This longitudinal study examined the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents who affiliate with antisocial crowds in a gang-impacted urban environment. We followed 405 adolescents (219 boys, 186 girls; average age of 11.51 years, SD = 0.61; 84% Latino, 9% Asian, and 7% other or unclassified) for one academic year. These youth attended a middle…

Problem Statement: Socio-economic background plays an important role in academic achievement, but there is a group of students beating the odds and becoming successful despite the socio-economic background of their families. Purpose of the Study: The study aimed to define how resilient students succeed at school despite their socio-economically…

Background: Despite the growing presence of immigrant families in the US, little is known about physical fighting in school among youth from those families. Objective: The present study examines the social-ecological determinants of school physical fighting among youth in immigrant families. Implications for practice are also discussed. Method:…

Although there are many factors associated with being the victim of bullying in school, quantitative studies have not treated academic attitudes, effort, and achievement (or lack thereof) as risk factors. This is true despite many ethnographic accounts of good students being stigmatized and directly bullied on account of their status as good…

Given the disadvantaged position of working-class children in the education system, it is important to understand how parents and families might support their children to succeed academically. This paper reports on 35 case studies that were conducted as part of the Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16)…

This dissertation investigated community college students' perceptions about educational counseling, its value, and its relationship with academic and social integration into the college environment. In an attempt to explore students' perceptions, a quantitative study was conducted at four California community colleges. The survey was distributed…

Too few community college students who intend to transfer and earn a baccalaureate degree actually do. Further, low-income and first-generation college students are overrepresented at community colleges. Education is considered a means of social and economic mobility for low-income, first-generation students; therefore, retaining this population…

Support provided by caring teacher-student relationships is essential for the emotional well-being of students who are bullied. The researchers were interested in discovering whether perceived teacher support would moderate the relationship between relational victimization and depression in low-income minority middle school students. A mixed…

The development of social capital in young people is positively associated with educational attainment, achievement, and psychosocial factors. Prior research has explored factors that contribute to social capital, such as offline social networks. To a lesser extent, studies have analyzed the relationship between online social networks and…

This investigation examines teacher and child perceptions of teacher-child relationships and early school adjustment among children (N = 157) in low-income urban schools. Consistent with prior research, findings indicated that teacher-child relationships were associated with early school adjustment; however, the strength of this association varied…

Early development is likely influenced by quality of early parenting and improvements or declines in quality over time. Little is known about how changes in different dimensions of parenting influence child outcomes, nor the relative sizes of associations when considering several aspects simultaneously. These questions are addressed in the Early…

The purpose of this study is to examine whether teachers' perceptions of educational value discontinuity are predictive of the psychological antecedents of academic performance (e.g., academic engagement and academic self-efficacy) during middle school. Educational value discontinuity is defined as the difference between teachers' actual…

Looked beyond socioeconomic indicators to seek underlying influences on rural high school seniors' dropout/completion decisions. Data came from school records and student surveys. Students were grouped by gender, and variables of Everett's (1996) model were analyzed. The predictor model for males had a 88.89 percent correct classification rate.…

This study examined variables related to college predisposition among students of different ethnic groups who attended schools enrolling high percentages of minority students and high percentages of students participating in free or subsidized school lunch programs. It is based on a subset of data from the 1988 National Education Longitudinal…

This book presents a collection of papers by educators and researchers who discuss various methods of improving minority student achievement. The 19 chapters highlight the achievement of students from kindergarten through college as follows: (1) "Discrepancies between Aspirations and Preparation of Low SES Elementary Students" (Dianne L.…