Person-centered analyses of achievement goals have been scarce in studies of elementary school children. In this investigation, the authors examined the natural combinations of achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) among 3rd grade students (N = 195) and how clusters differed in self-, teacher-, and peer-reported…

Using social control theory and attachment theory as guides, this study examined how qualities of young adolescents' social relationships (i.e., mother, sibling, and friend) and dynamic interactions among characteristics of those relationships are associated with school involvement and delinquency. The participants included older siblings (M age =…

Increasing bodies of evidence suggest that keeping secrets may be detrimental to well-being and adjustment, whereas confiding secrets may alleviate the detriments of secrecy and benefit well-being and adjustment. However, few studies have addressed the consequences of keeping and confiding secrets simultaneously, and even fewer have done so…

Psychologists and educators have become interested in the development of a child's social and emotional abilities as well as cognitive outcomes. To determine the important coping patterns that predict success in school, a sample of 10- and 14-year old children (N=3600) from the U.S.A., Brazil, Italy, and Mexico completed a multi-lingual battery of…

Background: This study examined whether adolescents who were at various stages of the help-seeking process differed on demographic characteristics, use of informal helpers, and markers of emotional and behavioral adjustment. Method: Youths (N = 644; Grades 7-12) living in three rural communities completed a survey at school. Three comparisons were…

Guided by a conceptual model linking discrepancies between parent and adolescent developmental expectations and adolescent adjustment and the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, this study examined adolescent and parent beliefs about the age at which specific competencies should appear. Developmental timetables were grouped into…

This report presents the preliminary findings from WHO's (World Health Organization) fourth Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study. The study has two main objectives: (1) to monitor health-risk behavior in youth over time in order to provide the necessary background and clear targets for health promotion initiatives; and (2) to…

Noting that the middle-school years are a time when adolescents "try on" roles and attitudes, test boundaries, and draw tentative conclusions about personal and social behaviors, this book draws on findings of a survey of nearly 2,000 10- to 17-year-olds regarding perceived and real differences between girls and boys to guide teens…