Samantha Gehly
September 3, 2014
Cultural Diversity Journal Article Analysis
Home/School Relationships
Lanza, H., & Taylor, R. D. (2010). Parenting in moderation: Family routine moderates the relation between school disengagement and delinquent behaviors among African American adolescents. Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16(4), 540-547. doi:10.1037/a0021369
In this article, Professors Lanza and Taylor of Temple University discuss the relationships about school disengagement and delinquent behaviors made among African American adolescents. Together, the relations between the disengagement in school and felonious behaviors are significant obstacles to academic achievement, as well as posing an increasing risk for adolescents living in low-economic and urban communities. According to the authors, school disengagement is defined as, “a lack of student involvement and commitment to school curriculum and activities” and includes taking behavioral, affective, and cognitive aspects into consideration. For example, students who fall under the category of being disengaged may have trouble being attentive in school, may experience feelings exclusively caused by school, and may have attitude trouble. In addition, the article defines delinquent behaviors as “behaviors that are prohibited by law, such as drug use, vandalism, theft, burglary, and violence.” The purpose of this article is to test the theory if familial routines can bring moderated relations to a sample of urban, African American families with adolescents experiencing school disengagement and delinquent behaviors. Theoretically, familial factors can cause a crucial role in helping to potentially decrease these issues and provide a way of simplifying prevention and intervention efforts. Family routine, including positive relationships with parents, can help lead to higher levels of school engagement. They can also provide structure, consistency, and organization in home environments as well as lowering levels of delinquent behaviors among African American children and adolescents.
As discussed in the course, this article’s study can relate to psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s theory of social interaction. This theory argues that social interaction precedes development and that consciousness and cognition are the final products of socialization and social behavior. The connections made between people and sociocultural context are related to shared experiences. In relation to the article, the way that African American adolescents communicate with their families/parents is imperative to creating a solid relationship, having better engagement in school and a decrease in delinquent behavior. Additionally, Vygotsky’s theory of scaffolding intention is to promote a deeper level of learning for students with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals. This learning process gradually guides towards developing self-governing learning strategies, promoting cognitive and affective learning skills and knowledge. In relation to the article, the better an African American adolescent scaffolds in school, the better they will do academically and will be able to acquire knowledge independently.
As a future educator, there are a few ideas from this article that I can use to form strategies to help form better ways of teaching. First of all, I can model a given task to my students. By modeling something to my students, I am providing an example for them to follow. For instance, I can provide many forms of modeling, such as outlines to follow, provide recommended documents and/or storyboards, and give key questions that can direct my students to what I intend for them to do. Secondly, I can give advice to my students. It is very possible for adolescents in urban or low-economic area to not have much support of family to guide or be a good role model. The type of experiences at home lead to how they act and behave in school. Therefore, by providing