The Impact of Teacher Nonverbal Behaviors on Children's Intergroup Attitudes and Mental Health

NCT03584230 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1F32HD089539-01A1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 96
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Researchers in education have found that teachers often differ in their nonverbal behaviors toward children from different social groups and these behaviors correlate with achievement gaps and academic stereotypes about the groups. Early elementary school, when achievement gaps first emerge, is also the time when White, majority children begin to show group-level biases, and when racial minority children are able to detect discrimination and experience anxiety related to their membership in a particular social group. Therefore, if children are sensitive to teacher nonverbal behaviors, these behaviors could contribute to majority children's group biases, and may impact minority children's awareness of being in a negatively stereotyped group. In fact, children are adept at perceiving adult nonverbal behaviors and using these behaviors to guide their own behaviors and to make judgments about others. The primary goal of this research is to examine the effect of biased nonverbal teacher behaviors on group biases for children from positively stereotyped groups, and on affect and anxiety for children from negatively stereotyped groups. The investigators hypothesize that group biases in teacher behaviors will influence children's attitudes about groups, and will result in negative affect and anxiety for students in groups targeted by negative nonverbal teacher behaviors.

Conditions

Stress, Psychological; Stress, Emotional

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Stereotype Endorsement Score

  The experimenter will measure participants' stereotype endorsement by presenting them with four pairs of students (one from the positive group and one from the negative group) and asking them who they think is smarter. Each time a participant selects a student from the positive group they will receive a score of 1, each time a participant selects a student from the negative group they will receive a score of 0. Scores will be summed across the trials completed by each participant (usually 4) and divided by the number of trials. High scores indicate that participants selected students from the positive group more often than students from the negative group.

  2 minutes post intervention

• Group Preference Score

  The experimenter will measure participants' group preference by presenting them with four pairs of students (one from the positive group and one from the negative group) and asking them who want to befriend. Each time a participant selects a student from the positive group they will receive a score of 1, each time a participant selects a student from the negative group they will receive a score of 0. Scores will be summed across the trials completed by each participant (usually 4) and divided by the number of trials. High scores indicate that participants selected students from the positive group more often than students from the negative group.

  2 minutes post intervention

• Inclusion Score

  The experimenter will measure participants' inclusion by presenting them with four pairs of students (one from the positive group and one from the negative group) and asking them who want have as a partner on a school project. Each time a participant selects a student from the positive group they will receive a score of 1, each time a participant selects a student from the negative group they will receive a score of 0. Scores will be summed across the trials completed by each participant (usually 4) and divided by the number of trials. High scores indicate that participants selected students from the positive group more often than students from the negative group.

  2 minutes post intervention

• Anxiety

  The experimenter will measure participants' anxiety during the familiarization by having coders view each participants' body language and facial expressions while viewing the teacher behaviors and scoring their anxiety. Scores range from -3 to 3 and each participant receives 8 scores: 4 scores when viewing positive teacher behaviors and 4 scores when viewing negative teacher behaviors. Higher scores indicate that participants are less anxious and lower scores indicate that participants are more anxious.

  0 minutes (assessed during intervention)

• Affect

  The experimenter will measure participants' affect during the familiarization by having coders view each participants' body language and facial expressions while viewing the teacher behaviors and scoring their affect. Scores range from -3 to 3 and each participant receives 8 scores: 4 scores when viewing positive teacher behaviors and 4 scores when viewing negative teacher behaviors. Higher scores indicate that participants have more positive affect and lower scores indicate that participants have more negative affect.

  0 minutes (assessed during intervention)

Study Arms (3)

Positive Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Students will be assigned to a group that receives positive nonverbal teacher behaviors. At the beginning of the session participants will learn that there are three groups of students at a school, and the groups are identifiable by t-shirt color. They will be joining one of the groups and will be given a t-shirt to wear. They then view a series of interactions where a teacher directs positive nonverbal behaviors to students in the same t-shirt color and negative nonverbal behaviors to students in another t-shirt color. Intervention: Assigned to positive group

Behavioral: Assigned to positive group

Negative Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Students will be assigned to a group that receives negative nonverbal teacher behaviors. At the beginning of the session participants will learn that there are three groups of students at a school, and the groups are identifiable by t-shirt color. They will be joining one of the groups and will be given a t-shirt to wear. They then view a series of interactions where a teacher directs negative nonverbal behaviors to students in the same t-shirt color and positive nonverbal behaviors to students in another t-shirt color. Intervention: Assigned to negative group

Behavioral: Assigned to negative group

No Cues Condition

NO INTERVENTION

Students will be assigned to a group that receives no nonverbal teacher behaviors. At the beginning of the session participants will learn that there are three groups of students at a school, and the groups are identifiable by t-shirt color. They will be joining one of the groups and will be given a t-shirt to wear. They then view a series of interactions where a teacher directs positive nonverbal behaviors to students in a different t-shirt color and negative nonverbal behaviors to students in a different t-shirt color. Students wearing the same t-shirt color as the participant never interact with the teacher.

Interventions

Assigned to positive group BEHAVIORAL

See arm description

Positive Condition

Assigned to negative group BEHAVIORAL

See arm description

Negative Condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 54 Months - 102 Months
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• children older than 54 months
• children younger than 102 months
• children who are part of an existing database managed by the investigators
• children whose parents agreed to be contacted during community events

You may not qualify if:

• consent of the parent
• assent of participant
• parent and participant both fluent in English

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Hawaii: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stress, Psychological

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Kristin Pauker, PhD

  University of Hawaii at Manoa

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: The investigator will receive a randomized list of sequence orders for each age and gender group. Within the sequence orders, one third of them are for participants in the positive condition, one third are for participants in the negative condition, and one third are for participants in the no cues condition. The experimenter will not know which sequences relate to each condition. The nonverbal behavior coders will also be blind to the participants' condition. They will view videos where only the participant is visible but the teacher is not.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Three conditions will be tested: assignment to a group that receives positive nonverbal teacher behaviors, assignment to a group that receives negative nonverbal teacher behaviors, and assignment to a group that receives no teacher behaviors.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 26, 2018
• First Posted: July 12, 2018
• Study Start: January 31, 2017
• Primary Completion: August 26, 2017
• Study Completion: August 26, 2017
• Last Updated: July 12, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-07

Locations

US (1)