Examines the relationship between bully/victim problems and the coping strategies used when confronted with a peer argument in Greek primary school children. Suggests that both bullying and victimization are associated with self-evaluations in diverse domains and emotional coping strategies in conflictual peer interactions. Includes references.…

Programs serving troubled youth continuously struggle with the issue of using physical restraints and other coercive interventions. This paper revisits the issues and motivations surrounding restraint use. It offers an analytic perspective on the physical restraint cycle and the factors that tend to support its recurrence. (JDM)

Three middle school students with mild/moderate mental retardation utilized three self-management interventions varying in amount of external assistance to increase time-on-task behaviors. Although the more externally assisted procedures resulted in the greatest improvement, the less intrusive procedures produced only slightly reduced effect,…

Discussion of school violence and student misbehavior reviews research showing that violent and unsafe student behaviors are the outcome of a predictable chain of events that begins with academic failure. The paper urges a greater emphasis on effective academic instruction in any efforts to prevent school violence and improve school safety.…

Examined physiological regulation as a moderator in the relations between exposure to verbal and physical parental marital conflict and 8- to 12-year-olds' adjustment and physical health. Found that higher vagal tone buffered children against increased externalizing, internalizing, and health problems related to marital conflict. Higher delta…

Teen risk-taking is normal, healthy developmental behavior. Teens act out their fantasies--good and bad--at camp because it is a safe place away from parents. Signs of unhealthy risk-taking, camp staff responses, and how the September 11 tragedy might affect risk-taking are discussed. Sidebars describe tips for understanding adolescent behavior…

Examined 188 preschool teachers' perceived control over child behavior. Found that high perceived control was related to teachers' high intentions for action in child behavior problems. Job satisfaction, center quality, social recognition, and satisfaction with education were related to perceived control. Perceived control mediated relationship…

Evaluates the effectiveness of a contingency contract for a ninth grade male student with behavior disorders enrolled in a self-contained special education classroom. The contingency contract was used to help him with written communication in punctuation and capitalization. The effectiveness of the contract was examined through a multiple-baseline…

Reviewed 24 evaluations of prevention programs including family-based intervention, an outcome measure of offending or disruptive child behavior, high-quality experimental design, and minimum sample size of 100. Found that most interventions were effective in reducing childhood antisocial behavior and later delinquency. In some cases, monetary…

Professor Hill Walker has identified three challenges to handling disruptive student behavior: prevention, at-risk programs, and high-intensity interventions. Principals should beware administrative traps: getting tough is enough, targeting a few difficult students, seeking quick fixes, finding one powerful trick, revering outside experts, and…

Examined the relationship between housing status and depression, anxiety, and problem behaviors among elementary school-aged children from low-income, single-parent, female-headed families. Found that mother-reported problem behaviors were above normal levels for both homeless and poor, housed youths, but self-reported depression and anxiety were…

A functional behavioral assessment for a 10-year-old boy with autism found both teacher attention and escape from task demands maintained his problem behavior. A choice-making intervention involving either completing work alone followed by a break with teacher attention versus working with teacher assistance was found to decrease problem behavior…

We studied emotional aspects of social information processing (SIP) and their specific relations with reactive and proactive aggression in 54 boys ages 7 to 13 who had been referred for aggressive behavior problems and a comparison group. Participants listened to vignettes concerning provocations by peers and answered questions concerning SIP, own…

This study examined three dimensions of ethnic identity (level of ethnic identity, attitudes toward other groups, and perceived discrimination) as predictors of adolescent problem behaviors among Korean American adolescents. Multiple regression analyses were carried out, and the results indicated that level of ethnic identity, perceived…

Past research has suggested that the aggregation of deviant peers during treatment may cause harmful effects (T. J. Dishion, J. McCord, & F. Poulin, 1999). This study compared the effectiveness of problem-solving skills training groups in which all members had conduct problems ("pure" group condition) with groups that consisted of adolescents with…