This study examined the level of congruence and incongruence between fathers', mothers', and adolescents' perceptions of parental monitoring in relation to the adolescents' antisocial behaviors. A sample of 163 father-mother-adolescent triads (59.5% girls; X-bar age = 12.35) filled out separate questionnaires assessing the dimensions of parental…

Adolescence is a sensitive period for taking risks, yet research has not investigated whether adolescents who engage in risk-taking actually "perceive" themselves to be risk-takers. In the current study, students (Grade: 6-8, N = 437) reported on their frequency of risk-taking and perceptions of themselves as risk-takers, forming four…

Prospective associations linking parental responses to peer victimization (i.e., coping suggestions, school contact) with adolescents' coping and experiences of peer victimization were examined. Participants were 203 adolescents (X-bar[subscript] age = 12.16 years, SD = 0.98) and a parent (81% mothers). At Time 1, parents provided open-ended…

Victimization in early adolescence can have severe negative consequences later in life. Friendships are especially important in this time period. The present study investigated friendship selection and influence (contagion) processes with regard to victimization, as well as prosocial and aggressive characteristics of victims' friends. Using social…

This longitudinal study examined the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents who affiliate with antisocial crowds in a gang-impacted urban environment. We followed 405 adolescents (219 boys, 186 girls; average age of 11.51 years, SD = 0.61; 84% Latino, 9% Asian, and 7% other or unclassified) for one academic year. These youth attended a middle…

Coders used real-time focal-child sampling methods to observe the playground behavior and victimization experiences of 600 third to sixth grade youth. Person-centered analyses yielded three profiles that specified aggressive function (reactive, proactive) and form (direct, indirect), and conformed to social-information-processing functional…

This exploratory study examined middle school students' (N = 380) help-seeking behaviors and other reactions to controlling behaviors in their dating relationships. Over three-fourths of the participants perpetrated and were victimized by controlling behaviors in their dating relationships. Youth used emotional/verbal and dominance/isolation forms…

This study supported associations between three theoretically driven conceptualizations of racial and ethnic identity (REI; Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure; Multidimensional Racial Identity Measure; Bicultural Identity Measure) and with adaptive functioning among Canadian indigenous adolescents in middle school to high school. Age differences…

This paper examines the effects of the Fast Track preventive intervention on youths' functioning in three domains: disruptive behavior problems, involvement with deviant peers, and social skills during the middle school years. Eight hundred ninety-one children had been randomly assigned by sets of schools within four sites to intervention (n =…

Students (N = 221) in an intermediate school (grades 5-8) in a rural area of the Southwestern United States completed a survey regarding their familiarity with technology and their experiences with cyberbullying during the school year. Initial evidence of survey reliability is presented. In the sample, 1.5% of participants were classified as…

The association between teachers' identification of children who use threats and children's self-identification as threateners was explored. The role of age, gender, and various student characteristics in influencing teachers' identification of threateners was examined. Participants were 3,201 children in Grades 3 through 6. Results indicated…

Commitment and attachment to school and perception of school norms were examined in a sample of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to determine whether bullies, victims, bully victims, and students who reported no or low levels of bullying and victimization differed in their level of bonding to school and their perceptions of standards and…