Reviews the history and causes of homeless children in the United States from early 19th century to the present. Explores four characteristics necessary for positive developmental pathways that are compromised for children who live on the street: sense of industry and competency, feeling connected to others and society, sense of control of one's…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2013, taking place in Madrid, Spain, from 26 to 28 of April. Our efforts and active engagement can now be rewarded with these three days of exciting new developments about what we are passionate about: Psychology and its connections. We take pride…

Aims were to identify the demographic, psychopathology, and psychosocial factors predicting time to major depressive disorder (MDD) recovery and moderators of treatment among 114 depressed adolescents recruited from a juvenile justice center and randomized to a cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) condition or a life skills-tutoring control…

This publication summarizes a state program for youth in substitute care. The report includes a description of county, private agency, and state staff efforts; program expenditures; a description of youth served and how they were helped in the transition from foster care to independent living; and recommendations for the coming year. The central…

Children require a variety of skills to cope with the stresses of growth and development, including the ability to think independently, to make choices, to solve problems effectively, to communicate clearly, to develop and maintain high self-esteem, and to prevent injurious events. These life skills are best learned through curriculum-centered…

A conceptual framework derived from formal and behavioral theories was used to describe and evaluate a sample of the best developed programs for teaching decision making to adolescents. The internal validity of the programs was evaluated in terms of the adequacy of their coverage of the normatively prescribed steps to good decision making. The…

The Social and Prevocational Information Battery (SPIB) consists of a series of nine tests designed to assess knowledge of skills and competencies widely regarded as important for the ultimate community adjustment of educable mentally retarded students. The nine areas are purchasing, budgeting, banking, job related behavior, job search skills,…

The mother of a mentally retarded adolescent describes the implementation of her idea to hire nonretarded neighborhood peers as friends and resource persons for her daughter. The program's purpose was to educate nonhandicapped youth as well as to increase her daughter's opportunities for socialization and peer contact. (JW)

The article describes courseware developed by Project LIVE (Learning Through Interactive Video Education), designed to teach generic, cognitive independent living skills to mentally handicapped adolescents. The curriculum focuses on Life Enhancement Skills as content domain, uses multiple teaching strategies (e.g., verbal rehearsal), and…

A task analysis model for analyzing and teaching community living skills to the mentally handicapped was developed and validated with five moderately retarded youths (ages 17 to 20 years) who were taught mending skills (sewing hems, buttons, and seams). (Author/DLS)

Examines whether some of the most common assessment tools used in foster care programs are capable of identifying young peoples' competencies, strengths, and weakness. Describes the limited role assessment presently plays in foster care and its potential as a policy tool to promote accountability and interest in the independent living skills of…

Discusses changes in leaving care in England and Wales, based on a survey of young people leaving the care of social service departments that examined diversity of care leavers; care careers; age at independence; living out of care; and after-care support. Summarizes key policy and practice issues, and outlines new directions for practice and…

Found that early adolescents use various models to make moral decisions. These include care (wishing others not to suffer), justice (decisions made according to principles), and narrowly concerned or selfish. Males and females used all three modes, with males being more likely to choose the narrowly concerned mode. (RJM)

A meaningful classification for living, work, and education was achieved by grouping 159 persons who were blind or visually impaired into 5 groups ranging from low to high functioning, according to 7 independent living skills: family responsibility; health and hygiene; legal awareness; community awareness; money management; social/interpersonal…