Sara E. Goldstein

Educational aspiration–expectation discrepancies: Relation to socioeconomic and academic risk-related factors

This study examines whether disconnection between educational aspirations and expectations is associated with socioeconomic status, academic performance, academic risk-related behaviors and related psychosocial factors in an ethnically and economically diverse sample of early adolescents from a public middle school (N = 761). Results suggest that students who aspire to achieve more than they expect to achieve also are likely to have more economically disadvantaged backgrounds and poorer academic performance. These students also show a variety of academic and social risks. Specifically, students whose aspirations exceeded their expectations reported lower levels of school bonding, higher levels of test/performance anxiety, and elevated behavioral/emotional difficulties. Results are discussed in terms of social-cognitive theory as well as applications for promoting student social and academic success.

Adolescents' Aggressive and Prosocial Behavior: Associations With Jealousy and Social Anxiety

The authors examined how relational aggression, physical aggression, and proactive prosocial behavior were associated with jealousy and social anxiety in a diverse sample of 60 middle school students. After the authors controlled for gender and race, jealousy predicted relational aggression and proactive prosocial behavior, but it did not predict physical aggression. Additionally, social anxiety predicted proactive prosocial behavior. Adolescents who were more jealous in their peer relationships also tended to engage in relational aggression and proactive prosocial behavior, and adolescents who were more socially anxious also tended to be proactively prosocial. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and suggest directions for future research.

Treating Juvenile Offenders: Best Practices and Emerging Critical Issues

According to the most recent report available from the US Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), in 2008 juveniles accounted for about 16% of all arrests for violent crime and 26% of all arrests for property crime (Puzzanchera 2009). Although these rates represent an overall decline of 3% in juvenile arrests from the year prior, and a decline of 16% from 10 years prior, the absolute number of juvenile arrests is still daunting. In 2008, there were an estimated 2.11 million arrests of juveniles, and about 96,000 (5%) of those were for the index violent crimes of murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault (Puzzanchera 2009).

Developmental Issues in the Prevention of Aggression and Violence in School

Generally speaking, primary prevention has been conceptualized as ontogenetically early intervention (see Cowen, 2000, for a discussion). That is, programs seeking to prevent the emergence of some problem behavior or form of psychopathology in a population typically are construed as programs that need to be provided to children as early in development as possible given the constraints imposed by their social, emotional, and cognitive capacities. From a strictly logical standpoint, this assertion makes sense especially with regard to aggressive behavior. Aggression emerges fairly early in development (Tremblay, 2000) and can lead to socially and financially costly outcomes later on (Huesmann et al., 2002; Jones et al., 2002). Thus, it seems reasonable to maintain that aggression and violence prevention programs should target children at as young an age as possible. However, primary prevention of aggression can occur throughout childhood and adolescence given the developmental underpinnings and variants of this behavior. This chapter discusses key developmental issues and concerns in the primary prevention of aggression in school-age children and adolescents. The need for primary prevention approaches beyond early and middle childhood is particularly pressing with respect to aggressive behavior for a variety of reasons. First, aggression exhibits significant and meaningful continuity from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood (Huesmann et al., 1984, 2006; Kokko & Pulkkinen, 2005). That is, individuals who exhibit high levels of aggression in childhood are likely to maintain this position relative to their peers into adulthood. Second, aggression is both frequent and problematic among children in elementary school as well as middle and high school (Boxer et al., 2006; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006; Nansel et al., 2001). Third, aggression shows topographical variation at different developmental periods. Whereas aggressive behavior in younger children might be limited to low-impact physical and acquisitive acts (e.g., pushing, shoving, taking others’ property), mild forms of verbal provocation (e.g., teasing, name-calling), and disobedience (Eron et al., 1971), aggression among older youth can be far more varied to include interpersonal violence (including dating violence and sexual aggression), delinquency, and more elaborate verbal and social provocations (e.g., socially harmful behaviors such as defamatory gossip and ostracism). Finally, recent theoretical work suggests that aggression among younger children might result from and persist in part

A longitudinal examination of social connectedness and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents

BACKGROUND This study examines the relationship between three different types of social connectivity and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. METHODS Using the Add Health dataset, three domains of social connection were explored: parental connection, school connection, and social integration. Logistic regression was used to examine whether changes over time in connectedness predicted suicidal thoughts and behavior. RESULTS Youth whose difference scores on social integration and parental connectedness increased were less likely to experience suicidal ideation. Increases in difference scores for perceived school connectedness protected youth who reported ideation from engaging in a suicide attempt. CONCLUSIONS Perceptions of social connection are key factors in understanding adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. It is important to consider social connection across different relationship contexts.

The Impact of Widely Publicized Suicides on Search Trends: Using Google Trends to Test the Werther and Papageno Effects

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of widely publicized suicides on the Werther and Papageno Effects using internet search trends. A list of widely publicized suicides from 2010 through 2018 was compiled along with dates of death for each of these individuals. Google.com/trends data were then collected for searches for “how to suicide” and “suicide prevention” for 14 days prior to a widely publicized suicide/14 days after a widely publicized suicide and 7 days prior to a widely publicized suicide/7 days after a widely publicized suicide. Comparisons were then made between these time periods for “how to suicide” and “suicide prevention.” Some celebrities, such as Robin Williams (2014) and Aaron Hernandez (2017) were associated with increased searches. However, for many there was no increase in search trends. Limited support was found for the impact of widely publicized suicides on internet search trends with one case supporting a Werther Effect and one case supporting a Papageno Effect. The finding that only some celebrities were associated with increased searches may be a byproduct of the impact of celebrity status on these effects, with more prominent celebrities having the greatest impact.