Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Developmental Psychology
- Creators: Ladd, Gary W.
Description
The primary goals of this study were to empirically identify subgroups of socially withdrawn youth in late childhood using latent profile analysis and to examine profiles of students' scholastic adjustment. Further, comparisons of the academic functioning for different subtypes of withdrawn children, with particular emphasis on socially disinterested and socially avoidant youth, were made. Participants were 358 fifth grade children. Results indicated that theoretical subtypes of socially withdrawn youth emerge among fifth grade students (i.e., shy, socially disinterested, socially avoidant, and nonwithdrawn). Additionally, associations among subtype membership and various indices of academic engagement and achievement demonstrated unique academic profiles depending on subgroup classification. In particular, youth who were identified as socially avoidant were at greatest risk for academic difficulties compared to their peers. Findings also emerged for socially disinterested youth indicating some degree of academic maladjustment associated with a preference for solitude. These findings have implications for students exhibiting different forms of social withdrawal for their academic functioning in later childhood.
ContributorsSechler, Casey M (Author) / Ladd, Gary W. (Thesis advisor) / Kochel, Karen P. (Committee member) / Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The current study expands prior work on early adolescents’ impression management in the classroom by developing a self-report measure that was used to explore students’ endorsement of four academic self-presentation strategies (i.e., exaggerate, downplay, honest, and avoid) depending on peer type (i.e., best friend and most popular classmate), academic performance condition (i.e., strong and poor performance), and whether gender differences emerged, when discussing one’s level of effort on a class project. Specifically, data were collected from 475 eighth-grade students (253 boys, 222 girls) within a high-performing educational context. Preliminary psychometric evidence is provided indicating that the measurement tool developed for the present study shows promise. Additionally, findings from the current study extend existing work in which eighth-grade students perceive that high-status youth are less academically engaged than one’s close friends, and students are reluctant to appear industrious to one’s peers; however, given the novelty of the measure and educational context in which data were collected, alternative interpretations and corresponding implications of study results are discussed. The current study also extends theoretical conceptualizations of how transactional processes among early adolescents’ perceptions of academic norms among classmates, concerns over one’s public image, and students’ use of academic self-presentation strategies with peers may have lasting effects on students’ educational identity and commitment.
ContributorsSechler, Casey M. (Author) / Ladd, Gary W. (Thesis advisor) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Thesis advisor) / White, Rebecca M.B. (Committee member) / Jager, Justin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017