This study of 266 college students, using strict and liberal definitions of sexual abuse, suggests that adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse that involved touching are more suicidal and have less cognitive deterrents to suicide than adults who did not, regardless of gender or whether they were abused by adults or peers. (Author/JDD)

The six vital ingredients of student self-esteem are physical safety, emotional security, identity, affiliation, competence, and mission. Educational reform efforts will not succeed until educators reinforce character-building practices promoting self-respect as a basis for learning and achieving. Principals must provide leadership in staff…

Based on questionnaire responses, 139 ninth and twelfth graders were divided into low and high drug use groups. High use subjects viewed drug use as less harmful than did low use subjects and were less likely to view parents or the law as authorities concerning drug use. (BC)

This study presents three cases of adults with profound developmental disabilities in which assessment data showed that self-injurious behavior occurred in at least two test conditions and describes a method used to analyze the effects of treatments based on hypotheses of multiple control. (Author/DB)

This study effectively eliminated face-slapping behavior in a 10-year-old boy with severe developmental disability and autistic characteristics. The subject wore wrist weights for up to 30 minutes each day. Face slapping did not occur during a follow-up check conducted five months after study completion. (Author/DB)

Students at alternative high schools may be at substantial risk for drug abuse. Provides an overview of the drug-use-related context of continuation high schools in southern California. A total of 144 students and 96 staff were interviewed from 20 continuation high schools. Data indicated continuation school students had high levels of substance…

Analyzes interviews with four self-injuring young women. Suggests the meaning of self-injury is not the same as the meaning of attempted suicide, and that the two acts are related in the sense that self-injury is an adaptive alternative to suicide. The function of self-injury is a communicative act. The extent to with self-injurers can control…

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between self-mutilation and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a nonclinical population. Self-mutilators reported significantly more symptoms of depression and anxiety than did the control group. When the group of self-mutilators was divided into individuals who cut themselves and…

The origin and developmental course of stereotypic and self-injurious behaviour among individuals with developmental disabilities such as intellectual disability (ID) or pervasive development disorders such as autism is not well understood. Twelve studies designed to document the prevalence, nature, or development of stereotypic and/or…

Although there is an enormous amount of literature demonstrating socio-psychological determinants of suicide and self-injurious behaviour among adults or clinical samples of children and adolescents, there is a scarcity of studies focussing on non-clinical adolescent samples. The current study examined associations between self-reported data on…

A variety of variables have been found to augment perceived social validity of behavioral interventions. In the present study, potential effects of behavioral function were evaluated. Sixty students inexperienced in work with people with mental retardation, and 60 experienced staff watched one of two carefully matched acted videos depicting…

We examined the effects of an individualized schedule on levels of engagement and self-injury for a student with severe autism. We first conducted a series of functional analyses to identify contexts in which self-injury occurred in his classroom. Results of the functional analyses suggested that self-injury was associated with academic demands.…

We evaluated the influence of child location on the occurrence of self-injurious behavior (SIB) during functional analyses conducted in home settings. An initial functional analysis conducted with 2 children who had developmental disabilities showed undifferentiated patterns of SIB. Analyses of behavior during free play suggested that the child's…

Many risks for suicidal behavior, identified in population samples, are elevated in justice youth. We examined whether risks operate similarly in a justice sample. We measured suicidal behavior and disorder on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children in 991 randomly selected youths, and examined associations between demographic, offense, and…

School youth have been increasingly involved in the dangerous abuse of volatile inhalants. The basic reason to inhale substances is to reach an altered state of consciousness. The 12-17 and 18-25-year-old age groups had the highest rates of inhalant abuse in 1993. Among eighth graders, almost one in five (19%) said they have used inhalants and 5%…