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During adolescence, students increasingly report suffering from stress and school burnout, which poses a risk to students' healthy development. However, social support may counteract perceived stress according to the Buffering Hypothesis and the Conservation of Resources Theory. In search of factors that would support healthy student development, studies have primarily focused on self-report data and neglected biophysiological processes. Addressing this research desideratum, this study examined whether perceived social support buffers the interplay of self-reported stress considering biophysiological markers (i.e., cortisol, alpha-amylase, oxidative stress, and telomere length). 83 secondary school students (M age  = 13.72, SD = 0.67; 48% girls) from Germany participated in a questionnaire study and biophysiological testing. Moderation analyses in R revealed that support from parents moderated the relationships between psychological stress as well as cynicism and inadequacy at school linked to alpha-amylase., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: This study examines the relationship between adolescents' biophysiological stress (i.e. cortisol, alpha-amylase and oxidative stress) and the development of grit and school engagement over one school year., Aims: The study aims to identify how objective stress affects grit and three dimensions of school engagement. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the study considers lower- and higher-track school students and their genders., Sample: The sample consists of secondary school students (N = 82; M Age  = 13.71; SD = 0.67; 48% girls) from Germany., Methods: Students participated in a questionnaire and a biophysiological study in the first semester (t1) of the school year and completed the same questionnaire at the end of the school year (t2). After conducting whole-sample analysis, a multi-group cross-lagged panel model was calculated to identify differences among students at lower- and higher-track schools., Results: Whole-sample analysis reveals that students who exhibit high levels of cortisol report lower cognitive school engagement at t2, whereas students who exhibit high levels of alpha-amylase exhibit less grit at t2. Additionally, lower-track students who exhibited high cortisol levels reported lower cognitive and emotional school engagement throughout the school year. Furthermore, higher-track students with high oxidative stress levels reported lower grit and behavioural school engagement at t2., Conclusions: Examining the relationship between biophysiological stress markers and grit and school engagement of students at lower- and higher-track schools indicates that the educational context and its specific subculture shapes physiological stress reactions, which are related differently to grit and engagement dimensions., (© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Introduction: Using the situated expectancy-value theory, it becomes possible to explain motivational functioning across alternating learning conditions not only at a particular moment but also over time. The situated expectancy-value theory provides evidence for the critical role of context. The present research examines how adolescents' success expectancies, task values, and effort develop when the conditions of the academic environment change. It also evaluates whether adolescents adopt more adaptive expectancy-value profiles in response to the need-based nature of self-directed learning as an extension of regular instruction. Within the self-directed learning approach under investigation, adolescents take responsibility for their own learning processes., Methods: The present research offers insights into the expectancy-value profiles of 754 German adolescents (M age  = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% female). A four-wave study was used to examine perceptions of self-efficacy, intrinsic value, utility value, and effort. Latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses were employed., Results: Notably, the results provide evidence that expanding instruction via self-directed learning intervals that occur for 1 week per semester contributes to more favorable expectancy-value profiles within a student's favorite subject. A mixed profile (highly confident, hardly interested) disappeared. Instead, success expectations aligned more closely with adolescents' task values and effort. All profiles settled at a higher level., Conclusions: The findings indicate that instruction that is expanded via self-directed learning intervals has positive consequences for motivational profiles over time. An initial self-directed learning episode led to a shift to more interested profile groups. The continuation of a positive trend even after a self-directed learning interval indicates that adolescents are able to continually adapt their learning to their needs during teacher-directed instruction. This study provides clues about how to design curricula in a way that counteracts the downward trend in students' motivation to learn., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Adolescence published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Foundation for Professionals in Services to Adolescents.)

Students' sense of belonging presents an essential resource for academic and health outcomes, whereas social exclusion at school negatively impacts students' well-being and academic performance. Aiming to understand how feelings of school-related belonging and exclusion shape the structural brain development, this study applied longitudinal questionnaire-based data and MRI data from 71 adolescent students (37 females, M age at t1 = 15.0; t2 = 16.1 years). All were white participants from Germany. Voxel-based morphometry revealed only an association of social exclusion (and not of belonging) and gray matter volume in the left anterior insula: From t1 to t2, there was less gray matter decrease, the more social exclusion students perceived. School-related social exclusion and disturbed neurodevelopment are thus significantly associated., (© 2021 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.)

Introduction: One major stressor of adolescents relates to the pressure students perceive from their parents accompanied by high academic expectations, while in contrast parental support is related to low levels of stress. However, it is not clear whether the perceived parental pressure and support contribute to a change in students' stress level from early to middle adolescence and if there are differences among students from low vs. high track schools., Methods: Thus, based on the conservation of resources theory, this two-wave study examined the role of perceived maternal and paternal pressure and support for students' general stress level from grades 8 to 9 among students attending high- and low-track schools by applying multigroup multilevel latent change modeling based on data from 1088 8 th grade students (M Age = 13.70, SD = 0.53, 53.9% girls at Time 1)., Results: Results indicate that the general stress level from early to middle adolescence increases for students from low-track schools only. This change increases even more if students from lowtrack schools perceive pressure from their fathers, whereas perceived paternal support dampen the increase of stress. For students from high-track schools, perceived maternal pressure is positively and maternal support negatively related to students' stress level in grade 8. Overall, boys tend to report lower stress levels compared to girls., Conclusions: The findings of the present study support the conservation of resources theory, as both perceived support and pressure from parents and the educational context predict students' stress development during adolescence., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)