THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO DESCRIBE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT OF AN URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM USING THE MURRAY NEEDS-PRESS MODEL. A BROAD MEASURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRESS WAS ADAPTED FROM AN EXISTING MODEL AND USED TO--(1) DESCRIBE THE ENVIRONMENTAL PRESS PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS, (2) FACTOR ANALYZE THESE DATA, (3) DESCRIBE THE PERSONALITY (NEEDS)…

Do depressed people interpret guilt-provoking situations differently than nondepressed people? Cognitive-behavioral theories of psychopathology would predict that they do, since a major premise of such theories is that maladaptive emotional patterns are mirrored in distinct cognitive responses. Highly depressed subjects in an exploratory study of…

One of the major problems in measuring community mental health status is the lack of consensus among mental health workers in psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and epidemiology as to what constitutes mental illness. Additionally, changing social mores preclude a definition of mental illness in behavioral terms. An operational definition of mental…

Numerous background factors are related to licit and illicit drug use, including educational experiences, employment experiences, and lifestyle orientation indicators. Results from five nationally representative surveys of high school seniors from 1975-1979 were used to document the degree to which such factors are correlated with measures of drug…

The concept of field dependence/independence is defined by the behavior patterns of individuals. Those who use predominantly internal cues when making judgments on perceptual tasks are considered field independent; those who use predominantly external cues are considered field dependent. To test whether field dependence is related to anxiety,…

Through self-presentations, individuals claim a variety of public images that influence how others regard and treat them in social interactions. An examination of self-presentation in a leadership situation focused on three dimensions of leader behavior: competence, socioemotionality, and prominence. Subjects (N=128) were assigned leadership…

The phenomenon of "burn-out" is most frequently experienced by people who, in the course of their jobs, work with other people such as students, patients, or clients in situations that involve intense personal interaction. The complex symptoms of the burn-out syndrome are described in this paper. The most common of these symptoms is a change of…

This book is written for teachers of health education. The major emphasis is on the concept of making health-related decisions based upon a well defined system of personal values. Teaching strategies for health educators are outlined. Guidelines are presented for selecting and building the appropriate teaching strategy, with particular emphasis on…

The described inservice learning module is designed to provide elementary and secondary school teachers with greater knowledge and understanding about the social background and interactions of their students. The basic tool in this module is a booklet, and the table of contents is presented in this descriptive report. The activities and resources…

Happy Sticks, the name given to the reinforcement system used in a classroom of pre-school autisitc children, is presented. Happy Sticks are decorated tongue depressors serving as token rewards; Happy Bags, or pouches are worn by the children around their necks to hold the earned Happy Sticks. Reinforcement can be immediate and occur throughout…

The study explored the effect of membership in nonpolitical voluntary associations upon the degree of political activity of members. In particular, the authors asked whether or not these effects were found in a relatively uniform pattern across different age groups. On the basis of the reported levels of political discussion in 14 types of…

Adaptation to college by first year university students (N=71), who were exposed to orientation programs which varied the amount of perceived competence and perceived control felt by the student in interpersonal problem situations, was investigated. Skills taught in the four treatment conditions were the basics of assertive behavior,…

"Language and Poverty," a volume published in 1970 that dealt with various topics concerning language and social class differences, argued that in educational programs for the children of the poor it is important not to confuse differences with deficits. It indicated that poor children had adequate language structures and skills for their…

A clarification of the identification process for emotionally disturbed children is presented. Traditional definitions of emotional disturbance (ED) are explored and four behavioral clusters within traditional definitions are presented. The four are withdrawal from social interaction (autism), unsatisfactory interpersonal relationships,…

A five-month ethnographic study of conversations in a Philadelphia nursing home revealed some of the rules governing situationally appropriate conversational behavior. The social communicational perspective of the study differed from both psychological and discourse analysis approaches. Analysis of the data indicated that sustained…