Research shows that learning conceptions are susceptible to change during possible critical transitions in students' school careers: such as the transition from primary to secondary education and the transition from secondary to higher education. This study aims to determine whether students' learning conceptions developed during the four years of…

Adolescent stress-related growth refers to enhancement in an adolescent's cognitive-affective or social resources as a result of experiencing stressors. We tested whether adolescents reporting high levels of stress-related growth showed superior adaptation outcomes on a day-to-day basis. Participants (n = 91; females = 46, age = 14) completed a…

Purpose: Due to the ethical concern around involuntary treatment, this study sought to investigate if youth participants in wilderness therapy who were transported to the program experienced different rates of change than those not transported. Methods: Multilevel modeling techniques were used to investigate rates of change for youth between…

Over the past decades, many schools have adapted towards social constructivism with the aim of enhancing students' motivation. There are a variety of perspectives in educational theory, with social constructivist views standing in contrast to traditional views. Hence, we compared students' motivation (levels and developments) in social…

Although delinquency in US schools is near historic lows, concern over delinquency in US schools remains a pressing issue among school officials, parents, and policy-makers. Many scholars argue that the current approach to discipline in the United States is highly punitive. While some projects have assessed the effect of punitive security on…

This study tests the hypothesis that adolescents with romantic partners are less similar to their friends on rates of alcohol abuse than adolescents without romantic partners. Participants (662 girls, 574 boys) ranging in age from 12 to 19 years nominated friends and romantic partners, and completed a measure of alcohol abuse. In hierarchical…

The present study explored how romantic relationship qualities develop with age and relationship length. Eight waves of data on romantic relationships were collected over 10.5 years during adolescence and early adulthood from a community-based sample in a Western U.S. city (100 males, 100 females; M age Wave 1 = 15.83). Measures of support,…

This study focused on effects of high-ability programs on students' achievement emotions, i.e. emotions that students experience that are associated with achievement activities. Participants were students in grade 4-6 of primary education: 218 students attended full-time high-ability programs, 245 attended part-time high-ability programs (i.e.…

A mixed methods approach was applied to examine the effects of a naturally occurring teamwork intervention supported with training. The first objective was to integrate qualitative process evaluation and quantitative effect evaluation to examine "how" and "why" the training influence intervention outcomes. The intervention (N =…

The authors examined the extent to which classroom-specific relationships between students' gender and their reading achievement and enjoyment of reading are associated with student-perceived teaching quality. Based on a sample of 10,543 ninth-grade students from 427 classrooms, multilevel analyses revealed that effective classroom management,…

Links between positive and negative aspects of the parent-child relationship and child adjustment are undisputed. Scholars recognize the importance of parental differential treatment (PDT) of siblings, yet, less is known about PDT in the context of the shared (family-wide) parent-child relationship climate, or about the extent to which positivity…

The effects of social capital on school improvement make it important to understand how teachers forge, maintain, or forfeit collegial relationships. Two common explanations focused on formal organizational features and individual characteristics do not address how social capital accrues from informal dynamics of teachers' interactions in…

The present study examined whether emotional abuse and neglect differentially predicted decreases in emotional clarity, and whether emotional clarity, in turn, predicted increases in depressive symptoms. Participants included 204 early adolescents (52% African American; 54% female; M age = 12.85 years) who completed four assessments with measures…

Mental health problems in children represent a significant international health concern, with up to one in five children using mental health services during the course of any given year. Identifying the processes of what prevents social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) and promotes healthy development from an early age can make a…

Students become increasingly disconnected from their schools across the middle school years, but little is known about the factors contributing to changes in school connectedness. This study examined the time-invariant and time-varying roles of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in trajectories of student-perceived school connectedness…