The present exploratory study examined student perceptions of the stressfulness and incidence of life events across three countries-Greece, Cyprus and the United States. The participants include 378 6th-grade elementary school students. Students in the United States completed the 'What Do You Think?' questionnaire and its translated Greek form 'Esy Ti Pistevis?' in Greece and Cyprus to share their perceptions of stressful life events. Marked cross-cultural similarities were revealed regarding the life events students reported as most stressful. Events reported as most stressful included those that signified personal and irreversible loss, such as losing a parent, going blind, and academic retention. In addition, events characterized as socially taboo (e.g. being caught in theft, wetting in class), and poor academic performance (e.g. getting a poor report card) were also stressful for most children cross-culturally. These same events were the least common experienced among the students surveyed in the study. The results and limitations of this study are discussed.

Prior research examining children's ratings of stressful life events indicated that, by the time children are in sixth grade, they fear only going blind and losing a parent more than academic retention. The current study provides a contemporary analysis of elementary grade students' perceptions of stressful life events at home and school. First-, third-, and sixth- grade students in five different schools rated the stressfulness of twenty life events. Across grade levels, those events rated as most stressful by children were: losing a parent, academic retention, going blind, getting caught in theft, wetting in class, a poor report card, having an operation, parental fighting, and being sent to the principal. Overall, the student ratings in the current study were consistent with previous research findings. One difference was that grade retention was rated as the most stressful life event by the sixth- grade students in the current study, whereas it was ranked the third highest in previous re-search. The results are framed within a developmental perspective, with a discussion of the psychosocial implications of the child's view of retention and other stressful life events.(C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Previously published research has not moved beyond studying the general association between retention and high school dropout. This longitudinal study seeks to evaluate within-group differences, exploring the characteristics of those students who are retained and subsequently drop out as compared to those students who are retained and do not drop out. A transactional-ecological view of development is presented to assist in situating the findings within a framework of long-term outcomes across development. The results of this study suggest that there are early socio-emotional and behavioral characteristics that distinguish which retained students are most likely to drop out of high school. In addition, maternal level of education and academic achievement in the secondary grades were also associated with high school graduation status. These findings provide information that extend beyond the association between grade retention and later dropout. In particular, this investigation suggests that it is especially important to attend to the socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment of children throughout their schooling to facilitate both their immediate and long-term academic success.