The Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI) focuses on adults, their significant relationships, and current relations with family of origin. Three studies are reported to (1) create the DSI; (2) improve theoretical focus, item content, and psychometric properties; and (3) test validity. Factor analyses are presented and results discussed; test…

Learning to balance "outersense" and "innersense" is a complex task for adolescents and the focus of one secondary school's social and emotional learning program. Understanding innersense helps students gain outlets for priority interests, master conflict resolution, build personal direction for college and vocational interests, and empathize with…

Promoting socioemotional literacy and learning to detect social problems early are among the most powerful tools educators can use to prevent youth violence. Educators can head off signs of trouble by developing their reflective capacities and by establishing caring, responsive, and supportive relationships with their students. Contains 13…

Examined the development of friendships and peer acceptance and their relation to children's emotional regulation and socioemotional behavior with others. Found that having friends was related to popularity, that friendship was related to emotion regulation, and that popularity was related to socioemotional behavioral regulation in the peer group.…

Cognitive, emotional, and relational characteristics among 10 peer-nominated master therapists were identified through qualitative-research methods. Analysis produced a set of nine characteristics that are found in master therapists. Findings suggest that researchers studying therapist expertise may want to explore emotional and relational…

Discusses what social and emotional learning is; why it is necessary; what its key concepts and goals are; and why it is necessary to focus on social and emotional learning in the middle grades. Discusses how social and emotional learning is related to the social studies. Describes ways middle-school social-studies teachers can foster such…

A review of the development of self and empathy in infancy in general is followed by discussion of atypical development, noting that autistic children have a general deficit in development of empathic capacity and physical and representational sense of self. Specific interventions to enhance the development of both sense of self and empathic…

Sixty abandoned and 36 non-abandoned school-aged children were told six short stories about mother-child relationships. Abandoned children showed less positive affect attribution to the mother, more compliant behavior in the child, and more justification of the mother when her behaviors were unfair. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Examined preschoolers' judgments regarding affect experienced by four participants in three social events. Found that preschoolers expected actors across all events to feel happy and recipient-observers in moral and conventional, not personal, events to feel unhappy; teachers witnessing the acts to feel happy in personal, not moral and…

Highlights three longitudinal studies examining the hypothesis that attachment security during infancy influences individual differences and adult representations of attachment. Notes that attachment security was significantly stable in two studies, with discontinuity in all three studies related to negative life events and circumstances.…

Assessed attachment security in 60 white middle-class infants at 12 months and conducted Adult Attachment Interview 20 years later. Found that 72 percent of infants received same attachment classification in early adulthood. Forty-four percent of infants whose mothers reported negative life events changed attachment classifications by adulthood,…

Examined relations between infant security of attachment, negative life events, and adolescent attachment classification in sample from the Family Lifestyles Project. Found that stability of attachment classification was 77 percent. Infant attachment classification predicted adolescent attachment classification. Found no differences between…

This study collected data from adolescents, ages 12 to 14, in California and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Two questions were presented concerning social-emotional and school functioning. Consistent with previous research, American youth reported more internalizing and externalizing problems than their Dutch peers and said that their negative moods…

Studied mothers' behavior toward their infants with disorganized (type D) attachment strategies. Found that mothers whose infants are classified disorganized exhibit an elevated level of atypical maternal behaviors in the Strange Situation test. Mothers of type D Forced Insecure infants showed more negative-intrusive behaviors and role confusion…

Five camp counseling styles are discussed: punishment, guilt, the buddy and monitor approaches, and success counseling. Success counseling is preferred because it teaches campers how their emotions, needs, and behaviors are linked to outcomes and how to find a prosocial way to meet the need behind their behavior. The other methods simply focus on…