The aim of the study was to explore same-sex and opposite-sex friendship functions among 12 to 13- and 16 to 17-year-old Hungarian adolescents (n = 304). To explore perceptions of friendship functions, the McGill Friendship Questionnaire (MFQ, 30 items, 6 factors: stimulating companionship, help, intimacy, reliable alliance, self-validation,…

The present study investigated the unique and interactive role of parents' and peers' humanity virtue (i.e. kindness, love, and social intelligence) in association with children's humanity. The participants were 761 fourth-to-ninth-graders (M[subscript age] = 12.62; 45.2% boys) and their biological parents. The humanity subscale of the Values in…

Adolescents with positive attitudes towards the legal authorities are unlikely to adopt delinquent behaviours. To examine the role school can play in shaping such attitudes, we questioned 465 middle school students to assess how their emotional relationships with teachers (teachers' compassionate love, teachers' esteem) relate to their attitudes…

The hypothesis that the concurrent associations between friendship features and friendship satisfaction are moderated by security-related experiences within the family was examined with two sets of analyses conducted with a sample of fifth- and sixth-grade students (M = 10.87, SD = 0.73, range 10-13 years). The main hypothesis of the study was…

Friendships can provide a critical buffer against stress for youth, but the extent to which they serve this role depends on whether they provide resources that youth value most. These valued provisions may differ for girls and boys and across stages of development. This study examined whether gender differences in friendship values intensify…

This study of 166 best friend dyads (M = 10.88 years) examined (a) whether children and their best friends were similar in social information processing (SIP) that pertained to two relationship contexts (unfamiliar peer, friend); (b) the associations between children's and their best friends' SIP and friendship quality and conflict ratings; and…

This case study explored how children's moral expressions like love and violence differ according to the mode of narrative, comic strips or written narratives. Sixteen third-grade children from a primary school in Finland took part in the study. Children's moral expressions were divided into justice and care. Reading frequency of fairy tales and…

The relation between students' social goals and their willingness to seek help for school violence was examined. Four hundred and sixty-two students from sixth, eighth, and tenth grades responded to vignettes used to assess willingness to seek help from teachers and friends for dealing with relational and physical violence. Intimacy goals enhanced…

This qualitative study of sixth graders in a language arts classroom explores how interpreting poems for choral reading deepened, enriched, and expanded their interpretations of poetry. Key factors in the process included students' sense of freedom to interpret poetry in multiple ways, listening to their own and others' voices speaking the lines…

This study investigated the proposal that (a) contextual and personal factors affect the endorsement of social goals during early adolescence and (b) contextual factors and social goals may change over time. Self-reports of classroom contextual factors (i.e., promotion of performance goals, social interaction, and mutual respect) and personal…

Interpersonal touch has been little studied empirically as an indicator of parent- and peer-child intimacy. Undergraduate students (n = 390) were studied using a questionnaire survey regarding the frequencies of interpersonal touch by father, mother, same-sex peers, and opposite-sex peers during preschool ages, grades 1-3, grades 4-6, and grades…

This prospective study examined romantic partner selection and socialization among a sample of 78 young adolescents (6th-8th graders). Independent assessments of adolescent and romantic partner adjustment were collected before and after relationships initiated via peer nomination and self-report. Prior to their relationship, adolescents and…

This study investigated the proposal that social dominance goals are an important, but overlooked, aspect of social goals for young adolescents' academic adjustment. Self-reports of social goals (dominance, intimacy, and popularity goals) early in the school year were used to predict subsequent engagement (self-reports and peer nominations of…

This study explored the relationship of both romantic and platonic involvement with boys, as well as pubertal status, to body image and depression symptoms among an ethnically diverse sample of sixth-grade girls. Participants were 157 early adolescent girls (ages 10-13) who completed self-report measures designed to assess girls' level of…

Similarities between adolescents are often the cornerstone of a friendship; yet researchers know little about the similarities in friends' perceptions of the relationship. In the current study, the authors examine similarities in friends' perceived friendship qualities during the transition into early adolescence (n = 77 third graders, 110 fourth…