Navigating Middle Grades: Role of Social Contexts in Middle Grade School Climate

During early adolescence, most public school students undergo school transitions, and many students experience declines in academic performance and social-emotional well-being. Theories and empirical research have highlighted the importance of supportive school environments in promoting positive youth development during this period of transition. Despite this, little is known about the proximal social and developmental contexts of the range of middle grade public schools US students attend. Using a cross-sectional dataset from the eighth grade wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort 1998–1999, the current study examines the middle grade school social context from the perspectives of administrators and teachers in public schools with typical grade configurations (k–8 schools, middle schools, and junior high schools) and how it relates to students’ perceptions of school climate. We find that administrators and teachers in k–8 schools perceive a more positive school social context, controlling for school structural and demographic characteristics. This school social context, in turn, is associated with students’ perceptions of their schools’ social and academic climate. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.     

School Context Protective Factors Against Peer Ethnic Discrimination Across the High School Years

Ethnically diverse high school contexts present unique social opportunities for youth to form interethnic relationships, but they may also subject students to certain social challenges such as peer ethnic discrimination. With a sample of 1,072 high school students (55% girls; 54% Latino, 20% African American, 14% Asian, 12% White) attending 84 high schools, school context factors that protect students’ exposure to peer ethnic discrimination across the high school years were investigated with a three-level hierarchical linear model. Each spring for four consecutive years (grades 9–12), self-reported peer ethnic discrimination, interracial climate at school, and perceived school ethnic composition were assessed. At the school level, objective high school ethnic composition data were collected. Peer ethnic discrimination was found to decline slightly across the high school years. Above and beyond this decline, more positive perceptions of the school interracial climate and both objective and perceived numerical ethnic majority status predicted lower levels of peer ethnic discrimination. Taken together, the results highlight the significance of both objective (e.g., ethnic composition) and subjective (e.g., interracial climate) aspects of the school ethnic context to students’ high school social experiences.     

Advances in psychotherapy for children and adolescents: Interrelations of adjustment,development, and intervention

The present article discusses advances in psychotherapy research with children and adolescents. Effective intervention extends beyond identifying treatment techniques. Understanding the scope of dysfunctions and threats to adjustment and the course of development are central. Three central themes are highlighted. First, the scope of clinical dysfunctions, at-risk behavior, and conditions to which children are exposed are discussed. Second, the role of development in adjustment is illustrated by examples of research on negative affect, social behavior, and empathy. Finally, advances in psychotherapy outcome research are described with illustrations of treatment applications in the schools. The importance of treatment informed by developmental theory and the role of the school in identifying dysfunction and intervening are discussed in light of current advances in research.     

Promoting Social Nurturance and Positive Social Environments to Reduce Obesity in High-Risk Youth

Nurturing environments within the context of families, schools, and communities all play an important role in enhancing youth’s behavioral choices and health outcomes. The increasing prevalence rates of obesity among youth, especially among low income and ethnic minorities, highlight the need to develop effective and innovative intervention approaches that promote positive supportive environments across different contexts for at-risk youth. We propose that the integration of Social Cognitive Theory, Family Systems Theory, and Self-Determination Theory offers a useful framework for understanding how individual, family, and social-environmental-level factors contribute to the development of nurturing environments. In this paper, we summarize evidence-based randomized controlled trials that integrate positive parenting, motivational, and behavioral skills strategies in different contexts, including primary care, home, community, and school-based settings. Taken together, these studies suggest that youth and parents are most likely to benefit when youth receive individual-level behavioral skills, family-level support and communication, and autonomous motivational support from the broader social environment. Future investigators and healthcare providers should consider integrating these evidence-based approaches that support the effects of positive social climate-based interventions on promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and weight management in youth.     

