Social goals are associated with behaviors and adjustment among peers. However, it remains unclear whether goals predict adolescent social development. We examined prospective associations among goals, physical and relational aggression, social preference, and popularity during middle school (N = 384 participants, ages 12-14 years). Agentic…

We explored the effects of 3 group features (i.e., status, cohesion, and ethnic composition) on socialization processes of aggression in early adolescents' natural peer social groups. Gender differences in these effects were also determined. A total of 245 seventh-grade individuals belonging to 65 peer groups were included in the analyses. All 3…

I used data from the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth to investigate the factors associated with the attainment of Australian university degrees and estimate their domestic labour market benefits. I considered vertical and horizontal stratification in education and examined monetary and non-monetary benefits. The…

The focus of our study is social status among first graders. In particular, we will consider the relationship between acceptance and rejection, and how these are connected to three social behavioral traits: bullying, victimization, and social withdrawal. The data set is from peer nominations of 748 children from 49 classrooms in the southwest of…

Research on teachers in Moscow shows that their material circumstances tend to be better than those in the provinces, but also that collectively they have not yet formed definite opinions on recent educational reforms. (Contains 2 tables, 3 figures, and 4 notes.)

This study aims at investigating social studies student teachers' levels of understanding sociology concepts within social studies curriculum. Study group of the research consists of 266 teacher candidates attending the Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Education, Kastamonu University during 2012 to 2013 education year. A semi-structured…

The major problems facing urban residents particularly women are poverty, poor food security, growing urban population, hunger and lack of formal employment. Due to lack of employment, the majority of women in urban centres are involved in urban agriculture. The major focus of this research was to establish to what extent women are being empowered…

College classrooms are an important socializing site, preparing students to critically reflect upon their viewpoints and engage in democratic citizenship and civic leadership. Yet this very notion of educational environment can serve to produce racial inequality and ethnically and culturally blind pedagogical space. In this chapter, the author…

Background: Social networks are important in adolescent smoking behavior. Previous research indicates that peer context is a major causal factor of adolescent smoking behavior. To date, however, little is known about the influence of peer group structure on adolescent smoking behavior. Methods: Studies that examined adolescent social networks with…

The present study addresses the influence that group norms exert on individual aggressive and prosocial behavior. The study hypothesis is that for early adolescents who change their peer group affiliations, the characteristics of the group they are leaving (departing-group influence) are not as influential as those of the group that they are…

Most research on attitudes toward older adults does not address subgroups of older adults. This study evaluated whether attitudes among undergraduates towards older professionals were more positive than those toward older adults in general. A 2 x 2 factorial design with the covariate of knowledge of aging was used with measures from two attitude…

This paper engages two core ideas: first, that status mobility is facilitated through connectivity, or having a large number of ties to others, as suggested by theories of social capital and social networks; and second, that aggression is an expressive or irrational reaction to frustrations, humiliations, or social pathologies. In contrast, I…

This study explores smartness as a cultural construct rather than a biological capacity. The cultural construction of smartness has broad consequences related to teacher expectations, student academic identity development, and schooling inequities. This study is based on a 1-year ethnography in a kindergarten classroom, and the author investigates…

The extent to which peer influences on substance use in adolescence systematically vary in strength based on qualities of the adolescent and his or her close friend was assessed in a study of 157 adolescents (age: M = 13.35, SD = 0.64), their close friends, and their parents assessed longitudinally with a combination of observational, analogue,…

This study examines the "living well" aspirations of an emerging adult sample and compares them with earlier results of middle and high school samples. The tenor of emerging adult responses was more stridently extrinsic and more convincingly intrinsic than adolescent responses, revealing less middle ground as emerging adults more clearly take a…