Fudan University in Shanghai. (Photo: Xinhua)

CHICAGO, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A study of Chinese middle school students suggests that countering stereotype about teens can change their behavior.

The study, posted on the website of the University of Illinois (UI) on Wednesday, is jointly conducted by UI, Northwestern University and Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

The researchers talked with students about the stereotypes adults hold about teens, then suggested that the teenage years are in fact a time when youth take on greater responsibility. The researchers asked the students to describe specific examples of teens behaving responsibly at home, at school and elsewhere. They tracked how the students thought about teens and how they conducted themselves after this intervention, comparing them with control groups tasked only with describing teen behavior.

In the first of two studies, the researchers found that they can change students' ideas about teens. "They were less likely than those in the control group to say that teens are disengaged in school and engage in risk-taking. They also were more likely to say that teens feel it is important to meet family obligations. The students actually saw teens as being more responsible than younger children," said University of Illinois psychology professor Eva Pomerantz

This first study involved 124 students from two middle schools in Shanghai, with one control group and one intervention group per school.

In the second study, the researchers looked at 319 students from three middle schools, again with matched control groups. To avoid the possibility that the students were just reporting what the researchers wanted to hear, they separated the intervention part of the study from the follow-up testing, asking students to describe specific teen behaviors at home, at work and elsewhere.

After asking students to engage in an optional English-language word-search puzzle during a "break between the two studies," a second research assistant introduced them to the second part of the study: the daily reports, which students completed for the three days following the intervention.

"After this very brief intervention, we had students in the intervention group saying, 'I paid more attention in school; I took part in more discussions; I did my homework more; I didn't hang out with kids who get in trouble; I didn't lie and I didn't cheat,'" Pomerantz said. The students in the control groups did not report as much constructive behavior in the daily reports, however.

The students in the intervention group also did better on the word-search test during the break, the researchers found. Those in the control groups found, on average, about five words in the five-minute test. Those in the intervention groups found about 6.3 words on average, a 26 percent better performance.

"We now know that changing students' stereotypes about teens can influence their behavior, in the short term," Pomerantz said. "The big question is: Could we develop a program for long-term change?"

The researchers are looking forward to conducting similar studies in the United States.

The study has been published in the journal Child Development.