This study examines the nature and implications of peer academic reputations in math and science classes for early adolescents' achievement beliefs and behaviors. The sample was 840 students (51% girls; 36% African American, 47% European American, 7% Latino, 6% Asian American, and 3% Other). About half the sample (47%) was from 27 fifth-grade…

We examined the link between social comparison with friends and self-perceptions of academic competence during adolescence and how personality may play a role in this link. Participants were 193 eighth-grade students who attended a rural, mid-Atlantic middle school. We used difference scores to measure the extent to which students' nominated and…

This study explores the link between peer problems in school and contextual variations in negative mood and state self-esteem over a 5-day period. Fifth-grade children completed measures of mood and state self-esteem while they were at home in the morning and while they were at school each day, allowing for an examination of whether psychological…