TY  - JOUR
A1  - Warner, Greta J.
A1  - Lensing, Johanna Nele
A1  - Fay, Doris
T1  - Personal initiative
BT  - Developmental predictors and positive outcomes from childhood to early adolescence
JF  - Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
N2  - Although the effects of personal initiative (PI) on adults' performance and other favorable outcomes are well documented, research has only recently begun to study PI in childhood. This study aimed at examining the development of PI, its predictors, and its developmental effects from childhood to early adolescence. A total of 1,593 German children participated in a longitudinal study starting at Grades 2 to 4, with a second measurement wave two years later. Latent change score analyses revealed that 1) children differed significantly in their change scores of PI, that 2) executive functions and positive parenting predicted change scores in PI, and that 3) high initial levels and change scores in PI reduced the development of internalizing and externalizing problems and supported the development of prosocial behavior and academic competencies. These findings endorse the plasticity of PI and shed light on the active part of children in promoting their own development.
KW  - Personal initiative
KW  - Executive functions
KW  - Positive parenting
KW  - Positive development
KW  - Adjustment
KW  - Self-regulation
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2017.06.004
SN  - 0193-3973
SN  - 1873-7900
VL  - 52
SP  - 114
EP  - 125
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Warner, Greta J.
A1  - Fay, Doris
A1  - Schiefele, Ulrich
A1  - Stutz, Franziska
A1  - Wollny, Anna
T1  - Being proactive when reading: Academic personal initiative as a predictor of word comprehension development
JF  - Learning and individual differences
N2  - Academic personal initiative (API) has rarely been studied with regard to literacy development. The purpose of this longitudinal study was therefore to examine the unique effects of API on the development of word comprehension as an indicator of word reading. To this end, the effects of previous word comprehension, intrinsic reading motivation, and basic cognitive ability (i.e., processing speed) were controlled for. A total of 1,515 German students participated in a longitudinal assessment starting in Grades 1 to 3, with a second point of measurement nine months later. Latent change score analyses revealed positive associations between API and gains in word comprehension, both in the total sample and at all grade levels. These relations were robust against the effects of previous word comprehension and intrinsic reading motivation. The findings suggest that children play an active role in their own reading development. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KW  - Personal initiative
KW  - Reading motivation
KW  - Processing speed
KW  - Word reading
KW  - Reading development
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.03.012
SN  - 1041-6080
SN  - 1873-3425
VL  - 55
SP  - 130
EP  - 140
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wollny, Anna
A1  - Fay, Doris
A1  - Urbach, Tina
T1  - Personal initiative in middle childhood: Conceptualization and measurement development
JF  - Learning and individual differences
N2  - Drawing on research on personal initiative in adults, this paper present the conceptualization of personal initiative in the middle childhood, and the development and validation of an eight-item teacher and parent rating scale of children's and adolescents' personal initiative. The psychometric properties and construct validity of the measure were tested in two samples of children in middle childhood (N = 1069–1657) and middle childhood to adolescence (N = 1533). Both the teacher and parent rating scale showed good item characteristics. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported their hypothesized factorial structure. The agreement of teacher and parent ratings was satisfactory. Evidence on the construct validity of the scale was further derived from a nomological network comprising control cognitions, motivational orientations, and cognitive ability. The measures proved to be invariant across school years and raters. We discuss several avenues for future research on personal initiative in the fields of development and education.
KW  - Personal initiative
KW  - Proactivity
KW  - Childhood and adolescence
KW  - Scale development
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.05.004
SN  - 1041-6080
SN  - 1873-3425
VL  - 49
SP  - 59
EP  - 73
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -