This qualitative study conducted in urban Miami, Florida, explored the essence of juvenile delinquency and recidivism: its causes, its relations to communities, the roles of families, and the myriad roles of residential treatment programs at rehabilitating young offenders. Data were collected from nine young adult participants who had satisfied…

HIV-related behaviors, self-reported using Web-delivered or paper-pencil modes, were collected from two convenience samples of college students at a major university in the southeastern U.S. To enhance the equivalence of the comparisons, a subset pool of participants from each group, proportionally matched on key demographic variables including…

This paper reports the results of developing and evaluating a classification of 315 arrested youth processed at the Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center from September 1, 1994 to January 31, 1998. Youth were characterized as physically or sexually abused if they reported abuse or if they had been referred to juvenile court for abuse.…

Black and Latino students are still underepresented in upper-level math classes in the United States, a fact which has serious implications for their academic achievement and futures. Walker provides six suggestions for how educators can encourage more black and Latino students to successfully take higher level math courses: (1) Expand our…

This research examined the "mental health literacy" of adolescents concerning eating-disordered behavior. A vignette describing a fictional 16-year old female meeting diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa was presented to 522 female high school students, followed by a series of questions concerning treatment of and treatment-seeking…

This study examines how a wide variety of diverse friendship group attributes affect changes in indicators of school performance, social behavior, and mental health between early seventh and late eighth grade. Nine hundred and one middle school students named their friends. Independent data from these friends were used to construct friendship…

This study compared alternative hypotheses (from general deviance, life course, and developmental psychopathology perspectives) regarding the effects of early adolescent delinquency on psychosocial functioning in family, school, and peer contexts, and on alcohol use. Analyses also examined parent-child negative affective quality, prosocial school…

Strategies to address the problem of work and family balance have begun emerging in recent years. Many American college and universities have begun to adopt this "family-friendly policies," such as tenure-clock extensions. Each of the policies to enable work and family balance, however, is situated within the broader academic culture.…

Successful transition planning is a lifelong process in which the student, family members, friends, and professionals come together to develop and act upon a plan that will lead to a successful adult life. For this reason, transition planning has become a part of several federal laws. The most encompassing of these laws, the Individuals with…

American parents who are trying to rear their children in responsible ways do so in the face of peer influences that may be at odds with the parents' values. This report examines some of the findings of the 1993 National Household Education Survey (NHES) to show how families and students' peers sometimes work at cross-purposes. Specifically…

How to build and support the Empowering School is explained. The Empowering School is one in which caring adults empower students to learn to hold meaningful jobs, to enjoy close relationships with caring adults, and to learn to communicate in positive ways. The Empowering School is also a center for social service. Part 1 of this book describes…

Adolescence is a vulnerable period of life; teens are faced with challenging issues such as stress and suicide. Facilitating informed decision-making among adolescents requires educational programs that present information in compelling and credible ways. With this in mind, a peer education program was developed, using older students to teach…

A study examines qualitatively the extent to which college students indicate that cocurricular theater activities impact on psychodynamic development in J. Katz's five areas--separation anxiety, peer influence, adult role models, personality development, and occupational choice. Subjects, 15 male and 15 female students involved in the theater…

Research shows that probable causes for disruptive classroom behavior are broken social bonds, violent environment, stress and conflict, and inadequate curriculum coupled with ineffective teaching methods. This report discusses a program to decrease negative peer interaction in order to improve academic achievement and interpersonal relationships.…

With the purpose of developing caring and capable children, this book offers teachers and counselors a collection of over 75 activities as teaching and guidance tools. Characteristics of caring and capable children, which reflect the development of empathy, compassion, assertiveness, and self-discipline, are described. The activities are grouped…