Classroom‐ and School‐Level Contributions to Bullying and Victimization: A Review

School bullying is increasingly viewed by researchers as a group phenomenon that extends beyond the perpetrator–victim dyad and is embedded in the wider social context. This paper reviews the literature on classroom and school factors contributing to bullying and victimization among children and adolescents. Considerable variability in the prevalence of these problems exists between classrooms and schools, which are highly relevant contexts for students' social development. Along with individual characteristics, both classroom‐ and school‐related factors explain the bullying dynamic. The contexts may also exacerbate, or buffer against, the effects of individual‐level risk for bullying involvement and the consequences of victimization. We discuss findings on the contributions of demographic and structural characteristics (e.g. grade level, classroom and school size), peer contextual factors (e.g. status hierarchy, group norms and bystander behaviours) and the role of teachers. Finally, implications for research and school‐based antibullying programs are considered. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effects of Stress and Social Support on Externalizing Behaviors Among Children in Military Families

Drawing on social support theory, this study examines the main and interactive effects of parental perceived stress and social support on externalizing behaviors in military youth. Findings reveal that not only do social support and stress affect the conduct of military children, but social support also moderately buffers the effects of parental stress. Given the increasing distance between military and American culture, more generally, this research is one opportunity to make sense of contradictory expectations about the well-being of military youth. In doing so, it provides implications for how a more supportive organization can benefit military families.     

Do Youth Development Programs Matter? An Examination of Transitions and Well-Being Among Military Youth

The current correlational study examines the association between internal and external military family contextual factors (e.g., parental rank, having multiple military parents, school changes, living more than 30 min from a military installation, parental deployment, relationship provisions) and military youth well-being outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-efficacy) in a sample of children of active duty military members (i.e., military youth). Data from 749 military youth, ages 11–14, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The model explained a reasonable amount of the variation in the outcomes of interest (r-square statistics for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and self-efficacy were .151, .018, and .086, respectively). Results indicated that military youth who reported more social provisions experienced fewer depressive symptoms and more self-efficacy. Youth who reported certain military risk factors (i.e., parental rank; living farther from the military installation; multiple school changes) were associated with decreased well-being (i.e., more depressive symptoms and anxiety and less self-efficacy). However, findings suggest that participation in military programs may serve a moderating or buffering factor for these youth.     

Coping,competence, and aggression prevention: Part 2. Universal school-based prevention

Coping—competence theory yields a structural model of the development of persistent aggression in which current challenge encounters determine future life outcomes and competence. Driven by this model, universal, school-based prevention programs would aim in multiple ways to promote prosocial coping among high-risk, resilient, and advantaged youth from kindergarten through high school. Expected benefits of prosocial coping would include: less aggressive behavior, fewer adverse life outcomes (e.g., school dropout, police arrest, teen pregnancy, conduct, mood, and substance-use disorders), and a more competent self-definition and social reputation. Five stages are described that may prove useful in creating prosocial schools and neighborhoods supportive of youth in transition away from antisocial coping and deviant peers.     

Coping, competence, and aggression prevention: Part 2. Universal school-based prevention

Coping—competence theory yields a structural model of the development of persistent aggression in which current challenge encounters determine future life outcomes and competence. Driven by this model, universal, school-based prevention programs would aim in multiple ways to promote prosocial coping among high-risk, resilient, and advantaged youth from kindergarten through high school. Expected benefits of prosocial coping would include: less aggressive behavior, fewer adverse life outcomes (e.g., school dropout, police arrest, teen pregnancy, conduct, mood, and substance-use disorders), and a more competent self-definition and social reputation. Five stages are described that may prove useful in creating prosocial schools and neighborhoods supportive of youth in transition away from antisocial coping and deviant peers.     

