Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families

“This transition involves an often stressful shift in school experiences to that of multiple teachers and classrooms throughout the day, and a growing social network of same-aged peers (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“This is often because adults have often underestimated the capacities of youth and their desire to be active contributors to local decision making (Buchanan et al., 1993).”

“Motivation, engagement, and achievement decline for many children during early adolescence (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“Still others argue that teachers by themselves usually have greater impact than parents on children’s self-perception and motivation, especially among middle school children (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“These findings begin to generalize that the middle school context is important to social and behavioral outcomes in addition to academic outcomes (Eccles et al., 1993), and it suggests that there may be true school- and district-level practices that associate with community rates of adolescent substance use and delinq…”

“It was repeatedly shown that constraining such opportunities for exerting personal control in higher grades results in a decline of motivational characteristics required for students_ self-regulated involvement in learning ( Eccles, Midgley, Wigfield, Buchanan, Reumann, Flanagan & Maclver, 1993 ).”

“This mismatch between teacher expectations and adolescent needs has been documented in previous research about the transition to and from middle school (e.g. Eccles and Midgley 1989; Eccles et al. 1993).”

“in the united States, sixth through eighth grades) is a critical developmental period because children develop skills that are associated with academic, social, and behavioral well-being (Blyth, Simmons, & Carlton-Ford, 1983; Eccles et al., 1993; Petersen & Hamburg, 1986; Rudolph, Lambert, Clark, & Kurlakowsky, 2001).”

“Winter 2008 37 increasing, there is a decrease in demand for higher-order thinking in many of the classrooms they attend (Eccles, Lord, & Midgley, 1991; Eccles et al., 1993).”

“…increased mental health problems among young people (Elkind, 2007; Gray, 2013), ongoing mismatches in middle grades education (e.g., Balfanz, 2009; Eccles et al., 1993; Urdan & Midgley, 2003), and a recognized desire in American society for educational outcomes such as creativity, self-direction,…”

“Engagement in the sense of motivated behaviour, according to the learning motivation model of Eccles et al. (1993), is determined by the value that students assign to their task (cf. Volman 2011).”

“Major changes in academic and social domains and greater expectations concerning academic achievement (Eccles et al., 1993) also characterise adolescence (Wenz-Gross et al., 1997).”

“, increasing need for autonomy) and the environment (e.g., controlling context in school or family; Eccles et al. 1993).”

“A student’s successes and failures are equally dependent on and responsive to the school’s culture as they are to a student’s attributes (Eccles et al., 1991; Eccles et al., 1993; Way et al., 2007).”

“Our findings support Eccles et al. (1993) claim that creating a learning environment at middle school according to the students’ needs is positively related to the students’ motivation after transition: Students’ ratings about their perceived autonomy and the perceived recognition of competence (as…”

“Declines in achievement have most often been associated with fundamental changes in the students’ learning environment when entering lower secondary school (Anderson et al., 2000; Eccles et al., 1993; Ryan et al., 2013; West et al., 2010).”

“However, existing research into the conduciveness of learning environments has suggested that decreasing or disallowing both teacher-student and student-student interactions, thereby decreasing the quality of social interactions, interferes with beliefs of self-efficacy and self-concept of ability [63-65].”

“Motivation research provides support for the assertion that students’ ‘inner’ interest in learning what the school has to offer declines as they move into and through the secondary school years (Harter 1981, Eccles et al. 1984, 1993, Simmons and Blyth 1987).”

“SDT is influenced in large part by stage–environment fit theory (SEF; Eccles and Midgley 1989; Eccles et al. 1993) which describes how the decline in adolescents’ positive motivational outcomes is attributable to a mismatch between their developmental needs and the learning opportunities offered by…”

“The developmental settings of adolescence, such Ballard et al. 181 as schools and families, are often highly structured and may not afford opportunities to fulfill these needs, resulting in a mismatch (e.g., Eccles et al., 1993) that may hinder positive youth development.”

“According to the results of the study, students with high levels of participation are more self-efficient than students with low levels of participation; It has been observed that these students spend a lot of time learning [10].”

“At the same time, teachers are limited in the amount of support that they can provide due to the structure of secondary schools (Eccles et al. 1993).”

“Previous research also indicates that students tend to adopt a similar stance toward learning as the one emphasized by their classroom teachers (Ames, 1992; Ames & Archer, 1988; Church, Elliot, & Gable, 2001; Eccles et al., 1993).”

