Attitude analysis of 262 Israeli high school students showed general acceptance of the handicapped with mean score of 4.72 on a 1-6 point scale. Significant differences emerged in content areas defined as limitations of the handicapped, feelings of reservation and shame, and rights of handicapped; and between sexes. (Author/MC)

A study involving 633 Grade five Chinese students in Hong Kong found significant sex and popularity group differences in peer-nominated creativity and popularity group differences in teacher-rated creativity. Overall, peer status and perceived creativity were highly related. Students perceived boys as more creative than girls. (DB)

Recent studies have suggested the existence of three personality types: resilients, overcontrollers, and undercontrollers. In this article, we searched for subtypes within each of the three main personality types. Using cluster analysis on the Big Five personality self-descriptions of 3,284 Dutch adolescent boys and girls, we distinguished…

This study explores children's attitudes toward individuals with special needs in Greece and in the United States. A total of 196 kindergarten-age children participated in the study. Children's attitudes were examined using the "Acceptance Scale for Kindergartners-Revised" (ASK-R) and were further explored with the use of an open-ended…

This study examined the role of low social preference in relation to subsequent depressive symptoms, with particular attention to prior depressive symptoms, prior and concurrent aggression, mutual friendships, and peer victimization. Italian children (N = 288) were followed from grade 6 through grade 8, and American children (N = 585) were…

This article uses an ecological approach to predict students' peer acceptance within junior high school classes. The authors investigate whether various characteristics (self-perception of physical attractiveness and athletic competence, cognitive ability, agreeableness, extraversion, age, parents education, number of siblings, siblings at same…

Young people excluded from school are a group at an increased risk of drug use and antisocial behaviour during adolescence and later marginalisation and exclusion from society in adulthood. As part of the Belfast Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study of the onset and development of adolescent drug use, young people who entered post-primary…

Compared the behavior of 48 preadolescent boys with and without peer adjustment problems in a naturalistic school setting. Analyses provided general support for the reciprocity hypothesis, which posits that individuals tend to match the affective quality of a response to that of the previous response. (LLL)

Children in an English junior school with an attached unit for severely handicapped children were given a paper and pencil questionnaire to determine the level of acceptance of their handicapped peers. (Author)

This paper describes Project ASSIST, an early intervention pilot project involving 40 Singaporean infants with disabilities (ages 2-5) that integrated children with mild disabilities into mainstream preschool centers. Results indicated high levels of peer and school personnel acceptance and the feasibility of integrating children with disabilities…

This article describes an Irish video program that prepares mainstream students to meet incoming peers with severe, profound, and multiple disabilities, finding that students reacted positively to the video and found it helped relieve their anxieties at the prospect of contact. Implications for further development of structured contact sessions in…

Drawing on sociopsychological theory and research on intergroup relations, it is argued that awareness should not necessarily lead to tolerance. An exploratory study of 253 American students showed only extremely modest and uncertain relationships between language awareness and tolerance. (37 references) (Author/LB)

The social support and self-esteem of 115 adolescents with visual impairments who attended mainstream Finnish schools, and a control group of 607 classmates were assessed. Self-esteem of the adolescents did not differ; relationships with friends contributed to the enhancement of the self-esteem of the adolescents with visual impairments.…

Administered Revised Class Play to Italian children to explore cross-cultural differences from North American studies on social reputation. Administered sociometric nominations to examine association between social reputation and peer acceptance-rejection. Found that original Leadership-Sociability factor was split into separate dimensions. Also…

This paper, based on the perspectives of young men, explores the relationship between dominant constructions of masculinities and the sexual harassment of young women in Australian secondary schools, within a feminist poststructuralist theoretical framework. Of particular importance in this process are the ways in which sexual harassment is…