Heterogeneity of Social Marginalization in Early Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations with Behavioral and Social Adjustment.

Integration into formal and informal peer groups is a key developmental task during early adolescence. As youth begin to place greater value on attaining acceptance and popularity among peers, social status among one's peer group becomes an important marker of social functioning during this developmental period. Whereas much empirical research has been devoted to understanding heterogeneity among youth holding high status positions, similar distinctions have largely not been examined among socially marginalized youth.

Self- and Peer-Identified Victims in Late Childhood: Differences in Perceptions of the School Ecology.

Patterns of adjustment for youth victimized by peers vary depending on whether youth are identified as victims through self-reports, peer-reports, or both. In order to provide more targeted strategies that may help mitigate negative consequences associated with specific victimization groups, more information is needed about how these youth perceive their school ecology (bullying and academic ecology), their feelings of school belonging, and their valuing of school. Based on the convergence of self- and peer-reports of victimization, we identified four victim groups from a sample of students in 5th grade classrooms (N = 1360; 52.

Improving the School Context of Early Adolescence through Teacher Attunement to Victimization: Effects on School Belonging.

The present study examined the effects of teacher attunement to victimization on student perceptions of the bullying culture of their schools as a means of fostering a sense of belonging among early adolescents. Participants ( = 1,264) in sixth grade reported on the frequency that they had been bullied, and teachers were asked to report students who were "picked on." Teacher attunement represented the correspondence between self-identified and teacher-identified victims.

Teacher attunement to peer-nominated aggressors.

This study examined the associations between teacher attunement to aggressive students and students' characteristics in a sample (n = 278) of youth in 5th-grade classrooms with the assumption that certain student characteristics may either prime or hinder teachers' attunement to aggressive students. Teacher attunement was measured as the agreement between teacher- and peer-nominations for students who start fights. Teachers rated their students on the following characteristics: academic competence, affiliation, popularity, internalizing behavior, and Olympian qualities.

Promotive peer contexts of academic and social adjustment among rural African American early adolescent boys.

This study investigated the social network system of African American early adolescents (N = 237) in rural, low-wealth schools, specifically in terms of networks with norms strongly favoring effort and achievement. Networks with norms favoring effort and achievement were more likely to be central to the social system at the end of the school year. Subsequent analyses focused on boys (n = 103) and the effects of affiliation in networks with norms that strongly favored effort and achievement.

Enhancing peer cultures of academic effort and achievement in early adolescence: promotive effects of the SEALS intervention.

Peer cultures of effort and achievement influence early adolescents' academic adjustment. A randomized controlled trials design was used to test the extent to which aspects of peer cultures of effort and achievement were enhanced following teachers' participation in the Supporting Early Adolescents' Learning and Social Success (SEALS) intervention. Observational and survey data from teachers (N = 188) and survey data from 6th-graders (N = 2,453) in 36 rural schools across the United States were analyzed.

Educational Barriers of Rural Youth: Relation of Individual and Contextual Difference Variables.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of several individual and contextual difference factors to the perceived educational barriers of rural youth. Data were from a broader national investigation of students' postsecondary aspirations and preparation in rural high schools across the United States. The sample involved more than 7,000 rural youth in 73 high schools across 34 states.

Relationship of school context to rural youth's educational achievement and aspirations.

Though the poverty encountered by many rural youth encompasses numerous developmental challenges and substantially increases the chances for educational problems, the school context is central to promoting and constraining their development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of school characteristics and schooling experiences to the educational achievement and aspirations of youth from high-poverty rural communities. Differences in the relationship of school characteristics and schooling experiences to the educational outcomes of students from high- versus low-poverty rural communities were also examined.

Interpersonal competence configurations, attachment to community, and residential aspirations of rural adolescents.

Adolescents who grow-up in rural areas often experience a tension between their attachment to the rural lifestyle afforded by their home community and a competing desire to gain educational, social, and occupational experiences that are only available in metropolitan areas. While these diverging pressures are well-documented, there is little information about linkages between rural high school students' views of their communities, their postsecondary aspirations, and their school adjustment. To address this issue, this study examined perceptions of community and residential aspirations in an ethnically diverse sample of 8,754 rural adolescents (51.

Early adolescent peer ecologies in rural communities: bullying in schools that do and do not have a transition during the middle grades.

The transition to middle school is considered to be a heightened period for involvement in bullying because the lack of a defined dominance hierarchy is thought to promote jockeying for social positions among students. Accordingly, this study examined bullying in peer ecologies at the beginning of the middle grade years in rural schools that did and did not have a transition to middle school. Thirty-six schools (20 with transitions, 16 without transitions) participated in this research with a sample of 1,800 participants (52% female) who were in sixth grade during the second year of data collection.

Social status and aggressive and disruptive behavior in girls: individual, group, and classroom influences.

Recent studies have found distinct subtypes of aggressive youth, marked by either high social status or social marginalization, and that various measures of status differentially associate with aggression. The majority of these studies, however, focused on boys, adolescents, and/or relational aggression in girls. The current research examined how the kind of status measured and the social ecology affect the association between overt aggression and social status in a sample of 187 3rd grade girls.

Peer groups, popularity, and social preference: trajectories of social functioning among students with and without learning disabilities.

The extant literature on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities (LD) has indicated that whereas a majority belong to peer groups, a higher proportion are isolated and most have lower social status among peers in general than their typically achieving classmates. Although some work has examined these issues over short-term longitudinal studies, none to date have examined them over extensive time periods. Toward this end, the current study examined a sample of 1,361 students (678 girls and 683 boys; 55 with LD) using multiple measures of peer social functioning assessed each semester from spring of third grade through fall of sixth grade.

Bullies and victims in rural African American youth: behavioral characteristics and social network placement.

Bullying and victimization are serious problems for youth of many ages and from a variety of backgrounds. These behaviors have not, however, been widely studied in rural minorities. The current work examined behavioral and social correlates of bullying and victimization in a sample of rural African American youth.

Exploring risk in early adolescent African American youth.

Two studies were conducted to explore the degree to which single- and multiple-risk profiles were evident in samples of African American early adolescents in low-income inner-city, rural, and suburban schools. Study 1 examined early adolescent risk status (i.e.

Rejected bullies or popular leaders? The social relations of aggressive subtypes of rural african american early adolescents.

Teacher assessments of interpersonal characteristics were used to identify subtypes of rural African American early adolescents (161 boys and 258 girls). Teacher ratings of interpersonal characteristics were used to identify popular and unpopular aggressive subtypes for both boys and girls. Unpopular aggressive youths did not have elevated levels of rejected sociometric status but were more likely to have lower levels of peer-perceived social prominence and social skills.

Self-report weapon possession in school and patterns of early adolescent adjustment in rural african american youth.

Examined 345 6th-grade rural African American youth (189 boys, 156 girls) over 3 years with regard to carrying weapons in school. Recent investigations with nationally representative and urban samples have shown that carrying weapons in school fits into a larger pattern of problem behaviors, including aggression and substance use, which are supported by affiliations with other deviant youth. Very little work to date has specifically examined weapon carrying in rural African American youth.