For aspirations the first choice was making good grades; school team participants ranked being good at sports second, nonparticipants ranked being popular second. Being popular increased in importance, while sports decreased over five years. As for popularity, grades were important in Grades 6 and 10, while looks were first during junior high…

Data from the National Survey of Children were used to test the hypothesis that lower educational goals and achievement is associated with initiating sexual intercourse at a younger age. Adolescents who had lower educational goals and who performed at lower academic levels were more likely to engage in sexual intercourse earlier. This was true for…