Most studies of school bullying in China are atheoretical. To fill the gap in the literature, we introduce criminological theories in an attempt to test propositions broadly derived from these perspectives in the study of physical bullying. Relying on data collected from 12 middle schools (Grades 7 to 9) in three cities with information on both…

Starting from a person-environment fit framework, this study investigates whether ethnic congruence--the percentage of co-ethnics in a school--relates to school misconduct and whether congruence effects differ between ethnic minority and majority students. Moreover, we investigate whether eventual associations are mediated by friendship…

Associations between youths' relationship profiles and mentoring outcomes were explored in the context of a national, randomized study of 1,139 youths (54% female) in geographically diverse Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring programs. The sample included youths in Grades 4-9 from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, the majority of…

We examined aspects of adolescent girls' parasocial interactions in the context of typical development. Parasocial interactions are defined as symbolic, one-sided quasi-interactions between a viewer and a media figure. In total, 107 adolescent girls were examined; 94% reported engaging in parasocial interactions to some degree. Preoccupied…

This study extends the existing adult literature on insecure attachment as a predictor of depression and anxiety by examining these pathways in a sample of adolescents. In addition, dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem were tested as mediators of the association between insecure attachment and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Youth (N =…

Violence among American youth is a significant societal problem. The past decade witnessed juvenile arrests for violence, weapons, drugs, and curfew violations peak in the mid 90's. Analogous to the arrest trends for older juveniles, the arrest rate for young offenders rose 63% from 1987 until 1994 when it declined slightly. Since that time,…