This report finds that adolescent smoking, drinking, misusing prescription drugs and using illegal drugs is, by any measure, a public health problem of epidemic proportion, presenting clear and present danger to millions of America's teenagers and severe and expensive long-range consequences for the entire population. This report is a wake-up call…

Resilience is the capacity of a person to do well facing difficult conditions in life. This implies capacities of resistance and of positive construction. Discovering the ways to contribute to resilience in children can begin with examination of resilient children. Research has suggested five interlinking bases for resilience: (1) social support…

Two studies are reviewed that have uncovered how the motivational patterns of resilient African American and Hispanic adolescents differ from their nonresilient counterparts. The first study found that resilient African American adolescents differed from their nonresilient counterparts in having a stronger cognitive motivational pattern of the…

The stories of five young black men growing up in the Roxbury area of Boston (Massachusetts) in the late 1960s and early 1970s illustrate the difficulties and coping required to reach adulthood in the city. The young men were part of the Pathways to Identity project of Harvard University, a longitudinal study that has, since 1966, interviewed 61…

A program of theoretical and empirical research focusing on the ability determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition is reviewed. An integrative framework for information-processing and cognitive ability determinants of skills is reviewed, along with principles for ability-skill relations. Experimental manipulations were used to…

Implicit within a perspective of positive psychology is the assumption that environments can be promoted to foster individual strengths through a preventative focus and the development of positive institutions. Given that the development of positive institutions has direct implications for school psychology, this paper begins to draw attention to…

This article summarizes findings from a 3-year study of 35 economically disadvantaged, ethnically diverse, academically talented high school students who either achieved or underachieved in their urban high school. In particular, the resilience of these two groups of high ability students is explored. Comparative case study and ethnographic…

The objective of this review is to clarify the role of matching in family genetic studies of autism as a way of defining endophenotypes for linkage analysis. The concept of a confounding variable is reviewed and the importance of considering these in family studies of three endophenotypes in autism are considered: cognitive/language impairments,…

The present meta-analysis examined the stability of vocational interests from early adolescence (age 12) to middle adulthood (age 40). Stability was represented by rank-order and profile correlations. Interest stability remained unchanged during much of adolescence and increased dramatically during the college years (age 18-21.9), where it…

This report summarizes findings from a study of the psychometric properties of the resilience and youth development module, a key component of the Healthy Kids Survey. The study aims to improve resilience assessment and research so that educators can shape the school environment to promote academic resilience. The Healthy Kids Survey (HKS) is a…

This publication consists of two reports that were commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization as background for its biennial report on world education. The first paper, "Educational Psychology and Teaching Methods in China: Developments and Trends," by Duan Huifen and others, indicates that…

An advocate of the Natural Approach to second language instruction discusses problems associated with error correction, highlighted in her personal experience when she visited Italy to explore her heritage and use her Italian language skills. After requesting to have her errors corrected by a native-speaking friend, the visitor experienced great…

Research has indicated that a primary difference between effective and ineffective schools is the principal. However, the truly effective principal is uncommon in today's public schools, and female principals are even scarcer. Effective principals, regardless of gender, get things accomplished in schools. Their effectiveness results from ability…

Describes learning-teaching styles characteristic of educators and students who flourish in the experiential environment of investigation, process-orientation, experimentation, and stimulation. Explains three other mind-styles and points out how recognizing them can enhance communication, enrich curriculum, and help students and teachers cultivate…

Work inhibition occurs when students have no trouble learning but have difficulty in engaging in the work of school. As many as 20 percent of U.S. public school students may be work inhibited. Reasons for work inhibition and way to combat it are discussed. (SLD)