Adolescence is often portrayed in a negative light in Western culture, with teens being viewed as rebellious and irresponsible. Yet, there is substantial cultural and individual variability in views of teens. The empirical research to date is limited in that it mainly examines whether teen stereotypes are influential at the individual level. Teen…

This research examined parents' restriction of children's peer relationships in the United States and China. American and Chinese children (N = 934; M[subscript age] = 12.67 years) reported on their parents' peer restriction (e.g., limiting children's time with peers) and their behavioral and psychological adjustment 3 times over a year.…

This research examines whether prior research may not have detected cultural-specificity in the role of controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting in children's adjustment because of reliance on between-individual analyses. In two longitudinal studies (Ns = 825 and 934) of early adolescents, within-individual analyses were conducted to examine…

Student engagement, consisting of behavioural, cognitive, and emotional components, has been proven to influence both academic success and psychological well-being. To examine the linkages among the three aspects of academic engagement, a sample of 789 Chinese primary school students (47% girls; 39% 3rd graders, 31% 4th graders, 30% 5th graders)…

Background: Although there is an increasing recognition of the importance of critical thinking in science education across the world, the relevant research literature is extremely thin. There is an urgent need to generate more empirical evidence. Purpose: We examined two essential issues concerning critical thinking (the relationship between…

Evidence is widely recognized as an essential component of argumentation. Existing research has primarily focused on students' use of evidence to construct explanations or claims. In the present study, 54 11- to 12-year-old Chinese students participated in an extended discourse-based argumentation curriculum, along with an equivalent…

According to the self-determination theory, autonomy-supportive teaching is considered an effective approach to motivate students to learn. The present study investigates the effect of students' perceived autonomy support on math achievement over time, i.e. from grades 4 to 6, using a longitudinal survey administered in Chinese elementary schools.…

Prior research has documented that mindfulness is negatively associated with aggressive behaviors. Recently, studies have examined mediating psychological constructs that account for the relationships between mindfulness and cyberbullying perpetration. The purpose of the current study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between…

This study examined whether having vulnerable friends helps or hurts victimized and depressed (i.e., vulnerable) adolescents and whether this depends on classroom supportive norms. Students (n = 1461, 46.7% girls, 93.4% Han nationality) were surveyed four times from seventh and eighth grade (M[subscript age] = 13 years) in 2015 and 2016 in Central…

Stress among adolescents is a growing concern due to its adverse effects on health and social functioning, especially in China. Awe is related to relief of daily stress and reduction of stress-related symptoms. However, existing research related to perceived stress in Chinese adolescents has not considered awe; moreover, the possible influence of…

The present study took a differentiated perspective on parental psychological control to examine its impact on adolescent adjustment among urban (n = 349, females: 53%) and rural (n = 293, females: 54%) Chinese adolescents (M[subscript age] = 12.14 years). Four times over the first 2 years of Junior High school (from October, 2016 to April, 2018),…

The present study examines the ways Chinese high school EFL learners organize information in their writing. A class of 50 students at grade 9 from a local high school in Guangzhou, China, were recruited as participants. The students' writing at grade 9 was collected as a corpus, comprising ten writing tasks from different text types. In order to…

This research evaluated the role of high-status peers in youth's academic engagement. Youth (mean age = 12.7 years) in the United States and China (N = 934) made social status (i.e., sociometric popularity, perceived popularity, and admiration) nominations of their peers in the fall and spring of their first year of middle school. They also…

In elementary and middle schools in China, core subject teachers serve as homeroom teachers in most classes. Nevertheless, some schools are beginning to try to use non-core subject teachers as homeroom teachers. A series of disputes have arisen over the non-core subject teacher serving as the homeroom teacher. Based on defining the concepts of the…

Associations between social norms and bullying bystander behaviours have been studied extensively over the years, but the mechanisms by which subjective norms influence bystander behaviours remain unclear. This study is the first to examine whether bystander popularity moderates the association between perceived peer pressure for intervention and…