The persistent underachievement among African American boys has led to increased empirical inquiry, yet little research considers within-group variation in achievement nor positive youth characteristics that help explain positive achievement outcomes. This study conceptualized culturally-based factors (racial pride and religiosity) as adolescent…

Mexican-origin adolescent mothers are at increased risk for poor psychosocial functioning as a result of various stressors with which they must contend; however, existing theory suggests that cultural strengths may help mitigate the negative effects of stress. As such, the current study examined the associations between cultural and economic…

Neighborhood disadvantage in early adolescence may help explain racial and ethnic disparities in obesity during the transition to adulthood; however the processes may work differently for males and females and for minority groups compared to Whites. The present study examines the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and young adult…

Runaway and homeless youth often have a constellation of background behavioral, emotional, and familial problems that contribute to stress and maladaptive behaviors, which, in turn, can lead to self-harming and suicidal behaviors. The current study examined the roles of stress and maladaptive behaviors as mediators between demographic and…

Cyberbullying has become a growing concern for adolescents. This study examined differences in cyber-aggression for 518 Canadian adolescents of either East Asian or European descent (61% female; M age = 15.24; SD = 1.68). Associations between parenting behaviors (parental control, parental solicitation, and child disclosure) and engagement in…

Recent media attention has increased interest in behavioral, mental health, and academic correlates of involvement in bullying. Yet, there has not been much interest in investigating the co-occurrence of other health-risk behaviors, such as gang membership, weapon carrying, and substance use. The potential influence of contextual factors, such as…

Previous research has documented that adverse life experiences during adolescence, particularly for ethnic minorities, have a long-term influence on income and asset attainment and that this relationship is largely mediated by educational achievement. We extend prior research by investigating three research questions. First, we investigate the…

Ethnic identity development can play a role in youths' perceptions and attitudes concerning police, but this process has not been explored in delinquent samples. In this article, we examine how youths' perceptions of police legitimacy and levels of legal cynicism are related to processes of ethnic identity development. Participants were 561 black…

Levels of civic engagement are assumed to vary according to numerous social and psychological characteristics, but not much is known about online civic engagement. This study aimed to investigate differences and similarities in young people's offline and online civic engagement and to clarify, based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB),…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among Chinese American adolescents' discrimination experiences, cultural orientations, and delinquent behaviors. Data were collected from three hundred and eleven Chinese American adolescents (58% girls) and their parents when the adolescents were 7th or 8th graders and again 4 years…

Effects of ethnicity and neighborhood quality often are confounded in research on adolescent delinquent behavior. This study examined the pathways to delinquency among 2,277 African American and 5,973 European American youth residing in high-risk and low-risk neighborhoods. Using data from a national study of youth, a meditational model was tested…

Several studies have investigated factors associated with physical aggression during adolescence. Yet, little is known about the longitudinal relationship between drug use, particularly alcohol use, and physical aggression among minority youth. The present study examined the effects of alcohol and substance use at age 11 on trajectories of…

Adolescents' emotional engagement plays a critical role in promoting their academic performance as well as overall psychological wellbeing. As a part of a 3-year longitudinal study, this study drew upon self-determination theory to examine three psychological predictors of emotional engagement within specific learning contexts. Ninety-four, low…

Prosocial behavior and aggression among children and adolescents are important indicators of social and interpersonal competence. The goal of this study was to investigate whether there are different prototypes among African American adolescents that can help explain prosocial and aggressive (relational and overt) behaviors. Also of interest was…

Racial/ethnic socialization has not been studied in the context of other parenting behaviors such as parental involvement in education and its relationship to children's cognitive outcomes. The present study tested the impact of racial/ethnic socialization and parental involvement in education on cognitive ability and achievement in a sample of…