Provide data on the five characteristics of emotional disturbance (ED). For 503 students with ED and 2016 without disabilities, teachers rated the characteristics ("Inability to Learn;" "Relationship Problems;" "Inappropriate Behavior;" "Unhappiness or Depression;" "Physical Symptoms or Fears"),…

Preschool teachers' consistency of warm, sensitive, and responsive interactions with children may be more important than average levels and may moderate the association between children's cognitive and emotion regulation and their preschool adjustment. A sample of 312 boys and girls aged 32-68 months in 44 classrooms at 16 privately-funded centers…

Contextually based assessments reveal the circumstances accompanying maladjustment (the when, where, and with whom) and supply clues to the motivations underpinning problem behaviors. The Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA) is a teacher rating scale composed of indicators describing behavior in 24 classroom situational contexts.…

Peer victimization is a well-established risk factor for children's adjustment, but it has rarely been studied as a feature of classroom climate. This study examines the consequences of classroom victimization for children's social and academic adjustment. Classroom victimization, social functioning, and academic adjustment were assessed…

This cross-sectional study determined whether students who take part in academically challenging high school curricula experience elevated levels of stress and whether this stress co-occurs with psychological and/or academic problems. Data from self-report questionnaires and school records were collected from 480 students from four high schools.…

For many children, trauma exposure is a common and chronic experience. Chronic trauma exposure during childhood significantly increases the risk for emotional/behavioral disorders and academic failure. There is a critical need for school psychologists, and the schools in which they work, to understand the unique needs of students with or at risk…

Following terrorist events, teachers and nonteaching school personnel are important in helping children recover, yet little is known about their willingness to assist with this. We surveyed 399 employees from a Washington, D.C.-area school district following terror attacks (September 11, 2001, attacks; sniper shootings) about their exposure,…

Presents statistics for the six subscales of individual children (N=2,085) on the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children (ABIC). Concludes that the ready availability of this information should enhance application of the ABIC in clinical practice and facilitate research on its efficacy for educational planning and placement. (LLL)

The purpose of the study was to examine effects of social development programs on role-taking, problem-solving skills, and classroom adjustment. The results indicated that the children in the experimental group gained in respect for others, ability to generate alternatives to problem situations, creative expression, patience, and self-reliance.…

Several controversies surround differentiation between socially maladjusted and seriously emotionally disturbed. Central to controversy is interpretation of social maladjustment as restricted to include socialized aggressive and adjudicated delinquents or broadened to include Conduct Disorders, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and antisocial…

Investigates the hypothesis that people with last names beginning with the letters "S" through "Z" are 50 percent more neurotic than those people in the "A" through "R" group. The author's research does not support this hypothesis. (HMV)

Examined practice of grade retention and its effects in two Utah school districts in 102 students recommended for retention. Showed retention did not benefit the children academically, personally, or socially. Reanalysis showed retention did not benefit these subgroups of children: children receiving supplementary instruction, children of average…

Investigated prevalence of social maladjustment among students in two rural/suburban school systems. Results from 249 elementary and secondary school teachers indicated that the percentage of students reported as exhibiting characteristics of social maladjustment was sufficiently high to indicate that services beyond special education may be…

Examined effectiveness of selected lessons from the Toward Affective Development program in creating awareness of alternatives in psychosocial situations among 60 sixth-grade children. Treatment consisted of presentation of 18 selected lessons from the program. Comparison of pre- and post-test data indicated positive effect of treatment.…

Examines three controversial issues surrounding differentiation between socially maladjusted and seriously emotionally disturbed students: (1) whether treatment methods should differ for two groups; (2) whether socially maladjusted are truly handicapped; and (3) the education of the socially maladjusted. Calls for a continuum of services for the…