During preadolescence, concerns about maintaining and developing friendships, gaining peer acceptance, and avoiding peer victimization become central concerns. The transition to middle school can create or exacerbate these concerns. Parents may be in a position to help preadolescents navigate these developmental and ecological challenges, promote…

Bullying involvement status (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim) and school adjustment were examined in a sample of 1,389 fifth graders (745 female, 644 male) including 145 special education students who were served in general education classrooms for at least 50% of the day. The sample was drawn from 35 rural schools in seven states across all…

Teacher-student relationship has been shown to be a powerful predictor of students' classroom and school adjustment. Beyond the characteristics of warmth, trust, and bond that define an emotional connection, a positive working relationship also includes a sense of collaboration and partnership shared between the teacher and the student. Classroom…

It is well known that teachers frequently observe a decline in the scholastic motivation of many adolescent students, which in turn is often associated with a decline in students' individual school self-concept. In contrast, less is known about the association between students' individual school self-concept and school engagement, or the related…

On the basis of longitudinal data across 9 years, this study examined the contribution of sustained attention and executive function to the poor cognitive and socioemotional adjustment of school-age children whose mothers had depressive symptoms during the child's infancy. Mothers (N = 1,364) reported depressive symptoms across their child's…

Rural children belong to an educationally disadvantaged group whether they migrate or remain in their villages. Using a specially designed questionnaire, this paper surveyed more than 2,500 migrant and left-behind children in the Xixiangtang District of Nanning in Mainland China on issues relating to education and mental state. Through comparisons…

This study attempted to examine the impact of interregional and urban--rural population movements on schools located in areas subjected to high in-migration and outmigration flows in Turkey based on data collected from primary school supervisors (N = 150). A cross-sectional survey design was utilized to examine the most pressing problems…

This study investigated early adolescent friendship selection and social influence with regard to academic motivation (self-efficacy and intrinsic value), engagement (effortful and disruptive behavior), and achievement (GPA calculated from report card grades) among 6th graders (N = 587, 50% girls at Wave 1; N = 576, 52% girls at Wave 2) followed…

The transition from kindergarten to first grade has been described as a critical period for children's academic development. Furthermore, research indicates that peer status is connected with academic adjustment, yet the underlying processes remain unclear. By means of a two-year longitudinal study during kindergarten and first grade (N = 153), we…

In today's learning society, education must focus on fostering adaptive competence (AC) defined as the ability to apply knowledge and skills flexibly in different contexts. In this article, four major types of learning are discussed--constructive, self-regulated, situated, and collaborative--in relation to what students must learn in order to…

This prospective mixed methods longitudinal study examined the connection between mentor-mentee relationship quality and school adjustment amongst students participating in the Chapel Buddy programme, a developmental mentoring programme. Thirty-one sixth graders were paired with 29 kindergarteners for the duration of the school year. Sixth-grade…

The current study examines 3 alternative conceptual models of the directional associations between parent involvement in schooling (homework assistance, home-school conferencing, school-based support) and child adjustment (academic and social competence, aggressive behaviors). The parent socialization model tests the hypothesis that parent…

This study examined physiological and coping responses to peer-evaluative challenges in early adolescence as predictors of academic outcomes. The sample included 123 young adolescents (X-bar[subscript age]) = 12.03 years) who participated in the summer before (T1) and the spring after (T2) the transition to middle school. At T1, respiratory sinus…

This article arises out of a 3-year qualitative-interpretive study (January 2008-January 2011) which focused on identifying the experiences of children and parents of Eastern European heritage and their teachers, where migrant children enter primary schools which have previously had limited exposure to cultural and linguistic diversity. This paper…

Children's peer relations represent a key aspect of school adjustment. However, little is known about their social-cognitive precursors. To address this gap, the authors followed 70 children across the transition to primary school. At Time 1 (age 5), Time 2 (age 6), and Time 3 (age 7), children were assessed on their theory of mind, prosocial…