- Centre interfacultaire en droits de l'enfant
Université de Genève (Valais Campus)
Case postale 4176 * CH-1950 Sion 4 * Suisse - +41 (0)27 205 73 14
Prior studies have noted several risk and protective factors for school dropout; however, only a few have examined longer-term vulnerabilities alongside temporary risk and protective factors. Consequently, we focused on the role that both... more
Prior studies have noted several risk and protective factors for school dropout; however, only a few have examined longer-term vulnerabilities alongside temporary risk and protective factors. Consequently, we focused on the role that both stable and time-varying psychosocial risk and protective factors play in dropout intentions and actual dropout, using a 4-year longitudinal design. We investigated to what extent dropout intentions and dropout can be predicted by an interplay between negative life events, general self-efficacy, and perceived social support. We distinguished between time-averaged levels of self-efficacy and social support, and within-person change in self-efficacy and social support over time. This enabled us to establish whether dropout intentions and dropout were sensitive to fluctuations in perceived self-efficacy and social support over time when controlling for person-specific levels of these psycho-social resources. Calculating multilevel models with data from a prospective cohort study (N ϭ 4,956, 43% male), we found that negative life events were significantly associated with an increase in dropout intentions and the likelihood of school dropout. Furthermore, time-averaged levels of self-efficacy and social support, and a within-person (situational) increase in these characteristics relative to their time-averaged levels, were related to lower levels of dropout intentions but did not prevent dropout. The positive relationship between negative life events and dropout intentions was attenuated for individuals who perceived higher levels of self-efficacy than usual. Our findings suggest future research should further investigate time-averaged and situational psychosocial drivers of school dropout in combination. Educational Impact and Implications Statement This study indicates that the experience of negative life events is related to an increase in dropout intentions and the probability of actually dropping out of school or vocational training. Higher levels of both time-averaged and situational self-efficacy and social support are associated with lower levels of dropout intentions, and vice versa. Moreover, when young people feel more efficacious than usual, they are significantly less likely to think about quitting their school or vocational training even in the presence of negative life events. These findings suggest that dropout prevention programs might be more effective if they consider both time-invariant and time-varying social and psychological risk and protective factors.
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Despite considerable evidence of the importance of self-esteem and self-efficacy for agentic, goal-oriented behavior, little attention has been directed to these psychological dimensions in the status attainment literature. The present... more
Despite considerable evidence of the importance of self-esteem and self-efficacy for agentic, goal-oriented behavior, little attention has been directed to these psychological dimensions in the status attainment literature. The present research uses data from the longitudinal, three-generation Youth Development Study (N = 422 three-generation triads) to examine the extent to which adolescent self-esteem and economic self-efficacy affect adult educational and income attainment, and whether these psychological resources are transmitted from one generation to the next, accumulating advantage across generations. We present evidence indicating that both self-esteem and economic self-efficacy are implicated in the attainment process. Adolescent economic self-efficacy had a direct positive effect on adult educational attainment and an indirect effect through educational plans. The influence of self-esteem on adult educational attainment was entirely indirect, through school achievement. We also find evidence that economic self-efficacy was transmitted from parents to children. We conclude that future research should more broadly consider psychological resources in attainment processes from a longitudinal multigenerational perspective.
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Given recent evidence of rising levels of social segregation in European countries, this study uses standardized data from the Program for International Student Assessment (n = 171,159; 50.5% male) to examine the extent to which education... more
Given recent evidence of rising levels of social segregation in European countries, this study uses standardized data from the Program for International Student Assessment (n = 171,159; 50.5% male) to examine the extent to which education systems in Europe are socially segregated and whether social segregation in the school system affects achievement gaps between students of different social origin. Results suggest that the degree of social segregation within education systems varied substantially across countries. Furthermore, multilevel regression models indicate that the effect of socioeconomic status on student achievement was moderately but significantly stronger in more segregated education systems, even after controlling for alternative system-level determinants of social inequality in student achievement. These findings provide original evidence that social segregation in education systems may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of educational (dis)advantage and thus serve to exacerbate wider problems of socioeconomic inequality in Europe.
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This study examined how children appraise the importance of their participation rights—that is, the right to express their views and the right to be heard—and whether such appraisals vary as a function of perceived discrimination in the... more
This study examined how children appraise the importance of their participation rights—that is, the right to express their views and the right to be heard—and whether such appraisals vary as a function of perceived discrimination in the school environment. The sample comprised 1,006 children (9.6–14.3 years old, 51% boys) from fourteen public primary schools in Geneva, Switzerland. Results indicate that a majority of children considered their participation rights as very important. Children's appraisals of these rights varied marginally between classes and schools. Moreover, children's individual-level appraisals were sensitive to their perceptions of discrimination in the school environment, in that higher levels of perceived discrimination were associated with a greater subjective importance attached to participation rights. This suggests that appropriate measures must be taken to implement participation rights in such a manner that all children—including those who feel discriminated against—will be protected by, and fully able to enjoy, their participation rights.
