Intrigued to learn more about Project Pathways? Please make sure to to consult the following publications related to our project.
Examining the Executive Function-Stress Loop and its Association with Student Outcomes: Implications for Middle Schoolers with or At Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.
Purpose: The Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Michelle Cumming, will conduct a program of research focused on improving the social, emotional, and academic outcomes of students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). In addition, the PI will participate in mentoring and training activities to develop knowledge and skills related to longitudinal research designs, the assessment of executive functions (EFs) and classroom quality, and grant writing. Understanding mechanisms through which behavior and academic problems develop and escalate has significant implications for programming for students with EBD who, despite school-based services, experience persistent negative outcomes. Theory and research highlight the following potential mechanisms: (1) school-based stressors, (2) ineffective stress regulation, and (3) deficits in neurocognitive processes known as EFs. Despite the developmental significance and malleability of EF, few researchers have examined EF or associations among school-based stress, student EF, and stress regulation (EF-Stress Loop) for students with EBD, especially during middle school—a period of active EF maturation and high stress and stress reactivity. The PI will address this gap by conducting a longitudinal study to examine how the EF-Stress Loop and classroom quality relate over time to behavioral and academic outcomes of middle schoolers with or at risk for EBD.