Research by Nathan Fox and other scientists shows how changes in environmental conditions can help temper the negative effects of a child's predisposition toward fearfulness and anxiety. If certain negative triggers are eliminated or modified, a child's genetic tendency toward inappropriate fearfulness and anxiety may be overcome--or not expressed…

In the past fifteen years, the town of New Marshall has experienced major changes that have influenced the ways its residents view each other. Mexican immigration to New Marshall, a suburb of 30,000 located outside a large Eastern city, grew dramatically between 1990 and 2000. Where once Mexicans comprised less than 0.5% of the population, they…

Portal surveys, defined as assessments occurring proximal to the entry point to a high-risk locale and immediately on exit, can be used in different settings to measure characteristics and behavior of attendees at an event of interest. This methodology has been developed to assess alcohol and other drug (AOD) use at specific events and has…

In her strength-based model to train counseling psychologists, Smith (2006 [this issue]) criticizes deficit models of counseling. Rather than focusing on at-risk adolescents' victim status, she argues that counseling psychologists should concentrate on identifying at-risk youths' cultural and individual strengths. One can infer from her new…

Objective: To study whether psychiatry residents' personal variables (such as age, gender, level of training, previous experience with patient suicide, or lawsuits) and their temperamental predispositions have an impact on their decisions to seek involuntary commitment. Method: In a prospective pilot study, all psychiatry residents in…

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations between stability in bullying and victimization, and social adjustment in childhood and adolescence. Participants were 189 girls and 328 boys who were studied in primary school and in secondary school. The mean age of the participants was 11.1 years in primary school and 14.1 years…

Adolescent girls simulated the responses of an elderly woman on a personality questionnaire. Later, a group of them received empathy training through getting feedback information on the actual answers of elderly women on the questionnaire. Consequently, the perceptions of the trained group improved compared to the control group. (Author/SE)

Ego-control and ego-resiliency were evaluated in seven assessments conducted when subjects were 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 14, and 18 years old. Ego-control refers to an individual's tendency to express or contain impulses, feelings, and desires. Ego-resiliency refers to the capacity to modify one's modal level of ego-control as a function of environmental…

This monograph is based on papers presented at a technical review of patterns of cocaine use in the United States which was held in 1984. The foreword by Jerome H. Jaffe acknowledges that, over the past 10 years, cocaine has become a major public health threat in this country. Papers contained in this monograph include: (1) "Cocaine Use in…

School age crime has increased a great deal in recent decades and a review of types of school age criminals may help school officials develop policies and programs to handle the problem. Both increased crime and improved news coverage have made the general public more concerned about school crime and school age criminals. A comparison of crime…

This report is a followup evaluation of a study on differences between adolescents who seek counseling and those who do not. The primary purpose of this followup study was to determine if the differences found in the original study continue to exist and also to determine if any discernable effects of counseling could be found. Subjects were…

Despite extensive literature on the impact of physical impairment upon personality, there is a dearth of objective data with adolescent age groups. This research attempts to determine if there are personality differences between groups of adolescents with observable, yet dissimilar physical disabilities. (Author/RK)

Shows high correlations between student groups and low correlations between student groups and United States adult norms, suggesting that personal values of early adolescents are more related to age than to geographical location of school. (RL)

Identifies common patterns in experience and behavior among American Indian adolescent suicides. Discusses factors characterizing tribes with high suicide rates, including failure to adhere to traditional ways and resulting chaotic family structure and adult alcoholism. Discusses roles of adoption of Indian children, boarding schools, and high…

One hundred and seventy young people at four schools in Austria, France, Switzerland, and West Germany completed the unfinished sentence "The sort of person I would least like to be like..." The results of this continental survey are compared with an English survey, in which 820 15-year-olds at six schools completed the same test.…