Mattering to others has been shown to be a key construct of mental health and wellness. Emerging research links interpersonal mattering and school climate. In this study, the authors use transcendental phenomenology to explore how interpersonal mattering impacts the academic achievement of urban African American males who are academically successful in high school. Implications for the integration of this new information in school counseling are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenB., & BoykinA.W. (1992). African American children and the educational process: Alleviating cultural discontinuity through prescriptive pedagogy.School Psychology Review, 21(4), 586–596.
2.
American School Counselor Association (2005). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.
3.
BalfanzR., & ByrnesV. (2006). Closing the mathematics achievement gap in poverty middle schools: Enablers and constraints.Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 11(2), 143–159. doi:10.1207/s15327671espr1102_2
4.
BaumeisterR.F., & LearyM.R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529.
5.
BeckerB. E., & LutharS.S. (2002). Social-emotional factors affecting achievement outcomes among disadvantaged students: Closing the achievement gap.Educational Psychologist, 37(4), 197–214. doi:10.1207/S15326985EP3704_1
6.
BrownK., AnfaraV., & RoneyK. (2004). Student achievement in high performing, suburban schools and low performing urban middle schools.Education & Urban Society, 36, 428–456. doi:10.1177/0013124504263339
7.
CarterP. (2003). “Black” cultural capital, status positioning, and schooling conflicts for low income African-American youth.Social Problems, 50(1), 136–155. doi:10.1525/sp.2003.50.1.136
ChenG. (2007). School disorder and student achievement: A study of New York city elementary schools.Journal of School Violence, 6(1), 27–43. doi:10.1300/J202v06n01_03
10.
ConchasG.Q. (2006). The color of success: Race and high-achieving urban youth.New York: Teachers College Press.
11.
ConchasG., & ClarkP.A. (2002). Career academies and urban minority school success: Forging optimism despite limited opportunity.Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 7, 287–311. doi:10.1207/S15327671ESPR0703_1
12.
ConnollyK. M., & MyersJ.E. (2002). Wellness and mattering: The role of holistic factors in job satisfaction.Journal of Employment Counseling, 40, 152–159.
13.
Day-VinesN., & Day-HairstonB. (2005). Culturally congruent strategies for addressing the behavioral needs of urban, African-American adolescents.Professional School Counseling, 8, 236–243.
14.
DelpitL. (1988). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people's children.Harvard Educational Review, 58, 280–298.
15.
DixonA. L., ScheideggerC., & McWhirterJ. J. (2009). The adolescent mattering experience: Gender variations in perceived mattering, anxiety, and depression.Journal of Counseling & Development, 87, 302–318.
16.
DixonA. L., & TuckerC. (2008). Every student matters here: Enhancing strengths-based school counseling through the application of mattering.Professional School Counseling, 12, 123–126.
17.
Dixon RayleA. L. (2005). Adolescent gender differences in mattering and wellness.Journal of Adolescence, 28, 753–763. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2004.10.009
18.
Dixon RayleA. L. (2006). Mattering to others: Implications for the counseling relationship.Journal of Counseling & Development, 84, 483–487.
19.
Dixon RayleA. L., & ChungK. (2007). Revisiting college students’ mattering: Social support, academic stress, and the mattering experience. Journal for College Student Retention: Research, Theory, and Practice, 9(1), 21–37.
20.
Dixon RayleA. L., & MyersJ. E. (2004). Counseling adolescents toward wellness: The roles of ethnic identity, acculturation, and mattering.Professional School Counseling, 8, 81–90.
ElliottG.C., ColangeloM.F., & GellesR.J. (2005). Mattering and suicide ideation: Establishing and elaborating a relationship.Social Psychology Quarterly, 68(3), 223–238. doi: 10.1177/019027250506800303
23.
ElliottG. C., KaoS., & GrantA. M. (2004). Mattering: Empirical validation of a social-psychological construct.Self and Identity, 3, 339–354. doi:10.1080/13576500444000119
24.
FreemanK. (1999). No services needed?: The case for mentoring high-achieving African American students.Peabody Journal of Education, 74(2), 15–26. doi:10.1207/s15327930pje7402_3
25.
FrommE. (1941). Escape from freedom.New York: Rinehart.
26.
GordonD. M., IwamotoD. K., WardN., PottsR., & BoydE. (2009). Mentoring urban Black middle school male students: Implications for academic achievement.The Journal of Negro Education, 78(3), 277–289.
