Background: Few studies have attempted to define clusters of chronic disease predictors with additional focus on racial/ethnic differences. The purpose of this study was to highlight differences in predictors of chronic diseases among American high school students by identifying subgroups using latent class analysis (LCA). Methods: The chronic…

Background: Because marijuana is becoming more accessible and perceived norms of use are becoming increasingly more favorable, research is needed to understand characteristics of marijuana acquisition among adolescents. Purpose: The study purpose was to examine whether sources and locations where adolescent users obtain and use marijuana differed…

Background: There are minimal studies focusing on African American women and obesity, and there are even fewer studies examining obesity through a critical race theoretical framework. African American obesity research has largely focused on individual and community interventions, which have not been sufficient to reverse the obesity epidemic.…

Black students are much more likely to be disciplined using out-of-school suspensions (OSS) compared with White students. One often-cited hypothesis, though relatively untested, is the role of misconduct and students attitudes that support deviant behavior. The differential involvement hypothesis suggests that disproportionate sanctioning may…

The children of immigrants' educational progress and success have been the focus of social research for decades. Although it is known that extracurricular activities contribute to adolescent development and overall well-being, it is also clear that participation varies across immigrant generations. Yet, empirical study explaining generational…

Although academic motivation is an important predictor of academic success, we show that being academically motivated is not equally beneficial for everyone. More specifically, the results indicate that African American students benefit less from being academically motivated than do their White peers, particularly when they report interacting with…

Teachers are crucial to student achievement. It therefore becomes important to assure that teachers who can foster student achievement are present in all schools, and that they remain in the teaching field. The most effective teachers are not evenly distributed across schools. Schools with poor, high-minority, and low-achieving students are more…

Despite wide achievement gaps across California between students from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, some school districts have excelled at supporting the learning of all their students. This analysis identifies these positive outlier districts--those in which students of color, as well as White students, consistently achieve at…

The explosion of knowledge and the growing complexity of modern life are changing expectations for what young people need to learn and be able to do. Success in the 21st century does not depend solely on what people know, but also on what they can do with what they know. In this report, the authors summarize the results of a quantitative analysis…

While an extensive body of research has examined the role of cultural capital in reproducing social class inequality in educational outcomes, the role of habitus and school context has received less attention in quantitative studies. We attend to this gap in the literature by considering the relationship between cultural capital, habitus, and the…

This study examined the association between various types of peer-directed violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents. A nationally representative sample of 15,425 high school students completed the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. All types of peer victimization (bullying, physical violence, and dating violence) were found to…

Disparities in science achievement across race and gender have been well documented in secondary and postsecondary school; however, the science achievement gap in the early years of elementary school remains understudied. We present findings from the recently released Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 that…

Despite evidence that American Indian (AI) adolescents are disproportionately involved in crime and delinquent behavior, there exists scant research exploring the correlates of crime among this group. We posit that Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) is well suited to explain AI delinquent activity. Using the National Longitudinal Study of…

This study investigated the relation between building human capital of former dropouts and their occupational standing and the interaction effects with individual characteristics. By applying the growth curve model, this study highlighted the factors that lead high school dropouts to enhance their occupational standing. An increment in the work…

The purpose of this research was to determine whether child, parent, and teacher characteristics such as sex, socioeconomic status (SES), parental depressive symptoms, the number of years of teaching experience, number of children in the classroom, and teachers' disciplinary self-efficacy predict deviations from maternal ratings in a…