This study focused on academic and social correlates of collaborator preferences of African American and White sixth-graders in mathematics classrooms in fall and spring. Students' appraisals of emotional risk were examined as a moderator. Nomination procedures identified collaborator preferences, group affiliations, and social centrality;…

Perceptions of the ecology and middle school transition are examined in relation to interpersonal competence patterns (ICPs) of approximately 3,000 sixth graders (46.2% boys) including 415 students with disabilities from 26 metropolitan schools. Teacher ratings of students' academic competence, externalizing and internalizing behavior, popularity,…

This study examines concurrent and short-term longitudinal (i.e., academic year) relations between peer network racial/ethnic diversity and indicators of social and academic competence in a sample of African American, Latino, Native American, and White sixth-grade students attending rural schools (N = 481; 50% female). Results from two-level…

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' attunement to student peer group affiliations as a factor in students' experiences of the school social-affect context. First, the author and her colleagues hypothesize that teacher attunement will be greater in intervention versus control schools following initial SEALS training. Second, they…

Dynamic features of peer network experiences (membership fluidity and network interconnectedness) were examined for their role in African American and White early adolescents' sense of belonging in mathematics classrooms. Because these dynamic features are naturally present in adolescents' peer group affiliations, attention to them provides a more…