Filial therapy with parents of children experiencing learning difficulties.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a 10 week filial therapy training model as an intervention method for parents of children with learning difficulties. Results of the analysis of covariance revealed that the parents in the experimental group scored significantly higher after training than the parents in the control group on their attitude of acceptance of the child. The experimental group parents attained a significantly lower mean total score on level of stress related to parenting than the control group parents. There was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups' posttest mean scores on the total behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children experiencing violence. I: Parental use of corporal punishment

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to reveal the prevalence of corporal punishment in Alexandria and its' correlates with family background and child's behavior and characteristics. METHODS: A cross sectional survey targeting preparatory and secondary school children was conducted. The multistage random sample technique was adopted to select a representative sample of this population. Subjects were requested to complete a self-administered questionnaire to collect relevant information. Data were analyzed using the univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: This study revealed that more than one-third (37.47%) of children were disciplined physically in the form of beating and a few were also burned or tied. In 25.83% of them, this harsh discipline led to physical injuries of variable degrees of severity amounting to fractures, loss of consciousness, and permanent disability. Predictive family background for the use of corporal punishment were: living in an apartment shared with strangers; high crowding index; constant fights and quarrels between family members; lack of regular relation with relatives and acquaintance as well as an income insufficient to meet the family basic needs. Predictive child's characteristics and behavior included young age; disobedience; telling lies; destroying others' belongings; acting disrespectfully to parents; communicating poorly with their parents; running away from home; and poor school achievement, in addition to other determinants. CONCLUSION: A proportion of children are subjected to extreme physical brutality amounting to abuse in a disciplinary context. Parents' education and the establishment of effective parent-child communication are deemed essential to combat this phenomenon.     

Children and social policy: Section introduction.

This article introduces this special section in the current issue of the American Psychologist. The present section serves as an introduction and exemplar of the interface between child development research and social policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading difficulties, behavior, and social status.

198 boys from lower class backgrounds took part in a longitudinal study covering the 1st 2 yrs of elementary school. The research concerned the effect of reading difficulties and behavior on peer rejection and popularity. Children were rated on the Children's Behavior Questionnaire, the Adversity Index, and a sociometric inquiry, and tested with the Thackray Reading Readiness Profiles, Southgate Tests of Ward Selection, and the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale. Rejected Ss came from more adverse social backgrounds and were conceptually more limited than their more popular peers. Also examined was whether poor readers were rejected more often than good readers. Results indicate that when poor readers were rejected it was because of their antisocial behavior rather than because of their difficulties in reading. Poor readers who were stable and conformed to classroom requirements were no more rejected than good readers of equivalent behavior; however, they were less popular. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unconsciousness reconsidered.

In response to K. S. Bowers's (see record 1988-16849-001) discussion of the unconscious, the present author describes 5 determinants of noncomprehension—sensory overload, incidental learning, domination of conscious phenomenal representation by characteristics of preconscious sensory processes, unconscious determinants, and conscious response bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory knitting reconsidered.

Comments on the article by R. J. Sternberg and E. L. Grigorenko (see record 2001-10045-001), which described an approach to psychology ("unified psychology") that is a multiparadigmatic, multidisciplinary, and integrated study of psychological phenomena through converging operations. According to the present author, Sternberg and Grigorenko may have relied too heavily on "theory knitting" as a panacea and the critique of previous proposals regarding the solutions to the unification of psychology. In considering work in teams having members with various kinds of expertise, each psychologist would still have, in a less intrusive way, access to others' disciplines and converging operations. Within this interdisciplinary team solution, the presumed confusion associated with part-whole relationships would no longer require the psychologists to be trained in a variety of other fields "to understand the whole phenomenon." Given the differences in the underlying structure among these teams, are Sternberg and Grigorenko failing in the process of integrating theory development by not attempting to uncover guiding assumptions and integrate them into a new framework? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction reconsidered.

Discusses 6 latent assumptions underlying current research on job satisfaction and analyzes their role in producing incomplete and unrealistic approaches to job satisfaction. It is suggested that these assumptions have induced researchers to (a) overlook important barriers to job satisfaction and sources of intrinsic satisfaction, (b) underestimate the importance of extrinsic sources of satisfaction, and (c) ignore the powerlessness→ alienation hypothesis. New topics for research and new roles for psychologists are suggested as steps toward the development of more comprehensive approaches to job satisfaction. Some speculations about the implications of the analysis for applied social science in general are advanced. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociometric ratings as predictors of academic performance.

An experiment to determine the degree of accuracy with which sociometric ratings can be used to predict academic performance. A 14-item sociometric questionnaire was administered to 86 students before any academic grades were available. 2 rating measures, one emphasizing future job performance and the other dealing with personal adjustment, were found to be significantly related to academic performance (r = .40, p     

High school students as therapeutic agents with young children experiencing school adjustment difficulties: The effectiveness of a filial therapy training model.

