Browsing by Author "Jimenez-Camargo, Luis Alberto"

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    Does ethnicity impact academic success?: examination of ethnic identity mediation on academic self-efficacy and academic achievement
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Jimenez-Camargo, Luis Alberto; Lochman, John E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The current literature appears to have mixed results as to how ethnic identity (EI) impacts academic achievement. This study attempts to clarify EI's role by proposing it as a potential mediator for the relationship between academic self-efficacy (ASE) and academic achievement as measured by grade point average (GPA) and Math, Reading, and English/Language Arts Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (CRCTs). School level socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnic composition are also analyzed in conjunction with the aforementioned variables to determine the degree to which they impact the potential mediating relationships. Exploratory analyses examining ASE as a mediator and both ASE and EI as moderators were also undertaken. Participants included 142 males and 137 females for a total of 279. Of these, 65.6% were African American (AA) 34.4% were Caucasian (EA). Results indicated that both ASE and EI statistically mediated the other respective variable's relation to GPA. With regard to the CRCTs, ASE mediated the relationship between EI and Reading while EI mediated the relationship between ASE and Math. No statistical moderation was found for either EI or ASE. Similarly, no moderation was found for either of the school level variables. Additionally, no significant differences between ethnicities were found for the relationships examined. The statistical mediation results are explained through their potential associations to specific intelligences. It is thought that ASE may be more closely related to verbal-linguistic intelligence (VLI), thus explaining its stronger association with reading; while EI is thought to be more closely associated with logical-mathematical intelligence (LMI), thus explaining its stronger association with math. Limitations, lack of significant moderation, and implications for future research are also discussed.
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    Predicting childhood externalizing disorder in at-risk youth: an analysis of the autonomic nervous system, temperament, and parenting
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Jimenez-Camargo, Luis Alberto; Lochman, John E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The aim of the current study was to clarify the pathways by which externalizing behavior can be predicted in preadolescents at risk for aggression. This study examined how parental involvement, autonomic reactivity, and the temperament traits of effortful control and negative affect related among themselves when predicting externalizing behavior as reported by parents and teachers. Although the literature has found associations for each of these variables to behavior individually, no study to date has examined how these variables interact with each other simultaneously when predicting behavior in a sample of at-risk preadolescents. Given past research, it was hypothesized that negative affect would have an indirect relationship to externalizing behavior through autonomic regulation and parental involvement. Effortful control was also thought to moderate the relationship between autonomic reactivity and behavior. Lastly, it was predicted that autonomic reactivity would be associated with parental involvement. A sample of 360 preadolescents was used to test the model noted above using structural equation modeling procedures. This sample was largely male, African American, and of low-middle socioeconomic status. The results of the models varied by the reporter. With teacher report, behavior was not predicted, but significant relationships among autonomic reactivity, parental involvement, and negative affect were found. With parent report, negative affect predicted externalizing behavior indirectly through parental involvement. Autonomic reactivity and effortful control were also predicted externalizing behavior. Significant gender differences were also found using parent-report of behavior. The differences in findings by reporter and the implications for the prevention and treatment of externalizing behavior are discussed.