This study explores teachers' perspectives on mandala coloring as a therapeutic tool for middle grades students with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs). Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the research first conducted qualitative interviews with ten experienced teachers, followed by teachers' quantitative assessments of 60…

Coping Power (CP) is a preventive intervention that focuses on reducing child externalizing problems. Although it is typically delivered in a group format (GCP), individually-delivered CP (ICP) has produced greater mean reductions in externalizing problems. However, standard analysis of randomized trials loses individual-level information…

Cross-rater agreement on bullying, victimization, and related behaviors of middle school students with and without behavioral disorders (BD) was investigated. Students with BD (n = 11), their peers (n = 90), and general education teachers (n = 10) completed the Peer Relationship Survey (PRS), a non-anonymous measurement scale. The results of…

Universal screening serves to identify students at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties while their behavior is still amenable to treatment. However, there are few universal screeners available for middle school students who may be at heightened risk for developing emotional and behavioral difficulties due to major academic and social…

The present study used data from a randomized controlled trial on brief interventions with adolescents to identify distinct longitudinal patterns of substance use and identify predictors, as well as outcomes associated with those use patterns. Data were originally collected for the purpose of evaluating two brief intervention conditions with…

We report results of an exploratory validation study of the "Student Risk Screening Scale-Internalizing and Externalizing" (SRSS-IE) applied with the first sample of middle and high school students from nine middle and three high schools from three states. The "Student Risk Screening Scale" (SRSS) was modified to broaden the…

Impairments in cognitive control generating deviant adaptive cognition have been proposed to account for the strong preference for repetitive behavior in autism. We examined if this preference reflects intentional deficits rather than problems in task execution in the broader autism phenotype using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Participants…

Objective: To assess the prevalence and frequency of medical marijuana diversion and use among adolescents in substance abuse treatment and to identify factors related to their medical marijuana use. Method: This study calculated the prevalence and frequency of diverted medical marijuana use among adolescents (n = 164), ages 14-18 years (mean age…

Background: While associations between conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and interpersonal callousness (IC) symptoms and delinquency onset are well established, less is known about whether these characteristics differentiate desisting and persisting delinquency. The current…

Despite important clinical and nosological implications, the comorbidity of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has received little attention. A clinic-based sample of 243 boys (ages 6-10 years), their parents, and teachers participated in an evaluation that involved assessments of behavioral, academic, and…

The impact of undesirable competing behaviors on maintenance and generalization of desirable behaviors by two 8 year-olds with severe developmental disabilities was examined. Desired behaviors were often replaced by less desirable behaviors which served the same function within maintenance and/or generalization situations. (Author/CL)

Background: Relatively little is known about the genetic architecture of childhood behavioral disorders in very young children. Method: In this study, parents completed the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment, a questionnaire that assesses symptoms of childhood disorders, as well as socio-emotional competencies, for 822 twin pairs…

Behavior rating scale data on the adjustment problems of 146 behaviorally disordered elementary school boys were factor-analyzed. Five factors of adjustment problems were identified: Aggression-Disruption, Social Incompetence, Social Maladjustment, Attention Disorder, and Anxiety-Inferiority. The relation of these five factors to those identified…

Teacher-completed Behavior Problem Checklists on 727 behaviorally disordered younger and older boys and girls were factor-analyzed. Results confirmed the primacy and pervasiveness of aggression-disruption or conduct disorder among factors that classify children as behaviorally disordered. Also consistently found for all age groups was a factor…

Catamenial and behavioral records of nine women with mental retardation who exhibited self-injurious behavior (SIB) were analyzed for six months. Analysis confirmed that SIB was cyclic across the menstrual cycle, with the highest frequency occurring in the early follicular and late follicular phases. (Author/JDD)