Developmental
Psychology 2026 | Study
Guide, Practice Questions,
Answers, Rationales &
Exam Review
Updated Questions and Answers
100% Verified Exam Prep and Comprehensive
Rationales
Included
, • Transition to Junior High and High School • Can be difficult and stressful for many students
• Transition takes place at a time when many changes—in the individual, in the
family, and in school—are occurring simultaneously
• Puberty, body image, formal operational thought, more impersonal school
structure, top-dog phenomenon
• Top-dog phenomenon • moving from being the oldest, biggest, and most powerful students in elementary
school to being the youngest, smallest, and least powerful students in the middle or
junior high school
• The transition is less stressful when students have positive relationships with
friends and go through the transition in team-oriented schools in which 20 to 30
students take the same classes together
• Person-Environment Fit • Researchers argue that some of the negative psychological changes in
adolescence is because there is a mismatch between the schools and adolescent
needs
• Specifically, teachers become more controlling at a time when young adolescents
are seeking more autonomy.
• Eccles argues that a lack of fit between the middle/junior high environment and the
needs of young adolescents produces increasingly negative self-evaluations and
attitudes toward school
• Person-Environment Fit for middle school and junior high students benefit when
• School settings more personal, less formal, and more intrinsically challenging
• Transition to College • The transition from high school to college parallels the transition from elementary
to middle or junior high school in many ways:
• Replays the top-dog phenomenon
• Involves a move to a larger, more impersonal, school structure
• Increased focus on achievement and performance and their assessment
• Transition to College (continued) Compared to college students in previous years today's college students
• Are more stressed
• "Feel overwhelmed with what I have to do" is cited as a common reason
• Are more depressed
• The pressure to succeed in college, get a great job, and make lots of money were
pervasive concerns of students in this study
• The transition can have positive aspects
• Students feel more grown up, more time to spend with peers, greater
independence, and be more challenged intellectually
• Bullying • Significant numbers of students are victimized by bullies
• Bullying most often takes the form of being belittled because of one's looks and
speech
• Boys are more likely to be bullies than girls. In adolescence, Boys use more
physical aggression; girls use more Relational Aggression
• Who is likely to be bullied? • Boys and younger middle school students
• Anxious and socially withdrawn students are most likely to be bullied; aggressive
children are also often the victims of bullying
• 70% to 80% of victims and their bullies are in the same school classroom
• Characteristics of bullies • Many bullies are not rejected by the peer group
• In adolescence, victims of bullies and bullies themselves are more likely to
experience depression and engage in suicide ideation and attempt suicide than
peers who are uninvolved in bullying
• Bullies more likely to engage in substance abuse
• A dramatic increase in cyberbullying—bullying on the Internet—has occurred
recently
• Bullying programs • Most bullying programs do not work, however Dan Olweus's appear to reduce
bullying by 30-70%
Psychology 2026 | Study
Guide, Practice Questions,
Answers, Rationales &
Exam Review
Updated Questions and Answers
100% Verified Exam Prep and Comprehensive
Rationales
Included
, • Transition to Junior High and High School • Can be difficult and stressful for many students
• Transition takes place at a time when many changes—in the individual, in the
family, and in school—are occurring simultaneously
• Puberty, body image, formal operational thought, more impersonal school
structure, top-dog phenomenon
• Top-dog phenomenon • moving from being the oldest, biggest, and most powerful students in elementary
school to being the youngest, smallest, and least powerful students in the middle or
junior high school
• The transition is less stressful when students have positive relationships with
friends and go through the transition in team-oriented schools in which 20 to 30
students take the same classes together
• Person-Environment Fit • Researchers argue that some of the negative psychological changes in
adolescence is because there is a mismatch between the schools and adolescent
needs
• Specifically, teachers become more controlling at a time when young adolescents
are seeking more autonomy.
• Eccles argues that a lack of fit between the middle/junior high environment and the
needs of young adolescents produces increasingly negative self-evaluations and
attitudes toward school
• Person-Environment Fit for middle school and junior high students benefit when
• School settings more personal, less formal, and more intrinsically challenging
• Transition to College • The transition from high school to college parallels the transition from elementary
to middle or junior high school in many ways:
• Replays the top-dog phenomenon
• Involves a move to a larger, more impersonal, school structure
• Increased focus on achievement and performance and their assessment
• Transition to College (continued) Compared to college students in previous years today's college students
• Are more stressed
• "Feel overwhelmed with what I have to do" is cited as a common reason
• Are more depressed
• The pressure to succeed in college, get a great job, and make lots of money were
pervasive concerns of students in this study
• The transition can have positive aspects
• Students feel more grown up, more time to spend with peers, greater
independence, and be more challenged intellectually
• Bullying • Significant numbers of students are victimized by bullies
• Bullying most often takes the form of being belittled because of one's looks and
speech
• Boys are more likely to be bullies than girls. In adolescence, Boys use more
physical aggression; girls use more Relational Aggression
• Who is likely to be bullied? • Boys and younger middle school students
• Anxious and socially withdrawn students are most likely to be bullied; aggressive
children are also often the victims of bullying
• 70% to 80% of victims and their bullies are in the same school classroom
• Characteristics of bullies • Many bullies are not rejected by the peer group
• In adolescence, victims of bullies and bullies themselves are more likely to
experience depression and engage in suicide ideation and attempt suicide than
peers who are uninvolved in bullying
• Bullies more likely to engage in substance abuse
• A dramatic increase in cyberbullying—bullying on the Internet—has occurred
recently
• Bullying programs • Most bullying programs do not work, however Dan Olweus's appear to reduce
bullying by 30-70%
