This study examined the social competency of at-risk kindergarten students as they demonstrated the need to establish social communities in order to increase group motivation and peer learning. The study explores the patterns of behaviors that these children demonstrate in order to form social communities, explores the purpose behind their need to…

This paper offers profiles of females with behavioral/emotional disorders and suggests that these young women have unique needs. The paper discusses selected characteristics and assessment considerations and offers recommendations that will facilitate more responsive social, correctional, and educational programming. Characteristics of these young…

In the context of an ethnographic study of nonverbal communication within the Japanese home environment, issues in the use of videotape recordings for data gathering are discussed. The study investigated language use and behavior of Japanese host families in homestay settings, focusing on the use of nonverbal behavior to facilitate communication.…

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) has shown that the rate of marijuana use among youth has more than doubled since 1992. Similar trends are noted across all subgroups studied. At the same time, the percentage of teens perceiving a "great risk" from smoking marijuana has declined. Negative effects of marijuana use are…

Generalizability theory (g-theory) was used, as an alternative to classical test theory, to evaluate measurement error in a behaviorally anchored role-play measure, highlighting the usefulness of this theory in instrument development. G-theory partitions an observed score into the universe score and error scores associated with separate sources of…

During the 1983-1985 academic years, the Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse cooperated with the Omaha Public Schools to assess the effects of the videotape-based educational program "Resisting Pressures to Drink and Drive." This report is based upon curriculum activities of the 1983-1984 academic year and presents an…

This report presents the results of a survey of over 1,500 Nebraska students in grades 8 and 10 in 1988. Students in 37 schools were asked about their involvement in physical fights; about their access to weapons; about being victims of robbery, physical assault, threats and attempts at forced sex; about their attitudes toward violence and…

The diffusion and adoption of new knowledge is an important outcome of education. This study used the results of two annual cross sectional surveys in a largely rural state, Nebraska, one of school administrators and one of students. The purpose of the survey was to identify how widespread Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune…

A study investigated use of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) for relating learner attitude toward engagement in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning behaviors, perceived social support for engagement in those behaviors, and behavioral intention. TRA proposes a sequence of dependencies underlying behavior. The model also relates attitude…

This paper reports the preliminary findings of a county-wide study of alcohol and other drug (AOD) behaviors and influences among 2,229 randomly selected students in grade 8, 10, and 12. The discussion focuses on behavioral, cognitive, and environmental predictors of AOD behaviors. The paper highlights a refined study of the influence of peers,…

This pilot study examines how a married couple with a small child integrates a 10 p.m. television news program into their weekday lives. The research focuses on how patterns of behaviors extend into television viewing, rather than how television programming influences beliefs, values, and behaviors. Ethnographic methods employed in the observation…

Androgyny research has been hampered by a dependency upon traditional masculine and feminine sex roles for definition. Bakan's (1966) concept of agency and communion, which parallels masculinity and femininity, refers to behavioral competencies, involving a style or manner of interacting with the environment devoid of gender designations and…

The concept of the marginal child is developed in the article. The marginal child is described as one who is experiencing a number of potentially serious problems which, if not attended to, will move him or her into the pre-delinquent or delinquent categories. (Editor)

This study investigated the behavioral responses of eight children to five alternate lesson types. Barker's assertion of the coercive nature of setting was examined. Questions addressed were: (1) Do children having the same or similar lessons behave asimilarly or differently? (2) Do children change their patterns of behavior as they move from one…

A self-report measure of procrastination tendencies was developed and tested by relating it to a behavioral measure of procrastination and to a self-report measure of general efficacy. A 72-item Likert scale was written and administered to 50 college juniors and seniors. A factor analysis of the results yielded two factors that formed the basis…