Two experiments investigate how attributes of peer models influenced achievement behaviors among children who had experienced difficulties learning mathematical skills in school. Children in the single-coping-model, multiple-coping-model, and multiple-mastery-model conditions demonstrated higher self-efficacy, skill, and training performance,…

The impact of stress burnout and on the educational organization is discussed. Observations include the need for clarity on the part of special educators concerning expectations of self and others. (JW)

Examination of dynamics of families with a handicapped child should include consideration of: quality of professional support; parents' reactions to transitions in the handicapped child's life; parents' individual differences in resisting stress; extent and nature of the child's disability; and community attitudes toward the particular disability.…

Details the author's experiences in helping her adopted four-year-old daughter from Bangladesh cope with the loss of her biological family and her adjustment to a new culture, and offers suggestions for professionals and parents helping young children make similar adjustments. (HOD)

A follow-up study of stress and coping abilities in 45 parents where fathers had participated in a program for fathers of young handicapped children (birth to 5) for 1-3 years revealed a significant decrease in fathers' depression, stress, and grief over time. Both father and mother variables were examined. (Author/JW)

University students representing two levels of teaching experience were compared while interacting with one of two child conferates displaying distractible behavior. Each adult completed the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey. Results suggested that experienced teachers took a more "task oriented" approach providing more instruction…

Reports on a study of how older, Black women coped with racial and sex prejudice and/or institutional discrimination. Suggests that selected situational variables and personal factors interact and determine coping style, and that in some contexts, a less direct coping strategy may be more effective. (Author/ML)

Discusses the job-related factors that may make remedial reading teachers more susceptible to professional exhaustion. Lists ways in which supervisors can help teachers cope with burnout. (HTH)

The 22 articles of this special issue focus on families with mentally, physically or emotionally disabled family members and discuss the importance of viewing the family as a system. Research studies and literature reviews report on family reaction, stress variables and coping techniques, placement decisions, and policy recommendations. (JAC)

Michael Allen focuses on the personal and social issues (antisocial behavior, peer pressure, sex, special education, and lack of parent involvement) that students bring to school each day. He examines how administrators and teachers can wade through the psycho/social dysfunction in order to give their students the survival skills they need to be…

To many in the field of early care and education, back-up child care may be viewed as a stressful disruption that could interfere with attachment and be detrimental to continuity of care. This paper attempts to prove that high-quality back-up child care offered by employers actually fosters the development of resiliency in young children by…

Many adults are uncomfortable addressing the complicated grief children experience. This guide features words and methods to help initiate discussion of these topics, as well as tools to help children understand and separate complicated grief into parts. The text is divided into four parts: complicated grief; breaking the silence; techniques; and…

These two issues contain reviews of legal/legislative issues, research and treatment issues, book and video materials, and on-line resources and websites relating to family violence and sexual assault. The first issue, contains "Empowering African American Children To Become Resilient: Early Success in Overcoming Violent Families and…

This paper discusses cyclical grieving, which is described as an intermittent reoccurrence of one or more emotions that are part of the grieving process experienced by parents who have children with disabilities. A study to support the concept of cyclical grieving used a naturalistic approach with face-to-face interviews to explore ten parents'…

In a study of African-American (n=119) urban high school students, coping with life stressors was positively and negatively associated with the use of substances. This study focused on how grade point average (GPA), psychological adjustment, and coping styles contribute to the reported use of substances as a way of dealing with stress. The results…