Background: Whereas previous research suggests a positive association between racial discrimination and early adolescent adjustment problems, few studies examine the relationship between discrimination and school connectedness as it relates to adjustment problems among Hispanic early adolescents. In this study, we examined if depressive symptoms…

Background: Although use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) is increasingly prevalent among young adults, little is known about predictors of ENDS initiation among this population. Aims: We examined the roles of the social environment (i.e., peer ENDS use and household ENDS use), normative beliefs (i.e., social acceptability of ENDS…

Guided by the social emotional learning framework, this study examined whether early adolescents' social awareness (empathic concern, perspective taking) and self-management (effortful control) would uniquely contribute to early adolescents' subsequent forms of aggression, and whether perceptions of their school climate (friction, cohesion,…

The current study examined the role of school connectedness as a moderator of the associations between overt and relational forms of peer victimization and early adolescents' subsequent adjustment problems. Data were collected from 490 adolescents when they were initially in the sixth and seventh grades and again 1 year later. Regression analyses…

This study examined (a) the associations between school connectedness and early adolescent adjustment problems over a 1 year period and (b) the equivalence of these associations across gender. Five hundred middle school students (53.4% female), initially in the 6th and 7th grades, participated in the two-wave study. Results from two-group…

The present study tested two competing models to assess whether psychosocial adjustment problems mediate the associations between peer victimization and school connectedness one year later, or if peer victimization mediates the associations between psychosocial adjustment problems and school connectedness. Participants were 500 10- to 14-year-old…

The present study examined the independent and interactive relations of effortful control and two family environment variables (parent-adolescent conflict and negative family relations) on the subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 459 European American and Latino adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14. Hierarchical regression…

This longitudinal study examined whether the risk and positive factors contributing to the delinquent behaviors and internalizing problems of 454 Latino adolescents varied across maternal linguistic acculturation and adolescent gender. Although the level of cumulative risk to which the 10-to-14-year old adolescents were exposed did not vary by…

The present study examined the roles of student perceptions of four aspects of school climate (friction, cohesion, competition among students, and satisfaction with classes) as moderators of the relations between effortful control and subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms. Participants were 488 10-to-14-year old students involved in…

Researchers have suggested that good-quality school climates foster a sense of connection to the school and in this way contribute to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. However, few studies have directly assessed the role of school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Using path analysis, this brief report examined whether…

The direct and mediated effects of socioenvironmental risk on internalizing and externalizing problems among Latino youth aged 10-14 were examined using prospective analyses. Participants in this study were 464 Latino mother and child dyads surveyed as part of the "Welfare, Children & Families: A Three City Study." It was hypothesized that…