Previous research suggests both social contextual and individual difference variables contribute to chronic peer victimization. We tested whether two individual difference variables--anxiety sensitivity (AS) and internalizing symptoms (IS)--predicted persistent peer victimization in elementary school children. Participants were 677 fourth-grade…

The current study aims to examine and compare predictors of attitudinal support for campus carry and concealed carrying behaviors on a campus where faculty, staff, and students can legally carry a weapon. This explores the relationship between attitudes and behaviors as it relates to concealed weapons on campuses. Whereas attitudinal correlates…

Children who stutter are at risk of being excluded, rejected, or bullied at school because of their impairment. The aim of the current research is to assess the relationship between students and teachers and students' social status in their peer group and bullying dimensions in children who stutter. A total of 536 children -- 62 affected by…

Given high rates of relationship violence among adolescents, there is a need to understand variables that influence adolescents' helping behaviors to reduce risk for dating and sexual violence (reactive) and promote prevention before violence happens or risk factors are evident (proactive). The current paper examined individual and school…

Peer report of aggression has typically been obtained through peer nominations. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which peer nominations and peer ratings identified the same children as aggressive and to explore whether the two methods were equally accurate in identifying children at risk for poor social adjustment.…

The current study sheds some light on the extent to which adolescents say they are experiencing bullying, what they think they would do when confronted with bullies, and what they have actually done in the past when witnessing bullying. Results from a survey of 1,742 adolescents indicates even young adolescents have already experienced verbal,…

Recent research highlights the role of peer victimization in students' adjustment across a variety of domains (e.g., academic, social), but less often identifies potential mediating variables. In the current study, we tested for direct effects from peer victimization to adolescents' academic behavior and alcohol use, as well as indirect effects…

We surveyed public school educators on the workplace incivility and workplace bullying they experienced and obtained their ratings of the organizational climate of the school. We used multilevel modeling to determine the effects of individual-level and school-level predictors. Ratings of school climate were significantly related to incivility and…

As adolescents become increasingly immersed in electronic technologies, popular adolescents may act in similar ways online as they do offline. This longitudinal study employed peer nominations and self-reports to examine perceived popularity and social preference in relation to cyber social behaviors among 256 adolescents during the fall (T1) and…

This study investigates how students respond to peer aggression. Results indicate that boys tend to use more retaliatory responses to peer aggression compared with girls, who are more likely to confide in their friends. The use of humor in response to being victimized also was found to be a promising way to respond to being victimized, especially…

This study investigated a rural sample of boys' and girls' (N = 205) perceptions of what behaviors constitute bullying and examined whether being a victim of aggression was predictive of perpetrating physical and relational aggression. Results indicated that predictors of perpetrating relational aggression included victimization of relational…

The No Child Left Behind Act requires state boards of education to identify schools that are unsafe. Schools that are identified by measures such as suspension and expulsion rates are subsequently labeled "persistently dangerous." To our knowledge there is no published research that attempts to characterize fighting behavior among youths…

This study explores whether the association between substance use and involvement in youth violence is a unique association resulting from the properties of the drugs, or whether it is part of a larger behavioral cluster. The sample was composed of 1,571 10th grade students from the Israeli secular and religious state school systems, including…

This study first examined a model of the predictors and mediators of both suicidal ideation and violent ideation, particularly since both types of ideation were highly correlated (r = 0.55) among our young adolescent participants. The variables in the model were those identified in media accounts of the histories of the 10 high-profile school…