Noting that college students have a higher incidence of loneliness than any other group, this study explores the relationships between loneliness and personality/interactional constructs such as assertiveness, Machiavellianism, self-monitoring, etc. Results suggest that lonely people find communication difficult, supporting the value of a…

Evaluates fourth-to seventh-grade children on two aspects of social cognition: interpersonal understanding and means-ends problem-solving ability. Relates the two variables to sex, age, IQ, social class, and multiple dimensions of competence. Both variables significantly correlated with I.Q. while interpersonal understanding also correlated with…

Presents an overview of findings related to preparing for employment and making a successful college-to-work transition. Reports how some educators responded to these findings and their recommendations for nontechnical skill development at the postsecondary level. (JOW)

Assesses the value of competency/skill research in speech pedagogy. (PD)

Argues that teachers of English as a second language at the secondary school level must consider the social, political, and economic needs, as well as the linguistic needs, of students. (EKN)

This paper outlines an array of categories that denote kinds of influence variables operative in organizational systems--including structures, relationships, and technology. This allows us to synthesize literature from a variety of system levels and sources by addressing the question: What variables influence a communicator's behavior at any given…

Insights into the handling of problems in teacher education are offered with emphasis on performance criteria and open evaluation as well as the development of better interpersonal relations. (Editor/LBH)

An assessment of the foreign study experience is offered based on the personal testimony of students who studied abroad. Outcomes were examined in terms of intellectual disposition, relationships with other persons, political orientation, religious orientation, career goals, life goals, and most important personal development. (LBH)

Although interpersonal and relational skills are clearly relevant to successful performance in many jobs and roles, there is evidence that these skills are not valued in the same way as technical skills or the skills of self-promotion and "managing up." The label "women's work" is often linked to interpersonal competence with…

This guide to Williams syndrome (WS), a congenital disorder characterized by developmental/cognitive limitations but relatively high verbal and social skills, explains the strengths, difficulties and variations found among individuals with the condition and offers guidelines for intervention in the unusual properties of the WS behavioral profile.…

This book is a guide for parents and teachers to Asperger syndrome, a condition in which individuals have significant social and language peculiarities while simultaneously showing normal development and function in some areas of their lives. Chapter 1 provides an overview of Asperger syndrome, including definitions and characteristics. Chapter 2…

This book is the first volume of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Practice Resources Series. It offers a cognitive problem-solving approach to the urgent need for children to acquire competence in meeting the demands of childhood within social, school, and family parameters. Designed for children from kindergarten through middle…

This report documents the design, construction, and psychometric characteristics of the assessment instruments used in the spring 2004 data collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998?99 (ECLS-K). The ECLS-K is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.The ECLS-K…

Nonverbal communication skill, decoding and encoding nonverbal cues effectively, is an important part of social competence. Merely experience in receiving and sending nonverbal cues, however, is not sufficient to improve nonverbal skill. Consequently, a training program was designed to develop nonverbal sensitivity of school administrators and…

These three issues contain educational activities and articles on the following topics: education for the future; learning about learning; readers' responses to requests for suggested article and activity topics; tools and techniques (revisiting the one-question interview, learning students' names, and getting to know one another); multi-level…