This study examines whether and how an individual's subjective, or self-rated, popularity is related to one's structural position in the peer network, as measured by betweenness centrality and structural hole measure. Data were drawn from the original fieldwork conducted in Laos (N = 1,490; boys = 40%; M[subscript age] = 13), a low-income country…

We investigate how context might influence adolescent boys' and girls' ambition and the impact of gender role conformity and social status. Adolescent participants (N = 270) reported their ambition in one of three experimentally manipulated contexts: future education, future work, or a control. Boys experienced a significant negative drop in…

Bullying is a goal-directed behavior that has long been in the spotlight of worldwide school mental health programs and research. However, the role of popularity goals in bullying and its potential mechanisms are unclear for adolescents in a non-Western cultural context. Based on 333 Chinese adolescents (52% female), the current study was the…

Adherence to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions may be challenging for adolescents, especially those concerned about social status. This study examined self-perceived popularity and reputation concerns as predictors of adherence to health guidelines and the effects of self-perceived popularity on adjustment. Adolescents (n = 1,068, 14-18…

The paper investigates reputational status dynamics (coolness and popularity) in a Hungarian primary school sample. The data derives from an emergent mixed methods research study, where one wave of a panel data collection (N = 754) was complemented with focus group interviews (N = 144) among sixth grade students (age 12-13). The quantitative…

Relational aggression involves excluding peers from social activities and spreading harmful rumors about the victim. Assumptions that only girls are victimized in this way are largely debunked, yet there is little research to explain why boys are victimized in this manner. This study poses the possibility that male adolescent victimization by…

This study examined the relationship between racial discrimination by peers (RDPS) and aggression across 1 year through the mediation of insecurity regarding peer status (i.e., social status insecurity [SSI]) among Latinx adolescents who were part of a school in which they were (a) the majority, (b) the minority, or (c) part of the majority.…

Despite adolescence being a period marked by significant social changes, research on social status focuses largely on adults. This study examined whether school and societal subjective social status (SSS) are differentially associated with adolescent health above and beyond objective socioeconomic status (SES), and explored pathways linking SSS to…

The present study examines how perceptions of social prominence and attitudes toward antisocial behavior among peers moderate the association between anxiety and antisocial behavior among incarcerated females. Latent profile analysis identified two classes of females distinguished by their perceptions and attitudes. Individuals in both classes…

This study examined two social status goals in relation to aggressive and prosocial behaviors as well as attributions for relational aggression among 477 (244 girls) Chinese early adolescents. Findings indicate that, after controlling for each other, the social preference goal was negatively related to self-reported overt aggression, and…

Scholarship regarding adolescent resilience has typically defined resilience as the absence of negative outcomes rather than the existence of positive outcomes. This study drew on the challenge model of resilience, which anticipates a curvilinear relationship between stress exposure and adaptive functioning, to test whether adolescents reporting…

The authors argue that the recent increase in poker play among adolescent males in the United States was primarily attributable to high-status male youth who are more able to organize "informal" gambling games (e.g., poker and sports betting) than are low-status male youth who are left to gamble on "formal" games (e.g., lotteries and slot…

This article builds on a sociological account of working-class minority youth development and differential access to social capital--defined in terms of key resources and support provided by institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001, 2004). The article elaborates on the concept of "institutional agents"--specifically, high-status, non-kin,…