Predicting the future of social systems is useful, but barely possible. Essential to the social sciences is a random element, knowledge, and there is no way of predicting what will be known in the future. The non-random elements, however, allow some predictions. Demography predicts underpopulation in developed countries and the opposite in…

Pinel is a small, nongraded school for children aged 5-14 in Martinez, California. In 1969, it received a grant to bring together white suburban children and those from minority areas. This was a program of interracial contact primarily for the benefit of white children. It took place over two five-week summer sessions and Thursdays during the…

A parent recounts his Downs Syndrome son's integration into a regular Boy Scout troop and subsequent earning of the Eagle rank. His Eagle project involved speaking about his disability in local elementary, junior high, and senior high schools. Policies of the Boy and Girl Scout organizations concerning disabled members are summarized. (CB)

Tested indicators of social integration, socioeconomic variables, and population age on divorce rates in 3,111 counties. Found comparatively strong effects of social integration and weak socioeconomic effects on divorce. Urbanity was most strongly related to divorce; church membership and population change were equally one-half as strong. Weaker…

Examined relationship between social characteristics of remarried persons and community integration. When measures of community integration were regressed upon all independent variables, the type of marriage did not have an effect on any of the measures. However, when the type of remarriage was a control variable, different integration patterns…

Twelve of Super's 13 self concept metadimensions were examined for independence and underlying factor structure. Subjects were a group of 50 men whose ages ranged from 18 to 35. Self descriptive data were obtained from interviews and self ratings on personal constructs elicited by the Kelly Role Construct Repertory Test. The results indicate that…

France sought to assimilate Amerindians by racial intermixing as an instrument of empire. In doing so, France unwittingly prepared the way for a phenomenon which it did not want and would have disapproved of thoroughly: the development among the Metis of the Canadian Northwest of a sense of a separate identity, the spirit of the "New…

Examined whether a unidimensional or bidimensional model better explained acculturation of Korean Americans on two levels (separate domains of acculturation and overall acculturation), also noting whether there were meaningfully different forms of acculturation in Korean Americans. Surveys of a national sample of Korean Americans indicated that on…

This paper addresses the issues of molar versus molecular assessment of integration of people with disabilities, definitions of integration, and assessment in measuring integration. Measures for four integration components are presented: (1) physical integration, (2) social integration, (3) relationships, and (4) social networks. (Author/DB)

Study indicates states with high urban homicide rates also had high rural homicide rates, but no such relationship was found with suicide rates. Social disintegration was strongly associated with urban and rural suicide rates; however, rural suicide rates were higher in states that were relatively more urbanized, and rural homicide rates were…

Investigated an acculturation scale designed for use in the African-American population. Responses from more than 900 African Americans generally indicate an African-American orientation within the sample, although there are notable variations on all 10 scale items. Discusses evidence for scale reliability and validity. (SLD)

We develop and empirically implement a model of university student retention using opportunity cost, financial aid, academic and social integration, and students' background explanatory variables. For one year, we tracked students from Weber State University (WSU) and Oregon State University (OSU) to learn whether they remained enrolled for 0, 1,…

This paper examines relationships between 2 dimensions of social integration (community participation and affective community resources) and job and marital quality. Data from the 1995 National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (n= 1,816) indicate that the level of community participation is unrelated or negatively related to job…

Vygotsky regarded the site of learning to be within a matrix of relational action. From this perspective, learning social responsibility will involve a focus on the learning environments that are made available in schools. Adapting the concept of restorative justice to a school context, restorative practice offers a range of relevant learning…

In addition to the impaired ability to effectively communicate, adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) also experience high incidences of depression, social isolation, and decreased quality of life. Expressive writing programs have been shown to be effective in alleviating these concomitant impairments in other populations including incarcerated…