Teachers' and preservice teachers' attitudes toward students are mental states that may contribute to teachers' judgments and students' achievement. However, in the past, educational research has mainly focused on explicit attitudes and has hardly considered the pivotal role of implicit attitudes in predicting behavior. Drawing…

Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the population. With these changing demographics, mental health professionals will be seeing more older clients. Additionally, older adults are an underserved population in that most older adults in need of mental health services do not receive treatment. Thus, it is essential that treatments for…

We developed and evaluated a brief (8-session) version of cognitive-behavioral therapy (BCBT) for anxiety disorders in youth ages 6 to 13. This report describes the design and development of the BCBT program and intervention materials (therapist treatment manual and child treatment workbook) and an initial evaluation of child treatment outcomes.…

As the world becomes smaller in a small field like gifted education, cross-cultural research gives us a unique opportunity to understand top students and academic interventions in a deeper way. In this article, the author describes the importance of cross-cultural research as a way to serve gifted children globally. A description of a…

Few prospective studies have examined the relationship between social support and psychological distress and depressive symptoms in adolescents. The aims of this study were to test whether social support is protective against psychological distress and depressive symptoms in an ethnically diverse population of adolescents and whether differences…

This dissertation is composed of four stand-alone yet linked chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the constructs of adaptive behavior and support needs and their evolution throughout history. There is also a review of the limited literature available examining the relationship between the two constructs that…

Objective: This study aimed to investigate how patients with chronic conditions evaluate telephone health coaching provided by their health insurance company. Methods: A retrospective survey was conducted among coaching participants ("n" = 834). Outcomes included the general evaluation of the coaching, the evaluation of process and…

A meta-analysis of 187 studies containing 247 independent studies (N = 68,429) on gender differences in academic self-efficacy identified an overall effect size of 0.08, with a small difference favoring males. Moderator analysis demonstrated that content domain was a significant moderator in explaining effect size variation. Females displayed…

There is a great deal of literature to suggest that experiencing traumatic events in childhood often leads to problematic outcomes in adulthood. Not all individuals who experience such trauma, however, arrive at the same end point. The concept of resilience has been promoted as one of the ways in which individuals experiencing similar life events…

Data from the largest study to date of the working practices of British victim support workers (known as Independent Domestic Violence Advisors or IDVAs) are used to provide insight into how "risk judgments" are made in cases of domestic violence. Using data from more than 2,000 victims, this study found a convergence between actuarial…

Designing effective treatments for improving early social behaviors in autism has been identified as a critical research need. One barrier to drawing conclusions about optimal treatments for children with autism is the use of highly varied dependent measures in the treatment literature. Contributing to this is the absence of "gold standard"…

Despite the growing number of language minorities, foreign-born individuals with limited English proficiency, this population has been largely left out of social work research, often due to methodological challenges involved in conducting research with this population. Whereas the professional standard calls for cultural competence, a discussion…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine the motivations and benefits for pursuing or not pursuing the PHR and SPHR. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of 1,862 participants, the study used multinomial logistic and hierarchical linear regression to test six hypotheses. Findings: Participants pursuing SPHR were more likely to report…

Online video-sharing services, particularly YouTube, have gained an audience of billions of users including educators and scholars. While the academic literature provides some evidence that YouTube has been studied and written about, little is known about priorities for YouTube research. The study employed the Delphi method to obtain a consensus…

This study explored North Carolina pediatric healthcare professional's (PHP) perceptions of screening 12-18 month old infants for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Eight focus groups (66 PHPs) were conducted across practice settings. The purpose was to explore PHP's perspectives to: inform development of ASD screening tools and ultimately impact…