Black Youths' perceptions of school cultural pluralism,school climate and the mediating role of racial identity

Researchers have become interested in the school climate experiences of Black youth given findings of less positive evaluations of school climate in comparison to their other-race peers. School support for cultural pluralism, also referred to as school support for cultural diversity, has been regarded as one aspect of school climate, but is sometimes distinct from Black youth's ratings of general perceptions of school climate. This project sought to understand the relationship between Black students' perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism and perceptions of school climate. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to determine whether previous perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism predicted later perceptions of school climate in a sample of 336 Black adolescents (M_age = 13.74 years). Furthermore, racial identity was explored as the mechanism through which school support for cultural pluralism impacted school climate appraisals, and differences between Black boys (N = 151) and Black girls (N = 185) were tested. Results confirmed that Black youth who rated their school as being supportive of culturally pluralism had more positive ratings of school climate during the following school year after controlling for the previous year's school climate ratings. However, the mediating role of racial identity differed for Black boys and Black girls, underscoring the need for intersectional research for Black youth and the importance of racial identity. We conclude with a discussion regarding the importance of racial/ethnic identity and pluralism within the school context, as well as, the unique role of school psychologists as preventionists and advocates of change within schools.     

校园氛围与青少年问题行为的关系:同伴侵害的中介作用

许多研究表明,青少年感知的校园氛围对其问题行为有重要影响。但是,校园氛围起作用的中介机制仍有待进一步探讨。本研究旨在考察青少年感知的校园氛围与其问题行为(行为不良、抑郁)的关系,以及同伴侵害在其中的中介作用。采用分层整群抽样的方法,选取广东省10所学校2758名初中生作为被试,匿名填写社会经济地位问卷、家庭功能问卷、校园氛围感知问卷、青少年同伴侵害问卷、儿童抑郁调查表、青少年行为不良指数问卷。结果表明:(1)在控制了性别、年龄、社会经济地位和家庭功能后,积极的校园氛围显著负向预测青少年的行为不良和抑郁。(2)同伴侵害在校园氛围与青少年行为不良和抑郁之间具有中介作用。     

Mentors Enhance Resilience in At-Risk Children and Adolescents

Mentors can play an important role in promoting resilience among at-risk children and adolescents. Nonparental adults who serve as mentors can provide reliable support, communicate moral values, teach information and skills, inspire, motivate, enhance interpersonal relatedness, and foster self-esteem. A number of researchers have reported that at-risk children who have mentors, especially nonparental kin, exhibit fewer problem behaviors, more positive attitudes towards school, greater school efficacy, less marijuana use, less nonviolent delinquency, and lower levels of anxiety and depression. The most successful mentors are those who invest time and energy and have frequent and prolonged contact with the children they guide. The relationship between mentoring and resilience in at-risk children and adolescents may best be understood from psychological, social, and neurobiological perspectives. As described and recommended by Allen and Hauser, the in-depth analysis of narratives provided by at-risk children and adolescents, particularly over the course of their development into young adulthood, will undoubtedly help researchers to isolate specific features of mentoring that are critical for fostering resilience.     

Understanding Factors Associated with Bullying and Peer Victimization in Chinese Schools Within Ecological Contexts

We review factors associated with school bullying and peer victimization in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) within the context of Bronfenbrenner (Am Psychol 32:513–531, 1977) ecological systems framework. Bullying and peer victimization are serious problems in Chinese schools, which calls for effective school-based bullying prevention and intervention strategies. However, understanding of this phenomenon has been limited because the majority of the empirical studies have examined individual characteristics (e.g., age, gender), and relatively few Chinese researchers have considered various contexts of the social ecology, such as cultural contexts. We first discuss the definition and prevalence, which is followed by a review of socio-demographic and ecological factors (micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystem) that are correlated with school bullying and peer victimization in Chinese schools. Findings from our review suggest that factors at the socio-demographic (age, gender, behavioral/mental health problems), micro- (parents, peers, and teachers), meso- (parents’ involvement in children’s school), exo- (mass media), and macrosystem (emphasis on academic achievement and collectivism vs. individualism) levels can foster or mitigate bullying and peer victimization among children and adolescents in Chinese schools. We then draw implications for assessment, practice, and policy concerning school bullying and peer victimization in China.     

