This study examined associations of best friend and peer group aggressive characteristics with students' overt and relational aggression, and whether coolness moderated these associations across the fall and spring of the first year in middle school. Students (N = 174; 57% females) self-reported best friendship and peer group members, as well as…

Students' positive experiences in schools positively predicts students' political trust. However, little research has examined how individual students' feelings of exclusion at their schools may relate to students' political trust. Moreover, how does an overall sense of exclusion from the school relate to political trust apart from individual…

Peer group integration is a crucial acculturative goal for immigrant adolescents who, in order to reach this goal, may use bullying and/or aggressive behavior. The present study aims to explore the underlying aggression motives by investigating the importance of three motives (anger, power, and affiliation) for five different forms of aggressive…

This study examined the effects of racial/ethnic segregation (i.e., overrepresentation) in academic classes on belonging, fairness, intergroup attitudes, and achievement across middle school (n = 4,361; M[subscript age T1] = 11.33 years), and whether effects depended on numerical minority status in school and race/ethnicity. Latent growth curve…

This study examines whether neighborhood factors found to predict fear of crime among the general population can be adapted to explain inmate fear of victimization inside juvenile correctional institutions. We test (a) whether institutional physical disorder, resident trust, and formal social control can predict fear of victimization, and (b)…

The development of social competence for children is critical to their ability to navigate social decision making processes; however, children with complex disabilities have many difficulties in developing social competence. In an educational environment, the optimal setting for a child to develop social competence is within the inclusive…

This study tested the extent to which student interaction with faculty, student peer teaching situations, student organization involvement, and discussion with diverse others contributed to self-reported learning for students involved in an ethnic-specific or multicultural student organization. The Community College Student Experiences…

This paper uses social network analysis to evaluate how the formation of an interdisciplinary brain research institute affected interaction and collaboration among neuroscientists at one Canadian university. The research institute, formed in 2004, has about 100 members representing ten different departments across the university campus. We…

Childhood predictors of adolescent offending careers were studied in 310 boys from the longitudinal Pittsburgh Youth Study who started offending prior to age 12. Three main groups were distinguished: serious persisters (n = 95), moderately serious persisters (n = 117), desisters (n = 63), and an intermittent group (n = 35). Group membership was…

Even though the number of African American students has increased on college campuses, particularly Predominately White Institutions (PWIs), over the last century, they are less likely to graduate than their White counterparts are. They face discrimination, hostile environments, adversity, low or no social or mentoring support, and often feel…

A 22-item instrument (My Classmates) was developed to measure fifth-sixth graders' perceptions of their peer relationships, and administered to 621 students. The instrument's reliability and validity were supported. Group membership was found to be related to certain student characteristics. (The questionnaire is appended). (GDC)

Two studies examined relationships of the number of reciprocated friendships, peer acceptance, and group membership to academic achievement in two samples of sixth graders. Found that group membership was the most consistent predictor of grades over time. Longitudinal analyses found that peer relationships were related indirectly to classroom…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…