Numerous benefits are associated with physical activity participation with recent evidence indicating this may transfer into the classroom environment. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between attitudes towards active or passive physical activity participation and classroom engagement in elementary school children. Methods: Students (n = 67) in grades 3-5 completed The Children’s Self-Perceptions of Adequacy in and Predilection for Physical Activity (CSAPPA) and The Elementary Student Engagement Instrument (SEI). Results: A statistically significant positive correlation (r = .31, P < .05) was found between the CSAPPA and SEI indicating that students who prefer active participation in physical activity also report higher levels of engagement within the school environment. No statistical difference was noted between males and females or across grade levels. Conclusion: The results of this research support the benefits of physical activity participation within the school environment. The lack of statistical difference with regard to sex is also noteworthy in that research connecting physical activity and classroom engagement frequently indicates differences between males and females. This is possibly attributed to the inclusive culture established by the school which promotes and supports opportunities for all students. These findings are particularly relevant in light of current trends to reduce time spent in physical education, free play, and other physical activity opportunities within the school day

Introduction: School-based occupational therapists aim to enable students to participate to their full potential. Participation impacts students’ socio-emotional well-being and academic achievement. Aim: This study explored elementary teachers’ perspectives on student participation where the teachers are part of a professional learning community working in a hub model and investigated how their perspectives align with occupational therapy models. Method: A qualitative research design utilizing thematic analysis and a deductive approach was chosen. Elementary school teachers completed an anonymous survey with open-ended questions. Findings: Three themes impacting student participation were identified: students' intrinsic factors, environmental/extrinsic factors, and teachers' skills and abilities enabling participation. Conclusions: In line with the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance model and the family-Participation-Related-Constructs, teachers identified intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting participation. While focusing on structured activities, the importance of unstructured activities and social participation were missing. Teachers identified the Professional-Learning-Community and hub-model as having a potential to enable participation but requiring good collaboration and trust between teachers.  Significance: This study supports revisiting the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance model to include Participation. Understanding teachers’ perspectives on participation promotes collaboration between occupational therapists and teachers. However, more research is needed to identify tools for measuring and evaluating students ‘occupational participation as well as gathering students’ perspectives.

A review of research on family economic distress and its association with teen well-being shows a clear need to expand our knowledge about the connections between economic distress and key teen outcomes. Economic distress can act as an unexpected negative shock to the family system and can influence parent relationship quality, functioning, and involvement in children's lives. In turn, changes in systemic quality, functioning, and involvement can impact adolescents positively or negatively. Using observational coding and questionnaire self-report, this study examined the relationship between economic distress and negative marital interaction and the impact this has on parental involvement as a predictor of child school engagement while controlling for gender of the child. A structural equation model analysis was fit to data from 323 two-parent families. The average age of children for the study was 14.31 years of age. Results showed that economic distress is associated with marital relationship interactions, as well as parental involvement, which also impacts school engagement. Therapists should be mindful of and address current economic distress which their clients are experiencing and be aware of the possible associations with all parts of the family system. Possible interventions in the parent-couple system and increasing both mother and father involvement are suggested.

Using both observational and questionnaire self-report data, this study examined preadolescent self-regulation as a potential mediator of the relationship between parental involvement, parent-child warmth and school engagement in a two wave panel design. Data was taken from two parent families in waves two and three of the Flourishing Families project which included 335 families with children between the ages of 12 and 14. Findings showed that parental, especially paternal involvement, was directly correlated to child's school engagement. Parental involvement and parent-child warmth were also shown to have an indirect effect on school engagement via child's self-regulation. Educators and therapists should be mindful of the parent-child relationship when dealing with students struggling in the academic setting.

The purpose of this study was to examine marital romantic relational aggression in parents and its impact on adolescent relational aggression, adolescent romantic relational aggression, internalizing, and school engagement with self-regulation as a potential mediator. Gender differences were also examined. Adolescents were from 328 two-parent families in a large north-western city in the United States and were between 12 and 17 years of age (M=14.24, SD=1.00, 51% female) at time 4. All independent variables except adolescent self-regulation were measured at wave 4, and all adolescent variables were measured at wave 5. Results indicate that higher levels of romantic relational aggression from mother to father was directly related to higher relational aggression in girls and lower romantic relational aggression in boys one year later. Father romantic relational aggression was directly and negatively related to romantic relational aggression in girls one year later. Mother romantic relational aggression was indirectly related to all outcomes in females only, in the predicted directions, through adolescent self-regulation. Father romantic relational aggression was indirectly related, in the predicted directions, to relational aggression, internalizing, and school engagement in boys only. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.

