2024-01-17, Kassis, Wassilis, Dueggeli, Albert, Govaris, Christos, Kassis, Maria, Dittmar, Miriam, Aksoy, Dilan, Favre, Céline Anne

By combining person-centered analysis with latent transition analysis (LTA) and adapting a navigation and negotiation perspective, we examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents’ depression and anxiety levels as well as their adaptation and success in high school. Focusing on the navigation (individual adaptation) and negotiation (social adaptation) factors that contribute to school success, our data from a longitudinal study in Switzerland (wave 1 in autumn 2020, grade eight [n = 315]; wave 2 in spring 2021, grade eight [n = 257]) revealed four patterns: students with high levels in both dimensions (“thriving”), students with low levels in both dimensions (“demanding”), students with low negotiation but moderate to high navigation (“unsupported bloomers”), and students with high negotiation but low navigation (“encouraged non-achievers”). The “thriving” pattern had about three times more students than the “encouraged non-achiever” pattern did and about five times more students with a lower depression/anxiety profile than the “demanding” pattern did. Parental involvement and reading comprehension were identified as crucial factors in students’ academic achievement, with parental involvement being significantly associated with the “unsupported bloomers” pattern, suggesting that parents can compensate for the lack of teacher academic support and recognition and it can contribute to students’ academic success. Adolescents with high navigation and negotiation resources had higher reading comprehension scores compared to those with lower navigation and negotiation resources. Reading comprehension significantly influenced grades in language subjects and mathematics. The study emphasized the importance of individual and social adaptation factors in promoting academic success and personal growth in high school.

2008, Kassis, Wassilis, Drilling, Matthias, Steiner, Olivier, Eser Davolio, Miryam

2002, Kassis, Wassilis

2023, Kassis, Wassilis, Vasiou, Aikaterini, Govaris, Christos, Favre, Céline Anne, Aksoy, Dilan, Graf, Ulrike

We investigated students’ resilience predictors during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a two-wave longitudinal sample (n = 713) of students from Greece, Germany, and Switzerland (eighth grade in autumn 2020 and ninth grade in autumn 2021), we determined which social and individual predictors longitudinally predicted resilience before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We identified the high likelihood of individual factors (self-esteem, self-efficacy) fostering resilience by social factors (teacher, parents, and social resources). Multigroup structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated that the adolescent population was best typified by two growth trajectory classes: a low-anxiety class characterized by a low initial level of depression/anxiety and a high-anxiety class characterized by a higher initial level of depression/anxiety. The model was gender-, migration-, and country-invariant. Overall, the model showed that teachers overlook adolescents with high anxiety or depression levels, but parents support them more. These findings highlight the necessity to pay attention to students’ depression or anxiety symptoms and to satisfy their basic psychological needs, as vital prerequisites for their meaningful, coherent engagement in modern societies despite the odds.

2003, Kassis, Wassilis

2023, Kassis, Wassilis, Vasiou, Aikaterini, Govaris, Christos, Rietz, Christian, Graf, Ulrike

Given that early adolescence is a dynamic and vulnerable developmental period, it is important to examine factors that promote adolescents’ individual development and, more specifically, the satisfaction of psychological needs within the framework of self-determination theory. In a two-wave longitudinal sample (N = 218) of Greek adolescents (eighth grade in autumn 2020 and ninth grade in autumn 2021), we used structural equation modeling to determine which individual and social factors longitudinally predict autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The examination of these psychological needs is regarded as a necessary step in designing school-based prevention and intervention programs for adolescents. Individual factors, such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, and depression or anxiety, foster self-determination through social factors, such as recognition and support from teacher and parents, and social resources. Adolescents with a migration background showed lower levels of social factors. The model was gender invariant and indicated that social agents (teachers and parents) and social resources predict a very large proportion of variance in early adolescents’ individual development. These findings support the view that early adolescents’ development depends on social factors through the satisfaction of psychological needs.

2002, Kassis, Wassilis, Drilling, Matthias, Steiner, Olivier, Eser Davolio, Miryam