This study investigated the development of educational aspirations (EAs) among Chinese youth (n = 2228, 48.61% female, 87.66% Han, M[subscript age_2010] = 11.48 years) for 6 years. Five latent classes of EA trajectories were identified. They varied greatly during early adolescence but converged around an associate degree in middle adolescence and…

This study examined gene-environment correlation (rGE) in intellectual and academic development in 561 U.S.-based adoptees (57% male; 56% non-Latinx White, 19% multiracial, 13% Black or African American, 11% Latinx) and their birth and adoptive parents between 2003 and 2017. Birth mother intellectual and academic performance predicted adoptive…

Gifted underachievers perform worse in school than would be expected based on their high intelligence. Possible causes for underachievement are low motivational dispositions (need for cognition) and metacognitive competences. This study tested the interplay of these variables longitudinally with gifted and non-gifted students from Germany…

Children raised in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status (SES) are at risk for low academic achievement. Identifying factors that help children from disadvantaged neighborhoods thrive is critical for reducing inequalities. We investigated whether children's prosocial behavior buffers concurrent and subsequent academic risk in disadvantaged…

This study examined bidirectional associations between cross-racial friendships and children's social and academic adjustment. Participants were 583 elementary school-age children in western Canada, or the midwestern United States (4-10 years; 279 girls; 143 Asian, 88 Black, 65 Hispanic or Latinx, 171 White, 116 mixed). Children's adjustment…

We examined developmental trajectories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, standardized achievement, and school performance for adolescents with and without ADHD who did and did not enroll in postsecondary education (PSE; N = 749; 79% boys; 63% White, 17% non-Hispanic Black, 10% Hispanic, and 10% other ethnicities). In a…

Historic racial disparities in the United States have created an urgent need for evidence-based strategies promoting African American students' academic performance via school-based ethnic-racial socialization and identity development. However, the temporal order among socialization, identity, and academic performance remains unclear in extant…

This 2-year longitudinal study examined relations between enjoyment of learning in Chinese and mathematics, two major subjects in Chinese schools, and indexes of school performance. The participants included 1041 students (501 boys) initially in third, fifth, and seventh grades (mean age = 10.49 years) in China. Data on enjoyment of Chinese and…

This study utilized data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 14,860) to examine whether early-life family income (age 0-5) predicted long-term academic achievement (age 16-18) and to investigate the role of executive function (EF) assessed multiple times across age 7-11 in explaining this association. Task-based EF was a…

This study used data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 267) to investigate whether abuse and neglect experiences during the first 5 years of life have fading or enduring consequences for social and academic competence over the next 3 decades of life. Experiencing early abuse and neglect was consistently associated…

This study examined longitudinal relations between emotion knowledge (EK) in pre-kindergarten (pre-K; M[subscript age] = 4.8 years) and math and reading achievement 1 and 3 years later in a sample of 1,050 primarily Black children (over half from immigrant families) living in historically disinvested neighborhoods. Participants were part of a…

To illuminate how within-family differences in achievement may emerge, this study examined sibling experiences in middle childhood as predictors of sibling differences in college graduation. First- and second-borns from 152 families reported on their experiences with siblings and parents at ages 11.80 (SD = 0.56) and 9.22 (SD = 0.90),…

Early mathematics knowledge is a strong predictor of later academic achievement, but children from low-income families enter school with weak mathematics knowledge. An early math trajectories model is proposed and evaluated within a longitudinal study of 517 low-income American children from ages 4 to 11. This model includes a broad range of math…

Can perceptions of equal treatment buffer the negative effects of threat on the school success of minority students? Focusing on minority adolescents from Turkish and Moroccan heritage in Belgium (M[subscript age] = 14.5; N = 735 in 47 ethnically diverse schools), multilevel mediated moderation analyses showed: (a) perceived discrimination at…

Research comparing the predictive power of parents' control and autonomy support in the United States and China has relied almost exclusively on children's reports. Such reports may lead to inaccurate conclusions if they do not reflect parents' practices to the same extent in the two countries. A total of 394 American and Chinese children…