This paper examines predictors of attendance at parenting workshops. Variables that were considered as predictors of parent attendance include social demographic characteristics, parent characteristics, and child characteristics. Parent education and parent's perception of their child's antisocial behavior both had positive and statistically…

Teachers in three day care programs completed temperament questionnaires and behavior problem checklists for 133 preschoolers. Results indicated that correlations between temperament and behavior problem variables were generally higher for boys than for girls. (BG)

The article describes a participant observation study with two kindergarten classes which focused on explaining child behavior in terms of its context. Case studies of three children illustrate alternative interpretations of behavior problems when seen from the point of view of the child or a nonauthoritarian adult "child's aide." (DB)

Abusive, potentially abusive, and control group parents (N=62) were presented with vignettes describing a child with either mild or severe behavior problems and asked to rate the acceptability of four discipline procedures (positive reinforcement, timeout, timeout with spanking, and spanking). Overall, parents rated positive reinforcement as more…

Reviews research on problem behavior in adolescence. Discusses implications of this research, distinguishing between different stages in the process by which problem behavior emerges and separates "preventive" from "corrective" forms of intervention. Discusses implications for social policy. (Author/ABL)

Evaluated effects of two types of teacher-delivered encouragement on off-task behavior and academic performance for five first graders. Results indicated there was a consistent decline in off-task behavior for all participants, suggesting the treatment was effective. Found neither form of encouragement was consistently successful in improving…

Interviews with 174 11-year olds in London schools determined that playtime was very popular, but concerns were expressed about bad weather, not knowing what to do, and disruptive behavior. Unacceptable playground behavior was taken too much for granted. Football seemed to dominate other activities. (SK)

Twenty-six teachers from 10 special teaching units in Southeast England completed a questionnaire indicating that (1) they clearly distinguished between school refusers and truants and (2) teacher ratings of students' self-esteem, stability, attitudes, and other characteristics differed from self-reported ratings of school refusers and truants.…

In response to James Mulick (EC 232 032), this paper states that a resolution of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps calling for termination of the use of aversive procedures is appropriately ideologically based as long as continued behavioral research into positive means of controlling behavior is not discouraged. (DB)

The review and synthesis of the literature on self-injurious behavior examines characteristics, causes, and both psychological and behavioral management strategies. Six suggestions for educators are offered. (DB)

The paper looks at similarities and differences between instructional and social problems. Clear parallels are drawn and a basic proactive instructional plan is presented for remedying social problems in students in which educators first analyze the behavior pattern and then teach a replacement strategy. (Author/DB)

Four experiments investigated time-delay discrimination training in improving the visual discrimination performance of 16 impulsive kindergarten children. Time delay of distinctive-feature prompts without self-monitoring did not produce learning. The added requirement of self-monitoring nonwait responses led to dramatically improved performance,…

Assesses a behavioral intervention program for 31 children aged nine months to 3 1/2 years who had sleep problems. The children's sleep showed rapid improvement following the intervention, and similar changes were observed in other measures. (RJC)

Results are reported from a study which found that specific verbal praise was effective in reducing off-task behavior of second grade students (N=3) in physical education. (IAH)

Explored suicidal behavior in 291 adolescents using runaway shelters in St. Louis. Found 30 percent of runaways reported having attempted suicide in past. Suicide attempters had significantly more behavioral and mental health problems, and reported having more family members and more friends with problems, than nonattempters. Substance use,…