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…

Discusses the problems of social adjustment for children as Nigeria struggles with two cultures--its traditional culture and its Western colonial past. Identifies effects on present day child rearing practices in families and villages. (DST)

Discusses the ways in which nonhostile, self-accepting, realistic humor may be an important coping strategy for children. Offers practical suggestions for parents, teachers, and other caretakers to encourage the development of humor in children. (FMW)

Discusses the developmental challenges faced by children in wartime and similar circumstances. Reviews studies made in several scenes of conflict from World War II to the present. Adults' political ideologies can be sustaining and supportive but may prolong communal violence and curtail moral development. (DM)

Schools have a responsibility to match curricula to each child's needs and talent. While cognitive functioning is usually assessed to determine this match, motivation and adjustment are equally important determinants of intellectual competence and should also be evaluated. (Author/GC)

Training in Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS) can be a means of promoting social competence and adjustment. Empirical findings suggest that the process of being able to consider multiple options for solutions of interpersonal problems is important for healthy adaptive functioning, even in children as young as 4 years of age. If one…

Considers four issues pertaining to aggression and adaptation: (1) conceptual and operational definitions of aggression; (2) how aggression relates to adjustment difficulties for boys and girls and for children from different ethnic and socioeconomic groups; (3) whether specific forms of aggression relate to truly positive correlates and whether…

Mainstreaming children with mild physical disabilities may contribute significantly to the development of positive self-image and normal social adjustment, as this account of one child's experience in changing from special education to regular classes suggests. (LH)

Claims that children's peer relations are significant in their social, cognitive, and moral development, and are correlated to later problems in social adjustment. Includes a brief historical perspective on the subject, and explores direct and indirect influences. Claims that peer relations develop within ecological frameworks, and identifies the…

This paper reviews the literature concerned with the effect of various social systems (e.g., the family and the school) on the growth of social competence in the individual child and makes suggestions for further research. The discussion employs the contemporary view of socialization which emphasizes reciprocal causality (i.e., the reciprocal…