With diminishing returns to the peer group, it is optimal social policy to mix children in schools. We consider what happens when, contrary to the outcome being determined by a social planner, schools and children are free to seek each other out: with some caveats, this leads to perfect segregation by child quality. It is shown that this is the…

Using data from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this study examines the social disparity of family involvement. A total of 4,405 students from 140 Hong Kong secondary schools participated in the first cycle of PISA study identifying four types of…

This bulletin describes alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention programs specifically designed or customized for fraternities and sororities (Greeks). Approaches to AOD prevention include: (1) peer education programs to help students help themselves; (2) comprehensive health and psychosocial assistance; (3) retreats, to encourage student…

The Listening Partners project examined rural mothers' development of a sense of the power of their own minds and voices and the relationship between this sense of power and mothers' parenting strategies and their children's development. Two cohorts of 60 women from a rural, impoverished region of Vermont participated in the program. Half the…

This instructional guide provides lessons intended to present students with opportunities for building a sense of belonging to a group as well as developing conflict resolution skills. The guide's focus is on developing a positive school climate that enhances intergroup relationships and encourages proactive recognition of potential problems. It…

This document describes the Mentors, Peer Groups, and Incentives (MPI) demonstration project, a model for helping early adolescent underclass males to improve academic performance and reduce the probability of premature fatherhood. A first section discusses the working definition of the underclass as a group where dysfunctional behaviors are…

This study examined attitudes and practices in two risk-taking areas of behavior while under the influence of alcohol--driving and sexuality--within important campus peer subcultures defined by class level and residency associations. Data were drawn from a research project to explore these and other related variables in a major northeastern…

The relationships between maternal disciplinary style and children's consequential thinking skills and how children think about consequences of actions in peer group conflicts were studied in 144 children from grades 1 (N=59) and 4 (N=85) and their mothers. Seventy additional children underwent sociometric testing. Home disciplinary style was…

A study of community college students' use of educational support systems was conducted at the City Colleges of Chicago. The study sought to determine: (1) the level of usage of formal support systems (e.g., teachers, class participation, counselors, tutors, libraries, and other learning resources); (2) the level of usage of informal support…

A year-long ethnographic case study was conducted primarily to investigate the developmental nature of children's spontaneous grouping activities in an elementary school setting. Participant observation and related methods were conducted for two days a week (on average) in a small, traditional parochial school located in a lower-class integrated…

The narrative performances of Navajo children were examined to determine the ways in which the skills of competently structuring a narrative are informally learned within the peer group. Ten- and eleven-year-old Navajo children, living near Window Rock, Arizona, were evaluated in telling stories about the most traditional figures of Navajo belief,…

To identify personal, economic, educational, and social factors influencing students' educational aspirations, data were collected from 1,004 seniors in Prince Edward Island, Canada, in 1971; analysis included male-female and urban-rural differences. From 960 usable questionnaires, level of educational aspiration was determined by respondents'…

This research investigated the relationship between ego development and social network structure in grades 9 through 12 in a private school. Students filled out a sentence completion test for ego development and named friends with whom they spent the most time in school on a sociometric questionnaire. Popularity, mutuality in dyads, and choices…

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between an adolescent's socioeconomic status (SES) and selected variables of the sub-subsystems of the River City High School senior class social system during the 1974-75 academic year. Variables for study were selected from each of the three sub-subsystems of the senior class social…

This investigation is concerned with an explanation of the way in which social origins affect the desire for post-secondary education. The author constructs and quantifies a model incorporating influences due to: (1) three reference groups (parents, teachers, peers); (2) the student's academic achievements; (3) his intellectual ability; and (4)…