The goal of the present study was to explore the relations between social avoidance, peer preference, loneliness, and social sensitivity among urban Chinese children. Participants were 951 children attending primary and middle schools from grade 3 to grade 7. Cross-sectional data were collected using self-report assessments and peer nominations.…

Youth civic engagement is relatively low in the United States. However, when students are involved in an action civics class (like Generation Citizen), they enthusiastically take action on a wide variety of topics. To systematically assess what issues youth are interested in, we analyzed administrative data from 1,651 action projects conducted by…

This study explored the relationship between social interaction anxiety (SIA) and problematic smartphone use (PSU) among Chinese adolescents. Further, the roles of online basic psychological needs satisfaction (online BPNS), nature connectedness (NC), and related differences between urban and rural adolescents were examined. We recruited 840…

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative, non-experimental study was to determine if there is a difference in reading self-efficacy and perceived learning among fourth- and fifth-grade inner city students who participated in experiential learning and those that did not participate in experiential learning. Experiential learning is…

This case study examines the motivations of, and processes used by teacher leaders to establish a peace program at their middle school. These teacher leaders creatively engaged students in transforming school culture using empowering strategies to build positive peace among students, administrators, and teachers. Theories of peace education are…

People who regard nature as important and personally meaningful are often compelled to conserve it. This compulsion is increasingly vital in a world where global climate and biodiversity crises are worsening, with younger generations set to bear most of the resulting ecological burden. By understanding why children and adolescents value nature, we…

This study aimed to (a) identify mentoring quality profiles based on characteristics of informal mentoring relationships, (b) examine how mentor and youth demographic characteristics were related to the profiles, and (c) investigate whether the profiles were related to youth's academic outcomes. Participants were 411 ninth-grade urban, low-income…

Critical consciousness represents the analysis and critique of structural inequalities, the motivation and perceived capacity to effect change, and social action to redress inequity. A wave of recent instruments measuring critical consciousness have been rigorously validated. Yet, whether these measures efficiently assess different levels of…

Critical consciousness represents the analysis and critique of structural inequalities, the motivation and perceived capacity to effect change, and social action to redress inequity. A wave of recent instruments measuring critical consciousness has been rigorously validated. Yet, whether these measures efficiently assess different levels of…

Children in urban environments tend to have limited exposure to environmental education programs for many reasons. This paper describes the development of a short-session after-school program, created to introduce children in an inner-city school to the concept of urban ecology. In this program, we met with a class of 20 fifth graders once a week…

Objective: To identify subgroups of urban youth based on their self- and teacher-reported mental health symptoms, and to explore characteristics of these subgroups. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 426 eighth-grade students (M[subscript age] = 13.22 years; 70.1% Black/ African American; 58.7% female) across 20 Baltimore City public schools were…

Despite increasing interest in improving academic outcomes for students by enhancing mindfulness, there is a paucity of evidence that greater mindfulness is associated with success in school. We measured mindfulness with the short-form Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) in over 2,000 urban students in Grades 5-8. The MAAS had good internal…

Background: Youth from low-income, racially and ethnically diverse families are at increased risk for academic challenges and nutritionally inadequate diets. Summer programs offer an opportunity to foster interest and engage students in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education while addressing summer learning loss.…

To better understand STEM interest development during adolescence in an urban community, we examined how "STEM Interested" youth differed from disinterested youth and how interest changed over time from age 11/12 to 12/13. We surveyed youth to measure interest in four components of STEM, used cluster analysis to categorize youth based on…

Background: Creativity is an important ability for problem-solving in both personal life and academic learning. Few creativity studies have investigated the development of children's creativity in disadvantaged rural areas or compared the rural-urban differences through digital game-based creativity learning. Understanding such differences can…