Investigation of determinants of 143 intermediate grade children's attitudes and behavioral intentions toward peers with physical disabilities found that the children's own attitudes toward inclusion of peers was the strongest predictor of behavioral intentions, though attitudes of teachers, principals, and parents were also significant…

Four types of peer victimizations (physical, direct verbal, indirect verbal, and general) were assessed using a sample of 200 kindergartners. Peer victimization was reported by a large percentage of children, with female and males being equally at risk. Victimized children were compared to nonvictimized children on several social and academic…

Studied self- and other-reported characteristics of 1,700 fifth through tenth graders varying in their use of coercive (aggression) and prosocial (cooperative) strategies of resource control. Found that children using both control strategies, labeled Machiavellians, possessed positive and negative characteristics and were socially central, liked…

A study of depression in Afro-Latino adolescents used national longitudinal data on over 12,000 secondary students in 134 schools, with oversamples of Black, Chinese, Cuban, and Puerto Rican adolescents. All groups of adolescent females, especially Afro-Latino females, showed higher levels of depression than adolescent males, and older adolescents…

A study examined young Mexican Americans' perspectives concerning their own ethnicity. Observations and focus groups with 30 Mexican American youths from a Southwest barrio indicate that respondents used racial terms to understand acculturation differences. Intense negative feelings were expressed about less- acculturated, Spanish-speaking…

A study of acculturative stress in children who served as language brokers surveyed 36 bilingual Latino fifth graders from a Southern California elementary school. The least acculturated children reported higher frequencies of language brokering and greater discomfort in doing so. High levels of acculturative stress were associated with increased…

Presents a response to Gifford-Smith and Brownell's "Childhood Peer Relationships: Social Acceptance, Friendships, and Peer Networks" (this issue). Suggests that an ecological/developmental perspective of the development of peer relationships, the contextualization of knowledge, and the utilization of action research as essential to the future of…

A review of 32 studies that compared social competence of children with learning disabilities and typical children in inclusive classrooms found children with learning disabilities and low-achieving children were at a greater risk for social difficulties than were average-to-high-achieving children and did not have accurate self-perceptions of…

A study examined perceptions of 26 teachers, including 13 special educators, of the Peer Buddy Programs implemented in a Nashville school district. Teachers reported positive relationships between buddies and their partners with disabilities and enhanced personal growth for students with disabilities. The majority agreed buddies assisted in a…

Used path analytic techniques to analyze differential social control theory as predictor of drug use among fifth-eighth grade students (N=860). Found that peer non-use expectations had largest effect on drug use and were directly influenced by parental, peer, and school attachments. (Author/CM)

Two studies of nursery school children examined the relationship between friendships and sociometric judgments of social status. (Author/BB)

Reports the findings of a naturalistic study of stigmatization processes in the peer interactions of a kindergarten class. Discusses the social construction of deviance, and the implications of labeling. (FMW)

Using sociometric ratings, both male and female adolescent deaf students (N=144) were found to exhibit a marked peer preference for female students. White students rated same-race students higher than they rated minority students, while minority students showed no significant difference in ratings for White and minority students. (Author/JDD)

The social status of 1,053 middle-school students was investigated. Students with learning disabilities received lower scores on teacher rating scales and a self-rating questionnaire, and received more negative and fewer positive votes on a peer survey. For all students, attractiveness and athletic ability highly correlated with positive peer…

Using a set of qualitative measures, 12 regular children in kindergarten and 12 regular children in grade 3 were asked to express their attitudes toward 3 same-age peers with special needs (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or learning disabilities). Results indicated that the kindergarten children were more accepting than were the grade 3…