Explores effects of parents' and friends' behavior in verbal interactions with adolescents' concerning their school achievement. Finds that parental behavior aimed at control in family interactions had a negative effect on adolescents' school achievement, whereas the same type of behavior shown by best friends resulted in an improvement of school…

Examined how parent-adolescent communication about initiating sex and using condoms influenced the relationship between peer norms and behavior among African American and Hispanic adolescents. Found that peer norms were more strongly related to behavior among adolescents who had not discussed sex or condoms. Communication was also related to teens…

This study prospectively evaluated perpetrator risk factors for sexual assault perpetration, including peer influences, beliefs and attitudes about sexuality, alcohol use, and token resistance. Perpetration of sexual assault was evaluated at three time periods: pretest, 3-month follow-up, and 7-month follow-up. Retrospective and prospective…

This paper examines the contribution of peer relations to delinquency from the perspective of two sociological traditions: socialization/normative influence and opportunity. Earlier studies have likely overestimated normative influence by relying on respondents' reports about their friends' behaviors rather than obtaining independent assessments…

This multilevel investigation examined the effect of group interaction and its influence on individual-level membership variables and group assimilation. The study is based on a model of group socialization developed by Moreland and Levine (1982) and was modified in this study to investigate the development and maintenance of highly interdependent…

From socialization theory, it was hypothesized that parental support and monitoring as well as peer deviance would influence individual trajectories of alcohol misuse, other substance use, and delinquency. Six waves of data were analyzed using interviews with 506 adolescents in a general population sample. Results from multilevel modeling showed…

Transitions are a significant aspect of the American educational system and therefore of interest to educational anthropology. Based on a two-year ethnographic study, this article explores the transitions between grade school and junior high and between childhood and teenhood for white girls in a privileged suburban community, and examines why the…

Adolescent youth are an under-utilized human resource during a period of development when peer influence is powerful. Peer helping programs, in which youth are trained in interpersonal skills to equip them to reach out to others, are systematically tapping this resource in reclaiming at-risk youth. Research supports the validity of these programs…

Objective: To examine the role of expectancies in adolescent smokeless tobacco (ST) use. Methods: Self-report measures of students' ST expectancies, cigarette and ST use, and peer and family tobacco use were collected from a sample of 978 rural high school students. Results: Student expectancy beliefs significantly predicted ST use and intention…

Research into preschoolers' peer culture has generally focused on how play and games influence the development of cognitive, social and communicative skills (Evaldsson & Corsaro, 1998). The majority of studies on ESL preschoolers were interested in the development of the second language. Studies on social networking among preschool children aimed…

Previous research suggests that self-derogation/rejection and peer factors are strongly related to adolescent substance use. However, much less is known about the role and significance of these risk factors in the escalation of drug use over time. In the current study, we examined whether early reports of self-derogation and peer approval…

Aim: To identify social and neighbourhood correlates of drunkenness among adolescents. Design: A cross-sectional, community study. Participants: A multi-stage cluster sampling strategy was used to select 90 adolescents aged 11-17 years from nine distinct communities in Cape Town, South Africa. The sample was stratified by race, income, and gender.…

Peers serve as reinforcers and models of behavior, and consequently classrooms containing high numbers of students with poor academic skills or behavior problems are likely to promote these behaviors in individual students. This study examined how variations in social and academic classroom composition as well as the larger school context affected…

This is an exploratory study of the associations among parental warmth, peer support, gender, and emotional distress in a sample of 308 adolescents in the United States. Parental warmth was associated with less emotional distress, whereas turning to peers for support during family conflict was associated with more emotional distress. Gender…

Articles about academic honesty seem either to begin with an example of egregious deceit in American schools or to claim that dishonesty is worse than ever. However great may be the forces influencing students to lie or cheat, educators, at all levels and in all settings, must push back by holding students accountable and by teaching about…