Assessed Canadian young adolescents' peer relationships as students moved from grade 6 in small elementary schools to middle-level schools offering grades 7 to 12. Found that girls experienced greater instability in reciprocated friendships than boys. Found that girls, more so than boys, lost old friendships and formed new friendships with…

Reviews literature on links between parenting and children's cognitive competence, proposing that social and emotional adjustment might play a critical role in mediating the relationship between these variables. Describes a program of research on family functioning, emotional distress, self-restraint, and academic performance. Explores future…

Discusses the use of goal theory to guide schoolwide change, focusing on the results of a three-year project designed to introduce task-focused learning at an elementary and middle school. Based on classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires, the study identified various impediments to school change related to teacher and administrator…

Examined peer groups and school ethnic composition as risk factors for peer harassment during early adolescence. Peers nominated aggressive and harassed students and reported self-perceived loneliness, social anxiety, and global self-esteem. Found that deviations from normative perceptions of a person's peer group were particularly detrimental to…

Surveyed middle school students on incidents of bullying and victimization. Found that psychosocial and behavioral predictors such as problem behaviors, attitudes toward deviance, peer influences, depressive symptoms, school-related functioning, and parenting linearly separated never bullied or victimized students from the victim group, from the…

Two studies examined elementary school students' self-beliefs over time and how the transition to middle school affected those beliefs. Found that self-esteem did not change during elementary school but decreased following the middle school transition. Competence beliefs and beliefs about the usefulness and importance of different activities…

This longitudinal study examined relations between sociometric status and school adjustment among middle school students. Findings indicated that sixth-grade sociometric status predicted eighth-grade adjustment when controlling for initial adjustment. Compared to average status students, controversial status students had lower classroom grades,…

Risk and protective factors associated with disordered eating were examined in girls in middle-level school. Analysis showed that low competence in physical appearance, high importance of social acceptance, high self-oriented perfectionism, and low parental support were correlated significantly with reports of high levels of disordered eating.…