Purpose: This study examined the longitudinal effects of social behaviors in predicting phonological awareness outcomes in 4-year-old children. Method: One hundred two children (52 boys, 50 girls) were recruited from 11 schools serving low-income neighborhoods in a large metropolitan city and were assessed at the beginning and end of the preschool…

The present study examined indices of friends' social adjustment (prosocial skills and social anxiety) that may protect against or exacerbate vulnerability to lower academic competence in the context of peer victimization during middle school (N=320). Peer victimization was assessed with peer nominations, social anxiety was measured with self…

There is increasing evidence that interpersonal risks and resources can modulate the impact peer victimization has on children's socio-emotional adjustment. The current study contributes to this research by examining links between parents' victimization-related beliefs and children's psychosocial functioning. Data were collected on 190 3rd- and…

This study examined memories of peer victimization by eliciting narratives from university students (N = 210) about one previous experience of peer maltreatment during middle school, and investigating how these recollections related to current levels of adjustment. The majority of participants described an experience of social victimization…

The paper examines whether unpopularity and disliking among peers are partially distinct dimensions of adolescents' negative social experience. We recruited 418 students (187 boys, 231 girls, M = 12.12 years, SD = 4.33) from an urban junior high school. These early adolescents completed a peer nomination inventory assessing aspects of their social…

This study utilized a multi-informant approach to investigate the concurrent association between peer victimization and functioning at school in a predominantly Latino sample of 135 children (55 boys; 80 girls) in the third, fourth, and fifth grades. The children attended elementary schools in economically distressed urban neighborhoods.…

Teachers from fourteen classrooms were randomly assigned to an adaptation of Incredible Years (IY) teacher training or to teacher training-as-usual. Observations were made of the behavior of 136 target preschool boys and girls nominated by teachers as having many or few conduct problems. Peer and teacher behavior were observed at baseline and post…

This study investigates the extent to which teacher-student interactions in fifth grade classrooms are associated with peer behavior in fifth grade, accounting for prior peer functioning. Participants included 894 fifth grade students from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The quality of teacher-student interactions…

To introduce this special issue, the concept of the teacher as an ''invisible hand'' is presented as a metaphor to describe the potentially influential but relatively understudied contribution that educators are likely to have on children's peer relationships and their broader interpersonal growth. Building from conceptual work distinguishing…

Teachers and students in 39 1st, 3rd and 5th grade classrooms participated in a study of teaching practices and classroom peer networks. Teachers reported on their attitudes towards aggression and withdrawal, provided rationales for their seating arrangements, and were observed on patterns of emotional and instructional support and classroom…

This study investigated the reciprocal effects between teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) and two dimensions of classroom peer relatedness, peer liking and peer academic reputation (PAR), across three years in elementary school and the effect of both TSRQ and the peer relatedness dimensions on academic self efficacy. Participants were 695…

Peers influence children's social-emotional development and school engagement in important and unique ways. Recent research on peer social networks documents that children are affected by the nature of the school-based peer ecology, as well as by their personal peer experiences. Yet, little is known about how teachers affect the peer ecology, nor…

This study reports two separate cross-sectional investigations that focus on bully/victim problems among Hong Kong school children. Study 1 included 1361 children (670 boys, 691 girls; mean age = 12.6 years) and Study 2 included 288 children (153 boys, 135 girls; mean age = 9.6 years). Children's social and academic functioning was assessed with…

Close mutual friendships may help protect socially anxious early adolescents against concurrent psychosocial risks. This study investigated whether close mutual friendships moderated associations among social anxiety and several indices of psychosocial maladjustment (loneliness, peer victimization, and low social self-efficacy) in early…

The longitudinal relationships between two dimensions of peer relationships and subsequent academic adjustment were investigated in a sample of 543 relatively low achieving children (M = 6.57 years at Year 1, 1st grade). Latent variable SEM was used to test a four stage model positing indirect effects of peer acceptance and peer academic…