Used an ecological model to examine different factors impacting school completion and dropping out for Mexican American students, highlighting: the microsystem (individual settings), which emphasizes daily interactions represented by the family, the classroom, and peer relationships; the mesosystem (setting interactions); the exosystem (community…

Presents the findings of a survey of deaf and hearing-impaired Russian students in the upper grades that investigates the ways in which these two groups deal with their hearing impairment in both school and out-of-school worlds. Focuses on the value orientations and life plans of the students including their family, professional, and educational…

A sub-group of at-risk learners consists of students who have demonstrated academic capability yet begin to fail in their senior years. Describes the achievement perspectives of three such students using qualitative interviews. Results reveal that academic, social, family, and peer factors influenced their decision making. Suggests ways to modify…

Investigated reliability of the Family Narrative Consortium (FNC) scales for measuring the effect of social context on construction of family narratives. Analyzed data from four FNC studies to determine reliability of scale dimensions of narrative coherence, narrative interaction, and relationship beliefs. Found that the scale was a set of…

Summarizes research on parental influences on risk of adolescents becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy. Findings are most consistent that parent-child closeness, parental supervision/regulation of children's activities, and parents' values against teen intercourse decrease risk. Findings about parent-child sexual communication are…

Examined individual differences in young children's understanding of emotion and potential correlates in the domain of family experiences. Found that individual differences in children's understanding of negative emotions were related to specific aspects of family experiences. Findings suggest complex influences of family functioning on children's…

A survey of 7,848 seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students on high-risk behaviors found that student school experiences explained more variance than ethnicity. Low academic grades, observation and threat of violence, drug use, and perceived lack of adult and peer support were experiential factors associated with involvement in high-risk…

Explores the role that mothers' and grandmothers' legacies have in the home-leaving transition of adolescent girls from a rural setting. Results suggest issues that school counselors might explore using the concept of legacy, including: distance from home; attachment to families; adolescent girls' interpretation of what it means to be a woman; and…

To assess factors affecting parental relinquishment of infants with Down syndrome, a study was conducted of infants with Down syndrome who were born in Israel during 1979-1983 and 1987-1991. Overall relinquishment rate was 25 percent. Major influencing factors were mother's age, birth order, infant health status, and study periods. (Contains…

Discusses the literature regarding the importance of systemic thinking in school systems and its application to academic problems of students, emphasizing the need for coordination of theory and services between the family system, the school system, and community-based mental health systems. Provides case studies. (JBJ)

Notes that, although a great deal is known about affective relations between mothers and young children and affective expression in marital dyads, relatively little is known about emotional development during adolescence. Briefly discusses the studies presented in this issue that represent an integration of work currently being conducted on affect…

Addresses the crucial role of families in helping students learn, arguing that the success of schooling depends on the contributions of the home and school/home collaborations. Ways to better understand the everyday lives of children living in poverty are illustrated to help schools increase learning opportunities for all children, even when…

Examined the contribution of biological and environmental variables to 11-year-olds' phonological development. Found that temporal lobe (planar) asymmetry, hand preference, family history of reading disability, and SES explained over half the variance in phonological and verbal performance, demonstrating a linear association between cerebral…

Data are used from African American families in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods to address two questions: How well do modeling, supervision, and marital transition hypotheses explain the relationship between family structure and early sexual debut and pregnancy? Do higher levels of social support from parents and neighborhood adults decrease…

A study contrasted the childhood environment of Norwegian adult psychiatric outpatients reporting to have been bullied at school (n=74) with those who were not (n=85). Men who were bullied tended to grow up without biological fathers. Women who were bullied reported higher parental abuse and neglect in childhood. (Contains references.) (CR)