This article draws on a larger study of Canadian children's sense of self and media habits, 223 children in all (112 boys, 111 girls; 10- to 13-year-olds; M = 11.17y). Participants completed a questionnaire on their self-descriptions and reading habits over a 3-year period. Content analysis of the responses showed great diversity in…

The study examined boys' and girls' autonomy of choice of activities in the after-school hours with samples of children from two different countries. Preadolescent children from Taiwan (n = 289) and the United States (n = 195) completed a questionnaire on their usual after-school activities indicating who determines the choice of any particular…

Identifying childhood precursors for depression has been challenging and yet important for understanding the rapid increase in the rate of depression among adolescent girls. This study examined the prospective relations of preadolescent girls' emotion regulation and parenting style with depressive symptoms. Participants were 225 children and their…

Objective: To examine the associations among mental health problems, maternal monitoring and permissiveness, mother-daughter communication and attachment, and sexual behaviors among African American girls receiving outpatient psychiatric care. Youths with mental health problems report higher rates of HIV-risk behavior than do their peers, and…

The past two decades have seen a transformation in youth programming toward a comprehensive positive youth development (YD) framework. Cool Girls, Inc., a YD program, focuses on improving girls' life chances by promoting positive behaviors and attitudes in multiple domains. These include self-concept, academic orientation, future orientation, and…

Background: Are there sex differences in the etiology of high performance in science in childhood that could contribute to the under-representation of women in scientific careers? In this study the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences on high performance in science in both boys and girls were assessed using standard twin…

The objective of this study was to examine the pattern of relations between missing weight and height (BMI) data and a range of demographic, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and academic measures in a young sample of elementary school children. A secondary analysis of a large cross-sectional study, PLAY-On, was conducted using self-reported…

The essays in this collection discuss multicultural issues in children's and adolescent literature, focusing particularly on African and African American cultures. They challenge everyone's understanding of what, in an age of globalization, multicultural texts really are. Cumulatively, these essays illustrate multicultural literature's power to…

This study examined nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a community sample of young adolescent girls. Potential moderators of the relationships between different types of distress (internal and interpersonal) and particular functions of NSSI (emotion-regulation and interpersonal) were explored. Participants included 94 girls (49% Hispanic; 25%…

Relatively little is known about the factor structure of disruptive behavior among preadolescent girls. The present study reports on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of disruptive girl behavior over four successive data waves as rated by parents and teachers in a large, representative community sample of girls (N = 2,451). Five factors…

This study assessed the relation between weight and weight-related factors (i.e., body dissatisfaction, body esteem, teasing frequency, and the effects of teasing) in a community sample of prepubescent African American girls. African American girls (N = 97) in Grades 3 to 5 completed the McKnight Risk Factor Survey-Third Edition and had their…

Social background has historically been recognized as a major factor influencing family behavior, though recent work has largely emphasized racial/ethnic influences. Here we use 1994 - 1995 and 2001 - 2002 Add Health data to examine the cohabitation, first marriage, and first birth experience of young women. In a multi state life table context,…

The relationship between morningness/eveningness (M/E) and morning-to-afternoon cortisol ratio, pubertal timing, and antisocial behavior was examined in 111 girls and boys ages 8 to 13 years. Cortisol levels showed a significant increase after awakening and declined thereafter (p less than .05). Eveningness was related to a composite measure of…

Using holistic-interactionistic theory, the simultaneous nature of risk and protection factors for both males and females (age 6-11 in Wave 1) is examined using latent profile analysis (LPA). Risk/protection classes are estimated using multiple risk factor variables (e.g., physical child abuse) and multiple protective factors (e.g.,…

Background: Participation in free-time play, including individual and group activities, is important during youth as patterns of physical activity established then persist into adulthood. The VERB Summer Scorecard (VSS) intervention is an innovative physical activity promotion initiative that offers tweens (8-13 year-olds) opportunities to be…