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Bolstering academic motivation is a high priority in school settings, but some evidence suggests this could take a toll on students' physical health. To address this, this study compared the effects of an experimental manipulation of academic motivation alone (AM) to academic motivation enhanced with social support (SS + AM) on markers of inflammation in a sample of 80 high school 9th graders. Outcomes included low-grade inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6); a motivation measure; and grade point average (GPA), taken at baseline and follow-up (beginning and end of school year, respectively). Students in the SS + AM condition had lower levels of inflammation at follow-up (covarying baseline levels) compared to those in the AM condition. The two groups were equivalent on motivation and GPA at follow-up. This preliminary study suggests that incorporating social support into academic motivation programs has the potential to benefit inflammatory markers in young people while allowing them to maintain positive academic outcomes., Author(s): Edith Chen [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.4] , Régine Debrosse [sup.5] , Paula J. Ham [sup.6] , Lauren C. Hoffer [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.4] , Adam K. K. Leigh [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.4] [...]

The problems of New Zealand youth are significant, and increasing, but early intervention may assist children to avoid negative life outcomes. Teachers, parents, and students of 74 Year 6 children in five New Zealand primary schools completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Between 2.7 and 5.5% of children sampled were identified as having total difficulties scores in the 'abnormal' range, which is lower than norms established by other samples. Teacher ratings were lower than the ratings supplied by parents, which were lower than those given by students. Teacher ratings also varied by gender, with boys being identified as having more problems than girls. However, parent and student ratings showed little gender bias, suggesting that obtaining multiple informant information on the SDQ is useful, as it appears teachers are providing different information on students than parents or students themselves. We discuss the use of screening procedures, particularly in relation to the Vulnerable Children's initiatives. Keywords: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, children, identification, gender, The rate of adolescent mental health problems is high and increasing, especially for girls, both in England (Collishaw, Maughan, Natarajan, & Pickles, 2010) and New Zealand (Fleming et al., 2014). [...]