Filial therapy has been used since the early 1960s to train parents as therapeutic agents for children experiencing a broad range of social, emotional and behavioral difficulties. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, this study examined the efficacy of a filial therapy model in training high school students to be effective helpers with young children experiencing school adjustment difficulties. 32 high school students enrolled in a Peer Assistance and Leadership course titled PALs were trained to become therapeutic change agents for identified prekindergarten and kindergarten students. The PALs students received training and supervision in child-centered play therapy skills that they practiced in weekly play sessions with their assigned child. Results from the statistical analyses reveal that the experimental group of high school students receiving filial therapy training demonstrated a significant increase in their empathic interactions with children and that the experimental group of children receiving the play therapy intervention experienced a significant reduction in problem behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children and social change: Social and behavioral problems: Section introduction.

This article introduces a special section on children and social change. The articles in this section will present topics concerning the effects of rapid social change on social and behavioral problems in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociometric status and adjustment of hospitalized disturbed children.

Investigated the relationship between the social status and adjustment of 38 7-16 yr. old psychiatric inpatients. Sociometric information was obtained by comparing the friendship choices of each S, and adjustment was measured by staff ratings and S's length of stay in the hospital. No relationship was found between sociometric status and Ss' age, IQ, diagnosis, or popularity with staff members. There was a tendency, however, for long-term Ss to have fewer friends than short-term Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploitation or neglect.

A comparison of lengths of stay for alcoholism treatment in nonpublic and public hospitals indicates that the ratio of median stay was greater in nonpublic hospitals (2:1). While 3 explanations are possible, these results support W. R. Miller and H. K. Hester's (see record 1986-28253-001) contention that financial considerations play a dominant role in patient treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Education and thinking skills reconsidered.

Comments on R. Glaser's (see record 1984-32635-001) discussion of the role of knowledge that general thinking-skills courses need to be explored and evaluated further. Evidence is needed to make clear the complex relationships between general thinking-skills training, domain-specific knowledge, and transfer into other situations. It is concluded that the contributions of Glaser and L. B. Resnick (1983) should not be embraced in a manner that forecloses research on effects of different kinds of thinking-skills training. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype efficiency reconsidered: Encoding flexibility under cognitive load.

According to the encoding flexibility model, stereotypes are efficient because they facilitate, in different ways, the encoding of both stereotype-consistent and stereotype-inconsistent information when capacity is low. Because stereotypical information is conceptually fluent, it may be easily understood, even when resources are scant. As a result, processing resources may shift from stereotypical toward counterstereotypical information, which is difficult to comprehend under such conditions. Thus, whereas inconsistent information receives greater attention (Experiments 1–3) and perceptual encoding (Experiment 4) when resources are depleted, the conceptual meaning of consistent information is extracted to a greater degree under such conditions (Experiment 5). Potential moderating roles of stereotype strength and perceiver motivations are discussed, as are the implications of these results for dual process models of stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociometric differences between learning-disabled and nonhandicapped students: Effects of sex and race.

The relation of sex and race to learning-disabled (LD) children's popularity and rejection by peers was investigated by comparing the number of positive and negative peer nominations received by 76 LD and 669 nonhandicapped (NH) White and Black children in Grades 3 through 5. Results indicated less popularity and greater rejection for LD students. Furthermore, a Group?×?Sex?×?Race interaction for negative nominations was found, indicating that White LD girls were most disliked of the LD group. It was suggested that greater dislike of White LD girls may be due to discrepancies between the achievement of LD children and their same-sex, same-race peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered.

G. S. Hall's (1904) view that adolescence is a period of heightened "storm and stress" is reconsidered in light of contemporary research. The author provides a brief history of the storm-and-stress view and examines 3 key aspects of this view: conflict with parents, mood disruptions, and risk behavior. In all 3 areas, evidence supports a modified storm-and-stress view that takes into account individual differences and cultural variations. Not all adolescents experience storm and stress, but storm and stress is more likely during adolescence than at other ages. Adolescent storm and stress tends to be lower in traditional cultures than in the West but may increase as globalization increases individualism. Similar issues apply to minority cultures in American society. Finally, although the general public is sometimes portrayed by scholars as having a stereotypical view of adolescent storm and stress, both scholars and the general public appear to support a modified storm-and-stress view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Primary Mental Health Project reconsidered.

Contends that a recent report by R. P. Weissberg et al (see record 1983-13741-001) on the effectiveness of the Primary Mental Health Project may offer an unduly favorable assessment of the project's treatment efficacy. A meta-analysis of the controlled, empirical data currently available shows that although the project has produced useful data regarding the identification of maladaptive school children, stronger empirical evidence is needed to justify its treatment strategies. Data suggest that the typical project-referred S is only modestly improved relative to control and normal Ss. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Musical dialogue--music therapy in social contact disorder and communication difficulties

Musical dialogue is a way of leading people incapable of speech out of their isolation and difficulty of expression and of helping early emotionally disturbed people to get in contact with their feelings. Video excerpts of therapy sessions with 3 autistic children show how basic capabilities for interpersonal dialogue are made possible through music therapy.