The association between teachers' identification of children who use threats and children's self-identification as threateners was explored. The role of age, gender, and various student characteristics in influencing teachers' identification of threateners was examined. Participants were 3,201 children in Grades 3 through 6. Results indicated…

The current investigation examined the role of cumulative risk, family routines, maternal monitoring, mother-child relationship quality, and youth socioemotional competence in adjustment outcomes of 521 10- to 14-year-old low-income Latino early adolescents. Results showed that, as the number of risk factors increased, levels of externalizing and…

Few studies have examined the predictors of substance use for ethnic minority adolescents. The current longitudinal study investigated whether factors predictive of substance use for Caucasian adolescents were also predictive for African American adolescents. Results indicated which predictors of substance use actually differ across African…

With increasing attention to school violence and aggression, it is argued that more covert, natured, subtle conflicts among students should be carefully examined and addressed to prevent negative outcomes. This article provides an overview of current knowledge on relational aggression including its definition, its link to a number of adjustment…

Fifth-graders' (N = 162; 93 girls) relationships with parents and friends were examined with respect to their main and interactive effects on psychosocial functioning. Participants reported on parental support, the quality of their best friendships, self-worth, and perceptions of social competence. Peers reported on aggression, shyness and…

This study aimed to determine whether self-assessed puberty is sufficiently reliable and valid to substitute for physician examination when feasibility of physician examination is low (e.g., behavioral research). Adolescents (convenience sample N = 178 endocrinology patients and N = 125 from educational trial; mean age 12.7 and 11.3 years,…

Youth violence is an important public health problem, but few researchers have studied violence from youth's perspectives. Middle school students' essays about the causes of youth violence were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods. The causes of violence identified by students were categorized into individual, peer, family, and…

An important element of the context in which children are educated is the safety in their schools. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships among student perceptions of community safety, school environment, substance use, and school safety with a total of 3,092 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Data were used from the…

Stressful experiences, self-evaluations, and self-standards associated with multiple contexts of development (i.e., school, family, sports/athletics) were investigated as predictors of initiation of sexual activity during the transition to adolescence. A sample of 134 seventh and eighth graders was followed as part of a 4-wave, 2-year longitudinal…

There is a need for an effective violence reduction program for early adolescents in schools. Social psychologists have had success teaching adolescents integrative negotiation strategies that help them to resolve potentially violent conflicts. The caveat is that these strategies are effective only in cooperative social contexts and backfire in…