Peer acceptance and rejection during secondary school: Do associations with subsequent educational outcomes vary by socioeconomic background?

Research shows that peer relationships are associated with students' school adjustment. However, the importance of advantageous and disadvantageous factors for students' educational outcomes may vary by socioeconomic positioning. Drawing on sociometric and register data from a nationally representative sample of Swedish youth (n = 4996, girls 50%; migration background 19%), this study asks if family socioeconomic status moderates associations between youth's peer relationships and their subsequent educational outcomes.

Adolescent friendship, cross-sexuality ties, and attitudes toward sexual minorities: A social network approach to intergroup contact.

Social ties between members of in- and outgroups are theorized to reduce individual levels of prejudice. However, instances of intergroup contact are not isolated events; cross-group interactions are embedded in broader networks defined by various social processes that guide the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. This project reconsiders the potential benefits of intergroup contact by applying a network perspective to examine whether friendships between youth of different sexualities can shape individuals' homophobic attitudes.

Sexual Identity and Birth Cohort Differences in Social Support and Its Link with Well-Being among Sexual Minority Individuals.

This study examined sexual identity and birth cohort differences in social support and its association with well-being, using a longitudinal national probability sample of 706 cisgender and non-binary sexual minority individuals from the USA. The data allowed for extensive descriptions of perceived social support and support networks across subgroups. Findings demonstrated that sexual identity and birth cohort differences in overall sizes of support networks and levels of perceived social support were small.

Benefits of Bullying? A Test of the Evolutionary Hypothesis in Three Cohorts.

Recent work on bullying perpetration includes the hypothesis that bullying carries an evolutionary advantage for perpetrators in terms of health and reproductive success. We tested this hypothesis in the National Child Development Study (n = 4998 male, n = 4831 female), British Cohort Study 1970 (n = 4261 male, n = 4432 female), and TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (n = 486 male, n = 521 female), where bullying was assessed in adolescence (NCDS, BCS70: age 16, TRAILS: age 14) and outcomes in adulthood. Partial support for the evolutionary hypothesis was found as bullies had more children in NCDS and engaged in sexual intercourse earlier in TRAILS.

Peers and Homophobic Attitudes in Adolescence: Examining Selection and Influence Processes in Friendships and Antipathies.

Homophobic attitudes and behavior are a widespread problem among adolescents, but what the role of peer relationships such as friendships and antipathies is in shaping these attitudes remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined to what extent homophobic attitudes are influenced by friends' and foes' homophobic attitudes, and whether homophobic attitudes serve as a selection criterion for the formation of friendships and antipathies. Participants came from three Dutch high schools across two waves (wave 1 November 2014, wave 2 March/April 2015, ages 11-20, N = 1935, 51.

Explaining Health Disparities between Heterosexual and LGB Adolescents by Integrating the Minority Stress and Psychological Mediation Frameworks: Findings from the TRAILS Study.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents experience elevated levels of internalizing problems and use more substances than heterosexual adolescents. The minority stress and psychological mediation framework are complementary theoretical frameworks that were developed to explain these disparities. However, limited empirical research has integrated both frameworks to study health disparities between heterosexual and LGB adolescents.

Differences in sexual identity dimensions between bisexual and other sexual minority individuals: Implications for minority stress and mental health.

Bisexual individuals experience poorer mental health than other sexual minority individuals. One explanation for this is that biphobia predisposes bisexual individuals to have a more ambiguous sexual identity and fewer opportunities for stress-ameliorating forms of coping and support. This study explores sexual identity and sexual identity dimensions-prominence, valence, integration, and complexity-in bisexual and other sexual minority individuals.

Acceptance of homosexuality through education? Investigating the role of education, family background and individual characteristics in the United Kingdom.

Higher educated people tend to be more accepting of homosexuality than lower educated people. This has inspired claims that education leads to a higher acceptance of homosexuality. Alternatively, the association between education and acceptance of homosexuality could be confounded by (un)observed family background and stable individual characteristics.

Disparities in Depressive Symptoms Between Heterosexual and Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth in a Dutch Cohort: The TRAILS Study.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth experience elevated levels of depressive symptoms compared to heterosexual youth. This study examined how differences in depressive symptoms between heterosexual and LGB youth developed from late childhood to early adulthood. The association between sexual orientation and depressive symptoms was estimated from age 11 to 22 using data from the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey, a longitudinal Dutch cohort study.