By synthesizing theoretical and empirical research on issue networks, this paper describes and classifies four examples of networks involving educational issues. A literature review shows that, unlike other social and economic influences, networks are marked by flexibility in membership, leadership (individual, group, or organizational),…

Previous research on friendship selection has failed to focus on how the selection process changes with age or in differently organized environments. This review of the literature takes a life-course perspective on the selection of friends, charting research results on three aspects of the selection process: (1) the number of friends and their…

Social scientists have traditionally assumed that marriage and widowhood are the crucial life events for women, and that retirement has no effect on women's social relationships. To explore the relationship between women's work status and perception of peer and power relationships, a thematic apperceptive procedure was used. A sample of 1,428…

To ensure that first-time educators in any of Ohio's 615 school systems have access to a supportive environment that would make their professional success more likely, in 1987 the state's Department of Education enacted a policy requiring all school districts to plan and implement programs that provide support to newly employed educators. Because…

A discussion of the social network concept in sociolinguistics is examined from the perspective of language variation. This perspective is taken to gain insight into the actual importance of networks in speech communities and a more thorough understanding of a sociolinguistic concept that has drawn increasing attention in recent years. First, the…

Many people appear to suffer from social anxiety. To explore how socially anxious people function in a number of domains, Watson and Friend's (1969) Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD) was administered to 101 undergraduate students. Subjects also completed the California Personality Inventory (CPI) and the Psychosocial Support Inventory…

Puerto Rican males have been ranked among the top five groups in the world suffering from oral cancer. Since the typical victim is an elderly male, from the Puerto Rican rural and lower socioeconomic areas, who is chronically unemployed or underemployed, lives alone, and is a heavy drinker or smoker, social support network creation was considered…

Addressing a common problem in the analysis of social networks, this study describes quantitative techniques for identifying social subgroups using individual perceptions of social affinities within natural groups. Compared are four analytic methods for abstracting composite representations of sub-structures. These methods, formally evaluated…

The birth of a child represents an important normative transition for the infant's mother and her close social network members that may affect both the mother's personal well-being and the quality of her interpersonal realationships. Participants included 47 mothers of infants treated in neonatal intensive care units, and 36 mothers of healthy…

This study longitudinally examined attributes of children's social networks as they changed from the preschool period to middle childhood. The social networks of 75 middle class white children at 3, 6, and 9 years of age were assessed for daily contact and number of contacts with kin, nonkin, adults, peers, and same and opposite sex friends. Data…

The document is intended to provide practical information to custodians and cafeteria workers who come into contact with emotionally handicapped (EH) students during the course of their work day. An initial section describes typical characteristics of EH students and lists examples of such negative behaviors as noncompliance, physical and verbal…

Developed by the Illinois Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities, this guide is intended to help parents and other laypersons communicate more knowledgeably and effectively with professionals who work with handicapped persons, as well as with handicapped individuals themselves. Section I offers suggestions for interpersonal…

This is the third of a four-part study that explored the function of social networks in school community relationships in Pontiac, Michigan. The research consisted of utilizing any available data on Pontiac to supplement the researchers' in-depth analysis of community networks. This volume begins by discussing modifications in the original…

Adult day care is increasingly being offered as an alternative to institutionalization. However, this alternative is not suitable for nor is it available to all elderly. There is need to determine if elderly users of these services have distinguishable characteristics from those who do not. This study evaluates 35 impaired elderly day care clients…

Social network research can determine the possibilities and limits of informal support systems for handicapped adults. Analysis of 370 handicapped adults' social networks focuses on: social network characteristics, demographic characteristics, amount of support received, type of support needed, and feelings of balance/imbalance,…