Discusses conflict as a normal part of young children's social development. Examines the teacher's role in children's conflict, classroom conflict outcomes, and the use of peer mediation programs and peace education in elementary and secondary schools. Describes the impact of the Fussbuster Program on Head Start children with high levels of…

The purpose of this study was to determine the rationale behind football game day attire and to establish whether organizational identification, perceived organizational prestige, and game day participation influenced clothing choice. By identifying the game day clothing habits of female college students attending Division I-A schools throughout…

The areas considered in this chapter have to do with the aims of family socialization, the nature of influence, linking multiple sources of influence, and the range of families and contexts used as a basis for accounts of socialization. In each area, moving beyond restrictive assumptions opens up new ways of thinking and new research questions.

This study tested a culturally informed model of academic well-being for 278 Latino youth. We examined detrimental effects of discriminatory experiences and protective effects of social support on self-reported academic outcomes. Models specified main and buffering effects of social support and compared contributions of support provided by…

Successful peer helping or peer group treatment interventions for at-risk youth engage the curative power of some primary child development strategies. Coaching at-risk adolescents to help others has been a primary therapeutic tool in peer helping programs for over 50 years. High and moderate risk youth can benefit greatly from programs that…

Associations among six different domains of self-esteem (peers, school, family, sports/athletics, body image, and global self-worth) and risk behaviors related to substance use and suicidality were investigated in a sample of South African adolescents. Students enrolled in Grades 8 and 11 at independent secondary schools in Cape Town (N = 116)…

This paper reviews how cascading levels of contextual influences, starting with family factors and extending to neighborhood and school factors, can affect children's behavioral and emotional development. The ability of contextual factors to trigger or to attenuate children's underlying temperament and biological risk factors is emphasized.…

Drug education programs that rely on an abstinence based philosophy neglect, and may even contribute to, the potentially adverse consequences experienced by young people who already engage in this potentially health-compromising behaviour. A predominant focus of drug research during the initial wave of rising cannabis use by young people in the…

The fact that crime and victimization share similar correlates suggests that family and peer contexts are potentially useful for explaining individual differences in violent victimization. In this research, we used routine activities and lifestyles frameworks to reveal how strong bonds of family attachment can promote more effective guardianship…

Self-esteem (SE) is widely regarded as an indicator of positive psychological functioning. The empirical evidence for an association between SE and religiosity, although extensive, is ambiguous; some studies have reported a positive association, yet others have failed to detect any significant relationship. The aim of the present paper was to…

Classroom climate, though difficult to define and assess, affects student learning especially in the elementary schools. Much of the current research focuses on the primary architect of classroom climate--the teacher. There is little doubt that teacher behaviors determine the overall climate of the classroom, but peer actions and reactions also…

Compliance with many agri-environmental programs fails to meet expectations due to enforcement difficulties. One response has been devolution of enforcement rights and responsibilities to industry organisations. This kind of response is based on a belief that farmers cooperate more with their industry organisations than with government in ensuring…

It has been argued that group treatment of antisocial adolescents may increase rather than decrease conduct problems. One mechanism that has been suggested to underlie this effect is "deviancy training," wherein during group sessions deviant peers reinforce each other's antisocial actions and words. These 2 hypotheses have important implications…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a type of interdependent group-oriented contingency management procedure, was first introduced in 1969 and has been used with overwhelming success in classrooms and other settings. Since its inception, the "game" has utilized team competition and peer influence combined with reinforcement procedures. It has been found…

The current study examines proactive parenting strategies used to deal with potentially conflicting messages of values presented by agents outside the family. Forty European American mothers with children ages 11 to 16 participate in semistructured, in-depth interviews. Quantitative and qualitative findings reveal that parental strategy choice…