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Der in Kooperation zwischen dem Universitären Zentrum für Frühkindliche Bildung Fribourg (ZeFF) (Sascha Neumann, Kathrin Brandenberg) und dem Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant (CIDE) (Kaspar Burger) erarbeitete Bericht, welcher... more
Der in Kooperation zwischen dem Universitären Zentrum für Frühkindliche Bildung Fribourg (ZeFF) (Sascha Neumann, Kathrin Brandenberg) und dem Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant (CIDE) (Kaspar Burger) erarbeitete Bericht, welcher von der Jacobs Foundation in Auftrag gegeben wurde, gibt erstmals einen Überblick über Studien zur frühkindlichen Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung (FBBE) in der Schweiz. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine umfassende Bestandsaufnahme der publizierten (Forschungs-)Literatur bis zum Jahr 2016 erstellt. Mit der Bestandsaufnahme sollte insbesondere ermittelt werden, zu welchen Themen und Fragestellungen im Bereich der FBBE bislang bereits wissenschaftlich gesichertes Wissen vorliegt und in welcher Hinsicht erheblicher Forschungsbedarf besteht.
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Der in Kooperation zwischen dem Universitären Zentrum für Frühkindliche Bildung Fribourg (ZeFF) (Sascha Neumann, Kathrin Brandenberg) und dem Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant (CIDE) (Kaspar Burger) erarbeitete Bericht, welcher... more
Der in Kooperation zwischen dem Universitären Zentrum für Frühkindliche Bildung Fribourg (ZeFF) (Sascha Neumann, Kathrin Brandenberg) und dem Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant (CIDE) (Kaspar Burger) erarbeitete Bericht, welcher von der Jacobs Foundation in Auftrag gegeben wurde, gibt erstmals einen Überblick über Studien zur frühkindlichen Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung (FBBE) in der Schweiz. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine umfassende Bestandsaufnahme der publizierten (Forschungs-)Literatur bis zum Jahr 2016 erstellt. Mit der Bestandsaufnahme sollte insbesondere ermittelt werden, zu welchen Themen und Fragestellungen im Bereich der FBBE bislang bereits wissenschaftlich gesichertes Wissen vorliegt und in welcher Hinsicht erheblicher Forschungsbedarf besteht.
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Research has shown that parents tend to pass educational advantage or disadvantage on to their children. However, little is known about the extent to which the intergenerational transmission of education involves children's agency. In... more
Research has shown that parents tend to pass educational advantage or disadvantage on to their children. However, little is known about the extent to which the intergenerational transmission of education involves children's agency. In this study we drew from two traditions in sociological and social psychological theorizing – the theory of cultural and social reproduction and the theory of human agency – to examine whether agency influences children's educational performance, and if so, whether this influence can be observed among children across social classes. We used data from the Spanish sample of the Program for International Student Assessment (N = 25,003 15-year-olds). Results indicate that the level of child agency was weakly positively related to social class, that child agency impacted on a child's educational performance, and that the positive effect of agency on educational performance did not vary by social class. This suggests that strategies to enhance disadvantaged children's agency may prove useful in reducing social gradients in educational performance. More generally, our findings may ignite a debate about the role that social structure and human agency play in shaping social inequality and mobility.
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Life satisfaction is an important indicator of successful development. However, adolescents' life satisfaction tends to be relatively unsteady, and environmental influences play a critical role in shaping life satisfaction among... more
Life satisfaction is an important indicator of successful development. However, adolescents' life satisfaction tends to be relatively unsteady, and environmental influences play a critical role in shaping life satisfaction among adolescents in the transition to young adulthood. Given the paramount importance that education plays in adolescents' lives, adolescents' life satisfaction may vary as a function of school-related stress experience. At the same time, coping resources may help reduce adverse effects of stress on life satisfaction. With this in mind, we examined whether, and to what extent, perceived stress in education and general self-efficacy (a resource that facilitates coping) affect the life satisfaction of adolescents in transition to young adulthood. We distinguished between baseline levels of stress and self-efficacy and within-person change in stress and self-efficacy to determine whether life satisfaction is sensitive to fluctuations in stress and self-efficacy when person-specific levels of stress and self-efficacy are taken into account. Estimating growth curve models on data from a panel study on the life trajectories of compulsory-school leavers (n = 5,126, 55.3% female), we found that baseline levels of stress and self-efficacy, as well as within-person change in stress and self-efficacy, affected adolescents' life satisfaction. Moreover, our results showed that baseline self-efficacy mitigated the negative effect of baseline stress on life satisfaction. These findings improve our understanding of two major psychological determinants of adolescents' life satisfaction and extend our knowledge of life satisfaction trajectories during the transition to young adulthood.
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... general overall conclusion. According to a review by Ramey and Ramey (1998)126. Ramey, CT and Ramey, SL 1998. Early intervention and early experience. American Psychologist , 53(2): 109120. [CrossRef], [PubMed], [Web ...
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The historical trajectories of childcare institutions and of ideas pertaining to childcare show parallels in France and in the United States. Yet, the two countries differ considerably in regards to their approaches to childcare and to... more
The historical trajectories of childcare institutions and of ideas pertaining to childcare show parallels in France and in the United States. Yet, the two countries differ considerably in regards to their approaches to childcare and to the use of childcare services. Relative to the French, American traditions of childcare have been underpinned by an ideology of domesticity, that is, a
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Consulter les enfants sur leurs droits. Rapport de la consultation effectuée en Ville de Genève.