Risk or resource: Does school climate moderate the influence of community violence on children’s social‐emotional development in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Exposure to community violence is thought to create risk for the social and emotional development of children, including those children living in low‐income, conflict‐affected countries. In the absence of other types of community resources, schools may be one of the few community resources that can help buffer children from the negative effects of community violence exposure. We sampled 8,300 students ranging in age from 6–18 years in 123 schools from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to examine whether and how two distinct dimensions of positive school climate can protect two key features of children's social‐emotional development in the presence of community violence. Multi‐level models tested the hypothesis that students’ perceptions of a positive school climate moderated the relation between community violence and self‐reported mental health problems and peer victimization. Findings support the hypothesis. Specifically, a positive school climate protected against mental health problems and peer victimization in the presence of high community violence. Students who experienced high community violence and a negative school climate generally demonstrated the worst development. We find complex interactions between the dimensions of school climate and exposure to violence on student social‐emotional development that highlight the salience of children's contexts for developmental studies in low‐income countries. We use dynamic developmental systems theory and differential impact to discuss the dual potential of schools as a buffer against the effects of violence or as a source of compounded risk.     

Lesbian,gay, bisexual,and transgender youth: Limited representation in school support personnel journals

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth experience harassment and discrimination in schools and these experiences lead to increased negative social-emotional outcomes. Youth who can identify at least one supportive adult at school report better outcomes than youth who cannot identify a safe adult. Yet, many educators report feeling uncomfortable or unprepared to support LGBT youth. One reason for educators' discomfort may be that content related to issues unique to LGBT youth is sometimes missing or covered minimally in university training programs. We hypothesized that LGBT content may be covered minimally in school support personnel journals, as well. This study analyzed eight school support personnel journals across the disciplines of school counseling, school nursing, school psychology, and school social work for LGBT content published between 2000 and 2014 to gain a better understanding of the visibility of LGBT issues in the research. Results suggested that there has been a lack of presence of LGBT issues in journals across disciplines. These results also suggest a need for an intentional focus on issues relevant to LGBT youth in school support personnel journals. Thus, the article concludes with an introduction to two articles in this special topic section, including Russell, Day, Ioverno, and Toomey's (in this issue) study on teacher perceptions of bullying in the context of enumerated school policies and other supportive sexual orientation and gender identity related practices and Poteat and Vecho's (in this issue) study on characteristics of bystanders in homophobic bullying situations. The broad goal of these three studies is to increase visibility of critical LGBT issues in school support personnel journals.     

Electronic Communication Use and Socio-Emotional Well-Being among Military Youth

The authors seek to investigate the relationship between electronic-communication (e-communication) use and social isolation for adolescents age 11–18 in the context of military family life, with a specific focus on relationship function provided by e-communication. Self-efficacy, developmental stage (early or middle/late adolescence), sex, and military contextual factors (parents’ military rank, number of school changes and parent deployment) on social benefits and social isolation were controls in the model. Data from a computer survey administered to adolescents (N?=?1036) who had at least one active-duty military parent at five US Army installations in the US and Western Europe were analyzed using a path analysis model. Findings suggest that using e-communication to establish new relationships may be strategic for military youth, who experience many geographic relocations and school changes, in terms of creating social benefits (opportunity for nurturance). On the other hand, spending large amounts of time using e-communication may impede the establishment of nurturing relationships with others and ultimately may be linked to social isolation. Within the model, significant moderational effects related to self-efficacy, sex of the adolescent and parents’ military rank were found.     

