The Journal of Early Adolescence

This study explores the relationship of friendship characteristics, specifically perceived reciprocity and self-disclosure of menarcheal status, to physical similarity, pubertal status, and grade level. One hundred and twenty girls in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades were interviewed about their friendships. Each girl was asked to name her "best," "close," and ",other" friends, as well as whether the friendships were reciprocal, whether each friend would tell the subject when she began menstruating (or, if postmenarcheal, did tell), and vice-versa. Girls rated the similarity of each friends' physical development to their own physical development. A nurse rated the girls' physical development by the Tanner method.

The relationship between early adolescent physical stature and competence perceptions was examined in the self-ratings and teacher ratings of short-and tall-for-age boys and girls in grades 6 and 7. Approximately one half of the sixth-graders were in their last year of elementary school; the other half, and all seventh-graders, were in secondary school. The ratings were obtained with companion scales, The Perceived Competence Scale for Children and The Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Competence, for cognitive, social, physical, and general competence. Physical stature effects were found in early adolescent self-ratings, in interaction with school context, but not in teacher ratings. The effects, which were stronger among girls than boys, were found in perceived social and general competence. The lowest self-ratings were those of tall girls in elementary school and short girls in secondary school. In contrast to previous research, the results of the present study suggest that self-perceptions may change with social contexts, but only longitudinal research can clarify whether these physical stature effects have consequences for self-perceptions beyond early adolescence.

The relationship between proportional reasoning ability and self concept was studied from a cognitive developmental approach. A sample of 222 adolescents attending public middle or senior high school in a rural southern state were assigned to two problem solving groups, ineffective and effective, based on their performance on three sets of proportional reasoning tasks. The two groups had comparable Cognitive (intellectual) Skills Index scores. Data were also collected on self concept using the My Characteristic Self scale, instrumentality and expressiveness (Self Perception Inventory); and masculinity (Adolescent Sex Role Inventory). The Hotellings multivariate test of significance revealed statistical significance (at = .05) between the two problem solving groups. The investigation of the univariate F-tests indicated that self concept was a statistically significant (cx = .05) dependent variable. The relationship between age and self concept was nonsignificant (r = .19). The results were discussed in relation to similar findings in elementary school and early adolescent age youth.

This experiment investigated how the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback over an extended period influences children's reading comprehension, attributions, and self-efficacy. Children with comprehension deficiencies participated in a training program that included instruction and practice in identifying important ideas. One group of children (ability-ability) periodically received ability feedback, a second group (effort-effort) received effort feedback, a third condition (ability-effort) was given ability feedback during the first half of the training program and effort feedback during the second half, and for a fourth group this sequence was reversed (effort-ability). Children who received ability feedback during the second half of training (ability-ability and effort-ability conditions) developed higher ability attributions and self-efficacy than subjects in the other two conditions. The sequence of extended attributional feedback did not differentially affect skill development. Implications for teaching are discussed.

Few researchers have observed the social interactions of adolescent girls during sports activity. In this study we ascertained whether the nature of this interpersonal behavior varied between early and middle adolescence. Are middle adolescent girls less involved in sports activities than early adolescents, as theories of gender role socialization would lead us to expect? Furthermore, we sought to explain age effects in terms of differences in measured sex-role orientation. Twenty-one adolescent girls in 6th, 8th, and 10th grade PE classes were observed during mandatory volleyball games. Recorded behaviors were encouragement, assistance, negative expression, distraction, and avoidance. The girls also completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The age hypothesis was confirmed: 6th grade girls were most likely to encourage teammates and were least likely to engage in distracting behavior. Sex-role orientation did not explain the age difference in the behaviors in an overall sense, that is, when the five behaviors were considered simultaneously. When considered individually, however, the age difference in distracting behavior can be explained in part by group differences in sex-role orientation. The results contribute to a growing documentation of adolescent behavior in naturalistic settings.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the level of stress and the relationship between job-related stress and sources of stress for teachers in the United States in comparison to their counterparts in England. Self-report questionnaires from 773 middle school teachers served as the sample. Teachers in the survey reported a higher level of job-related stress than teachers surveyed in England in a previous study. A standard multiple regression analysis was used to determine the degree of association between levels of stress and sources of stress for teachers in urban, suburban, and rural middle schools. The multiple R's for cases in American urban, suburban, and rural schools were .56, 41, and .47, respectively. The standardized beta weights from the multiple regression procedures were analyzed and significant sources of teacher stress were identified. The results of the current study supported the previously reported findings of research based on a sample of teachers in the United Kingdom.

Little research has been done to test hypotheses generated from Elkind's theory of adolescent egocentrism and its related construct, the imaginary audience. This study used Elkind and Bowen's Imaginary Audience Scale and investigated the relationship of cognitive developmental level and social experience to heightened sensitivity to the existence of an imaginary audience. It was predicted that social experience, as indicated by grade level and transition from elementary to high school, would relate to heightened sensitivity at least as consistently as cognitive level and that formal operational thought would not occur as prerequisite to this aspect of adolescent egocentrism, depending on social experience. Six hundred and seventy-five students in grades 6, 8, 9, and 12 were studied. Results indicated that higher sensitivity to an imaginary audience occurred at grades 8 and 9 regardless of cognitive level. In fact formal operational thinkers were observed only at grade 12 (n = 8), indicating that formal operational thought is not necessary in accounting for the onset of adolescent egocentrism, at least as represented by an imaginary audience.