interests and abilities -Higher ses parents tend to have more connections with their profession
4 distinct developmental pathways from school to work
-Completed 4 year degree within 7 years after hs and arrived at a self identified course of post college study or a job that provided skills for a career. 35% -17.5% received an associate's degree, a vocational degree, or a vocational certificate and worked in a job that gave them skills pertaining to their intended career -28% had not established a stable career path by 31-32 , even tho they had attended and some had finished college -19% had the same outcome but had not attempted college -The last 2 groups had moved in and out of mostly part time employment. Called "flounders"
reasons reforms have been implemented more slowly at the high school level
-Concerns: adjusting to new teachers and more difficult coursework, learning the layout of the school, managing multiple classes, adapting to a new peer group and new social expectations -In response to these concerns, increased emphasis on school counseling on promoting social relationships and creating a caring school community -Sometimes use older students as mentors or buddies, special counseling for 9th grades, and fostering closer relationships between homeroom teachers and students -Ex: check and connect
size of the school
-Districts that have created smaller schools tend to see higher students achievement scores, lower dropout rates, decreases in delinquent behavior, and more students participating in school activities -These outcomes are greater for low income minority students
how hs counselors can improve their advising for hs to college
-Hs counselors need to provide more encouragement for students to consider an associates or vocational degree In a field of interest, as this represents a viable pathway to a productive career -Hs needs to better prepare college oriented students to be successful when they get there -Business and political leaders need to forge stronger links to schools
parental influences on decision making
-Increases in gpa and academic self esteem were associated with increases in the warmth of parent chid relationship -Decreases in school performance were related to reports of increased conflict between youth and one or the other parent s -Families in which mothers and fathers exhibited high degrees of monitoring and warmth tended to have kids who engaged with more school and showed fewer behavioral problems
personality traits
-People's career interests tend to fall in 6 general categories that can overlap and combine with one another ▪Realistic individuals enjoy practical, hands on activities, working with nature, animals, tools, and or machines -Like to work individually and take pride in technical skill ▪Investigative- enjoy scientific inquiry, explanation, and discovery. Find value in learning scientific theories and using math and analytic skills to solve problems ▪Artistic- enjoy independent, creative, and expressive activities. They value innovation and originality and thrive in impromptu, chaotic environments ▪Social- developing and maintaining a sense of community and solving social problem.s customer service oriented and find value in helping, assassinating, and informing others ▪Enterprising- value leadership toward defined goals. Enjoy competition and are interested in producing products and ideas for the marketplace ▪conventional- value and success in accuracy, time management, and goal setting detail minded and work well with machines and numbers -interests are moderately correlated with their occupations, but many people blend traits from different categories -Young adults today often switch jobs or careers several times before settling on one, and this process occurs over a longer period of time than in the past
immigrant students and school
-Recent immigrants put more emphasis on doing well in school than second and third gen students from the same ethnic group -Suggests that becoming acculturated to the US may involve devaluing academic success or losing some attitudes that were characteristic of the first gen of immigrants
changes that helped transitions
-Smaller learning communities in larger schools consisting of a class of students and teachers who stayed together for 2 or 3 periods during the day -Fosters closer relationships with peers and teachers -Grouping students together in several classes often team taught by the same teachers
combinations of liquids task
-Used to test adolescents' ability to test all possible combinations to arrive at a solution to a problem -10-11 year olds combine the liquids a few at a time and give up quickly -12-16 year olds tried all possible combos (including 2 and 3 way combos) until they got the solution -Piaget argued that formal and operational thinkers can think of all possible combos and proceed to test them
gender and occupational choice
-Young women are as likely to be employed as young men, enroll in college at higher rates than men, and are making inroads into traditionally male professions, women tend to concentrate in the service sector and helping professions -The gender difference existing in part bc kids are stereotyped about which jobs are appropriate for males and females and in part due to cultural stereotypes, prejudice, and even harassment by fellow works that make it difficult for women to enter certain professions -Males and females don't differ in their desire for a high prestige job -Women still perceive gender discrimination I stem work environments and hold lower expectations of eventual success in these careers when they enter college -Another factor that often figures into women's career choices is the anticipation of balancing work and family life to a greater extent than men -Working women face a second shift when they come home, spending fa more time on cooking, house maintenance and child rearing than men, even though men are participating more than in the past -Women may consciously or unconsciously make ed and career choices that allow them flexibility to perform household and childcare duties when they decide to raise a family
working long (20+) hours
