This paper focuses on the role of non-native peers in classrooms. What is the impact of classroom composition on short- and long-term academic outcomes of native students? This study takes multiple approaches to estimate the causal impact of non-native students in Grade 9 on students' test scores and college attainment. The author finds that while…

The transition from middle into high school can be perilous for some students. High school freshmen fail at an alarming rate. In a general sense, the environment, expectations, structure, and culture of high schools are different from middle schools. However, school leaders can implement transition programs that may promote success of 9th graders.…

The aim of the present study was to explore how teenagers explain why bullying takes place at school, and whether there were any differences in explaining bullying due to gender and prior bullying experiences. One hundred and seventy-six Swedish students in Grade 9 responded to a questionnaire. Mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative methods)…

Studies of when youth classify academic achievement in racial terms have focused on the racial classification of behaviors and individuals. However, institutions--including schools--may also be racially classified. Drawing on a comparative interview study, we examine the school contexts that prompt urban black students to classify schools in…

This working paper is a summary of the author's dissertation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for her doctoral degree under the supervision of Dr. Judith Torney-Purta (successfully defended February 4, 2009). In her study she explored potential explanations for disparities in adolescent civic engagement through a comprehensive…

This study examined the extent to which sixth grade peer status could predict anxiety and/or depression in 5,242 women and 5,004 men who were born in 1953 and whose hospital records were followed up from 1973-2003. The data used was the Stockholm Birth Cohort Study. While no association could be established for men, results indicated that women…

Adolescent girls reported on their experiences both as perpetrators and as victims of several distinct forms of relational aggression. Details of these incidents were gathered from 114 ethnically diverse ninth and tenth graders via a secure online survey. The frequency with which girls perpetrated or were targeted for particular acts of relational…

Few youth suicide prevention programs are theory based and systematically evaluated. This study evaluated the pilot implementation of a community-based youth suicide prevention project guided by an ecological perspective. One hundred fifty-seven adults representing various constituencies from educators to health care providers and 131 ninth-grade…

Analyses examined risk factors for seventh- and ninth-grade youth categorized as nonoffenders, physically violent, relationally aggressive, and both violent and relationally aggressive. Bivariate and multivariate results showed that relationally aggressive youth were elevated on most risks above levels for nonoffenders but lower than those for…

From a prospective study of the development of psychopathology, 129 adolescents were identified who transitioned to a new school in ninth grade. The current study examined the contributions of sex, interpersonal and achievement orientations, peer and academic stressors, and their interactions to the prediction of depressive and aggressive symptoms…

This study investigated how social group status and group bias are related to adolescents' reasoning about social acceptance. Ninth and eleventh-grade students (N = 379) were asked to make judgments about the inclusion of individuals in school activities based on their peer crowd membership. The results of the study revealed that both…

A study examined the influence of coauthoring on the writing process in the classroom. Subjects were 24 students in a ninth-grade English class at a racially and socioeconomically diverse high school located in a medium-sized Midwestern city. Data was collected over the first 9-week quarter of the year. Eight collaborative writing triads,…

The present study examined the association between body dissatisfaction and adjustment, and the role physical development plays in this association, in an ethnically diverse sample of over 1100 urban, ninth grade boys and girls (M age = 14). More similarities than differences were found across ethnic groups: Caucasian, African American, Latino,…

In this article, we test: (a) the relation between school-based extracurricular participation and indicators of positive and negative development across a range of activity contexts, and (b) a mediation model linking activity participation, prosocial peers, and development. Extensive survey information was collected from a predominately White…