Over the past decade, there has been a worldwide search for caretaking factors which protect children from poverty, poor health, and neglect. This search has shifted in focus from unchangeable risk factors to conditions and behaviors that can be taught to caregivers. These conditions seem to be: (1) based in species-wide needs; (2) specific to…

Previous research has not correlated parent-child interaction patterns with different forms of child psychopathology. This study examined whether parent-child interaction corresponded with childhood depression/anxiety and childhood aggression. Forty-two clinically-referred children and adolescents, 8 to 16 years old, were classified into four…

The study examined the claims that social support from family and friends are not the same in their effects on young adolescents; and that the relationship between social support from family and friends is not the same for African-American and Latino students. A sample of 792 students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of 18 Chicago…

A national stratified random sample of superintendents (N=432) responded to a 42-item questionnaire listing probable causes of students dropping out. They were asked to identify causes that they believe should be given high priority as well as those that had the necessary research foundation from which to develop significant intervention programs.…

The exact nature of the events which may predispose a person to substance abuse is not known. This paper provides a theoretical discussion and review which emphasizes three contexts which have been shown to predispose on individual to drug abuse: (1) prenatal exposure to a given substance; (2) environmental conditions present upon first exposure…

Botswana has nearly attained universal primary school attendance, but the additional quantitative intake has weakened the original qualitative base. Employing data collected by the National Commission on Education in Botswana, this study looked for ways to derive benchmark measures of the effects of school quality on learning. One method uses a…

The role of family life in the production or prevention of emotional problems in offspring is a contoversial topic. To determine in what ways family competence in childhood might be associated prospectively with freedom from psychiatric symptoms in young adulthood for children at risk, three groups of families from the St. Louis Risk Research…

A longitudinal study of the economic self-sufficiency and academic achievement of Indochinese refugees, commonly known as "Boat People," concludes that cultural background and family influence play key roles in achievement in American society. Statistical data were drawn from two surveys of 6,775 individuals in 1,384 Chinese, Laotian, and…

This study examined deaf children's reading comprehension in relation to the linguistic structures of their sign languages of fluency and the amount of sign language input they had received. Children (n=47) born severely or profoundly deaf, in age groups from 7 to 15 years and all attending day classes in which the English-structured Manually…

Current approaches to educating at-risk students are the result of several shifts in thinking over the last 35 years, and a new way of defining at-risk students is needed to permit changes in school policy and practice to meet these students' needs. Cultural deprivation was originally considered the single cause of at-risk status. Subsequently,…

This document addresses the problems faced by families with a schizophrenic member, based on a survey of the literature from a variety of sources including: (1) the Alden Library of Ohio University; (2) the ERIC database; (3) the American Association of Counseling and Development (AACD); and (4) the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).…

This paper develops a systems-theory-based paradigm to argue that the characteristics of dysfunctional relationships found in families are also found in schools. To develop this thesis, the characteristics of systems theory as applied to a natural system such as the family are described. The family is defined as a primary intergenerational natural…

Not only is the official black unemployment rate 2.5 times higher than that of whites, but a significantly greater percentage of the white population is employed compared with blacks (61.6 percent compared with 54.2 percent). Evidence suggests that the real rate of unemployment and underemployment among blacks is 23.5 percent. The situation is…

One in a series of interviews with Native American poets, this interview with William Oandasan of the Yuki tribe of Round Valley, California, is conducted by an Abenaki poet, storyteller, and editor. Questions focus on Oandasan's literary style, his cultural heritage, and his development as a writer. Opening questions relate to the role of place…

An account by a mother--who was also a children's librarian--of how she explored her young daughter's responses to books, this book describes the effect of books upon the development of children in their early years. Beginning shortly after the child's second birthday, the book relates the mother's and daughter's views about the picture books they…