Examines the historical and conceptual foundations of friendship research. Areas addressed include functions of friendship, study of peer relations and peer systems, associated methodological and measurement challenges, and the study of friendship today. The discussion is framed around the "Harry Potter" (by J. K. Rowling) phenomena. (SD)

This study examined the social adjustment of adolescents who were deaf and enrolled in segregated (n=39), partially integrated (n=15), and mainstreamed (n=17) settings, comparing them with a control group of students without hearing impairments (n=56). These students in grades 8 to 13 in Ontario, Canada, were administered the Social Activity…

This pamphlet summarizes a Swedish thesis describing the social situation of hearing-impaired pupils (n=215) integrated in regular classes. Pupils with hearing impairments in grades 1-11 in two counties in Sweden were interviewed, questionnaires were completed by parents and teachers, sociometric studies were carried out, and observations were…

Presents PEERS, a broad based intervention program designed for remediating social withdrawal among isolate children and promoting increased peer interactions. PEERS examines deficits in four skill areas: the child's social, language, and motoric competencies, and the parents' child-rearing ability. (MJL)

Used the Revised Class Play to assess dimensions of peer reputation among two cohorts of ninth-grade, inner-city students. Found that popularity, isolation, aggressive/disruptive reputation, and prosocial orientation generally showed expected patterns of associations with students' adjustment, with the exception that aggression was linked with…

This study investigated the relationship between overt and relational victimization and internalizing behavior disorders among 75 African American and Hispanic elementary aged students. Findings indicated that overt victimization, but not relational victimization, was significantly correlated with social-evaluative anxiety, social avoidance, and…

Examined relations between patterns of marital communication, child adjustment, and family functioning. Subjects were couples observed to be hostile, hostile- withdrawn, or engaged, and having a 4- or 5-year-old child. Found that families in which couples were hostile-detached showed the most negative outcomes. Marital typology accounted for…

Examined links between children's sibling and peer relationships. Found that sibling warmth was associated with more positive peer relations; sibling conflict was associated with both positive and negative peer outcomes, independent of sibling warmth; and sibling relationships were not more strongly associated with measures of friendships quality…

Background: Research on children's loneliness has been conducted mostly in Western, especially North American, cultures. The purpose of the study was to examine relations between loneliness and social adaptation among children and adolescents in four different societies. Methods: A total of 2263 children from grade 3 to grade 6, aged 9 to 12…

Examined a risk-resilience model of peer rejection and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a 5-year longitudinal study of 209 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse girls aged 6-13 at baseline and 11-18 at follow-up. Risk factors were childhood ADHD diagnosis and peer rejection; hypothesized protective factors were childhood…

This paper explains that Grotberg (1995) has developed two measures of child resilience, one eliciting children's responses to vignettes depicting difficult situations and the second a checklist completed by an adult. Two studies examined the validity of these methods of assessing child resilience. Study 1 focused on the validity of vignettes and…

The paper presents an observational system for use in evaluating preschool handicapped children's social integration in mainstreamed classrooms. An adaptation of LeBlanc, Etzel, and Tyler's observational system, this model also employs White's system of evaluating affective tone. The method entails choosing a handicapped child in a classroom and a…

Research has identified high school and college students as the groups experiencing the greatest severity of loneliness. The manifestations of loneliness in adolescents and young adults were examined in a group of college (N=192) and high school (N=98) students. All subjects completed the Revised Loneliness Scale and a questionnaire about…

Reviewed are research studies and their implications regarding mainstreaming educable mentally retarded (EMR) students. Discussed are studies dealing with topics such as the following: academic changes, learning potential status (stressing the need for individualization), emotional and social adjustment, locus of control (citing the difference…

A physically disabled adolescent describes how, as a middle school student, he formed a wheelchair club to provide support and a forum for shared experiences among similarly disabled peers. Eventually, club members invited guest speakers and developed several disability awareness programs for their nondisabled classmates and teachers. (JW)