Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Neil Abell, Florida State University, School of Social Work. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Mar. 2, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.Psych.) - University of Queensland, 2007. / Includes bibliography.

Helping youths acquire educational skills is one of the most effective approaches to the prevention of delinquency and reduction of recidivism. Access to a high-quality education is particularly important for the growing number of youth committed to juvenile corrections, especially for those who have been diagnosed with a disability. Research has shown a tremendous gap about the academic outcomes of incarcerated juveniles with emotional disabilities. Thus, the focus of this study was to examine the academic outcomes in reading and math for youth with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) released from Texas Youth Commission (TYC) programs between September 2003 and September 2004. The study examined if the rate of academic growth in reading and math as indicated by pre- and post-test scores on the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE), are different for youth with E/B as compared to youth with other disabilities and youth without disabilities who were adjudicated in TYC programs.

The present study focused on male incarcerated youth, ages ranging from twelve to eighteen, in a twenty-four hour care treatment facility. The study attempted to determine what historical factors such as types of crimes committed, length of criminal history, and gang involvement are behavioral indicators of the type of youth who resist treatment. For the study, run away behavior indicated the youth was resistant to treatment.

Children and Adolescents with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) are often involved in aggression, acting out, bullying, violence, substance abuse, and juvenile crime. However, the limited Korean studies have focused primarily on bullying of students with developmental disabilities or intellectual disabilities. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore contributing factors to traditional bullying and cyberbullying in Korean children and adolescents with EBD. The current study surveyed 112 students with EBD between ages of 10 and 15 and their parents (guardians). The results revealed that internalizing problem behaviors including anxious/depression, withdrawal/depression, and somatic problems significantly affected traditional bullying victimization of Korean students with EBD. The peer support was a significant factor affecting cyberbullying victimization. Furthermore, the maternal psychological control was a meaningful factor affecting perpetration at school and in cyber world. Based on the findings, the present study described implications regarding prevention and intervention programs for addressing traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration.

The research reported herein examined the emotional and behavioral characteristics of adolescent Hispanic students with and without learning disabilities from a middle school in north central Texas. The data were based on all students enrolled at the campus (N = 986), but focused on 55 students of Hispanic descent with learning disabilities and 55 students without. The data accrued for this study utilized a school discipline database. In addition, a 43-item behavioral rating scale was completed on each student of the more focused group. Methods of data analysis were derived from descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple regression measurements. The results indicate that Hispanic students with learning disabilities often exhibit more disruptive behaviors.

The purpose of this project was to explore perceptions of effective components in adolescent suicide prevention programs among San Bernardino school counselors. The stress model and the mental health model are the two models implemented in suicide prevention programs.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Serious emotional disturbance, including disruptive disorders (i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder), affects large numbers of adolescents, with costly and tragic consequences. Adolescents with disruptive disorders are likely to be arrested, drop out of school, and have poor treatment outcomes. There is an urgent need to identify strengths-based factors associated with improvement in adolescents’ behavioral and social functioning to help them achieve their full potential. The purpose of this study was to determine whether change in adolescent personal strengths and change in family functioning over 12 months predicted changes in behavioral and social functioning for adolescents with disruptive disorders who participated in a System of Care (SOC) program and if findings varied by race. De-identified data from 179 adolescents, aged 12-17 years, with disruptive disorders and their caregivers were included in this secondary analysis. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations, t-tests, chi-square tests, and multivariate multiple regressions. Upon admission to the program, caregiver ratings indicated that African American adolescents had greater personal strengths (p = .001), fewer behavior problems (p < .001), and less functional impairment (p < .001) compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Girls had more behavior problems (p = .05) and fewer personal strengths than boys (p < .001). Increase in caregiver-rated adolescent personal strengths was significantly associated with improvement in caregiver-rated adolescent behavioral and social functioning (p < .001). Change in caregiver-rated family functioning was not significantly associated with change in caregiver-rated adolescent behavioral and social functioning (p = .171). The strength and direction of predictors did not vary by race. The adolescents in the study participated in a SOC program that emphasized their strengths versus, primarily, focusing on their deficits. Change in caregiver ratings of adolescent personal strengths was a significant predictor of change in adolescent behavioral and social functioning over a 12 months period. Findings provide evidence for psychiatric mental health professionals to focus on enhancing adolescent personal strengths to improve behavioral and social functioning in adolescents with disruptive disorders. Future research is needed to understand the impact of family variables on adolescents’ treatment outcomes.

Education in Saudi Arabia, including the education of children with special needs, is developing rapidly. However, children with emotional and behavioral disorders are neither consistently identified nor adequately served in Saudi Arabia although they are recognized as a distinct category of children who require special education services. The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders among children in Saudi Arabia to assess the need for intervention services to help those children reach their potential. The current research identified the types of behaviors that are most evident in the study sample. Also, the relationship between demographics and emotional and behavioral disorders is studied to identify possible predictors of disruptive forms of behavior. Parents of children aged 4-17 years in Saudi Arabia were surveyed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The findings of the study suggest that children with emotional and behavioral disorders in Saudi Arabia may account for 20% of the population of children between the ages of 4 and 17. The findings also revealed that over 20% of children in Saudi Arabia have difficulties in peer relationship and lack the necessary prosocial behaviors. The parent reporting, child gender, child education type, the geographical region, the father's education level, and the family's socioeconomic status were found to be statistically significant predictors of children's difficulties. However, these predictors were only able to explain a small portion of the difficulty scores.

Background. Adolescent antisocial behaviors are versatile in terms of their onset, severity, pervasiveness, continuity, and developmental outcomes. A substantial body of literature on developmental pathway of antisocial behaviors indicates that meaningful subtypes exist within these heterogeneous antisocial behaviors, rendering important implications to their etiology, causal mechanism and intervention. This study tests a taxonomy of antisocial behavior by examining whether different offending groups can be distinguished by their different group features including background risks and external correlates. First, two broad offending groups, i.e., the early-onset group and the adolescent-onset group were identified in a clinical sample of 118 adjudicated male adolescents based on age of onset of symptoms of Conduct Disorder. Further, two distinct subtypes, i.e. antisocial behavior associated with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and antisocial behavior associated with callous-unemotional traits ii (CD traits), a defining feature of psychopathy, were hypothesized to coexist within the broad early-onset offending group, based on two lines of recent studies indicating ADHD and CD traits as important correlates of antisocial behaviors. These two subgroups were identified within the sample in this current study. / Conclusion. Different offending groups could be discerned by their distinctive associated group risks and deficits, giving evidence to different developmental pathways to antisocial behaviors. Implications to understanding and intervention of antisocial behaviors were discussed. / Method. Data were collected from 118 adjudicated male adolescents from a centralized probation facility in Hong Kong and 63 non-delinquent male control subjects from mainstream secondary schools, all aged between 12 and 17. Group comparisons and multinominal logistic regression were performed to test whether these offending groups could be distinguished by different background risks and deficits including variables pertaining to cognitive processes, family, parenting, and deviant peers, etc. / Results. The early-onset offending group could be differentiated from the adolescent-onset offending group by their association with adolescent adjustment iii difficulties, more background risks, ADHD diagnosis, and callous unemotional traits. The two early-onset subgroups, early-onset ADHD and early-onset CU traits group, shared similarities of having severer delinquency and poorer adolescent adjustment, but demonstrated differences in terms of disinhibitory processes. / Law, Yuen Wah Sonya. / Adviser: Patrick Wing-leung Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-289). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendix in Chinese.