While the literature on college access is extensive, little attention has been given to examining how charter high schools shape the college-going aspirations of students. The purpose of this study was to examine how students at one charter high school develop college-going aspirations, including what role the culture of the charter school plays…

The racial achievement gap has been at the center of the educational debate for decades in the United States. Although disparities in educational outcomes have declined in part of the 20th century, the process has stalled in this decade. For instance, in mathematics the gap in raw scores for students aged 13 has decline from 41 points in 1978 to…

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are the basis on which teachers and other service providers are required to design educational programs for learners with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). As part of their work with the National Professional Development Center (NPDC) on ASD, researchers developed a process for reviewing the research literature and…

Background: Sun-induced skin damage, which increases skin cancer risk, is initiated in early life and promoted through later sun exposure patterns. If sun safety determinants are well understood and addressed during the school years, skin cancer incidence might be reduced. This study tested psychosocial influences on youth's sun safety and…

The objectives of the current study were to (a) determine how lifetime community violence (CV) victimization, coping behavior, social support (SS), and depressed mood are related in young adults, and (b) assess whether the relationship between CV victimization and depressive reactions is moderated by perceived SS and coping style. Five hundred…

Preventive measures that can help in the juvenile system to address HIV risk and psychiatric disorders among detained youths are discussed. Early holistic interventions concluded by incorporating relevant family, peer, school and community factors could decrease later HIV risk behavior is presented.

This 18-month prospective study investigated factors that contributed to changes in eating disorder symptoms among adolescents living in the People's Republic of China. Five hundred forty-one Chinese middle school and high school students (182 boys, 359 girls) completed measures of eating disorder symptoms; body dissatisfaction; appearance ideal…

This article explores the social and professional dynamics "when teachers face teachers" seeking to impact colleagues' instructional practices to improve student learning. Specifically, it examines a group of 40 teachers leading staff development sessions at their schools in an effort to bring more literacy strategies into the pedagogies of…

Social norms-based interventions targeting college student drinking behaviors have become increasingly popular. Such interventions purportedly modify student misperceptions of fellow student drinking behaviors, which leads to changes in individual drinking behavior. Despite claims of successful interventions, research demonstrating that social…

Prior research describes the development of susceptibility to peer pressure in adolescence as following an inverted U-shaped curve, increasing during early adolescence, peaking around age 14, and declining thereafter. This pattern, however, is derived mainly from studies that specifically examined peer pressure to engage in antisocial behavior. In…

Social pressure to conform to the thin ideal is believed to play a decisive role in the development of eating disorders. In this field study at a college with only sophomore rush, 99 sorority women, 80 nonsorority women past their first year, and 86 first-year women completed three subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (Garner, 1991), the…

This study examines the effects of childhood-onset conduct disorder on later antisocial behavior and street victimization among a group of homeless and runaway adolescents. Four hundred twenty-eight homeless and runaway youth were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters from four Midwestern states. Key findings include the following.…

Because young adult drinking occurs primarily in peer groups, this should be taken into account when studying influences on drinking behaviour. This paper aimed to assess influences on drinking by observing existing peer groups in a naturalistic setting. We first analysed the basic levels at which two types of influence take place. The first,…

Qualitative data from 923 adolescents treated in outpatient and residential settings were used to create taxonomies of their reasons for starting, continuing, and quitting use of drugs and alcohol. Three raters independently categorized reasons by dominant theme. The final sets of taxonomies were defined within several iterations and the raters'…

The emergence of romantic relationships is one of the most striking features of adolescence. By the late adolescent years, most teenagers have been in a romantic relationship at least once and roughly half of teens are dating currently. Alarmingly though, in many of these relationships adolescents act aggressively toward each other and this…