Academic achievement disparities based on parental education are robust during the middle school years. The current study examined whether cross-class friendship (i.e., reciprocal relationships between peers with different levels of parental education) decrease class-based achievement differences during a developmental phase when friends are…

The current study was designed to examine one possible weight stigma-reduction mechanism: school-level weight diversity. It was hypothesized that greater weight diversity among same-sex peers at school would attenuate the negative association between weight and academic achievement. Across 26 urban public middle schools, 5,991 sixth-grade students…

Although research has shown that peer victimization is related to negative school outcomes, whether ethnic ingroup size alters victimization-adjustment links is unclear. This study examines whether smaller ethnic ingroup representation amplifies the negative associations between peer victimization and school adjustment. We also examine whether…

The effects of school-based ethnic diversity on student well-being and race-related views were examined during the first year in middle school. To capture the dynamic nature of ethnic exposure, diversity was assessed both at the school-level (n = 26) and based on academic course enrollments of African American, Asian, Latino, and White students…

The goal of this article is to provide a critical analysis of barriers to social inclusion and integration in schools and propose inclusive educational practices that help connect and unite diverse students. Diversity is defined broadly to refer to a range of differences (i.e., overall heterogeneity) across students. We review theoretical…

This study examined the association between ethnicity-related context variables and the prosocial behavior of early adolescents in ethnically/racially diverse schools. Specifically, youths' perceptions of greater representation of same-ethnic peers at school, school support for ethnic diversity, and engagement in and valuing cross-ethnic contact…

This study examined the mediating role of self-blaming attributions on peer victimization-maladjustment relations in middle school and the moderating role of classroom ethnic diversity. Latino and African American 6th grade participants (N = 1105, 56% female) were recruited from middle schools in which they were either members of the numerical…

The study of peer group status typically involves examination of peer nominations received. In this study, the focus was on nominations given and received. We examined the degree to which middle school students from different ethnic groups demonstrate same-ethnicity preferences in their peer nominations, the effects of the classroom ethnic…