As we examined research on the effects of parental psychological control and support on adolescents, we noted that these variables have not been widely studied in relation to academic achievement. Using Flourishing Families data, we examined a subsample of females and males who reported parental psychological control and support as well as school engagement variables from adolescents, fathers and mothers. We also used observed variables of grade point average (GPA). Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether parental psychological control and support would negatively or positively relate with academic achievement outcomes of GPA and school engagement. Psychological control and support processes significantly related with GPA and school engagement for both boys and girls. Therapists who work with parents should not only recognize the effects of psychological control on individual academic achievement, but should also recognize the importance of support from both parents and the importance of cross-gender parent-child relationships.

Women in general have been historically overlooked in society and, more recently, in research females with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) have been unnoticed (Rice, Merves, & Srsic, 2008). The purpose of the current study is to build a foundation of knowledge and practices for educators and researchers to better support and education this unique population of females. To better understand females with EBD, the researcher imposed a three-phase study, situated in two frameworks-the Culturally Responsive Theory Framework (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995) and the Participation-Identification Model (Finn, 1989), to look into the predictors of school engagement for females with EBD. In the first phase the researcher utilized quantitative data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 to build three structural equation models (SEM) on the predictors of school engagement for students with EBD. Results and procedures are discussed for each SEM created. During phase two the researcher shifted the focus to females with EBD and interviewed six current females with EBD, ages 14-17. The participants were engaged in separate interviews that allowed the researcher to uncover additional variables necessary for females with EBD to engage in the school setting. The third phase consisted of an intersection of phases one and two to create a newly developed SEM model for females with EBD merging the interviews and the SEM built in phase one. The newly developed SEM is provided for future research, as well as are the provision of recommendations and implications of the results from the study.

L’influence du groupe d’amis prend de l’importance à l’adolescence. Cette influence est observable dans plusieurs domaines, dont au niveau de l’engagement scolaire. On remarque en effet une forte similarité du niveau d’engagement scolaire chez les membres d’un même groupe d’amis. L’importance de cette influence des pairs n’est néanmoins pas uniforme pour tous les adolescents: plusieurs facteurs de modération peuvent entrer en jeu, dont le niveau de popularité de l’adolescent et de ses amis. La présente étude vise à examiner l’effet modérateur du niveau de popularité des élèves et de leurs amis sur le lien prédictif entre l’engagement scolaire des amis et le développement de l’engagement scolaire des élèves. Des données ont été recueillies au cours de deux années scolaires consécutives auprès de 403 élèves de secondaire I et II. Les résultats démontrent que le niveau de popularité des amis permet de prédire la diminution à travers le temps du niveau d’engagement scolaire des élèves, et ce, après avoir contrôlé pour la plupart des facteurs associés. De plus, la popularité de l’élève modère l’influence présumée que les pairs peuvent avoir sur le développement de l’engagement scolaire: l’engagement des amis étant positivement associé l’engagement ultérieur des élèves uniquement lorsque ces deniers s’avèrent populaires au sein de leur groupe de pairs. / Peer influence gets more and more important during teenage years. This influence can be observed in many domains, including school engagement. Friends tend to be very similar regarding their school engagement levels. Peer influence may vary depending on many moderating factors, including the popularity levels of the adolescent and his/her friends. This study examined the moderating effect of adolescent’s and friends’ popularity levels on the predictive link between friends’ school engagement and adolescent’s own school engagement. Data were collected during two consecutive years with 403 7th and 8th graders. Results show that friends’ popularity in grade 7 predicted lower student’s school engagement in grade 8, even while controlling for many associated factors. Moreover, student’s popularity level moderated peer influence on school engagement: friends’ engagement level predicted student’s school engagement one year later, but only for popular adolescents.

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Numerous researchers have examined school and student variables that can prevent school failure, dropping out, and the development of delinquent behaviors. Such research suggests that students who establish a strong connection to school early in their academic career have higher academic achievement, better attendance, and more school participation (J. D. Finn, 1989, 1993; Finn & Rock, 1997; Sirin & Rogers-Sirin, 2005). However, there is little research that evaluates mechanisms that could be used to intervene when older students are on course for failure or delinquency. The current study, therefore, attempts to expand on the understanding of precipitating factors for school connection by investigating a possible link between school connection, extracurricular activity participation (EAP), and the relationships with teachers, parents, and peers promoted through activity participation. Latent variable structural equation modeling was used to investigate whether relationships with teachers, parents, and peers mediate the effects of EAP on school connection across time. Data from the base year (8th grade), first follow-up (10th grade), and second follow-up (12th grade) waves of the National Educational Longitudinal Study: 1988-2000 (NELS:88) were used. Three latent variable panel models were created and analyzed; one each for Relationships with Teachers, Relationships with Parents, and Relationships with Peers as the mediating variables. Results supported previous literature in that models reflecting a reciprocal relationship between EAP and school connection were found to have the best fit. Additionally, latent variable structural equation models were constructed to simultaneously compare the influence of EAP on the three types of relationships (i.e., with teachers, parents, and peers) and their subsequent influence on school connection. Finally, a latent variable structural equation model was constructed to explore possible differences in the type of activity in which a student participates on their relationships with others and school connection. / text