The article considers Ghanaian folk songs as a training ground for music and social skill development. The U.S. is in cultural transition. Such changes have brought about reforms in educational policy including how teachers and school boards address ethnic diversity. The music of Africa is as diverse as its geography and its numerous ethnic…

Two measures were used to investigate the socioemotional effects of collaborative philosophical enquiry on children aged 11 at pre-test in five experimental and three control primary (elementary) school mainstream classes. Experimental teachers received initial and follow-up professional development. In a pre-post controlled design, experimental…

Meaningful employment can have a significant impact on the lives of young adults with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Unfortunately, too few adolescents with EBD experience successful employment outcomes upon leaving high school. In this article, the authors review components of secondary educational programming that may contribute to…

Research has shown, and educators in the field have acknowledged, that students with visual impairments (those who are blind or have low vision) who are in general education, as well as in special education, settings, can lack social competence (Bauman, 1973; Davidow, 1974; Doll, 1953; Hatlen, 2000, 2003; Huebner, 1986; Sacks, Kekelis, &…

This paper critically reviews the literature on the links between temperament and social development in children and adolescents. Social development is broadly defined to include externalizing and internalizing behaviour problems, prosocial behaviour and social competence. It concludes that there are clear links between specific dimensions of…

The authors investigated the impact that 5 selected risk factors have on the treatment outcome of adolescent male sex offenders. The results indicated that the greatest risk factor among sex offenders was having a mother who had a substance abuse problem. Study participants were 35 adolescent boys in a New Jersey residential facility for…

Explored relations between child temperament, parenting daily hassles, and children's social adjustment in preschool. Found that parenting daily hassles predicted child externalizing problems beyond the contribution of child temperament characteristics. Child temperament interacted with parenting hassles in predicting adjustment outcomes. Child…

The birth and hospitalization of a preterm infant have powerful effects on the emerging parent-infant relationship. Characteristics of parents, infant factors, and factors in the hospital and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) environments--in addition to the circumstances surrounding preterm birth--may disrupt parent-infant relationships.…

Background: ICD-10 and DSM-IV include similar criterial symptom lists for conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), but while DSM-IV treats each list separately, ICD-10 considers them jointly. One consequence is that ICD-10 identifies a group of children with ODD subtype who do not receive a diagnosis under DSM-IV. Methods: We…

Background: Previous research suggests that the phenotype associated with Asperger's syndrome (AS) includes difficulties in understanding the mental states of others, leading to difficulties in social communication and social relationships. It has also been suggested that the first-degree relatives of those with AS can demonstrate similar…

Background: The objectives of this review were to examine the overall efficacy of music therapy for children and adolescents with psychopathology, and to examine how the size of the effect of music therapy is influenced by the type of pathology, client's age, music therapy approach, and type of outcome. Method: Eleven studies were included for…

The author examined age, gender, and ethnic differences in the self-perceptions of 112 low-income children who were assessed with the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (PSPCSA) at Head Start and kindergarten. Children's self-ratings of competence were overly optimistic across the 4 subscales of the PSPCSA during the 2…

Students (N = 175) at a large public university described their best and worst professors. Male students chose a female professor as "best" less often than expected whereas female students chose a female professor as often as expected. There were no gender differences in choice of "worst" professors. Descriptions of best and worst professors…

This article uses an ecological approach to predict students' peer acceptance within junior high school classes. The authors investigate whether various characteristics (self-perception of physical attractiveness and athletic competence, cognitive ability, agreeableness, extraversion, age, parents education, number of siblings, siblings at same…

This study reports on the longitudinal examination of a structured arts program for Canadian youth, aged 9 to 15 years, from low-income communities. Evaluated were the extent to which community-based organizations successfully recruited and retained youth in the program and whether they demonstrated improvement with respect to artistic ability…