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.…

In order to reach gender equity in the gifted population, an affirmative action policy was instituted in Israel to increase the number of girls identified as gifted. The purpose of this study was to compare the self-efficacy beliefs of girls in the top 1.5% (gifted girls (GG)) with those of girls in the top 3% (GG in affirmative action). It was…

The associations between self-perception and attachment orientations and three aspects of children's competence within friendships were examined: "Managing conflict", "seeking support", and "giving support". Questionnaires were completed by 260 4th- and 5th-grade students. Homeroom teachers reported on the children's…

Prior research has demonstrated that victims of peer victimization show reduced psychological adjustment, social adjustment, and physical well-being compared with nonvictims. However, little research has addressed whether this maladjustment continues over the long term. This study examined adjustment in 72 high school students who had participated…

This study examined associations among children's agentic (social influence, status, power) and communal (relationship, affiliation) goals for peer interaction, cognitive and affective responses to hypothetical peer conflict, and teacher-reported achievement and behavior at school ("N" = 367; "M" age = 9.9 years). Agentic goals…

The authors examined whether the adjustment patterns of socially and overtly aggressive preadolescent girls, ages 9 to 11 years, from rural communities differed by ethnicity. Students were administered a series of questionnaires to assess the degree to which girls engaged in various forms of aggression and to assess aggressive girls' social,…

Youth in underserved, urban communities are at risk for a range of negative outcomes related to stress, including social-emotional difficulties, behavior problems, and poor academic performance. Mindfulness-based approaches may improve adjustment among chronically stressed and disadvantaged youth by enhancing self-regulatory capacities. This paper…

Background: Prior studies outside of the UK have shown that peer victimization is negatively associated with school adjustment. Aims: To examine concurrent and short-term longitudinal associations between peer victimization (physical, malicious teasing, deliberate social exclusion, and malicious gossiping) and two measures of school adjustment…

Background: Optimism and pessimism are positive and negative expectations linked with well-being in adults. Research on the importance of optimism and pessimism in children is limited by the lack of a developmentally appropriate measure of children's expectations. Method: Based upon the Life Orientation Test-Revised (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges,…