27.
HarrisB., VincentK., ThomsonP., & ToalsterR. (2006). Does every child know they matter? Pupils’ views of one alternative to exclusion.Pastoral Care in Education, 24(2), 28–38. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0122.2006.00362.x
28.
JamesW. (1890). The principles of psychology.New York: Holt.
MacNeilA., PraterD., & BuschS. (2009). The effects of school culture and climate on student achievement.International Journal of Leadership in Education, 12(1), 73–84.
31.
MakL., & MarshallS. K. (2004). Perceived mattering in young adults’ romantic relationships.Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21 (4), 469–486. doi:10.1177/0265407504044842
32.
MarshallS.K. (2001). Do I matter? Construct validation of adolescents’ perceived mattering to parents and friends.Journal of Adolescence, 24, 473–490. doi:10.1006/jado.2001.0384
33.
MarshallS.K., & LambertJ.D. (2006). Parental mattering: A qualitative inquiry into the tendency to evaluate the self as significant to one's children.Journal of Family Issues, 27(11), 1561–1582.
34.
MaslowA. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). New York: Van Nostrand.
35.
McEvoyA., & WelkerR. (2000). Antisocial behavior, academic failure, and school climate: A critical review.Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8(3), 130–140. doi:10.1177/106342660000800301
36.
MoustakasC. (1994). Phenomenological research methods.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
37.
MooreJ. L., HenfieldM. S., & OwensD. (2008). African American males in special education: Their attitudes and perceptions toward high school counselors and school counseling services.American Behavioral Scientist, 51, 907–927.
38.
MyersJ. E., & BechtelA. (2004). Stress, wellness, and mattering among cadets at West Point: Factors affecting a fit and healthy force.Military Medicine, 169, 475–482.
NogueraP. A. (2001). The trouble with black boys.Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, 2, 23–46.
41.
NogueraP. A. (2003). The trouble with black boys: The role and influence of environmental and cultural factors on the academic performance of African American males.Urban Education, 38, 431–459. doi:10.1177/0042085903038004005
42.
NogueraP. A. (2008). The trouble with black boys: and other reflections on race, equity, and the future of public education.San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.
43.
OgbuJ. (1991). Minority coping responses and school experience.Journal of Psychohistory, 18, 433–456.
44.
PowersA., MyersJ. E., TingleL., & PowersJ. (2004). Wellness, perceived stress, mattering, and marital satisfaction among first year medical residents and their spouses: Implications for education and counseling.The Family Journal, 12, 26–36. doi:10.1177/1066480703258802
45.
RoderickM. (2000). What's happening to the boys? Early high school experiences and school outcomes among African American male adolescents in Chicago. Paper submitted to the National Institute on Education of At Risk Students, September 2000.
46.
RosenbergM., & McCulloughB. C. (1981). Mattering: Inferred significance and mental health among adolescents.Research in Community Mental Health, 2, 163–182.
47.
SchiemanS., & TaylorJ. (2001). Statuses, roles, and the sense of mattering.Sociological Perspectives, 44, 469–484. doi:10.1525/sop.2001.44.4.469
48.
SchlossbergN. K. (1989). Marginality and mattering: Key issues in building community.New Directions for Student Services, 48, 5–15. doi:10.1002/ss.37119894803
49.
SchlossbergN. K., LynchA. Q., & ChickeringA. W. (1989). Improving higher education environments for adults.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
50.
SkibaR. J., SimmonsA. D., RitterS., GibbA., RauschM. K., CuadradoJ., & ChungC. G. (2008). Achieving equity in special education: History, status, and current challenges.Exceptional Children, 74, 264–288.
51.
StewartE. (2007). Individual and school structural effects on African American high school students’ academic achievement.High School Journal, 91(2), 16–34.
52.
TaylorJ. R., & TurnerR. J. (2001). A longitudinal study of the role and significance of mattering to others for depressive symptoms.Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 310–325.
53.
TuckerC., Wachter-MorrisC., DixonA. L., & HackmanC. (2010). The potential impact of school climate on urban elementary school student achievement and college-going self-efficacy: A review of a model program. Manuscript submitted for publication.
54.
WorrellF.C. (2003). Why are there so few African Americans in gifted education programs? In YeakleyC.C. & HendersonR. D. (Eds.), Surmounting all odds: Education, opportunity and society in the new millennium (pp. 423–454). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