-Youth who work more than 20 hours in a week are more likely to show a decline in school grades and engage in sexual activity, substance use, and delinquent behavior -Long hours of after school work may disrupt academic performance and takes time away from involvement in extracurricular activities -The young workers often show up to school tired and may be too exhausted or busy working to complete their hw -Can result in disengagement with school activities and even their families -Can lead to more participation in unstructured leisure activities
school involvement and employment
-Youth who worked longer hours were already lower in school performance and had more problem behaviors and less connection with school, teachers, and families -Young people who have less interest in school and extracurriculars and despite greater independence from their families may self select into jobs with longer hours -Precocious maturity- longer hours, lower school engagement, and greater use of alc, drugs, and cigs
agentic striving
-an ongoing process In which people select goals that are consist with educational and occupational opps and use available time, effort, and skills in their pursuit -Developmental systems concept that refers to managing one's ed aspirations, career goals, and strategic actions in a way that responds to environmental opps -Those with bachelors, associates, or vocational degrees were more likely to have a high level of agentic striving and to be in jobs or training programs that were extrinsically and intrinsically rewarding -Within the group that had attained degrees, higher agentic striving was associated with higher extrinsic and intrinsic occupational rewards
areas for improvement in stage-environment fit
-challenge and meaning of academic work in some classes become less complex in its cognitive demands as kids move from elementary to middle school ▪Middle school kids report the highest rates of boredom doing schoolwork ▪Elementary school work in these subjects tends to be group and project based, which many find more engaging ▪The lecture and test format of middle school can lead to declines in intrinsic motivation -Teacher and student relationships ▪Students often perceive a less personal and positive teacher student relationship in middle school than what they experienced in elementary school ▪Students who report poorer relationships with teachers showed reduced interest in subject matter, these changes are large among low achieving students
dual systems model of risk taking
-ef function develops at a slower rate, resulting in a period of development during which adolescents show increased sensation seeking and risky behavior •Adolescents experience heightened reward sensitivity during or shortly after puberty Gambling task:
mastery goal orientation
-focuses on inherent value of learning and improving one's knowledge and skill ▪Associated with intrinsic motivation to learn and deep engagement in a subject ▪Tend to have higher academic achievement from ages 5-17, but this is less true of college students ▪May get poorer grades in college bc they focus on their own interests in a class rather than course requirements
performance goal orientation
-involves demonstrating one's ability, either by getting a good score or grade or out performing others ▪Tend to do well in school if there goal is a positive one ▪If their goal is negative, they tend to perform ore poorly in school, show higher anxiety, and are more likely to cheat
work avoidance goal orientation
-orientation- procrastination or engaging in activities that interfere with completing a task ▪Associated with poor motivation and school performance
work values
-types of rewards the person expects to get from work -Extrinsic rewards- salary and prestige -Job security -Intrinsic rewards -Altruistic rewards -leisure -At the end of hs, adolescents tend to be overly optimistic and believe they can find a job that meets nearly all of these values, but as they attend college or gain experience working the real world, the emphasis on extrinsic, social, and altruistic rewards tend to decrease whereas the emphasis on intrinsic rewards and job security remains strong
brain development and decision making
Different rates of development of the reward network and the executive control network make adolescents vulnerable to impulsive decision making Whether they make a risky decision depends on cognitive and behavioral factors, such as opportunities for seeking rewards and excitement in "safe" areas such as sports and academics, and parental support for such activities contextual factors are important Adolescents are more likely to make poorly thought-out emotional decisions when they perceive an immediate benefit, when they don't experience immediate negative consequences, and when they are in the presence of peers
aspects of a competent decision maker
a competent decision maker is someone who... 1) identifies possible options 2) assess the risks and benefits that may result from each choice 3) evaluates how desirable each consequence is 4) estimates the likelihood of each consequence 5) uses the info from the previous steps in an organized fashion to decide on a course of action
ability to manipulate variables in scientific problems
ability to manipulate variables in scientific problems as well as math isolating variables- manipulate one variable while holding the others constant testing all possible combinations of variables between 10-11 children tried to test all variables at once and typically drew incorrect conclusions between 12-16, adolescents held variables constant and manipulated one at a time better at pendulum, worse at balance
attention
compared to elementary school students, adolescents are -better able to concentrate on mental tasks (sustained attn) -better able to screen out distractions (selective attn) -better at separating relevant & irrelevant information (selective attn) -better able to inhibit undesired responses (executive attn) -more flexible in switching strategies or focus of attention (exec attn) -3 aspects of attention (sustained, selective, and executive) improved from middle childhood thru adolescents. These make it easier for young ppl to focus their attention on an incoming stimulus, select the relavent info, and ignore irrelevant info.
