Relations between intelligence and the development of metaconceptual knowledge

Across two studies, we developed and tested a declarative metacognitive interview to investigate the effects of developmental level and verbal intelligence on children's metaconceptual understanding of processes related to concept use and object categorization. Metaconceptual knowledge developed throughout elementary school, with near ceiling scores for adults. IQ scores correlated positively with metaconceptual interview scores for all groups of children. Study 2 confirmed a relationship between scores on the metaconceptual interview and performance on a Twenty Questions task for which strategic performance was presumed to depend on such knowledge, though metaconceptual knowledge was most important when IQ was lower. Implications for theory development and hypotheses about how metaconceptual knowledge develops are discussed.     

A Qualitative Exploration of Romantic Partners’ Motives for and Content of Communication with Friends Following Negative Relational Events

The purpose of this study was to explore young adults’ motives for and content of extradyadic interactions with friends following a negative relational event in a romantic relationship. Focus group discussions with young adults revealed the following partner motives: improving affect, managing uncertainty, obtaining clarity, and entertainment. In turn, friends were motivated by issues of honesty, friendship quality, and a desire to protect or comfort their friend. Both partners and friends discussed the use of a variety of negative, neutral, and positive message content. Results provide an exploratory look at extradyadic interactions that may have important implications for relationship functioning.     

Peer Teachers With Autism Teaching 3D Modeling

ABSTRACT

Few autism programmes address the needs of adolescents and young adults, and those that do are unlikely to include individuals with autism in the design and evaluation of the programme. This study involved nine youth with autism (ages 16–25) in the development and evaluation of a peer teaching programme where they taught three-dimensional modelling to other students with autism spectrum disorder. The methodology was participant-oriented research where the students with autism were co-designers and programme evaluators in the research. This approach highlighted their unique strengths and abilities and shifted the power such that they were leaders and not simply the recipients of knowledge from instructors. Four themes emerged through the qualitative analysis of the students’ perceptions of the peer teaching programme: 1) the meaning of peer teaching, 2) motivations for peer teaching, 3) challenges and 4) coping with the challenges of the role.     

A study of an adapted social–emotional learning: Small group curriculum in a school setting

Clinicians and training programs strive to implement evidence‐based practices and manualized treatments with fidelity. However, the constraints of a local setting may limit the extent to which this is possible. In the current study, an adapted model of an evidence‐based social–emotional learning small group curriculum, the Incredible Years Children’s Small Group Training Series (Webster‐Stratton, 2004), was implemented and evaluated in an elementary school setting. Results of the study demonstrated statistically significant decreases in problem behaviors and intensity of problem behaviors, as rated by teachers. Teachers also reported improvement in classroom behavior, emotion regulation, problem‐solving, and friendship skills, as well as a high overall level of satisfaction with the intervention itself. Discussion of the results includes a review of the strengths and limitations associated with outcome research in a naturalistic setting, suggestions to consider when adapting evidence‐based programs, and recommendations for future research.     

A better start to literacy learning: findings from a teacher-implemented intervention in children’s first year at school

Reading and Writing - This study investigated the feasibility of a teacher implemented intervention to accelerate phonological awareness, letter, and vocabulary knowledge in 141 children (mean age...     

Childhood sexual abuse: impact on a community's mental health status.

Epidemiologists have used impact fractions (e.g., attributable fractions) to study the influence of various risk factors on the rates of physical diseases within the community. In this study, impact fractions are applied to a psychiatric epidemiologic problem in order to examine the impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on the mental health status of a community. Analysis of the Los Angeles Epidemiologic Catchment Area (LAECA) data indicate that a history of CSA significantly increases an individual's odds of developing eight psychiatric disorders in adulthood. On the community level, however, it is estimated that 74% of the exposed psychiatric cases (i.e., those with a history of CSA), and 3.9% of all psychiatric cases within the population can be attributed to childhood sexual abuse. Intervention implications are discussed.     

The Kansas Family and Children's Trust Fund: funding prevention programs in the eighties

The Kansas Family and Children's Trust Fund is an innovative approach to developing funding for community-based family violence prevention programs. Using a legislated trust fund which generates money from marriage license fees, the program has been developed based on three assumptions. First, funding at the federal level for programs to prevent family violence has probably reached its peak and has never been sufficiently secure as to allow for continuity in prevention programs from year to year. Second, there is a trend toward allowing local communities to assume a greater portion of the responsibility for developing social welfare programming. Third, in the long run more can be accomplished with a small amount of money given to a community-based organization which efficiently uses volunteer time than a larger amount of money given to an agency which has a large infrastructure to support. Information on the procedure utilized to enable passage of the Trust Fund legislation is included as well as a discussion of issues that arose in the legislation process. In addition, an explanation of the current funding procedures for accessing Trust Fund moneys is given along with examples of the types of programs that have received funding. Finally, examples are provided of similar approaches that have been used in other states as well as a call for additional innovative approaches to providing funding for child abuse prevention programs.