Describes a project guided by the resilience paradigm in which a team of 4 social workers and 17 prevention personnel collaborated on programs serving 2000 inner-city adolescents. The project team concluded that a modified consultation model is essential for implementing new techniques and that positive, supportive relationships are singularly…

Examined health and social factors associated with early grade retention. Factors found to be independently associated with increased risk of grade retention were: (1) poverty, (2) male gender, (3) low maternal education, (4) deafness, (5) speech defects, (6) low birth weight, (7) enuresis, and (8) exposure to household smoking. (HTH)

Examined role of home social relationships as predictors of social functioning in first years of school. Found that the quality of different family relationships provided relatively independent and complementary information about early social functioning in school, with more limited evidence for compensatory or protective processes at work.…

Argues that policy development framework for school reform under the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 must occur in state and local settings and possess advocates for at-risk students who can enter the community dialog concerning education. Policies should focus on the classroom with administrators and teachers continually striving for…

Examined links between the match between adolescents' developmental stage and the family and community environment and their psychosocial outcomes, implications for later outcomes, and impact of adolescent diabetic status. Found that even after controlling for psychosocial factors during adolescence, the benefits of developmental match were…

There Groups of Students--19 hard of hearing, 20 deaf, and a control group of 36 typically developing hearing readers--were compared on their ability to process written words at the lexical level and on their comprehension of words within the structure of a sentence. Findings generally suggested that severe prelingual hearing loss does not prevent…

Background: The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of ethnic origin and acculturation factors on psychiatric problems among immigrant adolescents. One aim was to examine variations in psychiatric problems according to gender and immigrant generation level. Another aim was to explore ethnic group differences in psychiatric problems…

This study assessed actual and perceived health status of overweight Mexican American clients at a central Texas school-based health center in a predominately Hispanic school district. It also explored the participants' interest in making lifestyle changes to promote a healthy weight. A medical records review indicated that of the Hispanic…

Mattering is the belief that one makes a difference in the lives of others. We explore the effect of mattering on adolescent suicide ideation. The data source is the 2000 Youth At Risk Survey, composed of interviews with 2,004 youths, age 11-18 and screening interviews with their parents. Our analysis reveals that those who matter more are…

A high prevalence of dental caries in the pediatric population is a major health problem. At highest risk are low-income minority groups, including refugee and immigrant populations. Consequences of oral disease include pain, difficulty eating and speaking, poor school performance, and poor self-esteem. Parent involvement in oral health education…

This article discusses the problem of school violence and the fear about school safety that have been reinforced by extensive news media coverage of the recent series of school shooting incidents. Various factors associated with school violence are addressed, including sociocultural influences on adolescents that pose a challenge to counselors and…

This article describes the association of external and psychosocial factors on the stages of change for fruit and vegetable consumption, among 2,781 inhabitants, aged 18 to 65 years, in deprived neighborhoods (response rate 60%). To identify correlates of forward stage transition, an ordinal logistic regression model, the Threshold of Change Model…

Even though children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be reliably identified by autism experts at 18 months, and the majority of parents report symptoms before age 2, the average age of diagnosis for children with autism in the United States is 3 to 4 years of age. Early identification is especially vital given the growing amount of…

The effects of asthma medication on the cognitive and psychosocial functioning of primary school children with asthma are investigated. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a primary school in Stellenbosch (South Africa) with a population of six hundred and thirty-five students. Among these students, fifty-nine asthmatic children were…

This document summarizes a study relating to California counties receiving state funds for Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) programs. These counties are required to report six outcome measures to the California State Legislature on an annual basis to measure the success of the program. These outcome measures are (1) successful…