A study investigated children's use of religion in coping with everyday stressful situations, and the role played by religious involvement. A parent-report questionnaire assessed children's religious involvement. Interviews with 76 fourth- and fifth-graders first identified a recently-experienced daily hassle, and then assessed the child's…

This study had three aims: (1) to identify stressful situations faced by Indian children and adolescents working on the streets; (2) to study their preference for social support when faced with stress; and (3) to identify gender differences in social support preferences. One hundred 8- to 18-year-olds, working as beggars, vendors, or ragpickers,…

The challenges that families face in caring for a child with a disability or a chronic illness are reviewed in this report on respite care. A parent's narrative describes the difficulties in providing around-the-clock care to a child with a chronic illness. The benefits of respite care are outlined as follows: gives the family peace of mind,…

Activities are presented to help adolescents understand and accept themselves and become more understanding and accepting of others. They are designed to assist the young person in feeling a sense of control over his or her life in the school situation, and to help the adolescent fulfill his or her potential in school. Some of the activities…

Noting that the physical and mental growth of children are influenced by many environmental and familial factors, this paper explores improving the well being of children. The first part of the paper discusses child rearing, emphasizing three fundamental themes: creating an environment where children are born healthy and wanted; helping children…

This overview provides basic information on the causes of deaf-blindness and the particular challenges faced by individuals with deaf-blindness. Causes of deaf-blindness include various syndromes, multiple congenital anomalies, prematurity, congenital prenatal dysfunction, and various postnatal causes. Differences between people deaf-blind from…

Functional Therapy (FT) is a social skills training program that enables students to change their overt behaviors by altering their cognitive thoughts. Various aspects of FT and its application are discussed in this paper. The basic constructs of FT are ownership of the problem, accepting responsibility to solve the problem, and developing and…

The Center for Applied Linguistics has compiled these resources on the subjects of war trauma and working with refugees to guide refugee service providers and classroom teachers. The materials include background information about trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder and specific information about problems of refugees and victims of war trauma.…

This practicum developed a workshop to educate staff and parents on identifying preschool stress, behavioral indicators of stress in children, and exploring effective stress coping techniques for use in the classroom and at home. A 3-phase solution strategy was implemented over 10 weeks. Phase I, the implementation process, included a staff…

Due to the increase in the number of non-physical bullying incidents observed by both teachers and administrators throughout the last year at a high-school, students were becoming so intimidated by other students that they were unwilling to even speak up about or report any such incidents to school administrators. A strategy was designed and…

One of the most important stress resistance resources emerging from research in adults has been the hardy personality (Kobasa, 1979). Identification of such a personality characteristic in young adults would provide some understanding of how some individuals emerge from a period of instability and change with the skills that help them adapt in a…

The reason for studying the characteristics of a healthy family is to encourage and strengthen the family and to move toward an enriched family life by using the characteristics as bench marks. Six characteristics are discussed as the essence of a healthy family: (1) commitment; (2) togetherness; (3) appreciation; (4) good communication; (5)…

Case studies of three children who participated in the play program at Auckland Hospital in New Zealand are presented. About a third of the children admitted to the hospital have access to the play program, but only a few are able to participate in individual sessions with a hospital play specialist. The first case study described in this report…

An 18-year old's freshman year in college is not only a test of his or her intellect, but also a test in social skills, adaptability to new living situations, and other conditions. This study examined the link of emotions to compulsive eating and its use as a coping mechanism for female college students. It explores the stresses of the transition…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the effects of age and gender on the ways in which students in The Netherlands coped with academic and interpersonal stressors. Two types of coping strategies were examined--problem-focused and emotion-focused. Problem-focused coping refers to attempts to alter the stressor through…