Different beliefs exist about the ability of individuals with mental retardation to recognize certain social roles or relationships appropriate for the acquisition of critical skills for successful social development. In particular, a major social skill is conversational proficiency. The purpose of this study was to look at the concept of…

Given the changing racial/ethnic composition of the United States, the impact of culture on adolescent health risk behaviors is an emerging and important issue. The purpose of the present study was to examine acculturation and ethnic identity and its impact on substance use, depression, and self-esteem in a sample of middle school students.…

Background: Studies have consistently found that parental and peer drinking behaviors significantly influence adolescent drinking behavior and that adolescent drinking has a significant effect on their drinking-and-driving behavior. Building upon these studies, the present article assesses whether parental and peer drinking behaviors have direct…

From a student perspective, grades are a central part in the educational experience. In an effort to learn more about student motivation for learning and grades, this study was designed to examine student reactions to the opportunity to choose between the traditional individual grading structure and a group grading structure where all students…

Objective: Substance use, such as alcohol and tobacco, is becoming a critical problem in the area of health promotion and preventive programme. Furthermore, the onset of alcohol use has been becoming increasingly earlier. This study examined developmental trajectories of substance use among high school students in South Korea and effects of peer…

This study examined the social impact of being a typical peer model as part of a social skills intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were drawn from a randomized-controlled-treatment trial that examined the effects of targeted interventions on the social networks of 60 elementary-aged children with ASD.…

Women are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than men. They get intoxicated more quickly and have a higher blood alcohol level than men, even when body weight and alcohol consumption are the same. Despite this we are seeing a convergence of the drinking patterns of young women and young men, including binge drinking. In this research, 20…

We examined identity development as a moderator of the relation between peer group pressure and control and adolescents' engagement in risk behaviors. Participants (n = 1070; M[subscript age] = 15.45 years) completed a self-report measure of "identity exploration", the degree to which they have explored a variety of self-relevant values, beliefs…

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between parental and peer group influence on career choice in engineering profession among adolescents. The research design adopted was correlational because it sought to establish the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. One research question and one…

This article emanates from a longitudinal study of the impact of a distance education programme for teacher training on graduates' job performance, in which the authors built on the findings of a previous pilot study. After using Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model in a previous study, one of the authors found there to be a strong relationship…

Current study examines the predictors of academic achievement: role of parenting styles, educational encouragement, gender and ethnicity among special education students. Participants of this study consisted 200 special education students (N = 105 boys and N = 95 girls) age varies 14 to 19 years from one school located at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.…

There is a decades-old debate in social work regarding the appropriateness of the use of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) by clinicians in this profession. Despite often contentious perspectives, there has been very little study regarding clinical social workers' experiences, attitudes, and beliefs about…

Maternal and paternal psychological control, peer attitudes, and the interaction of psychological control and peer attitudes at age 13 were examined as predictors of risky sexual behavior before age 16 in a community sample of 181 youth followed from age 13 to 16. Maternal psychological control moderated the link between peer attitudes and sexual…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the dynamics of physical activity (PA) in day care and preschool. The participants were 823 Finnish 1-7-year-old children from 50 day care centres and preschools. The research methods were systematic observation, evaluation of children's skills and interviews with children. Altogether 18,366 observations…

This study explores the impact of classroom relationships on student engagement. To determine whether improved classroom relations lead to higher levels of student engagement, surveys were distributed to 2,340 students from 117 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms. Respondents reported the degree to which they felt support from teachers,…