This longitudinal study of 1,066 Finnish students examined bidirectional reciprocal relationships between changes in perceived supportive school climate and changes in self-reported truancy from the last year of primary school (Grade 6) to the last year of lower secondary school (Grade 9). The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel…

Most research on peer victimization has focused on Western samples, but in recent years peer victimization in China has become more prevalent. As a result, limited information is available on how peer victimization, school climate, peer preference, and adjustment difficulties impact Chinese middle school students. This cross-sectional study…

East Asian students have consistently performed well in mathematics compared to their international peers. Though many researchers have attempted to explore the factors that underpin their success, most studies have focused only on a limited set of variables. Mathematics achievement, however, is a complex phenomenon, determined by multiple…

Background: This empirical study aims to investigate the association between mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics achievement gaps among students in Grades 4, 8, and 12, utilizing data from the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study also considers student-level (e.g., mathematics self-efficacy, gender,…

Whereas most research has focused on the influence of teachers on student engagement, we postulate that peer experiences -- particularly bullying behavior as a victim or perpetrator -- impact student engagement over time. Using a sample of 525 adolescents (46% female, mean age = 13.51) nested within 31 classrooms from Chilean schools selected by…

Police stops often perpetuate racial disparities in academic outcomes, yet few studies have examined factors that mitigate these negative consequences. Using two longitudinal studies (Study 1: n = 483, M-age = 12.88, 53% males; Study 2: n = 131, M-age = 15.11, 34% males), this article tests whether parental and school cultural socialization…

A growing body of research demonstrates that school climate is associated with adolescent mental health. Much of the extant literature have focused on identifying risk factors for adverse mental health outcomes, whereas much less work has been done examining factors that are important to foster adolescents' strengths and thereby increase the…

Student victimization by school staff members has important potential consequences for students' academic achievement and physical and psychological outcomes. Several studies have shown that such victimization exists in multiple contexts and there is considerable variation in prevalence among contexts. This study examined the prevalence of student…

The purpose of this study was to examine intrapersonal and contextual variables in relation to test anxiety among adolescents. Participants (n = 297) were students (male = 165; female = 132) in grades seven (n = 120) and eight (n = 177) from a public, suburban, middle school in the Midwest. All seventh and eighth graders at the participating…

Student motivation predicts academic achievement, engagement, and related academic behaviors. Yet in spite of the importance of motivation for academic success, few studies have examined the school and national-level contextual characteristics associated with motivation. The present study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze a large…

This study assessed the moderating effects of school facilitating conditions (school opportunities for prosocial involvement, school commitment, academic grades, and truancy) on adolescent marijuana use within the context of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Utilizing a large statewide surveillance study of adolescent risk and protective…

Introduction: Despite the assumed importance of school-focused possible identities for academic motivation and outcomes, interventions rarely assess the effect of the intervention on possible identities. This may be due to difficulty coding open-ended text at scale but leaves open a number of questions: 1) how do school-focused possible identities…

Introduction: Despite the assumed importance of school-focused possible identities for academic motivation and outcomes, interventions rarely assess the effect of intervention on possible identities. This may be due to difficulty coding open-ended text at scale but leaves open a number of questions: 1) how do school-focused possible identities…

Many Latino students miss opportunities to develop their full potential in U.S. schools. Increasing attention is being paid to the malleable, nonacademic, factors that can affect student learning. The current study sought to evaluate the impact of school climate on Language Arts grade for Latino students in a large, low-income, urban middle…

Background: Social justice orientation (SJO) is the motivation to promote justice and equity among all in society. Researchers argue that students of Color with high SJO can resist structural racism in their schools/society and have positive academic outcomes. Purpose: In the present study, a longitudinal model of cultural and environmental…