Many adolescent girls are not participating in the recommended levels of physical activity (PA) and are at risk for unhealthy lifestyles (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Helping girls understand the importance of PA and giving them positive experiences in physical education classes, including fitness testing, may help to…

This research focuses on the interaction between students' domain-specific expectancies and values as a predictor of test anxiety. A subsample of adolescents from the MSALT dataset are used in the current study; students complete measures during the spring of sixth grade and again during the spring of seventh grade. Overall, findings provide…

Empirical studies of stress and self-esteem of early adolescents are limited. The focus of this study was to identify stressors experienced by junior high school students (N=145) between the ages of 11 and 12 years, and to determine if there was a relationship between those stressors and the students' self-esteem. Students responded to the Youth…

Assesses the factors influencing the word pronunciation of seventh-grade adolescents who scored either above or below grade level on vocabulary skills. (Author/RB)

Many researchers have studied predictors of adolescent substance use. One important predictor of substance use is the quality of the parent-child relationship. Most studies address the parent-child relationship unidimensionally. This study hypothesized that it is not use of a particular substance that can be predicted from a poor parent-child…

A study examined an assumption commonly held by many smoking prevention programs that social skills can affect the onset of tobacco smoking. Data from 129 sixth graders were used to predict smoking behavior 15 months later. Five skill variables emerged as the best predictors of future smoking. (Author/CB)

Among 151 seventh and eighth graders, self-reports of occurrence of behaviors were significantly but moderately correlated with subjects' distress about behaviors. Adolescents rated externalizing behaviors as more distressing to parents than to adolescents; internalizing behaviors as more distressing to self than to parents. Ratings of subjective…

A 1988 Johns Hopkins University survey of 1,753 principals from public schools serving seventh graders describes middle grade education in the United States. The 5 articles in this special section are intended to encourage discussion about ways to improve middle level educational practices and disclose new research directions. (MLH)

Assessed adolescents' views concerning conventional war and compared views to those of adolescents 15 years ago. Surveyed 362 seventh graders regarding conventional warfare and United States military involvement in Latin America. Compared to adolescents in 1971, adolescents in 1986 were somewhat more accepting of war. Many were skeptical of…

Written pre- and posttests were used to assess the smoking-related knowledge of 1,068 seventh graders in three comparable communities. Students in two communities participated in interventions designed to enhance knowledge acquisition, social activism, and non-use of tobacco. The interventions influenced respondents' health concerns, but not…

Describes the implementation of a training program for seventh graders based on a modification of Infante's Inventional System (a system used to generate arguments). Finds that the training program significantly increased both the students' general tendency to argue, as well as their ability to generate arguments. (SR)

Sixth and seventh graders (N=239) responded to questionnaires examining sleep behavior and test anxiety on day of major examination in school and day with no major examination. Subjects also completed vigilance task on both days. Partial sleep loss did not adversely influence subjects' performance on task or examination; test anxiety was…

Examined relationship between adolescent pubertal status, the affective quality of family relations, and the early adolescent's exploration of a sense of ego identity in families (N=51) with seventh-grade adolescents. Results revealed that affective quality of parent-child relationships and pubertal status of adolescent appeared to influence…

Although all people experience interpersonal conflicts in their lives, peer conflicts play a particularly important role for adolescents. Undergoing rapid cognitive, physical, and social changes, adolescents' peers assume increasing importance in their lives. The study reported in this paper focused on peer conflict among adolescents in order to…

There is a clear relationship between learning disability and juvenile delinquency, as seen in a study comparing juvenile delinquents and seventh-grade students. (JOW)