An Examination of the Validity of Office Disciplinary Referrals (ODR) as a Behavioral Screener: A Descriptive Study

Response to Intervention is an overall framework applicable to both behavioral and academic need and support (NASDSE, 2006). Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), which also uses a multi-tiered system utilizing the same logic (Sailor, 2009), is often used as the behavioral framework nesting within RtI. Schools utilizing a system of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support need to employ a universal screener to determine those students who are at risk for internalizing and externalizing challenging behaviors in order to provide these students with additional preventative supports. Office discipline referrals (ODRs) are a commonly used form of discipline, so the data they produce are readily available to researchers and school personnel. Using Messick's theory of validity, a specificity and sensitivity analysis were completed on ODRs as a screener using data from two diverse elementary schools with results of the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) used as the reference standard. Over and underrepresentation of certain subgroups, including boys, members of racial minorities, and students with special education labels, were also examined. Results were interpreted in light of social and educational consequences. The sensitivity analysis for the overall student population (n=315) showed 43.6% of students were properly identified as needing support using the ODR system of screening. Correspondingly, the rate of false negatives for externalizing students was 42.3% (p<.01) and 84.6% (p<.01) for internalizing students. Given the consequences of failing to provide additional support for these students, as well as a host of other social and educational consequences resulting from use of ODR data, it is recommended that ODR data should not be used as a screener to identify students in need of behavioral support

An Investigation of Internalizing Social-Emotional Characteristics in a Sample of Lakota Sioux Children

It has only been recently that research in childhood psychopathology has focused on a group of disorders referred to as internalizing disorders. Internalizing disorders can include such problems as depression. anxiety, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints. Even though research has begun to focus on internalizing disorders with majority children. there has been very little research conducted on ethnic minority children, Native American children in particular. The present study involved obtaining a Native American sample and determining their internalizing symptomology utilizing the Internalizing Symptom Scale for Children (ISSC), the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS), and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (ST AIC). The study sample was compared to a matched normative sample from the ISSC database. Statistical procedures included bivariate correlations, analysis of variance (ANOV A), and discriminant function analysis. Correlations between the ISSC and the two comparison measures (RCDS and ST AIC) were in the expected direction and of moderate to strong magnitude. The total internalizing symptoms scores of the Native American (Lakota Sioux) sample were similar to those of a matched comparison group from the ISSC national normative database. However, the study sample evidenced a unique pattern of responses on the ISSC subscales, reporting lower rates of both internalizing distress and positive affect. Teacher nominations of potential internalizers proved to be a poor predictor of their self-reported symptoms. Implications of this study for clinical practice and future research directions in this area are discussed

Effects of a Mindfulness-based Program on Children’s Social Skills, Problem Behavior, and Emotion Regulation

This quasi-experimental wait-list control study examined the effects of a mindfulness-based program on students in two open-enrollment public charter schools located in a mid-sized urban city. Participants (n=176) were 3rd through 6th grade students. Students were identified as 54% Hispanic/Latino, 39% African American, and 7% other (e.g., White, Asian, American Indian). Three classrooms at each school served as the treatment group, and three classrooms at each school served as the control group, for a total of 12 participating classrooms. Students and teachers reported on students’ social skills, problem behavior, emotion regulation, and mindfulness before and after the program. The mindfulness program was taught twice a week for 10-weeks. Each session lasted approximately 20 minutes and was implemented in all six treatment classrooms by a trained mindfulness instructor. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were the primary methods of analyses. After controlling for pre-treatment levels of each variable, gender, and age, results indicated no significant differences in student-reported social skills, problem behavior, or mindfulness between the treatment and control groups. Teachers reported no significant differences between the control and treatment groups’ emotion regulation, empathy, engagement, self-control, externalizing, and internalizing at post-test. However, teachers did report significantly higher cooperation and significantly lower hyperactivity/inattention for children in the treatment group at post-test. Interaction effects of gender by treatment group indicated males in the treatment group appeared to benefit significantly more than females in the treatment group in terms of hyperactivity/inattention. In addition, the effects of problem type were analyzed in an exploratory manner. Implications of this study suggest mindfulness may have particular utility to improve children’s cooperation and reduce hyperactive and inattentive symptoms specifically for males. Although more research is needed, results also indicated that mindfulness may have particular utility as a universal intervention. After the implementation of the mindfulness program, children with externalizing and internalizing problems appeared to have levels of emotion regulation that were not significantly different from their typical peers

THE INTERACTION OF MORAL IDENTITY AND RECOGNITION ON FUNDRAISING BEHAVIOR

The research examined the role of moral identity in motivating prosocial behavior, specifically volunteer fundraising measured in dollars via Facebook fundraisers for the Spina Bifida Association, a national nonprofit organization. I predicted a three-way interaction of moral identity symbolization, internalization, and recognition (i.e., public acknowledgment of the gift by the organization) to predict prosocial behavior. When moral identity internalization is low, I hypothesized that high moral identity symbolization will motivate recognized prosocial behavior due to the opportunity to have one’s prosocial behavior in a public venue. In contrast, when moral identity internalization is high, prosocial behavior would be motivated regardless of the level of symbolization and recognition. The main effect of recognition on fundraising was not significant, nor were the predicted interactions regarding identity symbolization, internalization, and recognition. Notably, empathy was significantly and positively associated with monies raised

