This commentary on articles in this special issue of "Psychology in the Schools" discusses the importance of school completion by identifying the individual and social costs associated with youths who fail to complete school. An appreciation of these various costs sets the stage for exploring an emerging key to school completion--engaging students…

The author, a narrative arts educator, was teaching an after-school drama program to 11 abused boys in a residential treatment center. The program promised them the opportunity to tell and stage their own story. The author began by sharing a story about an abused boy he befriended in seminary who ended up killing himself. The following week, he…

Much of the research on children's coping styles is based on a downward extension of adult coping theories. In a departure from this approach, coping competence theory seeks to account for children's ability to cope with daily challenges on the basis of developmental research. The theory, which states that challenges call for distinct coping…

Research shows that stereotype threat reduces performance by diminishing executive resources, but less is known about the psychological processes responsible for these impairments. The authors tested the idea that targets of stereotype threat try to regulate their emotions and that this regulation depletes executive resources, resulting in…

Recent research suggests that marital quality predicts the survival of patients with heart failure (HF), and it is hypothesized that a communal orientation to coping marked by first-person plural pronoun use (we talk) may be a factor in this. During a home interview, 57 HF patients (46 men and 16 women) and their spouses discussed how they coped…

This study examined the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, and coping mechanisms among the adult civilian population in Indian Kashmir. The Everstine Trauma Response Index-Adapted, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Coping Resources Inventory were used to assess the three domains. Independent-sample t…

Background: Bullying is a national public health problem affecting millions of students. With the rapid increase in electronic or online communication, bullying is no longer limited to schools. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the overlap among targets of, and the similarities between, online and in-school bullying among…

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with major loss or trauma. It is a topic that has garnered increasing interest in the adult clinical and research literatures, however relatively few studies have examined the process among youth. Existing evidence suggests the growth process is possible in…

Background: Individuals with intellectual disability are at higher risk of premature death compared with individuals without intellectual disability, and therefore parents of people with intellectual disability are more likely to outlive their children. However, there has been relatively little research investigating the bereavement experiences of…

This series of three studies considers the multidimensionality of exercise self-efficacy by examining the psychometric characteristics of an instrument designed to assess three behavioral subdomains: task, scheduling, and coping. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis revealed the expected factor structure in a sample of 395 students.…

Machismo is an important concept describing men's behavior in Mexican culture, yet it is not well defined. Most conceptions of machismo focus on a restricted, negative view of hypermasculinity. The authors posit that a fuller conception consists of 2 parts: traditional machismo and caballerismo, which is a focus on emotional connectedness. The…

International terrorism has become a major global concern. Several studies conducted in North America and Europe in the aftermath of terrorist attacks reveal that international terrorism represents a significant short-term and long-term threat to mental health. In the present article, the authors clarify the concept and categories of terrorism and…

Spirituality and coping behaviors were measured in 85 individuals with visual impairments aged 23 to 97. A regression analysis indicated that the religious well-being subscale of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale is a significant predictor of adaptive coping behaviors, indicating that higher religious well-being facilitates adaptive coping. (Contains…

Students who are enrolled in academically challenging curricula face a multitude of stressors related to increased academic demands in addition to the developmental and biological challenges that are normative to adolescence. This article presents results of a qualitative study conducted to uncover the coping styles of students in a rigorous…

In their role as caregivers supporting the children they teach, it is important for teachers to understand the grieving process and recognize symptoms of grief. The author explains Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief and offers 10 classroom strategies to help young children cope with their feelings.