This mixed methods study investigates conceptions of gender both in and outside of the media among a sample of 11- and 12-year-olds. Data from a quantitative survey and qualitative writing responses were collected and analyzed from 54 sixth graders at a U.S public elementary school. Results show that the majority held inclusive views of gender,…

As a term, "connective literacies" refers to the reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and critical thinking skills necessary for students to engage and interact meaningfully, productively, and safely in a variety of digitally connected spaces. Using a critical literacies approach to honor the voices of adolescents as producers…

Teacher-student interactions are considered to influence student engagement. As such, building on the teaching through interaction framework, this study presents an investigation of specific features of teacher-student interactions (regard for adolescent perspectives, productivity, and instructional learning formats) and their association with…

Ugandan adolescents (n = 202, 54% girls; M[subscript age] = 14.26) answered closed- and open-ended questions about the gender composition of friends and attitudes about, and activities with, same- and other-gender peers and friends. Adolescents' friendships were somewhat gender segregated, although other-gender friendships were present. Positive…

Parents play an important role in adolescents' development of empathy. However, less understood is what dimensions of parental behavior predict changes in empathy during early adolescence and whether effects of parental behavior are moderated by pubertal timing or differ by sex. This study used data from an ethnically diverse sample of 704 youth…

Adolescents growing up in low-income communities experience decreases in school engagement during their transition to middle school due to multiple stressors. Holding goals for their futures increases their resilience, yet research on the types of goals that are most beneficial and on parents' influence on the formation of future goals is limited.…

All societies have resource inequality, wherein some possess more resources than others. How should one respond to such inequality? We tested how children 4-13 years (N= 298) balance concerns about equity and ownership rights, when the two are at odds, in both individual (Study 1) and group (Study 2) contexts. Across these studies, children…

This paper draws on Bakhtin's (1981) notions of discourse and ideological becoming to investigate how adolescents' experiences with young adult literature and other texts might inform their thinking around issues of social justice. We engaged in a number of activities with the young adolescent participants: thought maps, illustrations of poignant…

Adolescence is a sensitive period for taking risks, yet research has not investigated whether adolescents who engage in risk-taking actually "perceive" themselves to be risk-takers. In the current study, students (Grade: 6-8, N = 437) reported on their frequency of risk-taking and perceptions of themselves as risk-takers, forming four…

The high stakes consequences resulting from an emphasis on standardized test scores can be detrimental to adolescent readers' perceptions of themselves as readers. A single measure of reading ability provides only a small picture of what students can accomplish and what their learning needs are. This case study provides a keen insight into…

Scholars call for more attention to how marginalization influences the development of low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth and emphasize the importance of youth's subjective perceptions of contexts. This study examines how beliefs about the fairness of the American system (system justification) in sixth grade influence trajectories of…

Young people often are asked what they want to be when they grow up. How do their aspirations change as students move through childhood and adolescence? To investigate the formation of career aspirations, we analysed 6308 questionnaires from 4213 students aged 8 to 18 years arranged in an accelerated longitudinal design. Using a person-centred…

The adverse impact of a low family socioeconomic status (SES) on rural-to-urban migrant children's academic achievement has been widely demonstrated. However, knowledge regarding the mechanisms underlying this relationship is limited. The current study aimed to examine the potential mediating effects of educational expectations and the moderating…

Virtual presence describes a users' perception of a virtual reality (VR) environment (VRE), specifically, of their "involvement" (sense of control within a virtual environment with minimal distractions) and "immersion" (multi-input sensory engagement providing apparent realism of objects and interactions). In education, virtual…

In this study, the relationship between the quality of life levels of children aged 9-11 and their perception of family functions and some demographic characteristics was investigated. The sample of the study included six primary schools and six secondary schools in the central districts of a metropolitan city located in the west of Turkey in the…