The relationship between student characteristics and the frequency with which students left campus on weekends was investigated. Subjects were 411 undergraduate students who completed an 11-item self-report instrument designed to measure the influence of students' class rank, sex, and distance from home on behavior, their reasons for…

In 1976, suicides in the 15-24 year-old group (N=4,747) made up over 17% of all suicides in all age groups (N=26,750). In 1968, adolescent suicides (N=2,591) were only 12% of the total (N=21,000). Adolescent suicide rate is alarming unless put into perspective with the accident rate and the cultural belief in individual rights, responsibility, and…

The paper presents an overview of an ethological approach to the study of abnormal human behavior and a review of research using ethological approaches (with an emphasis on autism research). Ethology is defined as the study of behavior as it occurs in its natural habitat. The four types of questions ethologists ask about behavior, such as what is…

Childhood aggression is among the most common and least transitory of childhood dysfunctions. Mother-only families have higher rates of childhood aggression than do intact, father-present homes. The effect of father presence and father absence on the aggressive behavior of family members was examined, along with the behavior patterns in families…

Parameters of intrafamilial discord have been identified in this study by examining interaction in the family of orientation, establishing their relationship to alcoholism in the invididual. The sample was comprised of 96 problem drinkers, both public and private patients, who are receiving help from Straight and Narrow Incorporated, Paterson, New…

The differences between aggressiveness and assertiveness were examined using the Interpersonal Behavior Survey (IBS), a 136-item self-report questionnaire which was developed to distinguish between assertive and aggressive behaviors. Item level factor analysis was used in scale construction. Results indicated that: (1) the correlation between the…

Predicting occurrences of violent behavior in the population of emotionally disturbed criminal offenders was investigated by identifying a pattern of characteristics that significantly discriminates between violent and nonviolent offenders. Subjects were 149 current and former male patients in the Forensics Division of St. Elizabeths Hospital in…

This study examines and supports the hypothesis that diverse student behavior can be meaningfully and usefully construed when viewed from the single perspective described here as hedonism vs. the Protestant Ethic. Subjects were 1375 male and female undergraduate students. Anonymous questionnaires dealing with background, academic life, social and…

This study examines the effects of sex upon the perception, evaluation and reciprocation of self-disclosing behavior. Subjects were 68 Rutgers University undergraduates who responded to a written statement attributed to either a male or female. The statements varied according to level of intimacy; some disclosed intimate information, while others…

The relationship between student brinkmanship, defined as an assertive student behavior which attempts to challenge school authority while avoiding negative sanctions, and classroom social structure in five secondary school classrooms was investigated through a field study. Subjects were 185 students in a small rural high school in Georgia.…

This study was created primarily to explore new techniques and to generate fruitful new hypotheses and procedures for the (1) description of variations in expressed curiosity and constructive exploration among disadvantaged preschool children and (2) assessment of the relationship between such curiosity and exploration and other aspects of the…

This study seeks to determine the degree to which certain behavioral measures interact with intelligence, whether in a linear or curvilinear fashion, to help one predict academic achievement in Head Start children to a greater degree than would be possible were intelligence test performance alone used as the predictor variable. Children were…

This report provides descriptive statistical information from Phase III-B of the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study. Within the sample of second and fifth grade teachers in classrooms in public schools in California, approximately six students were identified as target students to be studied during the school year. These students were observed…

This document reports on research on the effects which the presence of other individuals have on another individual's performance. The experiment was conducted as follows: Selected male and female subjects were given the task of following a blind maze with a stylus. They were tested in performance under three different circumstances, alone, with a…

The major objective of this study was to identify verbally reticent (V.R.) students in the community college population, beginning with first-term speech students. A total of 527 students enrolled in first-term daytime speech classes completed the V.R. Scale (Verbal Reticence Test Developed by Myron W. Lustig) during the first week of classes.…