Purpose: To examine smoking initiation in a group of adolescents at risk for developing substance abuse. Methods: Fifty-nine adolescents (25 control and 34 at risk adolescents) participated in a longitudinal study of behavioral and cognitive predictors of development of substance abuse. Aggression, conduct problems, hyperactivity, impulsivity,…

The purpose of this study was (a) to determine whether the relationship between male gender role conflict variables and mental health generalizes to women and (b) to investigate other aspects of social gender roles and mental health. An adaptation of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (I. M. O'Neil, B. J. Helms, R. K. Gable. L. David, & L. S.…

This survey-based study examined the benefits of mentoring for 299 pre-service teachers who voluntarily worked with children at-risk in a nationwide Israeli mentoring project. Results revealed that mentoring taught prospective teachers about the world of children, increased their sensitivity to children at-risk and to children as individuals, and…

This paper is based on a talk given at the conference of the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, September 2004. There is consistent evidence that parents' education predicts children's educational outcomes, alongside other distal family characteristics such as family income, parents' occupations and residence location. A…

Sociodemographic variables, social support, and physical health have been used previously in a few predictor models of loneliness and psychological distress in late life. The present study, however, was designed to test the hypothesis that self-efficacy beliefs of elderly persons are significantly stronger predictors of loneliness and…

This article examines the role of friends in girls' and boys' advanced course taking and explores whether friends' characteristics are particularly important for girls' math and science attainment. With the use of data from Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Heath, the results indicate that…

This article reports findings from a study that investigated math achievement differences between English language learners (ELLs) and fully English proficient (FEP) students on a literacy-based performance assessment (LBPA). It has been assumed that LBPAs are superior to standardized multiple-choice assessments, but it has not been determined if…

In recent years, empowerment and resource orientation have become vital guidelines for many of the sciences. For the field of deaf education, it is also highly important to look carefully at these guidelines if we are to acquire a better understanding as regards both the situation of the parents involved and the development of the deaf and hard of…

Are depressive symptoms in middle childhood associated with more or less realistic social self-perceptions? At the beginning and end of the school year, children in grades 3 through 5 (n = 667) rated how much they liked their classmates, predicted the acceptance ratings they would receive from each of their classmates, and completed self-report…

Comparing the analyses based on the data of 1,235 Chinese children referred for government services and subsequently diagnosed as children with dyslexia in Hong Kong and those of 690 Chinese children in the sample for the normative study of the Hong Kong Test of Specific Learning Difficulties in Reading and Writing, we explored the reading-writing…

In this paper, we conceptualize and develop an index of sociodemographic risk that we hypothesize will be an improvement over the standard poverty measure as a measure of risk for children's development. The poverty line is widely used in government statistics and in research but is also widely acknowledged to have multiple shortcomings. Using…

Objective: The aims of this study were to examine health problems of children (4-12 years old at the time of the disaster) and adolescents (13-18 years old at the time of the disaster) before and after exposure to a fireworks disaster in the Netherlands (May 2000), to compare these health problems with a control group, and to identify risk factors…

This study investigated students' achievement regarding photosynthesis and respiration in plants in relation to reasoning ability, prior knowledge and gender. A total of 117 eighth-grade students participated in the study. Test of logical thinking and the two-tier multiple choice tests were administered to determine students' reasoning ability and…

In spring 1995, Illinois' Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) conducted a two-part survey of a random sample of 800 new students to determine their activities, satisfaction with college services, problems at the college, and sources of help. In addition, variables associated with the student retention and attrition through 1995-96 were…

This study compared the social adjustment of abused and nonabused children, ages 4 to 11 years, and examined whether sociometric status and friendship quality differentially predict children's loneliness and teacher ratings of peer behavior. Thirty-five abused children from a structured residential treatment center and 43 nonabused children from…