The purpose of this study was to determine what kinds of people are motivated to join a medical self-help group and whether and in what areas of psychological and social functioning such self-help groups have positive benefits for adolescents and their families. Extensive survey questionnaires were sent throughout the United States to all former…

This paper concerns early social adaptational and family antecedents of teenage delinquent behavior in a population of black first graders who were reassessed 10 years after the initial study. Subjects were 705 teenagers who had participated in the 1966-67 Woodlawn study and whose mothers had given permission for reassessment. At the time of the…

An attempt was made to identify variables associated with black mothers in a high risk community who stayed on welfare, who moved off welfare, who moved on and off welfare, and who did not participate in welfare. Three kinds of variables were explored to explain such variations in welfare participation: (1) social origin characteristics, (2)…

Early predictors of two major areas of teenage outcome -- substance use and psychiatric symptoms -- were analyzed and specific developmental paths leading to each teenage outcome were identified in this long-term, follow-up study. Substance "use" rather than "abuse" and psychiatric "symptoms" rather than…

For several years, the Federal government of the United States has supported programs that employ and teach skills to disadvantaged workers, especially disadvantaged youth. By concentrating on serving youth, such programs have neglected disadvantaged adults, for whom such programs may often be more effective. This assertion is based on an…

The paper describes developmental theories pertaining to adults and considers the implications of these theories for political scientists. Specifically, the works of four developmental theorists are examined: Erik Erikson's theory of the eight ages of man, Daniel J. Levinson's developmental stages which characterize the life of the early and…

Based on an empirical study of over 3,000 learning disabled children and on a review of research, the paper outlines intellectual, attention and verbal mediation, social-affective, and oral and written characteristics of learning disabled students. Among the findings reported are the following: the median educational retardation is one grade below…

This paper discusses a number of contingency arrangements used in studies at the University of Kansas to enhance individualized characteristics of personalized instruction. It begins with an examination of Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) and its five defining features: (1) reliance on the written word, (2) unit mastery, (3) the…

The role of external agents in educational knowledge utilization, the factors affecting agent impact, and future research needs comprise the topics of this literature review. Based on existing definitions, the author identifies the external agent as an individual or group outside the client system whose objective is to help the clients enhance…

Competent leadership is an integral ingredient for the enhancement of Indian education. Definitions of leadership and categories of leadership styles are variable. Leadership, an elusive term subjectively applied to emphasize an individual's pattern of action or inaction, has been viewed by researchers in many ways. Some feel it is composed of…

Certain aspects of the dropout problem, specifically the relationships between certain characteristics of handicapped and nonhandicapped dropout populations, were examined. A group of eight school districts which had special education projects funded through the Texas Education Agency participated in data collection of demographic variables and…

This paper summarizes the indicators of extraordinary ability in young people; selects for more careful scrutiny some characteristics of the talented and gifted that would influence the content, sequence, and methods of sex education; and suggests the broad outlines of a differential curriculum of sex education. Data documenting advanced physical,…

The differential activation of self-evaluative reactions to performance attainments on tasks varying on their relevance for subjects' sense of personal adequacy was investigated. All subjects (N=97) spoke extemporaneously on prescribed topics and received the same random sequence of performance scores. The same task was designated as assessing…