In a random national sample of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), religious commitment had the strongest direct effect on religious behavior, while belief (orthodoxy), personal community relationships, and religious socialization produced indirect effects. Education and female gender were positively related to religious behavior. Contains 58 references…

Explores proactive and reactive parental behavior among 24 mothers and their first-born children whose ages ranged from 27 to 45 months. Children responded to proactive behavior as compared to reactive behavior by engaging in acceptable behaviors for longer periods and by violating fewer rules. (RJC)

Discusses four case studies concerning induction experiences of three elementary and one secondary teacher over a 2 1/2-year period. Studies show the influences of students, colleagues, school context, and parents on beginning teachers' socialization. (RJC)

Through an analysis of two representative media--romance fiction and television news--the author argues for production of a media-literate citizenry. Suggestions governed by the Freirean objective of co-intentional education are offered to support media literacy as a form of cultural politics and to advocate its adoption. (Author/CH)

Since beginning principals have increasingly complex responsibilities, collegial support for these administrators should be encouraged through "buddy" systems, principal centers, and structured inservice activities designed to promote interaction with district colleagues. Includes 14 references. (MLH)

Reports on a survey that evaluated the leadership system in ideological and political education presently in place in colleges and universities in Beijing, China. Describes the current system and suggests improvements that can be made. (GG)

Explored relationship between birth order, number of siblings, and alcohol use among 549 adolescents. Only children had level of alcohol use below sample mean, while families with three children demonstrated above-average levels of alcohol use among all three birth orders. In two-children families, older child had consumption level below average,…

Contends that secondary education formalizes transition from adolescence to young adulthood in ways that exemplify patterns of segregation, transition, and incorporation that compose Van Gennep's "rites de passage." Explains how socially immature adolescents are segregated in high schools and formally socialized for responsibilities of…

Provides testimony from five elementary school principals concerning the Skills for Growing Program piloted in U.S. and Canadian schools during 1987-1988. Principals stress the program's beneficial effects on student self-esteem, community involvement, curriculum enrichment, and staff morale. (MLH)

Factors affecting the stability of social relationships between 14 community members and 1 or more individuals with mental retardation were assessed. The community members had previously served as staff members to the clients, were willing to overcome logistical barriers to being friends, and perceived reciprocal social support from the…

Interviewed children, teachers, women street traders, and professionals about children's street trading, or vending of goods, which is an aspect of children's responsibility training in Nigeria. Concluded that values learned in street trading have become maladaptive with schooling; and street trading maintains traditional values of family and…

This review of 50 social validation research studies involving persons with handicaps concludes that social validation procedures are an appropriate and important component of applied behavior analysis. Discussed are methodological issues, social importance of effects, social significance of goals, social appropriateness of procedures, and…

Discusses the distance learning process that occurs when computer-mediated communication is used and presents a conceptual framework based on the theoretical principles developed by Gavriel Salomon. Characteristics of the technology are identified, including active user participation, activation of cognitive skills related to information…

Tests thesis that degree of media influence is contingent on audience receptivity. Audience receptivity to suicide stories assumed high during Great Depression. Developed taxonomy of stories using classic imitation, social learning, and differential identification theories. Analysis of monthly data on suicides and publicized stories revealed…

Examines the implications of literary theory in light of social patterns defining the parameters of culture in the classroom. Considers literature a means of giving expression to the social forces at work in schools, providing a frame of reference for the transfer of culture. (DMM)