Psychosocial Problems hdfs 239

Review of major themes: Example 1: In a study of the impact of school transitions on self-esteem, Simmons & Blyth found that students became more negative about school as they moved from elementary school to middle school and from middle school to high school. When comparing different school systems, they found that the fewer school transitions students made, and the longer they stayed in an elementary school environment, the more positive they were about school and the higher their self-esteem. Early maturing girls appeared to have an especially difficult time in schools where they entered middle school in the sixth grade. Major themes: Normative v. Individual differences approach Multiple simultaneous changes lead to stress Small changes multiply over time Which of these themes are brought out in this example? What makes you say that? (Start with a definition of each concept)

Example 2: In their study, Simmons & Blyth were given the opportunity of working in a large school district that was in the midst of restructuring, so they could pick which schools had which structure. They made their decisions about school structure so that the elementary school children in each type of school structure started out the same. Then they carefully followed individual children as they moved from 5th to 10th grade. Research design: cross-sectional v. longitudinal study? experimental v. correlational designs What type of study is it? What makes you say so? What are the strengths of each type?