The study utilized a quantitative multiple regression research design looking at the association between home technology use to complete school work and student achievement scores as measured on an online diagnostic assessment. Despite a tremendous amount of literature studying the potential effect of home use of technology on student achievement,…

Involving more than 1,500 academically gifted students and their parents, this study examined relationships between family environment and social competence of gifted students. Results from an online survey revealed that our gifted students rated their families as cohesive and flexible with high levels of satisfaction and communication among…

Considerable research has documented associations between adverse life events and internalizing symptoms in adolescents, but much of this research has focused on the number of events experienced, with less attention to the ecological context or timing of events. This study examined life events in three ecological domains relevant to adolescents…

This study of 1,601 students in the middle years of schooling (Grades 5-8, each student measured twice, 1 year apart) from 200 classrooms in 44 schools sought to identify factors explaining gains and declines in mathematics engagement at key transition points. In multilevel regression modeling, findings showed that compared with Grade 6 students…

Substantial evidence suggests that rumination is an important vulnerability factor for adolescent depression. Despite this, few studies have examined environmental risk factors that might lead to rumination and, subsequently, depression in adolescence. This study examined the hypothesis that an adverse family environment is a risk factor for…

Shorter sleep time was reported to be associated with psychological functioning in children. We intended to examine the relationship between nocturnal sleep duration and depression status by investigating if delayed bedtime could be one of the enhancement factors for depression in children. A cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the…

Widespread adoption of the Internet during the past two decades has produced the first generation of digital natives. Ninety-five children (M[subscript age] = 10.4 years) completed a questionnaire that measured three clusters of variables: 1) Internet use at home and school, 2) peer, school, and home self-esteem, 3) and cognitive abilities…

The current study tested sex-specific pathways to early puberty, sexual debut, and sexual risk taking, as specified by an integrated evolutionary-developmental model of adolescent sexual development and behavior. In a prospective study of 238 adolescents (n = 129 girls and n = 109 boys) followed from approximately 12-18 years of age, we tested for…

Three aspects of parenting, positive family communication, facilitation of supportive family relationships, and maintenance of standards in the family, were examined as predictors of positive values and social competencies in sixth- (n = 1,453), seventh- (n = 3,732), and eighth- (n = 4,474) grade youth. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated…

The present study examined the independent and interactive relations of effortful control and two family environment variables (parent-adolescent conflict and negative family relations) on the subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 459 European American and Latino adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14. Hierarchical regression…