The purpose of the current study was to understand the association between bullying experiences (i.e., bullying, victimization, and defending) and social, emotional, and cognitive factors. The social factor was social skills (i.e., empathy, assertion, cooperation, responsibility); the emotional factor was emotional difficulties (i.e., personal…

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the relationships among life satisfaction, positive youth development and problem behaviour. The respondents were 7,151 Chinese Secondary 2 (Grade 8) students (3,707 boys and 3,014 girls) recruited from 44 schools in Hong Kong. Validated assessment tools measuring positive youth development,…

This study investigated the relationships between three psychopathic dimensions (callousness/unemotionality, grandiosity/manipulation, and impulsivity/irresponsibility) and reactive and instrumental aggression in a community sample of early adolescents (N = 243, age M = 12.29, SD = 1.18). The moderating role of moral disengagement (MD) was also…

Hispanic problem behavior youth are at an increased risk of engaging in HIV risk behaviors, including low condom use. However, relatively little research has examined factors that affect condom use in this population. Although research indicates that family processes, such as higher levels of family functioning and open parent-adolescent…

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of frequency of peer victimization experiences on psychological and academic adjustment during early adolescence, with a focus on testing psychological adjustment as a mediator, as well as differences based on gender and type of victimization. The sample in this short-term longitudinal…

Mediation analysis is a statistical approach used to examine how the effect of an independent variable on an outcome is transmitted through an intervening variable (mediator). In this article, we provide a gentle introduction to single-level and multilevel mediation analyses. Using single-level data, we demonstrate an application of structural…

The identification of developmentally specific windows at which key predictors of adolescent substance use are most influential is a crucial task for informing the design of appropriately targeted substance use prevention and intervention programs. The current study examined effects of conduct problems and depressive symptomatology on changes in…

African American adolescents are exposed disproportionately to community violence, increasing their risk for emotional and behavioral symptoms that can detract from learning and undermine academic outcomes. The present study examined whether aggressive behavior and depressive and anxious symptoms mediated the association between exposure to…

Student misbehavior is a pervasive problem and may seriously affect academic achievement. Previous research hints at different effects depending on whether achievement tests or achievement judgments are used as academic outcomes. Previous research also indicates that low achievement can conversely contribute to problem behavior and that low…

This study aims to conceptualize disobedient pupil behavior within the more general framework of antisocial behavior and to reveal how two forms of aggressiveness are related to disobedience. Disobedience, in the context of this article, covers disruptive pupil behavior or discipline problems when the pupil is aware of breaking a standard set by…

We investigated the influence of effective parenting behaviors (father and mother reports) and deviant peer association (adolescent reports) on subsequent young adolescent conduct problems (teacher reports) during grades 7-9, using structural equation modeling. Data were from a sample of 226 rural adolescents (n = 112 boys; n = 107 girls; n = 7…

Analyzing problem-behavior trajectories can be difficult. The data are generally categorical and often quite skewed, violating distributional assumptions of standard normal-theory statistical models. In this article, the authors present several currently available modeling options, all of which make appropriate distributional assumptions for the…

Given the increased risk factors in the transition from middle school to high school, this study tracked academic and school discipline records for students receiving general and special education services as they transitioned from Grade 8 to Grade 9. The authors employed analysis of variance and structural equation modeling to determine the…

The present study used an ecological framework to examine the relationships among adolescents' perceptions of school climate, social competence, and behavioral and psychological adjustment in the middle school years. This study improved upon prior studies by using "structural equation modeling" to investigate the hypothesized mediating…

This study examined correlates of early adolescent alcohol and drug use in a community sample of 217 eighth-grade adolescents with behavior problems and from Hispanic/Latino immigrant families. Structural equation modeling was used to examine relationships of multiple contexts (e.g., family, school, and peers) to alcohol and drug use. Results…