Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration, Berlin, Germany.
Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration, Berlin, Germany; Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Berlin, Germany.
J Sch Psychol. 2019 Aug;75:58-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2019.07.006. Epub 2019 Jul 26.
This study examines the effectiveness of a self-affirmation intervention to improve academic achievement for students with a "double-jeopardy status" of belonging to two potentially disadvantaged groups at the same time: girls with a minority background. The method established in the U.S. is adapted to the German cultural context and evaluated for its immediate and medium-term efficacy on math achievement among girls as well as among ethnic minority youth after the transition to secondary school. We applied a double-blind pre-post experimental design with randomized treatment allocation in 11 schools (N = 820, seventh graders with various ethnic backgrounds). Following the intervention of a brief in-class writing assignment about their personal values, students performed a standardized mathematics test. A follow-up achievement test, but no intervention, was administered eight weeks later to assess the midterm effectiveness of the treatment. Between assessments students received a written feedback about their scores in the math test. The multi-level linear model results show that (1) double-jeopardy in math performance exists, as shown by independent negative effects of female gender and Turkish or Arab minority group membership; (2) Girls from all ethnic backgrounds and students with Turkish immigrant background in the intervention group performed significantly better in the mathematics test immediately after the intervention than their peers in the control group. (3) Eight weeks later, the intervention effect only persisted for students with minority ethnic backgrounds: Turkish and Arabic students in the intervention group scored significantly higher in the standardized mathematics test compared to their peers in the control group. (4) We found no support for a triple interaction effect of treatment, ethnic background, and gender. That is, girls with a Turkish or an Arabic background did not benefit more from the self-affirmation intervention than other minority or female students. Results are discussed in relation to self-affirmation theory and how such interventions can be applied in secondary school mathematics curricula.
本研究考察了自我肯定干预对同时属于两个潜在弱势群体的学生（具有少数族裔背景的女孩）的学业成绩的有效性。该方法在美国建立，并适应德国文化背景，评估其在女孩以及少数民族青年过渡到中学后的即时和中期数学成绩方面的效果。我们在 11 所学校（N=820 名具有不同族裔背景的七年级学生）中应用了双盲前后实验设计，并进行了随机分组治疗。在关于个人价值观的简短课堂写作作业干预后，学生进行了标准化数学测试。八周后进行了后续的成就测试，但没有进行干预，以评估治疗的中期效果。在评估之间，学生收到了关于他们在数学测试中得分的书面反馈。多水平线性模型结果表明：（1）在数学表现上存在双重困境，这表现为女性性别和土耳其或阿拉伯少数民族群体成员的独立负向影响；（2）所有族裔背景的女孩和具有土耳其移民背景的学生在干预组中的数学测试成绩立即比对照组中的同龄人表现更好；（3）八周后，干预效果仅持续存在于少数民族背景的学生中：干预组中的土耳其和阿拉伯学生在标准化数学测试中的得分明显高于对照组中的同龄人；（4）我们没有发现治疗、族裔背景和性别三重交互作用的支持。也就是说，具有土耳其或阿拉伯背景的女孩并没有比其他少数民族或女性学生从自我肯定干预中获益更多。结果与自我肯定理论以及如何将此类干预应用于中学数学课程进行了讨论。
