Joint developmental trajectories of academic achievement, internalizing and externalizing symptoms in childhood: Roles of maladaptive parenting and bullying victimization

IF 4.7 1区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Learning and Instruction Pub Date : 2025-03-17 DOI:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102115

Xiaofei Li , Xue Gong , Jianhua Zhou

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Co-occurring low academic achievement and high psychopathological symptoms during childhood are associated with adverse long-term outcomes. However, evidence regarding their longitudinal relations remains inconclusive, and subgroup differences in their joint developmental processes are underexplored.

Aims

This study investigated the joint developmental trajectories of academic achievement, internalizing and externalizing symptoms in childhood, and how risk factors, including maladaptive parenting and bullying victimization, related to trajectory memberships.

Sample

The study included 3132 Chinese elementary school students (45.9 % girls; M_age = 9.88 years, SD = 0.72 at Time 1) and their parents.

Method

Data were collected over two years in five waves at six-month intervals. A parallel-process latent class growth model was employed to identify distinct developmental trajectories.

Results

Six distinct developmental trajectories were identified: (1) Erosion effect-highest risk group (2.6 %), (2) Optimal group (49.7 %), (3) Average group (22.0 %), (4) Erosion effect-high risk group (10.4 %), (5) Vulnerable achievers-high externalizing group (8.8 %), and (6) Vulnerable achievers-high internalizing group (6.5 %). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that maladaptive parenting (psychological control and harsh punitive control) and two subtypes of bullying victimization (verbal and relational, but not physical victimization) significantly increased the risk of adverse co-development of academic performance and psychopathological symptoms.

Conclusion

These findings demonstrate significant heterogeneity in the joint developmental trajectories of academic performance and psychopathological symptoms. The identified roles of maladaptive parenting and bullying victimization offer valuable insights for developing targeted prevention strategies to reduce adverse co-developmental outcomes among elementary school students.

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来源期刊

Learning and Instruction Multiple-

CiteScore

11.30

自引率

4.80%

发文量

109

期刊介绍： As an international, multi-disciplinary, peer-refereed journal, Learning and Instruction provides a platform for the publication of the most advanced scientific research in the areas of learning, development, instruction and teaching. The journal welcomes original empirical investigations. The papers may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. They may refer to any age level, from infants to adults and to a diversity of learning and instructional settings, from laboratory experiments to field studies. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of learning and instruction, and the rigor of the study.