Context matters

Welcome to this issue of the International Journal of School & Educational Psychology (IJSEP). To reflect the international approach of the journal, articles in this issue expose the diverse ways of assessing the developmental processes and dimensions of school and educational psychology worldwide, to enrich our understanding of human development in various countries. To some extent, most people are the product of their context, which includes beliefs, values, rules of behavior, and so forth. Therefore, people who grew up in different surroundings develop different patterns of personality characteristics, cognitive abilities, and social relations (Harkness, 1992). In this issue, we include a range of articles addressing topics pertaining to three developmental psychology aspects: cognitive development (intelligence), socioemotional development (well-being and peer relationships), and behavioral tendencies (temperament) across varied contexts. The articles present children of various ages, growing up in different countries, and belonging to diverse socioeconomic statuses, cultures, communities, and education systems.

Two articles evaluate the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. McGill and Canivez (2018) examine the structure of the Spanish edition of WISC-IV to explore alternative measurement models. In a similar vein, Watkins, Dombrowski, and Canivez (2018) examine the reliability and factorial validity of the fifth edition of the Canadian Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Although WISC has been commonly used in the last 50 years, and it has been adapted and translated into several languages, the articles in this issue argue that evaluation tools must be reassessed from time to time. Pendergast et al. (2018) examine the use of the Infant Temperament Scale (ITS) among children in eight countries characterized as low- and middle-income nations. The authors sought to examine the factor structure of the scale and its invariance across sites. Given that temperament may be influenced by environment, the authors hypothesized that the construct of the temperament scale differs among children from low- and middle-income nations. Blaskova and McLellan (2018) suggest that two environmental factors may influence the satisfaction with school of young people in Slovakia: (a) the historical context and the change in the political system in Slovakia in the last 25 years, and (b) the stressful school environment caused by excessive focus on academic achievement, precisely in the transition from elementary to middle school. In their research, the authors reveal the role of peer relationships in preventing dissatisfaction and supporting adolescents’ well-being.

Discussion of the links between context and psychological development is a rapidly growing area that has experienced a surge in research in the last decades. The articles in this issue reflect the important role of life context in child development as expounded in ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). I wish to thank the authors for sharing with us their research, and I hope our readers—scholars, practitioners, and researchers—will enjoy this issue. The International Journal of School & Educational Psychology (IJSEP) invites you to submit your work about school and educational psychology in a variety of geographic locations and life contexts.