Connections between prosociality and antisocial behaviors have been recognized; however, little research has studied their developmental links longitudinally. This is important to illuminate during early adolescence as a sensitive period for social development in which prosociality could protect against the development of later antisocial…

Urban adolescents experience high rates of exposure to community violence, which is associated with sleep problems. However, less is known about the prospective relationships between community violence exposure and sleep problems across adolescence. This study investigated reciprocal relationships between community violence exposure and sleep…

In this study, we explored the longitudinal linkages among Chinese early adolescents' unsociability, peer rejection, and loneliness. Participants were N = 445 primary school students in Shanghai, P.R. China followed over 3 years from Grades 6 and 7 to Grades 8 and 9. Measures of adolescents' unsociability, peer rejection, and loneliness were…

Middle grades students have developmental needs that are unique from those of younger children and those in late adolescence. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how middle grades teachers create a sense of belonging with their students and the ways in which their knowledge of early adolescent development influences that process.…

New analytical tools have facilitated the exploration of the trajectories of alcohol use; however, there are a limited number of studies that explore early adolescence. A sample of 5,903 youths followed from sixth through eighth grade was used to (1) examine the trajectories of alcohol use and (2) determine the degree to which common correlates…

Self-regulation represents a core aspect of human functioning that influences positive development across the life span. This chapter focuses on the action-control model, a key facet of self-regulation during childhood and early adolescence. The authors discuss the development of action-control beliefs, paying particular attention to their…

This dissertation examines the relationship between a particular method of teaching and learning about careers, and the development of wisdom in young adolescents. By conducting a case study of a specific classroom experience, I examine the ways in which students make meaning of their own career development as well as meaning of the course itself.…

Early adolescence is a time of transition, change, and growth. At no other time after gestation and early infancy are the human body and mind undergoing such rapid developmental changes. The bodies of young adolescents are physically and sexually maturing. Cognitive changes expand thinking abilities; social and emotional changes move adolescents…

This article is based on a study of young people's help-seeking. Fifty-five qualitative interviews with young people aged 13-14 are analysed to take account of stage process models. It is argued that while the models do have relevance to young people's help-seeking, they have two key limitations. First, they ignore problem legitimization. Second,…

Examined relation of possible selves to smoking and drinking for 1,606 sixth through ninth graders. Found that smoking and drinking were related negatively to number of positive expected selves and balance between expected selves and feared selves. When both possible-selves were entered in model simultaneously, only the number of positive expected…

The authors test biosocial models that posit interactions between biological variables (testosterone, estradiol, pubertal status, and pubertal timing) and social context variables (family, peer, school, and neighborhood) in predicting adolescent involvement with cigarettes and alcohol in a sample of 409 adolescents in Grades 6 and 8. Models…

Examined association between adolescents' perception of parent-adolescent attachment quality and adolescent aggression, as mediated by social cognition and self-esteem. Found that higher social cognition was associated with lower self-reported aggression when parent-adolescent attachments and adolescent self-esteem were controlled. When…

The present investigation examines mediated pathways from pubertal development to changes in depressive affect and aggression. Participants were 100 white girls who were between the ages of 10 and 14 (M=12.13, SD=0.80); girls were from well-educated, middle-to upper-middle class families, and attended private schools in a major northeastern urban…

Tested the individual characteristics and deviant peer association theoretical models of friends' influence on the development of delinquency in disruptive boys. Found that moderately disruptive boys with aggressive-disturbing friends were more delinquent at age 13 than other subgroups of moderately disruptive boys. Highly disruptive and…

Tested model relating girls' pubertal timing to mothers' history of psychopathology, mediated by family discord and father absence/stepfather presence. Found that mothers' history of mood disorders predicted earlier daughters' puberty, with the relation fully mediated by dyadic stress and biological father absence. Stepfather presence best…