Aggressive and prosocial peer interactions were observed in 38 preschool-age children. Attractive girls received more prosocial and fewer aggressive advances than unattractive girls. There was no differential treatment of boys related to attractiveness. Results are discussed in relationship to possible developmental implications and their parallel…

This paper examines the negative messages that Appalachian students receive about pursuing a college education. Appalachian culture has traditionally valued loyalty to family and community, hard work, self-reliance, strong sense of religion, and resistance to change. While most of these values seem positive, they may be a factor in perpetuating…

This report examines risk and protective factors associated with adolescent tobacco involvement. Of interest are family contexts, peers, and individual covariates. Participants were 399 youth, parents, and a close-in-age sibling. Of the youth, 150 initiated use early (7th, 8th, or 9th grade), 82 later (10th or 11th grade), and 167 abstained.…

Some perspectives on the potential of undergraduates' formal and informal experiences outside of the classroom are detailed. The paper presents historical information beginning with the concern of inculcating good manners and habits of responsibility as learning objectives for the extracurriculum. It discusses the analogy of the extracurriculum…

This report offers findings and recommendations by the National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Nearly one million teens become pregnant annually. The teen birth rate increased 24 percent between 1986-91 and has fallen 20 percent since then. Overall, too many parents and adult leaders do not take a strong stand against teen pregnancy. Strident…

Reports on a study of the relationship between adolescent television viewing versus listening to youth music and participation in adult-strucured segments of daily life. Found that music is more successful in engaging youth in its world. (CMG)

Examines, in 339 ninth- and tenth-grade adolescents, the effect of the sibling relationship "having an older brother" on the younger sibling's stage of drug use, exploring sex differences in sibling effects. Sibling effects were examined in the context of the younger sibling's peer group. (Author/RH)

Factors most likely to predict teenage smoking are defined, based on a study of 6th through 12th grade students. The importance of social factors--the number of best friends who smoke, whether parents and siblings smoke--is stressed. (PP)

The extent of peer pressure in high school and its influences on behavior were examined in accounts from college undergraduates. One-third of both genders identified peer pressure as difficult, being stronger for females. Pressure areas included dating, sexual activity, and drug and alcohol use, but not parent-child relationships. (Author/CM)

Tested equity theory in a nonthreatening helping situation. College students (N=96) participated in a factorially designed experiment in which a confederate made positive or negative statements about their task. Results confirmed students in an equitable environment demonstrated more helping behavior. Norms of helping may be influential.…

Formal socialization into the teaching profession begins in preservice training programs, continues with job interviews, and concludes with the supervision of new teachers by administrators. Informal socialization influences include the structure of preservice training, the influence of organizational structure of schools, and the influence of…

Tests 210 Israeli fifth graders' reactions to peer, adult, and control conditions. The four measures of moral judgment used were: resistance to temptation, severity of punishment, tendency to confess, and level of guilt feelings. (CM)

Investigates adolescents' perceptions of impressions held about them by important others, focusing on cross-sectional differences from early to late adolescence in the structure of social self-conceptions, on differences between parental and peer social self-conceptions and between individual and social self-conceptions, and on adolescents'…

A study was done on the responsibility of schools for providing smoking education programs consistent with current information. Results indicate an omission of planned experiences in high school curricula concerning the effects of smoking on health. (JN)

The goal of the Peer Helping Program in the Bayonne (New Jersey) Public Schools is to develop in students a high degree of self-respect, respect for each other, and respect for their school environment. (Author)