In this study, the author examined the relationship between theory-of-mind understanding and preschool-aged children's peer-related social competence. One hundred eleven 3- to 5-year-old children (48 boys, 63 girls) participated in 2 theory-of-mind tasks designed to assess their understanding of false belief. Teachers rated children's peer-related…

Trustworthiness was examined in children and early adolescents from two countries. In Study 1,505 children in the fifth and sixth school years in the United Kingdom (mean age = 9 years 7 months) were tested across an 8-month period. In Study 2,350 sixth- through eighth-grade Canadian children and early adolescents (mean age = 12 years 11 months)…

Traditional personality theories do not consider the impact of culture on personality development. Yet, to provide culturally relevant services to the increasing Hispanic population in the U.S., more culturally relevant theories must be identified. This paper presents Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) as an alternative model to understanding…

Parents and educators around the country are concerned about the amount of time children watch television. Part of this concern stems from the fact that a considerable amount of violence is regularly portrayed on television. In addition, those youngsters who watch an excessive amount of television have little time for developing other interests…

This paper presents the details of a parent training program for families of children with comorbid ADHD/ODD. The goal of the training is to develop specific parenting skills that promote pro-social compliance and decrease disruptive child behavior. There are two parts to the parent training program. First, a theoretical framework of interactions…

Elementary-school children in Cuba and Canada participated in measures of loneliness, sociometric status, friendship, aggression, and social withdrawal. Withdrawal was associated with loneliness in the Cuban data from both cohorts, Grade 4 and Grade 6. In the Canadian data, withdrawal was only linked to loneliness in Grade 6. In contrast with…

A sample of 784 children with below-median literacy performance in kindergarten or at the beginning of grade 1 was assessed in 5 areas of psychological and social variables: academic competence, sociodemographic characteristics, social/emotional/behavioral characteristics, school context, and home environment. We examined the contribution of…

Commitment and attachment to school and perception of school norms were examined in a sample of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to determine whether bullies, victims, bully victims, and students who reported no or low levels of bullying and victimization differed in their level of bonding to school and their perceptions of standards and…

This paper provides techniques and resources for integrating peace education into early childhood education programs. After discussing the history of peace education in the United States and its role in an increasingly diverse society, the paper provides curriculum ideas and best practices for use in early childhood peace education. The need to…

Teacher education programs are rapidly changing to ensure that pre-service teachers are well prepared to successfully conquer the critical issues they will encounter in K-12 public schools. The major issue influencing teaching and learning is school violence and the lack of a sense of peace and caring in educational institutions. The educational…

This paper describes a project to improve the responsibility levels of 16 gifted students in fourth grade attending a daily 2-hour language arts gifted education class. Students had become inconsistent about completing assignments, maintaining an orderly environment, and communicating necessary information to parents. A teacher-developed checklist…

These six theme-oriented newsletter issues present specific curriculum planning ideas and activities for teachers of young children. The theme of the January/February 1996 issue is "Children's Literature." This issue focuses on library utilization, props, telling and creating stories, and bookmaking for children. The theme of the…

The phrase "prosocial gang" may seem a contradiction but such gangs do exist. This book describes a gang intervention program, Aggression Replacement Training (ART), which resulted in reduced arrest rates among violent gangs in a large urban area. The book opens with a list of prosocial gangs followed by an analysis of the development,…

Based on the belief that explicit teaching of social skills to young students will better prepare them for future academic and social endeavors, this action research project evaluated the impact of a program for increasing the incidence of appropriate social skills, specifically: sharing, encouraging, and accepting responsibility among young…

Ideas submitted by middle school Youth for Justice teams are presented. Sixty-four teams from middle schools in all regions of Ohio spent 5 months researching and preparing their ideas for the Youth Summit. Ideas that identify and propose solutions and action steps to address the multiple problems of violence by and against youth are compiled in…