Background: This study examines the influence of 2 noncognitive skills, self-esteem and teamwork, on social disaster response awareness among Korean adolescents. Although self-esteem is a well-established predictor of health-related knowledge, the inclusion of teamwork in this study is motivated by its collective nature and its relevance to social…

Advances in social norm research indicated the potential benefit of utilizing social referents, who are highly connected to others and have outstanding positions in social networks, and therefore may effectively provide normative cues for other group members. Addressing the need to increase intergroup tolerance among adolescents, we developed an…

Associations between social norms and bullying bystander behaviours have been studied extensively over the years, but the mechanisms by which subjective norms influence bystander behaviours remain unclear. This study is the first to examine whether bystander popularity moderates the association between perceived peer pressure for intervention and…

High school students are often involved in sexual and dating violence. The bystander approach aims to stop sexual and dating violence from their initial occurrence by promoting social norms supporting victims and tolerating no violence. Recent studies of high school bystander programs report promising evidence of effectiveness in improving…

Research into bystander apathy has focused on the barriers to intervening when the perpetrators and witnesses of violence are strangers. Although violence also occurs in the presence of friends, family, and other close ties, it is unclear how these affiliations constrain the behavior of bystanders in these situations. To explore this question,…

Ellis et al. (2012) bring an evolutionary perspective to bear on adolescent risky behavioral development, clinical practice, and public policy. The authors offer important insights that (a) some risky behaviors may be adaptive for the individual and the species by being hard-wired due to fitness benefits and (b) interventions might be more…

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of Thailand adolescents regarding the prevalence of smoking, the popularity of smoking among successful/elite elements of society, and disapproval of smoking by friends and parents. These perceptions were analyzed in conjunction with actual smoking and smoking susceptibility rates among the…

This study investigated the social dynamics that underlie the negative association between religiosity and cigarette use among U.S. adolescents. Using data from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the authors used a theory-based conceptual model (vicarious learning networks [VLN]) to examine the role that key reference group norms…

AIDS is the leading killer of African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, many of whom became infected when they were teenagers or young adults. The disparity in HIV infection rate among African Americans youth residing in rural Southern regions of the United States suggests that there is an urgent need to identify ways to promote early…

Behavioral decision research offers a general approach to studying cognitive aspects of decision making, as well as a platform for studying their interplay with social and affective processes. Applied to any decision, behavioral decision research involves three interrelated tasks: (a) "normative" analysis, identifying the expected impacts of…

This study tested a person-group dissimilarity model for the relation between peer preference on the one hand, and bullying and victimization on the other. This model accounts for both individual and group (i.e., classroom) factors and postulates that children will be rejected by their peers when they display behaviors that deviate from the group…

Describes the "Check and Connect" model of monitoring in a secondary school environment. Students seen as at risk for dropping out of school were assigned a monitor who then built a trusting relationship with the student through which support was given and advocacy provided within the school environment. (MKA)

Financial incentives for teen parents are components of state welfare programs intended to encourage enrollment, attendance, and completion of high school as a means of increasing employment and earnings and reducing welfare dependence. The incentives take the form of bonuses and sanctions to the welfare grant related to school enrollment,…