A survey of the families of 62 persons with Prader-Willi syndrome examined the prevalence, topographies, and specific body locations of self-injurious behaviors. Self-injury was reported for 81% of the participants. Skin-picking was the most prevalent form with the front of the legs and head being disproportionately targeted. Incidence also varied…

Investigated differences between father absence and father presence among 433 male African-American adolescents in a Midwestern city. Results for the 74.1% who were "father absent" support the importance of the father's presence, although the mother's involvement was a buffer for some delinquent behaviors. (SLD)

Analysis of descriptive reports about individuals with autism included case studies, diagnostic reports, single-subject research studies, family accounts, and autobiographies. Seven distinct types of descriptions were identified, including a child on a specific occasion, typical behavior, what a child should have done, how behavior was…

Review of the literature on early development of typical and abnormal stereotyped and self-injurious behaviors found that such behaviors usually reach a maximum at age 2 and then decline but may increase again when the child reaches school age. Findings suggest that the second year may be a sensitive period for emergence of abnormal stereotyped…

Explored externalizing behavior problems in suburban Head Start children. Found parents identified almost one-quarter of children as having externalizing problems in the borderline/clinical range, with twice as many girls as boys having borderline/clinical levels of behavior problems. Found children with parent-identified externalizing problems…

Examines "social norms" marketing, an effort by several colleges and universities to encourage healthy student behaviors by countering perceptions of unhealthy "cool" behaviors and stressing the positive behaviors of "most" students. Examples of posters and other marketing strategies are from Virginia Commonwealth University, Gustavus Adolphus…

A study of 1,207 male veterans admitted to a substance-abuse program found a history of sexual abuse was related to spiritual injury and low stability of spiritual behaviors, but not to overall rate of current religious behavior. Abuse was related to increased frequency of prayer and of spiritual experience. (Author/CR)

This study investigated the incidence, antecedents, consequences, and policy implications of compulsive buying among college students (n=300). Details contributing factors and discusses the relationship between credit card use and compulsive buying. Discusses the implications for consumer policy and suggestions for further research. (JOW)

In this response to critiques (Mudford, Hogg and Roberts 1997, 1999) of the use of behavior states in research involving individuals with mental retardation, it is argued that the work on behavioral state analysis by Robert D. Guess has contributed to the field at the practical, empirical, and theoretical levels. (Contains references.) (CR)

The use of sleep scheduling and a daytime routine for the treatment of circadian rhythm disorder was found helpful in decreasing a blind 2-year old's nighttime wake periods and daytime sleepiness. (DB)

Researches the relation between hoarding and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). In both college student and community samples, hoarding was associated with higher scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Hoarding also was associated with higher levels of general psychopathology as measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory. Results…

Tests the relative effects of several antecedents to users' behavioral coping responses to quality programs in four organizations. Finds that users' attitudes, concerns for performance, normative influence, uncertainty, and their perceptions of the context of change affect each of three dimensions of their behavioral coping responses. (SR)

Studied the emphases of teachers on six educational goals reflecting different values such as achievement, personal development, and appropriate behavior. Findings from abut 40 Norwegian schools and samples of 144 and 157 teachers shows school-specific goal priorities when a profile approach was used to look at goals. (SLD)

A reaction to Sowell's book raises issues about behaviorally based diagnoses, stressing that developmental disorders are behaviorally defined dimensions along a continuum with no crisp partition between normalcy and disorders. It sees developmental disorders as usually the expression of extremely complex, multigenic influences on brain…

This response to a previous article on behavioral manifestations of child sexual abuse (EC 619 258) stresses the importance of empirical research and the avoidance of assumptions that incidents of sexual abuse are the sentinel events in the life of a child, when the child's dysfunctional milieu may provide far more traumatic events. (DB)