The Journal of Early Adolescence

Despite efforts over the past few decades to provide a better educational environment for young adolescents, little is empirically known regarding the students' perceptions of school. The present study was undertaken to directly tap young adolescents' views about school as they progressed from elementary to junior high school. As part of a larger research project, 335 sixth grade students (153 boys and 182 girls) were randomly selected from two successive cohorts and followed longitudinally through the eighth grade. Structured interview data pertaining to the students' views and attitudes about various aspects of school, as well as school reported grades, were collected each year. Several important findings emerged in the areas of: (1) academic concerns and preferences, (2) grades, (3) extra curricular activities, (4) the relative importance of athletics, popularity, and academics, (5) views about the transition into junior high, and (6) trouble-causing activities. Among the most striking findings were: (1) grades declined significantly over the years, (2) academics were generally more important than athletics or popularity (especially for boys), (3) there were few significant sex differences in regard to athletics, and (4) the transition to junior high school went better junior high deserves more empirical and critical attention.

The physical, cognitive, and social changes associated with early adolescence may have implications for the nature of family relationships. However, little information is available regarding the family context of early adolescent development. The purpose of this study is to provide preliminary descriptive data on the family environment during early adolescence. A sample of 335 youngsters from middle to upper-middle class families were interviewed twice a year during the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Responses to selected questions were used to examine four domains of family relationships: family affect and closeness, satisfactions and dissatisfactions with the family, family time and activities, and conflict and discipline. Results indicate that overall, as perceived by young adolescents, the family environment is characterized more by harmony than by discord. Boys and girls consistently reported good to excellent relationships with their parents, with mothers emerging as particularly important sources of understanding. Boys were more likely than girls to report closeness to their fathers. Conflict between the young adolescents and their parents most often centered on issues of freedom and responsibility, although the discipline used by parents in resolving such conflicts was perceived by most of the youngsters in our sample as very fair and relatively lenient. When drawing conclusions from these data, the unique features of the sample should be kept in mind.

Perceptions of peer relationships were assessed in a sample of 335 boys and girls followed longitudinally from sixth through eighth grade. Semiannual interviews provided data on perceptions of the school peer group and individual friendships. As anticipated, the clique, or friendship group was found to be an important feature of the peer group, and both the importance attributed to cliques and positive attitudes towards cliques increased over time. Boys and girls considered the same qualities to be important for success in the peer group, although the relative importance attributed to these qualities differed by sex. Daily friendship interactions were found to take up a substantial portion of the adolescents' free time. Some aspects of intimacy were reported in same-sex friendships, particularly among girls. In most cases, however, this closeness did not replace closeness to parents. Intimacy in cross-sex friendships was rarely reported, but interest in the other sex and heterosocial interaction increased over the period studied.