Foreign Missions Preparation (FMP) has been in operation at The Master's College (TMC) since 1989, employing experiential education to train and facilitate cross-cultural summer Short-Term Mission (STM) trips for over a thousand undergraduate students. The question driving the case study was: "What influence does an analysis of the experiences of…

A triangulation mixed-methods design was used to measure differences in service-learning outcomes for 32 students enrolled in criminal justice courses during the academic years 2003 (n = 16) and 2005 (n = 16). Results show that service-learners increase their political awareness and course value but experience a decrease in problem-solving skills…

Students in Germany are tracked into different forms of secondary schooling based on teachers' recommendations. The literature shows that school tracking is largely affected by academic achievement levels, but neglects the influence of individual achievement growth. The authors used data from the Berlin study ELEMENT (N = 2242) to characterize…

Two cohorts of alumni, leading-edge and trailing-edge baby boomers, first tested in their college years, were followed to ages 43 (N = 136) and 54 (N = 182) on a measure of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to model the trajectory of growth for each psychosocial issue across middle adulthood. As…

Stress-related growth is defined as the perception or experience of deriving benefits from encountering stressful circumstances and, thus, has been identified as a protective factor against stress. The current study revised and subsequently validated scores on an existing measure of stress-related growth in a sample of racial/ethnic minority…

Both the polyvalent notions of culture and development have been central for building psychological theories. In the present paper, both notions are discussed within the framework of general developmental science and thus from a necessarily systemic perspective. Development is surely culturally informed, yet the process of cultivation is largely…

"The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement" (M. Stroebe & H. Schut, 1999) suggests that the most effective adaptation involves oscillation between 2 coping processes: loss-orientation (LO) and restoration-orientation (RO). A 22-item Inventory of Daily Widowed Life (IDWL) was developed to measure these processes and the…

Comments on the article by E. Diener, R. E. Lucas, and C. N. Scollon (see record 2006-05893-003) which provided a revision of the adaptation theory of well-being. The current author suggests that consideration of the emerging distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being was missing from the original article and is worthy of scholarly…

This paper locates the concept of learning among real-life human experiences and events. Functioning as a sign, a meaningful event can be understood in terms of a cultural extra-linguistic "text." Reading and interpreting diverse cultural "texts" are equivalent to constructing and learning critical symbolic lessons embedded in a continuous process…

To date, research on bullying has largely employed empirical methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Through this research we have come to understand bullying as both a dyadic and peer group phenomenon, primarily situated in the heads (thinking) of those involved, or in a lack of skill or expertise, or in the delinquency…

In this study we examined the development of three action monitoring event-related potentials (ERPs)--the error-related negativity (ERN/Ne), error positivity (P[subscript E]) and the N2--and estimated their neural sources. These ERPs were recorded during a flanker task in the following groups: early adolescents (mean age = 12 years), late…

Previous definitions of sexually abusive behavior in children and adolescents were deficient in failing to (1) highlight salient neuropsychological elements and antisocial behaviors that may contribute to a youth's functioning; (2) discriminate among possible types of coercion (e.g., manipulation, threats, physical force, and use of weapons); and…

Racial and ethnic identity development have been important topics in counseling psychology research for the last four decades. At present, however, there appears to be some confusion and debate regarding the quality of theory and measurement in the topical area. The present article serves as an introduction to this Journal of Counseling Psychology…

Getting through to students in the classroom continues to be one of the great mysteries of an educator's life. What will capture their attention, and, more important, what will transform their thinking? Film industry veteran and educator Barbara Tobolowsky returned to her roots in visual media to find answers. Using video clips to introduce a…

There are many psychosocial interventions for children and adolescents. The effects of these interventions in day-to-day practice are nevertheless often unclear. Researchers typically take the randomized controlled trial (RCT) as the "gold standard" for the supply of evidence regarding the effectiveness of an intervention. However, such trials are…