Studies indicate that adolescents smoke to obtain a desirable image, rather than from direct pressure from peers. Suggestions for using peer influence to make favorable changes in health behaviors are offered. (DF)

Administered questionnaires defining alcohol practices and reasons for alcohol use to 300 secondary school students in a rural area of Nigeria. Results showed that 71 percent of the students use alcohol. The use and abuse of alcohol among the students was more for social than for psychological reasons. (LLL)

This study used data from Williams College to implement a quasi-experimental empirical strategy aimed at measuring peer effects in academic outcomes. Data on individual students' grades, Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores, and the SAT scores of their roommates were used. The paper makes the case that first-year roommates are assigned randomly…

This paper examines how peer relationships influence students' academic success. Beginning with a brief definition of peer groups, it turns to a more extensive discussion of a typology of peer groups and the ways in which peer groups function to influence academic success in general and college-going behavior specifically. To help all students…

This study tracked the language preference of three French/English bilingual children, twin girls aged 12.8 and a boy 14.8, over a five year period. Their parents, who are also the authors, actively worked to raise them bilingual. The girls were enrolled in a school French immersion program throughout the study. Their brother had only one semester…

Male and female students, ages 5-19, were subjected individually to an obviously and unanimously wrong decision by a group of their same-sex peers. Conformity differed among the age groups but not between the sexes. Maximum conformity was found in the adolescent age group. (Author)

Draws upon ideas about "television effects" and the adolescent peer group to illustrate how interconnections between these two socializing agents contribute to the adolescent's "construction of social reality." Examines how gender, sexual, consumer, and occupational roles as enacted by teenagers are a product of media and peer group influences.…

Focuses on two aspects of dialog in preschool units: (1) suggests that language development is enhanced by learning through imitation, direct teaching, and opportunities to practice and experiment; and (2) suggests that staff can learn from child-child dialog and improve communication with and between children. (JOW)

The instrumented team approach at St. John's High School, South Carolina, succeeds in getting general students to meet serious intellectual challenges because group learning counters the problems of poor reading ability, fear of failure, absenteeism, limited time, and underestimation of the importance of school. (MJL)

Correlates of alcohol use were compared in France, with high prevalence of use; Israel, low prevalence; and the United States, in the middle. In all three countries, significant others--parents and peers--were more powerful predictors than personal attributes. The importance of parents in Israel and peers in the United States was shown. (Author/CM)

Describes the Maine Occupational Information Coordinating Committee's efforts in establishing its career information delivery system, a component of which is the involvement of peer facilitators in the career guidance process. (SK)

Evaluated influence of film preparation on children undergoing dental sessions with respect to peer modeling v demonstration of procedures and amount of information. Children exposed to peer-model videotaped presentations immediately preceding their restorative treatment exhibited fewer disruptive behaviors and less apprehension than those…

Examines factors contributing to a person's desire to talk to a friend about personal problems. Results suggest that students value genuine, accepting, confrontive friends whom they can trust. In contrast, the expectancies that counselors are directive, expert, tolerant, and trustworthy are higher than those for the friend. (Author)

Counselors with low dogmatism scores are more effective than counselors with higher dogmatism scores. Over the course of training, the group of trainees classified as highly dogmatic both decreased in level of dogmatism and increased in level of counseling effectiveness as measured by improvement in level of performance. (Author)