The way that students cope with the difficulties and setbacks they encounter daily in their academic work can make a material difference to their learning, school success, and capacity to re-engage with challenging educational activities. Because of their potential importance to students’ everyday academic resilience, educators and researchers are interested in the development of adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping—both how they improve or deteriorate over students’ educational careers and the factors that underlie their differential development. Using information on self-reports of 5 adaptive and 6 maladaptive ways of coping, collected from 1,018 American third through sixth graders in fall and spring of the same school year, this study examined (1) the normative progression of these 11 ways of coping across fall of third to spring of sixth grade, and (2) whether developmental patterns differed for students with differing motivational resources. A generally stable profile of constructive coping was evident during Grades 3 and 4 (in which adaptive strategies were high and maladaptive responses low), followed by modest improvements across fourth to fifth grades. Marked shifts were apparent across the transition to middle school. Compared to spring of fifth grade, students in fall of sixth grade reported lower levels of all adaptive and higher levels of all maladaptive ways of coping, and this trend persisted across the first year of middle school. Although motivational resources did not produce differing developmental trends, they did seem to organize coping. Highest levels of adaptive coping were found for students high in both personal and interpersonal assets, just as the highest levels of maladaptive coping were found for students high in both personal and interpersonal liabilities. Findings suggest that both motivational and developmental approaches are needed to fully account for patterns of age-graded trends in academic coping across late elementary and early middle school.

中文翻译：

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小学晚期和初中阶段学业应对的发展：动机不同的学生的学习方式是否有所不同？

学生应对其在学业中每天遇到的困难和挫折的方式，可以对他们的学习，学校的成功以及重新参与具有挑战性的教育活动的能力产生重大影响。由于它们对学生的日常学习弹性具有潜在的重要性，因此，教育者和研究人员对适应性和适应不良的应对方式的发展很感兴趣，包括他们在学生的职业生涯中如何改善或恶化以及其差异发展的基础。利用同一学年秋季和春季从1,018名美国三年级至六年级学生收集的5种适应性和6种适应不良的应对方式的自我报告信息，这项研究调查了（1）应对从三年级秋季到六年级春季的这11种应对方式的规范进展，以及（2）对于动机资源不同的学生，其发展方式是否有所不同。在3年级和4年级（其中适应性策略较高而适应不良的反应较低）期间，建设性应对通常保持稳定状态，随后在四年级至五年级有所改善。在过渡到中学期间，明显的转变是显而易见的。与五年级的春季相比，六年级秋季的学生报告说，所有适应能力的水平都较低，而所有适应不良的应对方式的水平都较高，并且这种趋势一直持续到初中一年级。尽管动机资源并没有产生不同的发展趋势，但它们似乎确实在组织应对。对于个人和人际关系资产都很高的学生，适应性应对的水平最高，而对于个人和人际关系负债都很高的学生，适应性应对的水平最高。研究结果表明，既需要动机又需要发展的方法，以充分说明小学晚期和初中阶段学业应对的年龄分级趋势模式。