Educators in the state of California have struggled to reduce the number of minorities being suspended and expelled annually and significantly improve overall school climate and culture. To address this area of improvement, educators have begun to turn to a proactive approach to improve overall school climate and culture at their sites by…

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of the Superhero Social Skills program in increasing the social engagement skills and decreasing the aggressive behavior of students with externalizing behavior problems as implemented by a resource teacher. There have been no empirical evaluations of the Superhero Social Skills program as implemented…

Bullying is a persistent problem that negatively affects the academic performance, and the psychological, social, and emotional well-being of targeted students. Research indicates most bullying is prejudice-based. Bullying and prejudice reduction interventions used in school systems encourage empathy towards the target student to reduce these…

Objective: A pilot randomized clinical trial (RCT) examined effectiveness of HIV/STD Safer Sex Skills Building + Alcohol (SSB+A) intervention for women with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) in a residential treatment setting. Method: After randomizing thirty-six women with AUDs and reporting having intercourse with a male partner in the past 180 days…

In the era of the Internet, factors which influence effective learning in a Web-based learning environment are well worth exploring. In addition to knowledge acquisition and skills training, affect is also an important factor, since successful learning requires excellent affective performance. Thus this study focuses on learners' affective…

This study tested the effect of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP), a preventive intervention for bereaved families, on effective parenting (e.g., caregiver warmth, consistent discipline) 6 years after program completion. Families (n = 101; 69% female caregivers; 77% Caucasian, 11% Hispanic) with children between ages 8 and 16 who had…

The present study evaluated preventive effects of the Incredible Years program for parents of preschool children who were at risk for a chronic pattern of conduct problems, in the Netherlands. In a matched control design, 72 parents of children with conduct problems received the Incredible Years program. These families (intervention group) were…

We examined the effectiveness of the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of writing instruction with a self-determination training component for middle school-age students with emotional and behavioral disorders. We randomly assigned students to experimental or comparison treatments during which special education teachers provided the…

Objective: This report addresses the long-term efficacy of the Adults in the Making (AIM) prevention program on deterring the escalation of alcohol use and development of substance use problems, particularly among rural African American emerging adults confronting high levels of contextual risk. Method: African American youths (M age, pretest =…

The present study examined the role of individualism-collectivism (IC) and acculturation in smoking prevention programs for Hispanic preadolescents. The sixth graders received a collectivist or individualist curriculum. Both programs contained knowledge-based facts about smoking. The collectivist condition included an interdependent…

Central to this dissertation was an examination of the role teachers' social networks play in schools as living organizations through three studies. The first study investigated the impact of teachers' social networks on teaching practices. Recent evidence suggests that teachers' social networks have a significant effect on teachers' norms,…

Background: Aggressive behaviour represents a frequent symptom in people with intellectual disability (PWID). Despite uncertain evidence of effectiveness, the use of antipsychotics (APs) drugs to treat aggressive behaviour is very common. Antipsychotic medication of aggressivity in PWID has recently become one of the most debated issues in mental…

In this study we developed a theory grounded in data from women who continued healthy eating behaviors after a weight management program. Participant recruitment was guided by theoretical sampling strategies for focus groups and individual interviews. Inclusion criteria were: African American or Caucasian women aged 30+ who lost [greater than or…

This study contributes to ongoing scholarship at the nexus of translational research, education reform, and the developmental and prevention sciences. It reports 2-year experimental impacts of a universal, integrated school-based intervention in social-emotional learning and literacy development on children's social-emotional, behavioral, and…

Objective: Six-month follow-up outcomes from a controlled trial of a program designed to prevent aggressive behavior in childhood are described. Method: Data were collected from three sequential cohorts of third graders in two public elementary schools (N = 443). The Year 1 cohort received a routine health curriculum. The Year 2 cohort received…