Examines the social networks of 85 young children as they made the transition from a home-centered to a school-centered existence. As children reached school age, they had increased contact with peers and decreased contact with kin. Children as young as three showed more same-sex than opposite-sex peer contact. (Author/BJV)

Using a new social pressures model to examine data on the social networks of over 2,000 seventh- through tenth-grade White suburban adolescents, demonstrates that, although gender differences in the perceived intimacy were widespread, they were neither present in all types of relationships nor did they always go in the same direction. (Author/BJV)

Analysis of achievement test scores of 439 tenth-grade students found the hypothesized variables of IQ, socioeconomic status (SES), self-rated motivation, peer-rated studiousness, peer-group status, and parent-rated home environment contributed uniquely to achievement variance; SES, sex, and language medium of instruction were superfluous in the…

Results of a national survey of college students concerning the relative usefulness or role of publications and individuals in choosing a college are presented and discussed. (MSE)

Unprecedented attention has gone to researching young voters, and yet one segment of this age group has been largely ignored: non-college (or "working") youth. Because very little is known about them, the following paper advances three fundamental concerns: What types of political activities do young workers engage in? What can be learned about…

Youth courts provide communities with an opportunity to impose immediate consequences for first time youthful offenders, while providing a peer operated disposition mechanism that constructively allows young people to take responsibility, be held accountable, and make amends for violating the law. Dispositions hold youth accountable in part…

This article adopts a motivational stance in identifying factors that strongly predict physical activity in children. One model for understanding physical activity motivation in children portrays the sources and consequences of self-esteem for physical activity behavior (perceived competency/adequacy, social support, enjoyment, and physical…

Most social scientists assert that Whites and African Americans exist in different economic, political, and social environments and that these contextual differences contribute substantially to group differences in violence and other antisocial outcomes. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and structural…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning for individuals with substance abuse problems. The intent is to provide information to professional counselors in school, rehabilitation, school psychology, social work, public mental health, and private treatment settings. Information to be…

One of the most pressing issues that high school counselors encounter is the use of alcohol and other substance abuse among adolescents. This paper explores five major reasons that adolescents give for using alcohol and other drugs. It includes discussions on how peer interactions and the adolescent's search for identity influence the decision to…

In 1998, the Keystone Research Center published a comprehensive review of research on two high-profile ideas for raising educational achievement: lowering class size in the early grades and instituting private school vouchers. This report presents a research update, emphasizing results since early 1998. Over the past 2 years, the evidence on the…

Higher education is seen as having replaced religion as the system of redemption in mass society, socializing students in the secular religion of production/consumption. Rather than educating and enriching students' lives, higher education is viewed as thwarting needs for autonomy and identity formation, leaving students only with career…

Student Team Learning is a teaching technique to encourage students to work in a structured setting to achieve goals and to get along with classmates through small learning teams competing against each other in studies designed in game form. The Washington County, Maryland, schools program is described. (MF)

Regression analysis indicates that approximately two-thirds of the variance in boys' vocational aspirations and half the variance in girls' vocational aspirations are accounted for by a model that uses as predictors social class, mental ability, home environment, teacher and parent expectation, and peer aspirations. (Author/IRT)

Traces the shifting sentiments of Germans towards U.S. education from the end of the 19th century through the Weimar period. Most German educators admired the U.S. school system because it combined a devotion to freedom and local responsibility with a strong homogenizing and nationalizing power. (MJP)