This paper outlines early findings from the Tasmanian-based Social Norms Analysis Project (SNAP). The Social Norms model is presented as a theoretically informed, evidence-based model for reducing alcohol-related harm in youthful populations by utilising the complex and often positive contributions peer groups make to adolescent health and…

This article reports on analyses examining contextual influences on parenting with an ethnically and geographically diverse sample of parents (predominantly mothers) raising 387 children (49% ethnic minority; 51% male) in high-risk communities. Parents and children were followed longitudinally from first through tenth grades. Contextual influences…

Background: The aims of this study were to identify the independent factors associated with intermittent addiction and addiction to the Internet and to examine the psychiatric symptoms in Korean adolescents when the demographic and Internet-related factors were controlled. Methods: Male and female students (N = 912) in the 7th-12th grades were…

A growing body of research indicates that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students are often unsafe at school. Little research has examined school safety for students with LGBT parents. We examined adolescents' perceptions of school safety for students with LGBT parents using data from a survey of 2,302 California sixth through…

The use of illicit and licit drugs continues to be a major public health concern. Many prevention and drug education programs address this issue by attempting to enhance self-esteem. The idea is that increased levels of self-esteem will serve as a protective factor in decreasing the motivation and increasing the resistance to use drugs. This study…

Monitoring the Future (MTF), now in its 35th year, has become one of the nation's most relied-upon sources of information on changes taking place in licit and illicit psychoactive drug use among American adolescents, college students, young adults, and more recently, middle-aged adults. During the last three and a half decades, the study has…

This occasional paper serves as a supplement to one of four annual monographs from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, written by the study's investigators and published by the study's sponsor, the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The full 2009 survey results are reported in "Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use,…

Mass media interventions are among the strategies recommended for youth cigarette smoking prevention, but little is known about optimal methods for reaching diverse youth audiences. Grades 4 through 12 samples of youth from four states (n = 1,230) rated smoking-prevention messages in classroom settings. Similar proportions of African American,…

A total of three hundred and fifteen (n = 315) gifted students from the 10th and 12th grade from the United States (n = 102), China (n = 125) and Germany (n = 88) were surveyed regarding their motivation and self-regulation in chemistry learning. A 3 x 2 x 2 MANOVA revealed "nation" as having the largest major effect on these variables.…

There are several avenues of inquiry that seek to understand and ameliorate the problem of bullying in schools, including the strategy of fostering respect. To date, however, there is little empirical literature testing the presumed relationship between respect and bullying. This study examined this relationship with surveys (N = 3,147) and…

The pivotal issue in today's world talks about HIV/AIDS transmission, it is also understood by virtue that almost every one has the knowledge of the disease and are aware how it is transmitted to others. Despite such understanding, the numbers of infected people are increasing everyday in all part of the world. The drastic scenario of developing…

This article describes both normative changes and individual differences in the gender composition of girls' and boys' friendship networks across adolescence and predicts variations in these changes. It also examines changes in the characteristics (context, age difference, closeness, and support) of same- and other-sex friendships in the network.…

A sense of interdependence, in terms of relations with other individuals, groups, and institutions, is at the heart of the social outcomes of schooling. This paper investigates the views of school students in late primary and middle secondary school about the importance to them of relating constructively with others, commitment to community…

Despite the success of many drug and alcohol prevention programs, drug and alcohol use by adolescents continues to be a problem. One important factor in preventing drug and alcohol use may be determining, in a non-intrusive manner, which students are most at risk for drug involvement. In the present study, the predictive relationship between…

Since the mid-1960s, when illicit drug use burgeoned in the normal youth population, substance use by American young people has proven to be a rapidly changing phenomenon. Smoking, drinking, and illicit drug use are leading causes of morbidity and mortality, both during adolescence as well as later in life. How vigorously the nation responds to…