Background: Educators in rural schools are uniquely situated to address youth mental health disparities, yet often face challenges in delivering mental health supports. This paper describes the process of adapting the evidence-based Coping Power program, a small group prevention program for youth with aggressive behavior problems, to be a…

This article addresses Systems Theory as it applies to school-age children's bullying behavior. It focuses on the interrelationships, mutual influences, and dynamics of relationships within the family, and how these may affect children's behavior toward their peers. The theory helps to explain the ways family patterns are reflected in…

The collection of articles in this special issue on relational aggression gives a glimpse into the complex social networks, first, of children's relational aggression and, second, of the collaborators who develop and validate children's prevention programs. The programs described in this special section are among the first to address relational…

SYSTEMS OF EXCHANGE - USING THE EXTINCTION, DISTRACTION, AND SUBSTITUTION EFFECTS SYSTEMS - WERE IMPLEMENTED TO DECREASE AGGRESSION AND PROMOTE COOPERATION AND SCHOLARLY BEHAVIOR, THREE SYSTEMS WERE TESTED USING EXCHANGE THEORY AS A GUIDE. THE SUBJECTS WERE FIVE 4- AND 5-YEAR-OLD BOYS DIAGNOSED AS HYPERAGGRESSIVE. EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS INCLUDED…

A case study is presented of a three-year-old girl who exhibited aggression towards other children when playing. A behavior management program involving praise and rewards for good behavior and negative consequences for misbehavior was successful in reducing the behavior problem. Cooperative behavior was maintained even when tangible rewards were…

This paper attempts to develop guidelines relating to the problem of disruptive pupils in the classroom. A disruptive student is defined as one who interferes with the learning process. He is often male, physically aggressive, verbally hostile, over-age and frequently absent. The study examines the overlap between disruptive behavior and emotional…

This article describes qualitative and quantitative assessment based on responses of 221 teachers from nine elementary schools in two districts (urban and suburban) to inform plans for reducing and preventing student aggression. Teachers' perceptions of students' aggressive behavior and beliefs were validated against students' self-reports and…

Biased social information processing has been solidly linked to aggressive behavior in children. Additionally, attributional tendencies, the tendency to overattribute deliberately hostile intentions to others, have been shown to distinguish aggressive and nonaggressive male youth. In order to reduce aggressive males' tendency to attribute hostile…