Gender and Emotion

Women express more emotion than men, but do they also experience more emotion than men? Are emotions represented differently in men and women’s brains? What are the origins of gender differences in emotions – are we born different or is it socialization that renders us different? What are the implications of gender differences in emotion for general well-being, insomnia, depression, antisocial behavior, and alexithymia? What are the most appropriate methodologies for the empirical study of gender differences in emotional experiences? In the current book, coordinated by The Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, these questions are answered by reviewing research on general emotional expression and experience, but also on specific emotions and affective experiences such as shame, empathy, and impulsivity. We propose an interdisciplinary contribution to the field of gender and emotions, with works authored by specialists in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, economics, philosophy, and anthropology

Influence of Gender and Students' Externalizing or Internalizing Problem Behavior on the Characteristics of Disruption, Academic Achievement and School Service Provision

Applied Behavioral Studie

Understanding the gendered self: Implications from EI Theory, EI Self, and the BEVI

The current study focuses on theory, data and analyses from the Forum BEVI Project (www.ibavi.org/content/featured-projects/), a national learning assessment initiative, with a particular emphasis on the “Gender Traditionalism” scale from the Beliefs, Events and Values Inventory (BEVI). Because Gender Traditionalism is central to Equilintegration Theory (EI Theory), the EI Self and the Beliefs Events and Values Inventory (BEVI), issues of definition, measurement and theory are considered with respect to this model, framework and method along with an examination of data and analyses from the BEVI, which are relevant to a deeper understanding of this construct. Results suggest that the EI model and BEVI method are highly resonant with extant literature and help to further our understanding of the predictors and outcomes of the “gendered self.” For example, the BEVI may demonstrate that certain formative variables (e.g., such as socioeconomic status and parental education level) impact the development of traditional gender beliefs, and that the relative degree to which one endorses gender traditionalism is correlated with other belief structures (e.g., concern about the environment) as well as specific outcomes (e.g., attunement to one’s own emotional experience and the emotional experiences of others). Additionally, implications of this theoretical model and assessment method for the facilitation of better understanding and relations within and between the genders also are offered

The social emotional and behavioural difficulties of 8-12 year-old primary school children in Greece :an investigation of social interaction biases

A number of research studies on the prevalence and intensity of Social, Emotional\ud and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBDs) have expressed growing concern as\ud problems continue to worsen for children, adolescents, and a new "sample" of\ud preschoolers. 1 in 5 children and adolescents may have an identifiable mental\ud health disorder requiring treatment. The severity and nature of these problems\ud affect how children think, feel, and act, exposing them to seriously heightened risk\ud of school failure, family conflicts, child abuse, later juvenile delinquency, early\ud drug/alcohol abuse, violence, and even suicide. If untreated these factors may lead\ud to maladjustment in adulthood, aggressive and anti-social personality disorders,\ud alcohol dependency syndrome, criminal behaviour and marital breakdown.\ud The present study attempts to further the investigation of the effects of\ud variables of social cognition and emotion on psychopathology by using a\ud simultaneous design. Specific aims are to:\ud 1) Develop and test a school-based standardised model for better screening\ud of SEBDs in Greece for 8-12 year-old children. The predictive power of the\ud simultaneous "independent variables" (social-cognitive and self-esteem/self worth)\ud on "dependent" ones (psychopathology profiles) is explored by means of\ud improving variance prediction.\ud 2) Discover and analyze possible social interaction biases within groups of\ud experimental children with particular types of emotional and behavioural\ud problems.\u

Gender and Emotion

Women express more emotion than men, but do they also experience more emotion than men? Are emotions represented differently in men and women’s brains? What are the origins of gender differences in emotions – are we born different or is it socialization that renders us different? What are the implications of gender differences in emotion for general well-being, insomnia, depression, antisocial behavior, and alexithymia? What are the most appropriate methodologies for the empirical study of gender differences in emotional experiences? In the current book, coordinated by The Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, these questions are answered by reviewing research on general emotional expression and experience, but also on specific emotions and affective experiences such as shame, empathy, and impulsivity. We propose an interdisciplinary contribution to the field of gender and emotions, with works authored by specialists in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, economics, philosophy, and anthropology

Unintended Negative Effects of the Legitimacy-Seeking Behavior of Social Enterprises on Employee Attitudes

In an emerging field such as social enterprise, it is important for an organization to secure legitimacy to obtain resources and sustain its business. Specifically, when a government distributing subsidies does not have adequate information to decide which organization is trustworthy, it is the legitimacy-seeking activities of a social enterprise that determines who receives a subsidy; this, in turn, decides which organization will survive. One of the most effective ways to gain legitimacy is to explicitly emphasize in the public promotion that the organization devotes to its social mission. In the case of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), an organization emphasizes its social employment of the disadvantaged individuals. However, we argue that social enterprises’ public promotion that emphasizes social employment can lower the expected wage, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of the employees who are hired due to their disadvantaged social status. This is because such obvious promotional messages makes the employees more keenly aware of their disadvantaged status; as a result, this reinforces their self-prejudice that they are not competitive enough in the labor market. We test our hypotheses in the context of South Korean WISEs and found general support for our arguments