Social support has been studied in the context of its relationship to and effect on negative experiences. While this buffer aspect of social support is important, support may also play a satisfaction-enhancing role. Both the negative event-buffering and positive event-boosting effect of social support on students' satisfaction with their college…

The past 22 years of research on the underutilization of mental health services by Mexican Americans are critically analyzed from conceptual and technical perspectives. While basic assertions of previous investigators that underutilization exists are correct, research concepts and methods used have been inadequate in relation to the issue's…

Several counseling methods have attempted to help individuals change their behavior patterns. Techniques that teach control of the internal functions of the mind, body, and emotions are designed to allow the individual to reach his/her potential. Alpha training is one such method that is concerned with a brain wave pattern yielding an alert,…

Reported in this document are findings from an evaluation of three kinds of prosocial children's programming broadcasted by the NBC network during the 1980-81 season. The prosocial programmings evaluated were "Drawing Power,""Play Alongs," and "How to Watch TV". The primary goals of the study, as stated by NBC, were…

Focusing particularly on messages transmitted by socializing agents in preschool settings, this exploratory study investigates (1) the incidence of communication events in which standards for achievement are expressed, (2) the nature of the standards, and (3) variations across settings in the nature of standard-setting events. The relationship of…

An innovative drug education course was taught to seventh and eighth graders and evaluated in a true experiment. Students learned Lasswell's framework for understanding human needs and motives, a systematic decision-making procedure, and information about the pharmacological, psychological, and social consequences of licit and illicit drug use.…

Seventy preschoolers, first, and third graders (average ages of 4 1/2, 6 1/2 and 8 1/2 years, respectively) participated in interviews which used stories and pictures to assess their perceptions of the sources of self-knowledge (self-observation, social feedback, and social comparison). Assessments were made of level of role-taking and salience,…

In order to dimensionalize further the construct of self concept through within-network nomological research, nine different self-scales descriptive of academic settings were administered to students in grades 1-12, their peers, and their teachers. The subjects were administered the Affective Perception Inventory (API), which measures nine…

Trained, indigenous, bilingual people conducted interviews with 172 Mexican American families from the Southmost area of Brownsville and rural communities in Brooks County, Texas, to ascertain metro-nonmetro community satisfaction, as determined by place of residence and age status differentiations among family members. Complete family study units…

A Self-Concept Scale for Adolescents based on Havighurst's Developmental Tasks for Youth was constructed to reflect adolescents' perceptions of their ability to achieve these tasks in relation to personal abilities, the abilities of others, and the criteria for successful task completion. A validity and reliability study showed the scale to be…

Children residing in McLean County, Kentucky, and attending grades three through six who either had or had not attended kindergarten were compared in terms of academic aptitude, total reading, language expression, and math application scores on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). It was found that students who had attended kindergarten…

Observations of career decision-making (CDM) behaviors of college students were analyzed to investigate how variations in the CDM process may be associated with age, sex, and "sex-typed" values. This descriptive study was based on records of students' interactions with the computer-based System of Interactive Guidance and Information…

To assess the effects of age differences, type of task, intelligence (IQ), and reading achievement on referential communication performance, third and fifth grade children were asked to communicate messages for three types of tasks: word pairs, picture descriptions, and school-locations directions. The latter was specifically designed to assess…

To test the assumptions that children's perceptions of a news program affect their learning and that their perceptions are in turn affected by age and program context, a study was undertaken involving 435 third through seventh graders. The specific independent and perceptual variables examined were: believability, liking the story and program,…

This report reviews theories and concepts of human development which provide a foundation for developing curriculum materials for foster parent training. The first section of the report consists of five papers which attempt to relate the developmental needs of children to the role and responsibilities of the foster parents. Chapter I describes the…