factors correlated with risk taking
degree of parental support, parental autonomy granting, and the number of deviant friends
support for struggling students
keep all students on the same challenging track and provide extra classroom of hw support or tutoring to help students keep up
Critiques of Piaget's formal operations
many studies revealed that about 1/2 of adolescents don't solve his tasks teens and even adults tend to be formal operational only in an area of expertise when tested outside their area, many adults fail to reason formal operationally children's deductive thinking, repeated with smaller materials, have shown that these abilities are clearly present by middle childhood, but children are not as fast, efficient, or knowledgeable as adults
3 main categories of goal orientation in academic tasks
mastery goal orientation performance goal orientation work avoidance goal orientation
intrinsic motivation
motivation to perform an activity for its own sake out of personal interest -Generally accompanied by positive emotions -Positive emotions enhance various aspects of info processing, such as selective and sustained attention and memory formation, ensuring that material studied while a person is in a good mood is better retained than when a person is in a neutral or negative mood -Average levels of intrinsic motivation decline from middle childhood to adolescence -Higher achievers show less of a decline than lower achievers -Decline may be bc of increasing pressure to get good grades and less cognitively stimulating experiences
formal operational period
new type of thinking emerges from ages 11-16 (formal operations) Piaget's 4th stage of development characterized by advances in thinking about abstract, hypothetical, and scientific problems 2 main types of formal operational thinking: -hypothetico-deductive reasoning -manipulating variables
working memory
phonological loops visuospatial sketchpad episodic buffer •Working memory capacity, the use of more effective strategies for remembering, and the expansion of the knowledge base, which enables adolescents to organize info in LTM in increasingly systematic ways improves during adolescents •Speed of processing increases to a peak in mid-adolescence and doesn't show much improvement after that •Attention, working memory and processing speed have been shown to contribute to variability in performance of Piaget's tasks as well as to school subjects such as reading and math -With Studies of processing speed reveal that it peaks at about 15 -practice, adolescents can be as fast or faster than adults at particular tasks
urban hs reforms
size of the school teacher qualifications personalization common core curriculum support for struggling students
metacognitive understanding
the ability to reflect consciously on one's own cognitive processes, such as -memory strategies -video game strategies -positions in a debate -how the reader responds to a character in a story
teacher qualifications
the more successful urban schools are those that hire better trained teachers, provide planning time for them to work together on the curriculum and train teachers to work with English language learners and students with special needs
hypothetico-deductive reasoning
thinking about hypothetical statements and the logical relationships among statements not just their objective truth value they can focus on the statements themselves and understand their logical and systematic relationships language becomes a medium of representing thought at formal operations stage, as do other symbol systems such as math symbols or chemical elements adolescents can perform operations with these symbols and with language this type of thinking helps make imaginative fiction popular with adolescents having the ability to generate hypothetical premises also underlie the appeal of imaginative fiction
info processing skills
undergo gradual improvement from adolescence 4 main areas of improvement: attention, memory, processing speed, and metacognitive understanding -teens show steady improvements in the ability to manage and deploy mental resources ▪Cognitive advance, but includes a strong motivational component ▪Adolescents were more selective than younger kids about where and when they allocate cognitive resources and about he level of engagement they have with various activities ▪They can concentrate on activities that they believe to be a part of their personal identify and that are good at doing ▪May allocate fewer mental resources to things they perceive themselves as not being good at doing •This in turn affects where they will concentrate their efforts. As a result, levels of achievement in school and other domains can be quite different among adolescents by age 17-18 -Just because adolescents show steady improvements in info processing skills does not mean that these changes are the main determinants of improvements in more complex skills (like decision making) -Improvements in basic info processing are most likely necessary foundations for complex thinking skills, but without the additional ingredients of specialized knowledge, training, and expertise, cognitive advances are less likely to occur
crucial elements of STEM:
•1. Personal connections between students and ideas in stem fields -The idea of having students engaging in a project is that it will help them make an emotional connection to a stem career -That emotional connection is essential to maintain intrinsic motivation thru the hard work of studying the subjects •2. rigorous curriculum featuring 4 years of courses in all 4 stem areas -The problems in these courses generally come from real world situations and the skills students master are those that business and tech companies and colleges expect students to have •3.opportunity structures- physical and social supports for stem careers in the geographic location of the schools -Includes internships and mentorships that place hs students with local stem employers and college programs -Some hs programs feed directly into training programs in industry and community colleges in the students' neighborhoods -The idea is that students are much more likely to move into a stem career if they have access to resources, people, and training in close geographic proximity to their homes
