Analyzing school principals' perception of job stress and factors that have been assumed to influence stress, this study found that principals perceive lower stress than popular literature has indicated. Female principals perceive even less stress than male principals. (MD)

Discusses the interactive effect of social networks and support systems on parent-child relationships and early childhood development. Suggests that greater attention to family ecology is needed, and raises a number of questions regarding the delivery of comprehensive health services for children and their families. (CJM)

Assessed the effectiveness of structured group counseling and explicit bibliotherapy compared to individual counseling/wait list for junior high school students (N=48) from changing families. Students in the prevention groups rated the help they received more positively than students counselled individually. (JAC)

Many students, it is argued, view medical education as a onetime requirement for the mastery of facts. They give little thought to the application of these facts or the ethical contexts in which they are used, and they are not being educated for a lifetime of learning. (MLW)

Reports a longitudinal study comparing the differential influence of stress on the interpersonal relationships of 101 representative rural and urban families. Notes that high stress rates adversely affected rural, but not urban, intrafamilial interaction, and affected young families more than older ones. Notes implications for mental health and…

Describes the phenomenon of management succession in the mental health and medical fields. The four articles, which include research reports and literature reviews, describe the succession process, the nature of the executive role, factors relating to stress, and coping styles. (JAC)

The 22 articles of this special issue focus on families with mentally, physically or emotionally disabled family members and discuss the importance of viewing the family as a system. Research studies and literature reviews report on family reaction, stress variables and coping techniques, placement decisions, and policy recommendations. (JAC)

Parents are a vital source of support for our schools. School personnel interact with parents on a daily basis and fortunately, most of these interactions are pleasant and helpful, keeping students' needs in mind. Instances of parental aggression, however, do occur. Volatile or confrontational parents present many unique challenges for educators…

"Data Trends" reports present summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. The article summarized in this "Data Trends" asks: Does the stress and adversity associated with poverty cause mental illness or is poverty the result of downward social mobility of persons with mental…

There is increasing recognition that the first few years of a child's life are a particularly sensitive period in the process of development, laying a foundation in childhood and beyond for cognitive functioning; behavioral, social, and self-regulatory capacities; and physical health. Yet many children face various stressors during these years…

The purpose of this action study was to examine teachers' beliefs about the causes of stress and burnout in a rural Arkansas school district in 2004. One hundred thirty teachers of all grade levels of the school district were sampled with a Likert survey of 45 items. Subscales of the survey include stressor associated with administration,…

This book delivers state-of-the-art techniques and information for practitioners to help individuals, groups, families, and communities suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It addresses concerns about the efficacy of critical incident stress debriefing, examines the value of a variety of innovative treatment methods, and explores…

This study examined rural high school students' perceptions of block scheduling. During the third year of a block scheduling program, juniors and seniors who had experienced both traditional and block schedules completed surveys that asked for their perceptions of scheduling and its effects on them before and after block scheduling. The questions…

This study investigated teachers' emotions as they prepared and administered test feedback sessions related to exams delivered in undergraduate educational psychology courses. Qualitative methodology was used to gather data over two semesters, using grounded theory to collect and analyze data. Seven instructors were observed and interviewed…

This paper discuses the findings of a research study that compared 191 families of children with spina bifida and 145 families of children with mental retardation. Findings include: (1) mothers of children with developmental disabilities (DD) perceived that they experienced more poor health/mood problems than the mothers of children with Spina…