Theoretical Framework

1
Significant School-Based Adults Impact on
Pre-Adolescents Academic and Social-Emotional
Well-Being Denise Buote, M.A., University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Resilient children seems to have made school a
home away from home, a refuge From a disordered
household. When we interviewed them at 18, many
resilient youths mentioned a favorite teacher who
had become a role model, friend and confidant
and was particularly supportive a times, when
their own family was beset by discord or
threatened with dissolution. Werner, 1989
R E S U L T S
In total, there were 70 children who did not
name an adult 71 children who named at least one
adult 95 children who named two or more adults

• Results Significant Adults
• Children made comments reflecting the following
  adults
• Teachers 70
• Counsellor 15
• Other 15
• Content Analysis of Childrens Descriptions
  (kappa range from .81-.92)
• Response Categories
• Supportive teaching 45 27
• Nurturant/Supportive 69 42
• Positive personality traits 37 22
• Other 14 8
• Supportive teaching (adult is actively involved
  in promoting positive learning experiences for
  the child).

• Participants
• 238 students from the 4th-6th grades.
• 52 female,
• 48 first language English, 31 Chinese, and 21
  other,
• 98 participation rate
• Setting an inner-city school in a large Western
  Canadian city

The following yellow stars indicate statistically
significant differences between children who
named no one, or one adult and children who named
more than one adult.
The importance of having at least one
significant adult as a means for fostering
resiliency among children and youth identified as
at risk has become a well documented
phenomenon (Garmezy Masten, 1986 Luthar,
2003 Noam Herrman, 2002). Research indicates
that this significant adult need not be a
parent or relative. There have been a small
number of studies in which children have
been asked to identify sources of support,
inspiration and positive influence. In these
studies, resilient individuals identified
teacher, clergy, grandparents, older siblings,
aunts, uncles, coaches, youth group leaders,
school counselors,babysitters, and neighbours
(Beardslee et al., 1988 Garmezy, 1985 Losel,
1994 Werner Smith., 1982, 1992).

• Measures
• School/Academic Dimensions
• School Self-Concept (SDQ Marsh, 1998)
• Sense of Classroom as a Community Scale
  (Battistich et al., 1997)
• Academic Self-Efficacy (Wentzel, 1998)
• Academic Achievement (teacher rating)
• Behavioral Dimensions
• Self-ratings of Prosocial Behaviors (Bandura et
  al., 1996)
• Socio-Emotional Dimensions
• General Self-Concept (SDQ Marsh, 1998)
• Pursuit of Social Goals (Wentzel, 1994)
• Social Responsibility Goal Pursuit (Wentzel,
  1994)
• Perspective-Taking (Davis, 1983)
• Empathy (Davis, 1983)
• Participation in School Related Activities
• Activity checklist to indicate all activities
  registered in during the 2002-2003 school year

Theoretical Framework Human Beings of all ages
are happiest and able to deploy their talents to
best advantage when they experience trusted
others as standing behind them. (Bowlby, p.25,
1973) Over time, children develop internal
representations of caring adults and then draw
on these caring internal representations in
times of need. (Kohut, 1978-1991)
The following showed statistically significant
results between children who named no adult and
those who named one or two or more adults
References Beardslee, M.D.
Podorefsky, M.A. (1988). Resilient adolescents
whose parents have serious affective and other
psychiatric disorders importance of
self-understanding and relationships. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 63-69. Blyth, D.A.,
Hill, J.P., Smith Thiel, K. (1982). Early
adolescents significant others grade and
gender differences in perceived relationships
with familial and nonfamilial adults and young
people. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11(6),
425-450. Bowlby, J. (1973). Self-reliance and
some conditions that promote it. In Gosling
(Ed.), Support, Innovation and autonomy.
London Tavistock. Garmezy, N. (1985).
Stress-Resistant Children the search for
protective factors. In Recent Research in
Developmental Psychopathology, Stevenson, JE. Ed.
Oxford, England Pergamon, 213-233. Garmezy,
N. Mastin, A.S. (1986). Stress, competence,
and resilience common frontiers for therapist
and psychopathologist. Behavior Therapy, 17,
500-521. Kohut, H. (1978-1991). The search for
the self selected writings of Heinz
Kohut. P.Orstein (Ed.) Losel, F. (1994).
Protective factors of social resources in
adolescents at high-risk for antisocial
behavior. In E.G. Weitekamp, H.J. Kerner
(Eds.) Cross-national longitudinal research on
human development and criminal behavior
(pp.281-301). Dordrecht Kluwer Acadmic
Publishers Luthar, S.S. (2003) Resilience and
Vulnerability Adaptations in the context of
child adversities. Cambridge Cambridge
University Press. Noam, G.G. Hermann, C.A.
(2002). Where education and mental health meet
Developmental prevention and early intervention
in schools. Development and Psychopathology,
14, 861-875. Werner, E. (1989). High-Risk
children in youth adulthood A longitudinal study
from birth to 32 years. American Journal of
Orthopsychiatry, 59, pp. 72-81. Werner, E.,
Smith, R. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible A
longitudinal study of resilient children and
youth. Adams, Bannister, and Cox, New
York. Werner, E., Smith, R. (1992). Overcoming
the odds high risk children from birth to
adulthood. New York Cornell University Press.
 

• Purpose
• This purpose of this study is to build on
  previous research by addressing the impact of
  relationships with school-based adults on
  children.
• Research Questions.
• Do children who identify at least one significant
  adult in school demonstrate more positive
  adjustment in the area of academic,
  social-emotional well-being and behavior when
  compared to children who do not identify anyone?
• Do children who identify more than one
  significant adult have greater benefits than
  those children who identify one adult?
• What reasons do children give for identifying an
  adult as being significant?

• Important Adults from the Community School
  Questionnaire
• Make a list of the adults from the Community
  School who are important in your life.
• Persons First Name OR INITIALS.
• Is this person a man (M) or a woman (W)?
• What is this persons job at your school?
• Does this person make you feel good about
  yourself?
• Can you trust this person?
• Can you talk to this person about your problems?
• Do you like spending time with this person?
• Now choose one of the people from above.
• Person _______________________
• List all the ways in which this person is
  important in your life.

Implications The results of this study
support past research which has clearly
indicated that having one adult can make a
difference in the life of the child. In the
present study, it has been found that the
quality of this difference is greatly enhanced if
a child feels that there is more than one adult
who plays a significant role in his/her life.
Furthermore, it appears that children focus much
more on characteristics of adults who are
nurturing and supportive as opposed to the
actual tasks that adults do with children. This
emotional support should be a key factor when
considering the role that adults can play in the
life of children.