Fostering pro-environmental behavior to achieve a sustainable society is one goal of Education for Sustainable Development worldwide. Connectedness with nature positively correlates with pro-environmental behavior and therefore needs to be studied in detail. In this mixed-method study, applying the "Inclusion of Nature in Self"…

Trauma-informed practices are gaining momentum in educational settings. This growth is in part due to the knowledge we are learning about childhood trauma and how it impacts children well into adulthood. The more we know about the impact of childhood trauma, the more crucial it is for schools to utilize trauma-informed practices. The purpose of…

This study examines whether bullies' gender conformity, pressure to conform to gender norms (felt pressure), and experiences of homophobic name-calling are associated with a tendency to bully gender conforming victims (GCV) and gender non-conforming victims (GNCV). Longitudinal changes were analyzed on all peer interactions in an entire 6th-grade…

This study examined bullying and cyberbullying among 185 middle school students in 4 urban middle schools in Ohio. Nearly 60% of the sample was female, and 67% of the sample was not Caucasian. The results indicated that bullying and cyberbullying are prevalent in this population. Approximately 44% of 6th-grade students felt terrible about…

In response to media reports of increased teasing and bullying in schools following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we investigated its prevalence with a Virginia school climate survey completed by approximately 155,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Survey results were mapped onto presidential election results…

The present study performed a systematic comparison of DSM-5 and ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for reading disability. We quantitatively investigated the consequences of using DSM-5 or ICD-11, and of the different ways of implementing each diagnostic criterion on the prevalence of reading disability. We did so in a representative sample of the…

Research has identified at least three patterns of direct involvement in bullying and victimization: bullying, bullying-victimized, and predominantly victimized. However, little is known about risk and protective factors for these patterns. As such, the goals of the present study were to establish these patterns and examine risk and protective…

While considerable research exists on bullying in P-12 schools, few empirical studies address bullying and gifted students. Moreover, the field of Gifted, Talented, and Creative Education lacks single construct studies on covert aggression and gifted students. Also known as "relational aggression," covert aggression purposefully…

Homophobic name-calling is commonplace in middle schools and is emerging as an antecedent to more serious, deleterious concerns, including depressive or anxious symptoms among youth. While music education researchers suggest that youth enrolled in music ensembles are targets for homophobic epitaphs, little is known about how experiencing…

Guided by the biopsychosocial model, we examined (a) the prevalence of weight control behaviors (WCBs; i.e., trying to stay the same weight, lose weight, gain weight, or do nothing about weight) among early adolescent boys by race/ethnicity and grade level, and (b) how the boys' perceptions of sociocultural pressures (from parents, peers, and…

This study aims to validate the Bullying and Cyberbullying Behaviors Questionnaire, to examine the prevalence of bullying and victimization behaviors in Portuguese middle school students, and to analyse the differences in victimization and bullying between genders and across school grades. The questionnaire is composed of 36 items, allowing for…

Mathematical problem solving typically involves manipulating visual symbols (e.g., equations), and prior research suggests that those symbols serve as diagrammatic representations (e.g., Landy & Goldstone, 2010). The present work examines the ways that instructional design of student engagement with these diagrammatic representations may…

We examined rates of bullying and victimization among children identified as gifted who were in transition from elementary to middle school in a Southern U.S. school district. We also investigated levels of distress associated with bullying and victimization. Our results indicated that the fourth graders, before transition to middle school,…

Systematic research into bullying has a short history of about 40 years. Investigations on school bullying within a multicultural context are especially limited. As schools in the 21st century grow more culturally diverse due to globalization and immigration, there is a need to look into bullying within this changing population. Specifically, the…

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts and presents a line of research aimed at improving the measurement of bullying in schools. The first manuscript investigated the impact of an educational video on self-reports of bullying. A sample of 1,283 middle school students in randomly assigned classrooms either watched or did not watch an…