“Despite theory that school climate may operate differently for students at different grade levels (Eccles et al., 1993; De Pedro et al., 2016), this study found that this interaction of disability and climate perceptions was remarkably durable across the three subsamples analysed.”

“are essential for teenage adjustment [7,9].”

“It has previously been argued that education systems are frequently at odds with this need for self-determination in adolescence, with little scope for young people to exercise autonomy (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“Their findings, and those of the current study, are consistent with theory and research on a similar decline in student motivation and academic expectation (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“Unfortunately, our practices often negatively affect motivation, such as when teachers emphasize competition, social comparison, normative grading criteria, public forms of evaluation, and ability selfassessment (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“During adolescence, a large portion of self-esteem is derived from the active crafting of sexual identity (Eccles et al., 1993; Gavaghan & Roach, 1987).”

“Children with behavioral problems, or simply difficulties in school, may create frustrations for parents and teachers, making negative interactions more frequent in the home and school environments (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“Stage–environment fit perspective (Eccles et al., 1993) points out that developmental problems for adolescents, such as affiliation with deviant peers, may result from the mismatch between adolescents’ development stage and the provision (e.g., the resources or opportunities to meet adolescents’…”

“, interpersonal support) of adolescents [30, 31].”

“One drawback for high social status youth may be disinvestment in school, especially during early adolescence, a time when motivation and achievement decline (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“…enough cognitive challenge for young adolescents (Mac Iver & Epstein, 1993), and that, paradoxically, as young adolescents’ cognitive abilities are increasing, there is a decrease in demand for higher order thinking in the classrooms they attend (Eccles, Lord, & Midgley, 1991; Eccles et al., 1993).”

“Specifically, the period of young adolescence is marked by entrance into the middle school environ ment, a change that often presents challenges for youth, including a larger school, more demanding expectations of teachers, less social status, and a new, often more diverse group of peers with whom to relate (see Eccle…”

“Of the four motivational constructs that we focused on – intrinsic motivation, identified motivation, values and performance avoidance – the first three have indeed been shown to differentiate into various domains (Bong, 2004; Eccles et al., 1993; Gottfried, 1990; Gottfried et al., 2001).”

“It is also important to examine the extent to which early acculturation influences achievement trajectories, as academic performance is often subject to substantial changes (typically declines) during adolescence (Eccles et al. 1993; Gutman et al. 2003).”

“For example, increases in teacher control, increased focus on discipline, whole task organization, ability grouping, and public grading, along with decreases in positive student/teacher relationships, decision-making opportunities, and challenging assignments, are typical stage-environment mismatches experienced by yo…”

“Eccles and colleagues [20] suggest that negative learningrelated changes in adolescence as in, for example, the decline of students’ self-competence beliefs and interest in math and science [54, 55] results from an increasing mismatch between adolescent students’ needs and the opportunities afforded to them by their c…”

“En un interesante trabajo de Eccles et al. (1993) concluían que un clima inadecuado en la familia o en la escuela puede explicar que los adolescentes se impliquen en más conductas de riesgo, pero en ningún caso, se puede pensar que un clima adecuado familiar y escolar eviten el que los adolescentes…”

“A successful transition results in a good fit between individual competences and interests and the institutional demands of the new environment (Eccles et al., 1993).”

“…the transition in BI trajectories occurs after Grade 8 (Time 2), a time at which most adolescents can be considered to have entered puberty (Eccles et al., 1993; Steinberg & Morris, 2001), supporting the idea that true physiological characteristics (e.g., pubertal changes) remain a key…”

“Whether interest persists over time is dependent on the person’s needs and goals, other (competing) interests, and the opportunities and demands in his or her environment (Eccles et al. 1993; Hofer 2010; Jacobs and Eccles 2000).”

“Second, Eccles et al. (1993) stage–environment fit theory argues that the alignments between middle school students’ developmental needs and the educational environment play a significant role in students’ perceptions of self and motivation to succeed academically.”

“…learning outcomes for students in both the top and bottom halves of the achievement distribution.11 10 Previous research suggests there can be mismatches between the developmental needs of youth and their social environments, also called “stage-environment fit” (see Hunt, 1975; Eccles et al. 1993).”

“School psychologists may want to consider assessing students’ mindset while evaluating social-emotional problems and linking the assessment data to intervention, especially during highly stressful times such as during school transitions (e.g., Eccles et al., 1993).”

“A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript represents a developmental period characterized by formation of self-concept, increased independence from parents, and a growing need to fit in with peers outside the family (Eccles, 1993).”