social context and decision making
•Adolescents took twice as many risks with peers in the room than alone •College students took 50% more risks and adults were not influenced by the presence of absence of peers •In real life situations adolescent pees may even urge each other to take greater risks •Adolescents who reported engaging in more analytic and deliberative decision making tended to report less frequent risk taking in alc use, drug use, risky sex, and delinquent behaviors
working regular (10-15) hours
•Adolescents who work 10-15 hours or fewer were able to balance school and work and maintain involvement in extracurriculars with no negative effects on grades and no sign of deviant or risk taking behavior -More limited work experiences were associated with greater employability, higher earnings, and the development of useful skills
asian students and school
•Asian parents place high value on education and kids feel a strong sense of obligation to their family to well in school -Asian parents are students are more likely to endorse a belief in a growth mindset -The differences in attitudes translate into behavior -Asian students spend more time on hw and other school related activities and less time socializing and watching tv
authoritative parenting and school achievement
•Authoritative parenting is associated with higher school achievement -Adolescents greater cognitive maturity and their increasing desire for autonomy lead authoritative parents to grant even more control to adolescents -Parents who tend to combine warmth with monitoring of schoolwork, activity schedule, and whereabouts tend to have adolescents with better psychosocial adaptation and better school achievement -Parents who allow adolescents to participate in decision making about their own lives tend to have students with higher school achievement and motivational levels -It is likely that warmth, monitoring, and autonomy granting help adolescents feel valued, to recognize the importance of their schoolwork and psychological well being to their parents, and to take initiative to regulate their own behavior
common core curriculum
•Common core curriculum with performance based assessment: present challenging assignments that resemble work they would do in a career or in college. Rather than using standardized tests, provide authentic assessment by having students present their report to a panel of teachers and judges from the business and professional community
risk factors and transitions
•Each transition is associated with declines in grades, academic engagement, and self esteem (for normal students) -Takes students an average of one year to recover •Adolescents with more risk factors at the time of transition had greater drops in self esteem and academic achievement -These problems can often persist leading to a downward spiral in school grades and academic motivation -Latino and black students who moved into a school with a lower proportion of same race peers felt less connected to the school, had poorer grades, and were absent more often
hispanic students and school
•Hispanic students were the least likely to see themselves as going to college and most likely to have social goals -Strong sense of familismo (family expectations and family closeness)
montana meth project
•In 2005, the stage of Montana was having a meth epidemic among teens and young adults •50% of incarcerations and 50% of foster care admissions were meth related •The Montana Meth project (2005-2015) pushed teens to realize the perceived benefits were not real, and the risks were quite severe - this helped slow down the epidemic of meth use in teens •The billboards were controversial but were designed to get teens' attention! •They focused on several key findings from research on teenagers
race and ethnicity in school
•Level of graduating by race: Asian, white, latino, black (this is up 4-8% from 2010-2011) •Level of going to college: Asian, white, latino, black •Lower income students encounter a number of risk factors that interfere with the development of basic academic skills and study habits •These problem can become compounded and make things more difficult as homework and responsibilities increase
developmental tracks from school to wrok
•People without a college degree have a much higher unemployment rate and earn less money over their lifetimes •The period after high school is less predictable and more turbulent than it was 2 decades ago, as individuals combine working part time or full time with going to college and some shift from one part time job to another
predictors of high achievement in school
•Students with higher IQ scores, better reading and math skills, and a positive academic self concept tend to do well in elementary school -This continues thru the secondary school years -Prior grades and achievement scores were strong predictors of hs grades -Psychosocial and behavioral factors also contributed to the prediction of hs grades
applications of Iowa gambling task to drug abuse
•Teen are sensitive to the rewarding effects of drug use -A strong drug high -Attention and praise from peers •Teens are insensitive to the punishing effects of drugs -Morning after lows -Loss of money -Gradual declines of physical appearance -Loss of peer, romantic and family relationships -Young adolescents need support from family members and teachers in making emotional decisions -Adults should encourage young adolescents to pursue activities where their heightened reward sensitivity has positive avenues for expression
