Assessed the characteristics that predicted the timing of first sexual intercourse in high-risk adolescents. Employed event history analyses and defined predictor variables using multimethod and multiagent assessments. Found that precocious sexual initiative can be understood using models of the etiology of other problem behavior, and that…

Examined youth gang problem in U.S. Guam. Found that changes in island traditionalism and culture wrought by modern society and modern Western individualism can isolate some youth. Concluded that gang members must be viewed as members of a culture that proposes moral visions and prescribes group behaviors for its membership. (Author/SD)

This analysis indicates that the majority of African American students at this predominantly white university drank in a responsible manner; other drug use was almost nonexistent. Strong peer disapproval was exhibited toward drug users and alcohol abusers. Implications for intervention, prevention, and policy decisions on the college campus are…

A study examined social relationships of 105 middle school children attending a residential facility and identified as rejected. The majority affiliated within a peer cluster and were well integrated within the broader social network. Students who affiliated in peer clusters with rejected students tended to be similar in sociometric status.…

The Group-Oriented Adapted Levels System teaches students with behavior disorders the skills needed for being members of a successfully functioning peer group, while providing the classroom teacher with an effective classroom management approach. Student behaviors are mediated by peers; students work toward a common goal; and opportunities are…

Outlines a year-long study which sought to determine the effectiveness of social skills training on peer acceptance, self-esteem, social attraction, and self-confidence of students with disabilities. Social skills training with these students positively affected their social interactions and involvement with their nondisabled peers. (RJM)

This article presents excerpts from an inquiry group involving preservice teachers during a one-year internship. The inquiry group supported the interns in pursuing questions that arose out of their own practice. The excerpts illustrate three central topics (classroom management, curriculum and planning, and assessment), noting the challenges that…

Relations among dominance, sociometric preference, and social behavior were examined in groups of unacquainted first and third grade boys meeting in play sessions. Younger groups with high aggression showed less coherent organization than did others. Dominance was associated with social preference in younger groups, and with leadership in older…

Examined discussions of 25 groups of peers who were in second, fifth, ninth, and twelfth grades, or were young adults. Trends in topicality arguments paralleled trends for other types of talk. With regard to the function of arguments, person-focused function declined in middle childhood but information-focused function increased. However,…

Using a question-and-answer format, this research digest discusses using cluster grouping in regular classes to teach gifted students. The learning needs of gifted students, benefits of cluster grouping, the effects on peers, identification of students for the cluster group, and specific skills that are needed by cluster teachers are addressed.…

Describes the use of interactive group journals in a graduate preservice Teaching English-as-a-Second-Language course. Students passed a computer disk around, each writing about issues and concerns and responding to the others. This collaboration acted as a catalyst for papers and projects and a forum for the creation and testing of original ideas…

Groups of early adolescents (European Americans, Chinese Americans, Chinese from Taiwan, Chinese from Beijing) completed questionnaires about their involvement in misconduct and about family and peer characteristics. Mothers completed questionnaire about their relationships with their adolescents. Groups reported significantly different mean…

Used social network analysis to investigate the peer group as context for socialization of young adolescents' school motivation and achievement. Found that students' Fall peer context predicted changes in liking and enjoyment of school and achievement over the year. Students' peer context was unrelated to changes in their beliefs about the…

Describes the district writing conference at the Center School District in Kansas City (Missouri) in which students in grades 3-6 wrote essays about a peer convincing their classmates that this person was worth honorable mention. Explains that the students' work was published in a district journal. (CMK)

Examined links between children's sibling and peer relationships. Found that sibling warmth was associated with more positive peer relations; sibling conflict was associated with both positive and negative peer outcomes, independent of sibling warmth; and sibling relationships were not more strongly associated with measures of friendships quality…