This article describes how the author creates and implements a "recess" program entitled Physical Activity Time (PAT) to address behavior problems of children at school. The program aims to decrease discipline issues that occurred or began during recess time. The author discusses the strategies in implementing the program which came in two parts:…

African American students are disproportionately likely to be identified with the emotional disturbance (ED) education disability. To investigate how teachers' perceptions of students might vary by race, we analyzed Black and White teachers' ratings of 769 students with ED, subdivided by race and grade level, on six emotional and behavior problem…

This study proposes a transactional model for the reciprocal relationship between increased likelihood of adolescent sexual intercourse and decreased connection with the perceived environment. Connection with the perceived environment is operationalized as higher problem-focused interactions with parents, lower religious attendance, and lower…

This study examines the relation between family instability and child maladjustment over a 6-year period in 369 children from four communities. Measures were collected annually from kindergarten through fifth grade. In associative growth curve models, family instability trajectories predicted children's externalizing and internalizing behavior…

Post traumatic stress disorder is the psychological reaction to various traumas. It is common among children living in war zones or conflict regions. This paper describes a field visit to train mental health professionals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on how to help traumatised children.

The State of the Science conference was held in May, 2007 as part of the ongoing series of national conferences, "Building on Family Strengths," conducted by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health at Portland State University. The theme of this State-of-the Science conference was "Effective…

A growing body of evidence confirms that serious and persistent challenging behaviors in early childhood directly relate to later problems in school success, social relationships, educational and vocational success, and social adjustment. Conversely, key social skills associated with learning in group settings include being able to get along with…

Meeting a crucial need, this book provides clear recommendations for authentic developmental assessment of children from infancy to age 6, including those with developmental delays and disabilities. It describes principles and strategies for collecting information about children's everyday activities in the home, preschool, and community, which…

This book provides a "roadmap" for designing and implementing school psychological services for all students in a school. School psychologists will find guidelines for conducting a mental health needs assessment of the entire student body; analyzing patterns and trends to identify risk factors and common needs; and using the needs assessment to…

Behavioural sleep problems (childhood insomnias) can cause distress for both parents and children. This paper reports a model describing predictors of high sleep problem scores in a representative population-based random sample survey of non-Aboriginal singleton children born in 1995 and 1996 (1085 girls and 1129 boys) in Western Australia.…

Purpose: Research reveals that prenatal alcohol exposure and child trauma (i.e., abuse, neglect, sexual abuse) can have deleterious effects on child development across multiple domains. This study analyzed the impact on childhood neurodevelopment of prenatal alcohol exposure and postnatal traumatic experience compared to postnatal traumatic…

Logistic regression analyses were used to establish the most robust set of risk factors that would best predict borderline/clinical levels of problem behavior (i.e., a t score at or above 60 on the Child Behavior Checklist Total Problem scale) of kindergarten and first-grade children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Results showed…

Colleges and universities long ago made the necessary accommodations and structural changes necessary to allow students with physical impairments to attend and eventually complete their studies. Students with physical impairments enjoy a full range of accommodations. However, the issues of disability and accommodation continue to evolve as more…

Objective: To study whether behavioral and emotional problems during childhood predicted early sexual debut, risky sex at age 21 years, and sexually transmitted infections up to age 21 years. Some possible mediational pathways were also explored. Method: Participants were enrolled in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (n =…

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to show that a syndrome of problem behaviours, i.e. early substance abuse, school and family problems and sexual promiscuity impairs normal development in adolescence. This comparative study looked for differences in the problem behaviour profiles of 15-year-old adolescents in the Pitkaranta district in Russia…