Promoting children's ethical development through social and emotional learning

In today's climate of increased emphasis on measuring achievement through high-stakes testing, academic subjects are too often divorced from the social context in which they are taught. We know that learning is a social process. In fact, many educators and other youth development practitioners recognize that social, emotional, and ethical development cannot be ignored in the name of better academic preparation, especially in the face of data showing that students are more disengaged than ever before. Social and emotional learning (SEL) offers educators and other youth development personnel a framework for addressing students' social and emotional needs in systematic way. SEL is the process of acquiring the skills to recognize and manage emotions, develop caring and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle challenging situations effectively. Research has shown that SEL has an impact on every aspect of children's development: their health, ethical development, citizenship, academic learning, and motivation to achieve. This chapter profiles one school in Illinois that has been implementing SEL programming for a number of years. The authors provide evidence of the impact of SEL on school climate, student behavior, and attitudes. Ultimately the authors see this as fostering the kind of understanding of the larger world that leads young people to make ethical choices. They propose that the lessons learned are applicable to a wide variety of settings, including other schools, after-school programs, and summer camps.     

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients' experiences in treatment for addiction

This study examined the extent to which lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients perceived their addiction counselors and treatment programs to be sensitive to issues related to sexual orientation. The experiences they considered most successful were reported as more affirmative than experiences they considered least successful; however, in neither situation were counselors or treatment programs consistently affirmative.     

Order in the Secondary School: Strategies for Control and Their Consequences1

Whether one looks at concerns expressed in response to surveys or at the allocation of effort on a day to day basis, teachers and administrators give order a high priority. Order dominates attention because the fundamental character of schools as organizations makes disorder always an imminent possibility. In the first part of this paper, I will consider the reasons that order is consistently problematic in public secondary schools. I will then analyze varying policies for pursuing order in four junior high schools, indicating why different strategies were chosen and with what effects they were practiced.     

Saving Sinking Ships: Implications from a Theory of Marital Dissolution

Critics of marriage, family and divorce counseling have repeatedly noted that technique is infrequently, if ever, underpinned by theory. A recently developed theory of marital dissolution that utilizes a systems perspective is briefly presented. The theory was derived from almost 1,300 propositions in the extant literature, and is readily understandable to layman, practitioner, and academician. Implications contained within the theory for those concerned with saving floundering marital relationships are indicated.     

Predictors of retention in an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention study

This article explored retention patterns, as well as factors that predicted these patterns, in the evaluation of a relationship-based substance abuse prevention intervention study that targeted inner-city African American youth. A total of 851 contacts were made to retain 82% (n = 104) of the baseline sample (N = 127) in the evaluation. Results from multinomial regression analyses indicated that participants who were retained in the evaluation were more likely to perceive alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use as less risky and were more likely to report higher levels of family supervision than were evaluation attrits. Those who were easy to retain reported lower family conflict and fewer family relocations during the past year than those who were difficult to retain. Implications of these findings for developing retention strategies, as well as future research, are discussed.     

Danish home care policy and the family: implications for the United States

This paper provides an overview of reforms in Danish long-term care initiated in the early 1980s, describes the relationship between elder care in Denmark and the family, and considers implications for U.S. policy. The success of Denmark's community-based experimentation with new models of home care and housing for the elderly resulted in a national decision to eliminate new construction of nursing homes and increase access to publicly funded home care. Lingering concern that the provision of paid assistance for the elderly could undermine family structure is allayed by the findings of a recent survey: Three-fourths of the elderly report seeing their children on a weekly or more frequent basis. Findings from the Danish experience provide evidence that community-based services can aid family caregivers, enable the frail elderly to live in the setting of their choice, and be cost-effective from a public policy perspective.     

Is Speeding a Form of Gambling in Adolescents?

Speeding is a major contributor to motor vehicle accidents, which are the leading cause of death in adolescents. This study compares the extent to which adolescents with gambling behavior and substance use reported driving over the posted speed limits (“speeding”). Florida adolescents ages 13–17 (n = 1051) were surveyed, and asked about gambling activities, problems related to gambling, substance use, demographic questions, and speeding. Of the 562 respondents who were drivers, the gender distribution was 52.1% male and 47.9% female. Of those respondents, 76.9% were Caucasian, 6.8% were African American, 10.1% were Hispanic, and 6.1% were Native American/Asian/Other. Simple correlation analysis revealed that self-reported speeding is significantly related to gambling behavior and substance use. When a linear regression model was used, four factors showed the most significant influence on self-reported speeding: past year gambling tendency, age, trouble with the police due to drinking, and tranquilizer usage. Gambling behavior and high-risk speeding (driving ≥ 10 mph over speed limit) also were noted to be positively correlated. Our data indicate a relationship between risky driving, gambling, and other risk-taking behaviors in adolescents, and support the hypothesis that speeding may be a form of gambling behavior in this age group.