Investigates the cumulative effect of repeated exposure of schoolchildren to antisocial models. Research results highlight the need to minimize models of misbehavior in the classroom and for teachers to manage the class in order to produce maximum exposure to good behavior models. (Author/CT)

Reports on the development of two forced-choice, self-report scales for adolescents: Pseudoautonomy and Peer-Group Dependence. Results indicated both scales were significant predictors of group membership (hospitalized or nonhospitalized); the overall classification attempt was correct 73 percent of the time; and the correlation between the scales…

Data were collected from high school students to observe peers' perceptions of two fictional adolescent females--one a smoker, the other a nonsmoker. Findings suggest that peers perceived the personality traits of the smoker more negatively than the nonsmoking counterpart. Recommendations are made for health educators. (Author/DF)

Examined adolescent use of popular music, identifying types of music preferences. Concluded that a relationship exists between amount of peer orientation and type of music preferences and that the motivations for listening were more physical and emotional than cerebral (that is, listening to lyrics). (PD)

Describes a successful drug and alcohol prevention program developed at Forest Hills School District (Ohio). The program uses athletic coaches to recruit student athletes to support the antidrug program and to bring peer pressure to bear in discouraging drug and alcohol use by their teammates and other students. (MD)

Smoking cessation behaviors of college students using a university health service were examined. Forty successful and 32 unsuccessful quitters were interviewed through an open-ended questionnaire. Differences in success seemed related to techniques used to remain abstinent from cigarette smoking, expectations of ease or difficulty in quitting, and…

Writing skills can be reinforced when students work together to create a classroom novel. Examples of how a language arts class developed a character by brainstorming, then wrote and revised their story to be shared with others, are given. (DF)

Scapegoating in the classroom is a destructive problem that disrupts the social life of the class. Suggestions are offered in the form of a fable to help both the outcast and those who victimize. (DF)

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.…