Creating Supportive Contexts for Early Adolescents during the First Year of Middle School: Impact of a Developmentally Responsive Multi-Component Intervention.

The transition to middle school is recognized as a period of increased risk for students' adjustment difficulties across the academic, behavioral, and social domains, underscoring the need for developmentally responsive interventions that address these potential vulnerabilities. This study examined the impact of a multi-component intervention on students' perceived adjustment during the first year of middle school using a cluster randomized controlled trial design. A total of 24 metropolitan schools (12 intervention), 220 teachers (122 intervention), and 2925 students (1537 intervention) participated. Teachers in intervention schools received training and consultation in the Behavioral, Academic, and Social Engagement (BASE) classroom management model. Significant intervention effects, moderated by students' gender, race/ethnicity, and economic status, were found for self-reported social anxiety, defiance, willingness to protect peers being bullied, and emotional problems. The results suggest that teachers trained in the BASE model were better able to create supportive classroom contexts during the middle school transition which promoted positive adjustment for particular students. This study stresses the importance of using developmentally appropriate strategies across correlated domains to reduce adjustment difficulties during the transition to middle school.

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. Results indicated that in SEALS versus matched control schools, social prominence was more favorably associated with effort and school valuing, and peer group injunctive norms were more supportive of effort and achievement. Findings indicate that aspects of peer cultures respond to the school context and provide evidence of the efficacy of the SEALS model.

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. Twenty-four percent of boys sustained membership in these networks and experienced greater school valuing and likeability, but reduced admiration among peers, net of scores at the beginning of the school year. The results of the study stand to inform both an understanding of positive peer group affiliations of minority boys and intervention work with this population by clarifying developmental mechanisms that contribute to positive school adaptation among rural African American boys.

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. Overall, 67% were White, 19% African American, 7% Latino, 2% Native American, and 5% other (multi-racial, Asian, unknown). Compared to schools without a transition, schools with a transition had fewer bullies following the move from fifth to sixth grade and the social dynamics in schools with a transition appeared to be less supportive of bullying. Further, students in schools with a transition reported being bullied less frequently in sixth grade and they perceived the sixth grade peer ecology as being more protective against bullying than did students in schools without a transition. In addition, proportionally more youth had controversial sociometric status in schools without a transition during sixth grade than in schools with a transition. Collectively, these findings suggest that risk for involvement in bullying may be elevated in schools that do not have a transition to middle school. They also bring into question the conventional view of the small K-8 or K-12 rural school as a peaceful and supportive peer community.