THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL MATURATION AND HASSLES ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS LEARNING BEHAVIORS

Potential stressors during early adolescence include physical characte ristics (related to puberty), Deer acceptance, and familial expectatio ns. Pubertal timing and stressful experiences have previously been ide ntified as effecting academic achievement. This study examines the imp act of these constructs on adolescents' learning experiences and behav iors as potential mediators of achievement variables. Stressful experi ences include negative life events and the experience of hassles. Long itudinal data collected include findings obtained during the 1989 and 1993 academic years for 562 African American middle-school adolescents (ages 1 1 - 15). Pubertal and stress data from the initial year (Year I)were used to predict learning responsibility (LR) and learning prefe rences in the subsequent year (Year 5). For boys; independence-linked hassles were a positive predictor of LR, while negative life events pr edicted negative learning preference attitudes. For girls, negative li fe events predicted LR and preference for group learning, while indepe ndence-linked hassles predicted the learning preference pattern: negat ive learning (attitudes) learning preference.