Higher amounts of family involvement are often positively associated with children's academic skills. There are, however, myriad ways families could be involved in their children's education, which warrant exploration to better inform practice and policy. The purpose of this study was to use a person-centered approach--latent class analysis--to…

Educational researchers have long recognized that teachers have an "invisible hand" with which they can subtly shape students' relationships. Through seating arrangements, instructional groups, and general classroom management strategies, teachers have many opportunities to shape friendships and status dynamics in the classroom. The…

Shy children display wariness in unfamiliar social situations and often experience feelings of social anxiety. This study explored the potential mediating role of cognitive biases in the link between shyness and social anxiety in early adolescence. In particular, we focused on judgments of the probability and cost of negative social situations…

The purpose of the current study was to understand the association between bullying experiences (i.e., bullying, victimization, and defending) and social, emotional, and cognitive factors. The social factor was social skills (i.e., empathy, assertion, cooperation, responsibility); the emotional factor was emotional difficulties (i.e., personal…

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…

Objective: To evaluate the short-term outcome of the social marketing approach used in Project FIT, we developed a school- and community-based programme for promoting healthful eating and physical activity in kindergarten to 5th-grade children and their parents. Design: A 2-year quasi-experiment for children and two cross-sectional surveys for…

Prospective longitudinal data from over 14,000 youth residing in 28 communities in the rural United States were analyzed to examine the emergence of mixed-sex friendship groups in early adolescence. Youth were surveyed on 5 occasions between fall of 6th grade and spring of 9th grade. At each assessment, youth reported the names of up to 7…

Despite popular beliefs about social mobility in American society, research consistently shows that inequalities are reproduced across generations. And yet, while social reproduction hinges on the transmission of advantages from parents to children, scholars take for granted children's role in this process. We do not know whether children…