In 2007-08 and 2008-09, 2,500 randomly-selected middle school students completed an annual survey on school climate and character development. In examining differences based upon grade, gender, race/ethnicity, school, and length of program participation, significant differences were found for all but length of program participation. Responses of…

According to the hedonic treadmill model, good and bad events temporarily affect happiness, but people quickly adapt back to hedonic neutrality. The theory, which has gained widespread acceptance in recent years, implies that individual and societal efforts to increase happiness are doomed to failure. The recent empirical work outlined here…

Discusses the history of the hierarchical epigenetic systems view as applied to human development and offers examples of its implementation. Notes the agreement by many authors that the multilevel systems view is the right model for developmental psychology in both human and animal studies. (BC)

Maintains that (1) research questions must address intra- and extraorganism contextual relations and must be multidisciplinary in scope; (2) research must be sensitive to contextual variability and individual differences; and (3) scholars must develop empirically generative models linking the development of human beings with changing contexts. (BC)

An investigation of a theory of "idiosyncrasy credit" which was developed by Hollander (1958) as a framework for understanding status and conformity, was undertaken in the community college setting. Idiosyncrasy credit represents status and allows for behavior which may exceed the "limits" set by the common expectancies of a group. The specific…