This brief provides an example of how to create and sustain an e-mentoring community to promote the success of youth with disabilities in school, careers, and other life experiences. Established in 1992, the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) e-mentoring community may have been the first intentional Internet-based…

A major focus at the Center for Mental Health in Schools is on facilitating continuous learning related to mental health and psychosocial concerns in schools, including providing technical assistance and encouraging networking among those working in and with schools. This issue of the quarterly newsletter includes the following features and…

In the aftermath of a natural disaster, schools may need to plan to address the suffering and loss of many. These Guidance Notes discuss five areas in which schools can help students cope with loss: (1) Fostering Resiliency; (2) Facilitating and Fostering Social Ties and Resources; (3) Stages of Grieving; (4) Helping Students Deal with Loss; and…

The materials compiled into this information package focus on women and girls with disabilities and the specific issues they face in society. Part 1 contains the overview article "Obstacles to Equality: The Double Discrimination of Women with Disabilities" (Rannveig Traustadottir), which reviews the existing literature on women with disabilities…

Understanding collaborative writing as a form of networking is useful in that it highlights the fact that composition students do not have the same type of networks or networking skills. Composition assignments should take into account the digital divide and should foster networking across social class divisions because invention is a social act.…

A study examined the characteristics of the learning process when it is facilitated by computer-mediated communication in nonformal learning contexts. In this paper, learning is defined as the transformation of experience through reflection, conceptualization, and action. Such experiential learning often occurs in dialogue with others.…

Suggests that social support systems offer a new avenue toward primary prevention, since social networks provide social meaning and psychological import to the term "community." Examines the nature and health protective effects of social support in the light of the historical evolution of community psychology as a discipline. (Author/AOS)

Questionnaires were used to measure mothers' social networks, coping abilities, and life stress. A mother/child interaction situation was used to measure maternal control, maternal maturity demands, maternal nurturance, mother/child communication, and child compliance. Results indicated significant differences in the lives of single and married…

Investigates the social networks and help-seeking practices of Mexican-origin youth in San Diego, California, presenting data on adult, non-family informal mentors and role models. Data from surveys, interviews, and ethnography highlight adolescents' critical understandings of these significant figures in their lives, the rare and fortuitous…

A study of 101 Argentinean mothers of children who were hospitalized or attended an outpatient medical clinic examined the social support functions, sources, and temporal contexts of the mothers in relation to child abuse and neglect. Low-abuse/neglect mothers were found to have a stronger kin network than high-abuse/neglect mothers. (CR)

Examined impact of family organization on young adolescent Zimbabweans' perception of their social networks. Found that compared to counterparts in modified extended families, adolescents in traditional extended families perceived higher intimacy from their family; lower intimacy from non-family targets; lower support from parents, other adult…

This article describes Young Graduates, a program designed to enable academically gifted pupils get the best from their formal education and secure the best place available in higher education to support their career aspirations. The program provides intensive Saturday workshops followed by ongoing networking activities and contact with the…

Presents the initial phase of a comparison of cocitation and social network analysis methods for the study of scholarly communication, based on a case study of the intellectual contributions of Kurt Lewin, a social psychologist. Highlights include an author tri-citation analysis; cluster analysis; multidimensional scaling; and diffusion of ideas.…

Alienation theory was applied to a study of information behavior among 51 janitors. Results showed that they lack an informal information network because of their work schedule, and a perception that their neighbors are undesirable associates and no more informed than they are. (34 references) (EAM)

Characteristics of community activities and social support networks of 27 adults with mental retardation living in semi-independent apartments were compared to those of 27 similar adults without mental retardation. Among findings was that retarded adults did not perceive themselves as socially isolated though their actual social integration was…