Past research suggests that congregating delinquent youth increases their likelihood of problem behavior. We test for analogous peer effects in the drug use and sexual behavior of male (n = 279) and female (n = 435) college students, using data on the characteristics of first-year roommates to whom they were randomly assigned. We find that males…

Taken from a larger study about life in high school classrooms from students' perspectives, this paper discusses how study participants pinpointed individual classrooms as the nerve centers in students' high school experiences. Punctuating the swirls of movement within school days, individual class periods contain clues about how students…

Childhood environment and skills are important factors that contribute to the achievement gap of students, but blaming only the preschool years for low achievement will not solve the problem. Ample funding of schools and transformative power of teachers and peers can rid the student of the gap.

We investigated deviant peer associations as a mediator of the influences of general and peer-oriented self-esteem on problem behavior using data from a 2-year longitudinal study of 350 young adolescents. Measures of problem behavior included substance use (alcohol use, smoking) and antisocial behavior (fighting, stealing). Using latent growth…

Objective: To explore the transitional phase between experimental and regular smoking from the perspective of teens. Method: Narrative analysis of semistructured, individual interviews. Results: The need to belong and immediate social gain are major themes influencing teen smoking decisions. Conclusions: Our findings have significance for public…

A direct pathway to children's literacy forms through the development of shared meaning. Proto-narrative construction and social pretend play with peers can be important tools in children's developing emergent literacy. Early child-care programs provide relatively little unstructured time. To reemphasize shared meaning in the lives of children,…

The Duke University School Research Partnership (SRP) Office was developed with support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Child and Family Policy. Begun in 2006 as the Duke Office for Research in Schools (DORIS), the SRP Office is an integral part of the work of the Center for Child and Family Policy. The SRP Office facilitates…

Sizeable achievement differences by race appear in early grades, but substantial uncertainty exists about the impact of school quality on the black-white achievement gap and particularly about its evolution across different parts of the achievement distribution. Texas administrative data show that the overall growth in the achievement gap between…

This study compares 6-11-year-old, clinically referred boys and girls diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, either with (ODD + CD, n = 40) or without Conduct Disorder (ODD only; n = 136), to a matched sample of healthy control children (HC; n = 69). Multiple informants completed intake diagnostic interviews and self-reports to evaluate…

A substantial body of literature considers excessive corruption an indicator of a weak state. However, in nondemocratic societies, corruption--whether informally approved, imposed, or regulated by public authorities--is often an indicator of a vertical power rather than an indicator of a weak state. This article explores the interrelations between…

The research examining the correlates of academic achievement is immense. In particular, scores of studies have examined individual- and family-level variables that influence student achievement. Based upon Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological theory of human development, this study extends one step beyond previous studies and incorporates…

O'Brien (2003), when redefining the competencies of struggling students, said it makes sense to provide opportunities for at-risk or struggling students to explore topics of interest including, but not limited to, inquiry into popular media. This use of popular media should be a welcomed addition of the use of technology to improve students'…

In order to gauge youth perceptions of school violence, this study links two perceptual bias literatures: third-person perception and optimistic bias. The intersection of the two literatures may be especially beneficial in understanding how adolescents process and interpret public health messages and subsequently engage in risk behaviors or…

A large-scale study conducted in Tasmania, Australia, of teenage risk-taking across 26 potentially harmful risk activities has examined a range of factors that encourage or inhibit risk-taking. Among these factors, the degree of social and professional support the teenage students say they would access for personal, study or health problems has…

Recent decades have seen a proliferation of books that "listen in" on the everyday lives of girls. In their research the authors maintain that "listening" to girls in order to make claims about what they "heard" is a theoretically mediated process, and therefore it is not as straightforward as many authors imply. The…