Educational privilege: The role of school context in the development just world beliefs among Brazilian adolescents

The purpose of this study is to understand the development of Brazilian adolescents' justice perceptions across different contexts of educational privilege. Past research has found that, in adolescence, the belief in a just world (BJW) differentiates between personal and general and declines. However, prior research has not included adolescents from various socioeconomic statuses, samples in Latin America, or focused on the role of the educational context on the developmental trajectory. Participants were 385 adolescents from 3 schools (private, public and military) in Southern Brazil between 9th and 11th grade. Students completed the personal and general BJW survey. Results revealed a significant interaction of school and grade level of adolescents' personal BJW. Contrary to previous research, personal and general BJW was not always lower in higher grades. Among privileged educational contexts, data indicated that personal BJW may even increase, with the decrease notable in the lower resourced school. In contrast, general BJW was relatively consistent across all Brazilian adolescents. Results provide important insight into the role that privilege and education play across adolescents' development of BJW. This research questions the generalizability of previous studies on the development of BJW and indicates that the trajectory may be dependent upon educational and cultural context.     

Is early identification of children of alcoholics necessary for preventive intervention? Reaction to Havey and Dodd

Havey and Dodd (1995, this issue) address the question of how to best identify early adolescents who are at risk for later substance abuse, with a particular focus on children of alcoholics (COAs). They conclude that stressful family events are preferable to COA status as an at-risk indicator. In addition, they question the well-substantiated at-risk status of COAs, claiming support for the null hypothesis regarding individual and family differences between COAs and non-COAs. This article addresses both conceptual and methodological concerns about identification and intervention for COAs in general, and about the Havey and Dodd study in particular. I first discuss a theoretically-empirically based approach to identification and risk prevention that supports a more complex, less parsimonious, model than that suggested by Havey and Dodd. Second, I present research to support the at-risk status of COAs. Third, I discuss issues related to identification of COAs and question the validity of Havey and Dodd's identification techniques. On the basis of conceptual and methodological arguments, I contend that Havey and Dodd's conclusions are not well-founded in their own or others' research and that the at-risk status of COAs cannot be dismissed on the basis of their research. I also contend that early identification may not be necessary for intervention with COAs or other at-risk groups. Alternatively, primary prevention programs provide the context for both service delivery and identification of individuals who might not otherwise be easily identified, particularly those at risk for developing mental health problems because of family environment factors (e.g., family alcoholism or conflict), or those currently experiencing mild or internalized (e.g., depression) adjustment difficulties.     

新时代青少年价值观的构成特征与适应功能研究

在中国改革开放和社会变迁的新时代背景下,分析青少年价值观构成特征,形成有效的测量工具,并对初、高中共780名学生的价值观结构及价值观的学校和社会适应功能进行调查。结果发现：中国青少年价值观由社会平等、集体取向 、遵纪守则、亲情、友情、上进竞争、时尚、享受快乐 8个维度构成,问卷具有良好的信、效度;男生相对女生更认同友情,初中生相比高中生更认同社会公平和亲情,高中生更认同享受快乐;青少年价值观各维度对学校和社会适应的某些指标具有预测作用：对上进竞争的认同可以正向预测学业成绩和学校能力;对时尚的认同负向预测学业成绩和亲社会行为,正向预测学习问题;对亲情的认同正向预测社会能力和亲社会行为;对友情的认同正向预测同伴偏好。总体而言,新时代青少年价值观构成特征受到自身发展阶段、社会经济文化等因素的影响,研究结果有助于理解现阶段青少年健康心理发展与价值观教育之间的关系,对未来的青少年价值观教育提供了心理学的实证依据。     

Turn the Wheel: Integral School Counseling for Male Adolescents

In the wake of violent episodes committed by male youths in schools, many male adolescents grapple with the traditional norm of masculinity and the role it might play in contributing to such violence. School counselors need to address the developmental needs of all male youth, because schools play a significant role in the construction of male identities. This article formulates an overarching, inclusive model of integral counseling that enables school counselors to help male adolescents challenge the norm of conventional masculinity. The model draws from 3 areas: transpersonal counseling, holistic education, and mindful social action. The aim is to move the students' level of self‐development and identity toward higher and more integrative realms.