A study investigated the freshman year experience of exceptionally able students entering colleges at least two years early. Academic achievement and social adjustment were considered in relation to college type, student residence at home or away from home, degree and beginning of academic acceleration, and student adjustment mechanisms. (MSE)

Key developmental tasks of adolescence and the unique problems that face the learning-disabled adolescent are outlined, focusing on the role of social competency and communication effectiveness. Components of a comprehensive social competency training program include the nature of the learning disability, the affective-defensive pattern, adaptive…

California public school children (n=84, aged 3-21) with mild mental retardation who were referred for evaluation of psychiatric, medical, or other disorders were studied to create a profile of children for whom schools may need critical assistance. Associated psychiatric and biomedical problems were evident, while levels of psychosocial…

Small communities require the services of professionals such as doctors and teachers, but most professionals are trained in metropolitan areas. Urban-trained professionals are seldom prepared for the social and cultural differences that confront them when they move to rural communities. Such newcomers frequently experience culture shock--the…

Examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-olds with lesbian parents, with two-parent heterosexual parents, or with single heterosexual mothers from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Found no significant differences between lesbian mothers and…

The Bronx Community College's Department of Student Development has provided an array of developmental minicourses to help incoming freshmen acquire coping skills and a new social support system. These courses foster cognitive, affective, and interpersonal development. (TE)

Examined whether children of alcoholic mothers were more psychologically damaged than children of nonalcoholic mothers. The subject families' potential for creating a good upbringing environment and subjects' childhoods were studied. Found that children of alcoholic mothers develop social maladjustment problems and addictions, and have a high rate…

The adjustment of 130 high school graduates and 70 dropouts, all with behavioral disorders, is investigated, focusing on employment, living arrangements, leisure activities, coping mechanisms, and difficulties with law enforcement. Employed versus unemployed individuals are compared in terms of gender, vocational training received in high school,…

Reports on a study of 15 doctoral students who were alcoholics' daughters. It examined family origin and elementary-secondary schooling, plus data from the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test. Findings indicated that children survived by hiding their parents' problem, masquerading as normal, and actively working to avoid being discovered. (SM)

Compared parenting and children's (n=136) social, psychological, and academic adjustment across family structures. Biological/adoptive parents in intact families showed more positive parenting and coparenting practices than did parents in other family configuration; children in intact families showed higher levels of adjustment. Found differences…

Used a structural-equation model with latent constructs to differentiate the domains of adolescent emotional autonomy from parents and specify the intervening processes. Found that individuation was associated with lower academic achievement and higher rates of deviant behavior through the intervening effects of higher susceptibility to negative…

Examined characteristics of perceived relational support from four key providers for 12- to 18-year-olds. Variable-centered factor analyses yielded five support dimensions, three specific to providers and two specific to provisions. Person-centered factor analyses identified five types of adolescents with different configurations of perceived…

Examined the relevancy of group social functioning to individual social, academic, and psychological adjustment in China. Found that social functioning--including sociability, aggression, and shyness-inhibition--of group peers had unique contributions to individual social and school adjustment and adjustment problems, and that contributions of…

The concept of dual-career couples in student affairs and higher education, while not new, continues to be a growing phenomenon. These dual-career relationships present both professional and personal challenges and require regular adjustments. The authors discuss these challenges and adjustments from both a theoretical and an experiential…

This study investigated the contributions of initial literacy, oral language, and social adjustment to literacy achievement at the end of the kindergarten year. Data were collected across the kindergarten year from 48 children attending a school serving primarily children from low-income households with research-based curriculum and intervention…