Learners from underserved backgrounds tend to show lower levels of college readiness (ACT, 2016a; ACT, 2018). In part to address these disparities, the authors investigated growth in social and emotional (SE) skills in a cohort of largely Hispanic, high-poverty students who participated in GEAR UP. GEAR UP is a discretionary federal grant program…

The present study investigates links between early adolescents' subjective experiences of stress associated with the middle school transition and their academic outcomes. Seventh and eighth grade students (N?=?774) were surveyed about their experiences during their transition to middle school. Students answered questions about stress…

Peer victimization is a highly stressful experience that impacts up to a third of all adolescents and can contribute to a variety of negative outcomes, including elevated anxiety, depression, drug use, and delinquency, as well as reduced self-esteem, school attendance, and academic achievement. Current prevention approaches (e.g., the Olweus…

Friendships can provide a critical buffer against stress for youth, but the extent to which they serve this role depends on whether they provide resources that youth value most. These valued provisions may differ for girls and boys and across stages of development. This study examined whether gender differences in friendship values intensify…

Becoming a victim of verbal and social bullying in middle school can lead to illness, psychological stress, and maladjustment. The coping strategies that students utilize when they are bullied may influence the likelihood and severity of these negative effects. In this study, we examined the predictions made by students in two middle schools about…

The present study was part of a group randomized controlled trial in which 7th grade students were assigned to a yoga intervention or physical-education-as-usual. Sixteen students were randomly selected from the yoga condition to participate in one-on-one interviews. Qualitative analyses revealed 13 themes that were organized into two categories:…

This study investigated the social, emotional and mental wellbeing predictors of bullying victimisation and perpetration for boarding students following the transition from primary school to secondary boarding school. Longitudinal data on 76 male and 74 female boarding students in Grades 7, 8 and 9 was used from a larger longitudinal study of…

Adolescence is a time where individuals face a myriad of physical, cognitive, psychological, and social changes, presenting a time of stress and ambiguity. Experiencing stressful life events during this time introduces yet another challenge for the adolescent to address. The present study tested a reciprocal causation hypothesis. From this…

In this study, we examined whether socio-motivational relationships, such as student-student relationships (SSR) and teacher-student relationships (TSR), as well as peers as positive motivators (PPM) and teachers as positive motivators (TPM), would mediate the association of both perceived stress and neuroticism with test anxiety in 1,088 German…

Prior research from Norway and Japan has demonstrated positive relationships between stress and bullying--The more stress students experience, the more they engage in bullying. The modest correlations, however, suggest that other variables may moderate the stress-bullying link, serving as protective factors that make such negative responses to…

Students who are victimized by their peers are at risk for developing depressive symptoms, which is detrimental for academic and social development. Social support may be a protective factor for peer victims, and the manner in which this occurs may vary according to gender, age, and other demographic variables. This study examined the main and…

Consistent with a Diathesis × Stress model, it was hypothesized that anxious solitude (individual vulnerability) and the middle school transition (environmental stress) would jointly predict peer exclusion and victimization trajectories. Youth (N = 688) were followed from 3rd through 7th grade, with the middle school transition in 6th grade.…

Recent evidence suggests that helping students reappraise common social and academic worries during the difficult transition to middle school can improve their academic achievement. To further test this outcome, we conducted a pre-registered randomized controlled trial at scale among students transitioning to middle school in seventh grade (N =…

Middle school students are in even more need of social and emotional support due to the cognitive, social, and emotional changes occurring at this stage of their development (Caskey & Anfara, 2014), and their teachers are key players in providing what is needed. Unfortunately, there are few Institutions of Higher Education that offer programs…

Adolescent stress is clearly implicated in the development of mental health problems. However, its role in dysfunctional body image, which rises markedly in adolescence, has not been investigated. The present study examined the link between stress and body image, as well as self-esteem and depressive symptoms, in 533 high school students in grades…