This practicum was designed to bring together first and third generations in a caring, supportive, mentoring classroom atmosphere. The study was conducted in a co-educational K-5 public elementary school with 90 percent white enrollment. The subjects were from three fourth-grade classrooms, each with 28 heterogeneous students. Volunteer, retired…

Although health is a key element in one's experience of middle adulthood as a time of productivity and personal fulfillment, research on psychosocial factors predictive of mid-life health is sparse, especially for women. Psychosocial variables are not only highly salient to health, but also are potentially modifiable by women themselves. This…

This "issue report" contains three articles centered around the concept of "social capital", and the role of the schools in community revitalization. "Social captial" consists of organizational networks of communication and shared values that provide collective support for adults and youth in a community. In "Social Capital and the Rebuilding of…

Although social support has been operationally defined, a lack of conceptual clarity has made measurement modest and unreliable. To investigate the feasibility of measuring social support from a qualitative rather than a quantitative perspective, and to consider negative social interactions in the assessment, 130 college students were administered…

An association between disturbed interpersonal relations and poor adjustment has often been found among college students. In particular, students' roommates have a substantial effect on their university experiences. To test the effectiveness of preventive intervention in improving roommate relationships, 79 college students participated in a…

Land-grant institutions have a role in creating engaged citizens, and public deliberation is a valuable tool to accomplish this mission. Meeting this challenge requires a network of institutions, agencies, organizations, and groups with similar missions working toward a common goal. This article describes a study conducted at a land-grant…

The Master Teacher in Family Life model, developed by the University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension, is intended to provide natural leaders within poor communities with information that will enable them to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Building on strengths from within the community, the program trains leaders to: (1)…

Effective rural education depends on active community involvement. This ethnographic case study examines three models of community organization as an explanation of how community action occurs. The three models are: (1) individuals interacting in formal and informal groups; (2) networks of "weak ties" effective for diffusing information and…

Despite the recent increase in interest about the homeless population, the last large-scale systematic studies of the older skid row man were completed more than two decades ago. A more sophisticated and comprehensive instrument for measuring the physical health, mental health, social needs, and social interaction of this aging heterogeneous…

The University of Tennessee's management training and development efforts are described. The program is designed to improve the performance of academic and nonacademic department heads (middle managers) and includes an 8-day workshop called the Institute for Leadership Effectiveness. In addition to the attention given to the formation of networks,…

Although much investigation of adult social support networks has been done, little attention has been paid to children's social support networks. Childhood patterns of social support probably influence adult patterns. A study was conducted to describe the social networks of third through sixth grade children. It also tests the validity of a new…

This paper reviews the literature on the elderly prisoner, defined in the majority of studies as 50 or 55 years of age. A discussion from several surveys dealing with the numbers of older adult felons is presented and the crimes that brought these older men to prison are described. Some of the characteristics of older prisoners are discussed,…

In a longitudinal study of the network characteristics that assist elderly individuals to meet their needs, as well as the effects of change in four categories of social network dimensions (social interaction, network structure, member attribute, environmental attribute), 133 elderly residents of 18 midtown Manhattan single room occupancy (SRO)…

Collected are four conference speeches which in various ways attack the developmental perspective that views genetics as a source of stability and environment as a source of change. Dr. Bonnie E. Litowitz's discussion of "Context and Continuity: Changing Perspectives on Children" explores differences among development, learning, and…

"Rural Prairie Women" contains the work of two task forces: the Rural Social Work Task Force which looked at the forces active in North Dakota rural areas and the Rural Women Task Force which examined the position of women within those same rural communities. The relationship between the land, small towns, and sparse population is…