The present study examines perceptions of relationship quality as antecedents of best friendship dissolution. Participants included 230 students in Florida (United States; 54.3% girls; ages = 8-13; 39.6% European American, 27.0% Hispanic American, 21.7% African American, and 2.6% Asian American) and 496 students in Lithuania (49.0% girls; ages =…

This longitudinal, quasi-experimental field study investigated affective forecasting as a moderator of positive intergroup contact effects among adolescents. We also examined a novel mediating mechanism that underlies this effect, namely accuracy of perceived outgroup willingness for intergroup contact. Three annual waves of survey data were used…

We examined the development of children's positive and negative attitudes toward other-gender peers over 1 year, and explored the longitudinal social consequences of holding positive or negative attitudes on the beholder of these attitudes. Participants were 206 second graders (Mage = 7.18 yrs, SD = .56, 50% girls) and 206 fourth graders…

Interventions targeting students' perceived relevance of the learning content have been shown to effectively promote student motivation within science classes (e.g., Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009). Yet, further research is warranted to understand better how such interventions should be designed in order to be successfully implemented in the…

Interpersonal and structural forms of racism contribute to a system of economic stratification in the United States in which children of color are disproportionately likely to be born into poverty and to remain poor as adults. However, only a small body of research has focused on Black and Latinx adolescents' developing beliefs about the causes of…

Prejudice and discrimination as justifications for social exclusion are often viewed as violations of the moral principles of welfare, justice, and equality, but intergroup exclusion can also often be viewed as a necessary and legitimate means to maintain group identity and cohesion (Rutland, Killen, & Abrams, 2010). The current study was…

Prejudice is one of the major threats to the cohesion of multicultural societies and adolescent years play a key role in its development. How social contexts contribute to adolescent prejudice is, however, not yet well-known. This 3-wave study of Swedish majority adolescents (N = 659; M[subscript ageT1] = 13.41; M[subscript ageT3] = 17.33)…

To investigate the developmental course of aggression and peer victimization in childhood and adolescence, distinct subgroups of children were identified based on similarities and differences in their physical, verbal and relational aggression, and victimization. Developmental continuity and change were assessed by examining transitions within and…

Using a cluster randomized field trial, the present study tested whether 2 relevance interventions affected students' value beliefs, self-concept, and effort in math differently depending on family background (socioeconomic status, family interest (FI), and parental utility value). Eighty-two classrooms were randomly assigned to either 1 of 2…

Using a longitudinal mediation framework and a low-income sample, this study had 2 aims: (a) to model bidirectional associations between parent academic expectations and child academic outcomes from first through fifth grade, and (b) to explore 3 mediators of parental influence: parent involvement in child schooling, child learning behaviors, and…

When people reflect on their important values, they may become more attuned to the needs of others. Two longitudinal field experiments examined whether a subtle value-affirmation manipulation can initiate relatively enduring increases in young adolescents' prosocial feelings (Study 1; M [subscript age] = 12.9) and prosocial behaviors (Study 2; M…

Consistent with a Diathesis × Stress model, it was hypothesized that anxious solitude (individual vulnerability) and the middle school transition (environmental stress) would jointly predict peer exclusion and victimization trajectories. Youth (N = 688) were followed from 3rd through 7th grade, with the middle school transition in 6th grade.…

Two independent studies were conducted to extend previous research by examining the associations between task value priority patterns across school subjects and aspirations toward the physical and information technology- (IT-) related sciences. Study 1 measured task values of a sample of 10th graders in the United States (N = 249) across (a)…

Applying a person-centered approach, the primary aim of this study was to examine what profiles of schoolwork engagement and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, inadequacy) can be identified in high school (N = 979) and among the same participants in young adulthood (ages ranging from 17 to 25). We also examined gender differences, group…

To investigate how adolescents interpret ambiguous actions in hypothetical interracial peer encounters, we conducted a study in which 8th- and 11th-grade students (N = 837) evaluated 4 interracial peer encounters in which the intentions of the protagonist were ambiguous. The sample was evenly divided by gender and included both African American…