The relative effects of classwide peer tutoring and peer coaching on the positive social behaviors of children with ADHD

This study investigates the effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) and peer coaching on the peer social behaviors of children with ADHD. A single-subject, multiple-baseline design is used with three elementary-school students in Grades 3 and 4. Following a baseline period, CWPT is implemented in each student's classroom. During the second intervention phase, CWPT is continued and peer coaching is added. Peer social behaviors are observed in both academic and social settings, with a primary focus on intervention effects on the latter setting. Results suggest that students participating in CWPT are actively and positively engaged with their peers while carrying out the CWPT program in the academic setting. However, when only CWPT is implemented, increases in positive peer social behaviors are not observed in social settings. The addition of peer coaching results in enhanced social behaviors during recess and lunch.     

Heart Follows Head: Influencing Violence-related Attitudes in the Classroom

We examined whether an undergraduate course on violence would influence students’ violence-related attitudes and beliefs. Students (N=145) completed the Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (V-RABS) at the beginning (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of the semester-long course. As expected, support for the death penalty, punishment, and catharsis decreased significantly, as did belief in an association between mental illness and violence. Acceptance of environmental influences on violent behavior increased significantly, although belief in biological influences did not change. Support for violence prevention efforts was high at both Times 1 and 2, and did not change significantly. Consistent with previous research, the results of this study confirm that college curricula may influence students’ attitudes and beliefs in addition to imparting knowledge.     

AJCP as a Vehicle for Improving Community Life: An Historic–Analytic Review of the Journal’s Contents

The current article is an analysis of the research represented in American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) from 1993 to 1998, including a comparison to two previously published analytic reviews by Lounsbury et al. (J. W. Lounsbury, D. S. Leader, E. P. Meares, & M. P. Cook, 1980) and Speer et al. (P. Speer, A. Dey, P. Griggs, C. Gibson, B. Lubin, & J. Hughey, 1992), respectively. Observed trends are examined with references to major epistemological frameworks and methods used to define community psychology. Four guiding principles were examined to determine the representation of the epistemological frameworks of the articles published in the journal. The frameworks include social action, human diversity and cultural relativity, person–environmental fit, and methodological procedures. The results document the transition of community psychology from its early beginnings to an independent field conducting research consistent with the values articulated at the Swampscott Conference. This paper also comments on how well, after three decades of publication, the journal has served as a vehicle for improving community life.     

“Seeing Conversion Whole”: Testing a Model of Religious Conversion

Rambo (1993) theorized that religious conversion consists of a process involving seven dimensions, labeled context, crisis, quest, encounter, interaction, commitment, and consequences. To test the Rambo model, a new measure, the 97-item Adult Religious Conversion Experiences Questionnaire (ARCEQ), was developed, revised on the basis of feedback from a focus group, and administered by mail to 110 adult volunteers who self-identified as having experienced conversion. Reliability analysis of the subscales of the ARCEQ resulted in five (crisis, quest, encounter, commitment, and consequences) meeting the criterion ( > .80). A sixth (interaction) achieved a reliability of .76 and was retained, but the seventh (context) was dropped. Principal components factor analysis with Varimax rotation produced factors labeled Redemptive Love, Zealous Dedication, Dysphoric Need, Openness to Uncertainty, Extrinsic Crisis, and Experiential Learning, which could readily be interpreted in relation to Rambo's model. Subsidiary analyses showed a number of significant correlations between demographic characteristics of the sample and differences in religious conversion experience.     

Coordination changes in the early stages of learning to cascade juggle

The experiment was setup to examine the coordination changes in assembling the movement form of 3-ball cascade juggling. Eight adult participants learned to juggle over 4 weeks of practice. Juggling scores were recorded at each session and performance was videotaped at eight selected sessions for purposes of movement analysis. Once the basic spatial and temporal constraints on cascade juggling were satisfied, and the figure-8 juggling mode was established, temporal modulations of the relative motions of the hands were emphasized. All participants learned to juggle and the increase over practice in the number of consecutive balls caught was best fit with a power law. The non-proportional rate of performance increment was consistent with the qualitative changes in the form of the hand and ball movement kinematics that occurred over practice.     

Do college students drink more than their non-college-attending peers? Evidence from a population-based longitudinal female twin study

The association of college attendance with alcohol use and alcohol use disorders was examined in a population-based young adult female twin sample identified from a systematic search of birth records. College-attending women consumed a larger overall volume of alcohol than did their non-college-attending peers, but they were not more likely to be diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder. Significant associations between college attendance and alcohol involvement were probed using 3 different complementary research designs: multivariate cross-sectional analyses, longitudinal analyses of the precollege and college years, and cotwin-control analyses of twin pairs discordant for attending college. Although demographic and lifestyle characteristics accounted for most or all of the association between college attendance and alcohol involvement, there was 1 aspect of drinking behavior, occasionally consuming large quantities of alcohol, that remained significantly associated with college attendance even after controlling for these characteristics or for genetic and family background factors. These results are consistent with the conclusion that some aspect of the college experience may be an important environmental risk factor for this pattern of drinking among young adults.     

Ethnicity and Social Support During Pregnancy

Data from two multi-ethnic prospective studies of African American, Latina, and non-Hispanic White pregnant women were used to examine the influence of contextual factors on social support processes during pregnancy. Multiple types of support (perceived support, received support, support satisfaction, network support) and sources of support (baby's father, family, friends) were assessed. The role of ethnicity in social support was examined after controlling for the contribution of related contextual factors (SES, marital status, age, parity, employment) to these processes. The impact of ethnicity and related contextual factors differed across sources of social support. Ethnic differences in support from family and friends, but not from the baby's father, emerged. However, marital status was a consistent predictor of support from the baby's father, and SES was a consistent predictor of support from friends. Overall, the findings of two studies suggest that although ethnicity is associated with support from friends and family, other contextual factors, such as marital status and SES, influence support processes during pregnancy.     

Ritualized Play Using Role Play to Teach Pastoral Care and Counseling

The author's experience of reflection-on-action and reflection-in-action in clinical supervision for counseling provides the basis for an analogous experience in the classroom that promotes the teaching of the practice of general pastoral care. A classroom ritual of role play within a specific process for reflection provides the basis for integrating theory and practice.