STEM education reform
•The development of scientific thinking accelerates between grades 4-8 and responds to a rigorous hands on approach to science education •Goal is to encourage more students to pursue stem careers, particularly underrepresented groups Want to reduce the gap between the top industrial countries' student achievement levels and those in the US
implications of gambling studies
•The gambling studies support the data on brain development •Show that there is a spike in reward sensitivity in early to mid adolescence, that affects real-time decision making •There is a more slowly maturing ability to evaluate costs and inhibit affective responses that is tied to chronological age, and to development of the prefrontal cortex •Obviously this is why it isn't good for teens to gamble! But there are deeper implications for fighting drug addiction
occupational choice
•The general process of choosing an occupational involves kids and young adolescents observing and hearing about adults in various professions, evaluating their own interests and talents, and deciding how well they match up with various careers •Ideas about careers become more specific and realistic as an adolescents' ability to imagine a future self improves •Occupational choice is influenced by an individual's personality traits and work values, social context etc
Iowa gambling task
•Two decks are advantageous but give small payoffs, two are disadvantageous with occasional big payoffs - most adults learn which decks to avoid midway through the game -EF progresses steadily across adolescence (mean trails time decreases) -whereas gambling performance undergoes a dip in early adolescence and then a rise in mid adolescence -One explanation to excessive risk taking in gambling task is due to heightened sensitivity to the big rewards that occasionally came -It could also be due to insensitivity to the punishment of losing money results show a dip in performance in mid-adolescence, despite gains in executive functioning across this period
employment in adolescence
•White students more likely to hold jobs in general, followed by black and latino and then Asian •adolescents often have a goal of saving money, earning spending money, and experiencing adult-like roles •Their parents often assume that work helps youth come more independent, responsible, and hard working
stereotype threat
•anxiety over fulfilling stereotypes over lower academic performance -Results in relatively lower performance under conditions where the stereotype is salient -High achieving blacks who did not believe the stereotype applied to them still performed more poorly when taking tests labeled tests of cognitive ability as opposed to tests of content learning
expectancy value model
•developmental progression in which parents' beliefs lead to differences in parental behavior, which lead to differences in kids and adolescents motivational beliefs, which finally lead to differences in adolescents behavior -Evidence for parent child bidirectional influences over time in sports and instrumental music, but not so strongly in math and reading -Parents' beliefs were stronger predicators of their behavior than vice versa, supporting the expectancy value hypothesis -Results were similar for boys and girls -Parents beliefs to parents behaviors to youth motivational beliefs to youth behaviors
teachers and classroom practices
•emotionally engaged with school and tend to have higher levels of school engagement •In high achieving schools, many students described themselves as robostudnets who completed their school work and got high grades but didn't care about what they were learning and failed to retain it •Emotion and cognitive engagement with schoolwork tends to decline between 7th and 12th grades, but was higher for students who reported having positive teacher student relationships •At all age levels, curricular material that is challenging and relevant to students' lives is important course content should also feature the voices, images, and historical experiences of underrepresented groups. Non white students express greater interest and motivation to lear when such material presented •It is recommended that learning activities be designed to require diverse cognitive operations •Instructors can teach students strategies to assist their learning
personalization
•more successful schools allow teachers to work with smaller groups of kids for longer blocks of time and arrange for each teacher to work as counselor, advocate, and family contact for a small number of students
extrinsic motivation
•motivation to perform an activity to achieve a reward or avoid a punishment -Can be accompanied by positive emotions, but can also be accompanied by negative emotions -Negative emotions generally interfere with attentional process and memory, leading to poorer academic performance and poorer retention of material
possible explanations for Iowa gambling results
•sensitivity to rewards (the occasional big wins) peaks in early to mid-adolescence -Declines in early adulthood -Measures of sensitivity to rewards were tied to pubertal age • 2) sensitivity to punishment (occasional big losses) is low in early adolescence but then grows -Sensitivity to punishment is low in early adolescence but grows in adulthood -Measures of cost avoidance and response inhibition were more closely tied to chronological age - This supports the study that there is a spike in reward sensitivity in early and middle adolescence that may be tied to neural processes related to puberty and a more slowing maturing ability to evaluate cost and inhibit responses that reflects general maturation of the pfc
stage environment fit
•the extent to which classroom and school practices are suited to psychological changes in early adolescence -May be experienced during the middle school transition