<p> This study was an initial investigation of the relationship between self-presentational concern and chronic injury. An experiment with two manipulations was conducted to determine how situational self-presentational concerns affected expressions of toughness that may be linked to health-damaging behaviors that cause chronic injury. Covariates of self-presentational concerns and mental toughness were measured and determined to be equivalent across groups so that effects could be attributed to the manipulations. For a manipulation of situational self-presentational concerns, collegiate middle-distance and distance runners assigned to experimental groups read a passage. The passage was based on the components of a self-presentation model, impression motivation and impression construction. It indicated the need for runners to score high on toughness questionnaires to be evaluated favorably by coaches and governing bodies of the sport in order to achieve goals. All participants completed two questionnaires pertaining to mental toughness and tough attitude toward training through pain and injury. Expressions of mental toughness related to confidence and control were higher for participants exposed to heightened levels of situational self-presentational concerns than participants lacking the exposure. For a second manipulation, participants in one of the experimental groups were additionally exposed to a prototype describing the performance of the most successful runners on the mental toughness questionnaire. Expression of mental toughness of these participants did not differ significantly from other participants, failing to provide evidence of the prototype-matching process. Participants' expression of tough attitude toward training through pain and injury did not differ in relation to exposure to either manipulation. The results support the integration of self-presentational concerns related to mental toughness as a psychological antecedent in a model linking stressful, athletic situations and chronic injury.</p>

<p> This study examined the attitudes of general education teachers and nondisabled peers towards their peers with disabilities who participated in general education classes with and without the use of assistive technology. A convenience sample of three general education classrooms was the focus of this study. One classroom had a student with significant disabilities who used assistive technology participating in the classroom activities. A second classroom had a student with significant disabilities who did not use assistive technology participating in the classroom activities and a third classroom had no student with significant disabilities participating in classroom activities. Attitudes were measured through use of survey and interview instruments. All together, there were positive attitudes expressed by teachers and students without disabilities about students with disabilities participating in the general education classroom, but those students were not seen by both students and teachers as being as capable as their typical peers.</p>

<p> Recent research has uncovered differences in values between individuals who identify with the working class (WK) versus those who identify with the middle class (MD). WK individuals strive for interdependence, group belonging, and orienting toward others; their MD counterparts strive for independence, standing out from a group, and orient toward the self. These contrasts have been shown to influence behavior. The current study utilized a paradigm for studying socially motivated underachievement to investigate how these contrasting normative guidelines affected behavior in a situation that pitted individual achievement goals against prosocial goals. WK individuals, relative to MD individuals, were expected to perform their worst in this goal conflict situation. The anticipated pattern of means emerged for WK participants, although not significant, such that performance was worst in the goal conflict situation. However, MD participants surprisingly performed their best when presented with this goal conflict.</p>

<p> Bullying is becoming a salient issue in schools in the Southern United States. School bullying, the most common type of school violence, comprises a spectrum of aggressive behaviors that involve both perpetrators and victims. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative case study was to obtain an understanding of the experiences of adolescents who have been bullied. Data collection consisted of 1-on-1, semi-structured interviews with 8 participants from 12 and 13 years of age. There were no restrictions relative to the participants in terms of gender, race, or ethnicity. The researcher conducted guided interviews and analyzed the interviews for themes that established the adolescents&rsquo; perception of bullying. Findings of the study indicate that adolescents experience psychological and emotional traumatic problems, including depression during and after a bullying occurrence. Recommendations to encourage further study in elementary- and middle-school children as well as more qualitative research are indicated.</p>

<p> The purpose of this mixed methodology study was to explore the perceptions of ability grouping and its possible contribution to the achievement gap within the high school. The researcher asserted that course placement criterion, associated with the College Prep, Honors and Advanced placement ability groups, serve as contributing factors towards maintaining an achievement gap between White, Asian, Black and Hispanic students. The study revealed stakeholder perceptions and concerns regarding the methods involved to place students in College Prep, Honors and Advanced Placement courses as a contributing factor towards maintaining the achievement gap that exists within the district. This study focused on the following research questions: (1) What are the specific beliefs, roles, and influences of teachers, administrators, counselors, students, and parents when determining ability level placement in school? (2) What key factors shape teacher's perceptions of students relative to academic achievement and placement? (3) Does a course placement criterion contribute to the achievement gap? The findings were based upon four data sources: focus groups conducted with parents, teachers/counselors, and students; interviews conducted with three district administrators; an on-line survey completed by parents, students, teachers/counselors and administrators; and a review of archival data regarding course enrollment and High School Proficiency Assessment scores over a period of three academic years. </p><p> This action research dissertation revealed fifteen findings of which four themes emerged. The themes are: (1) Beliefs, values, and influences of teachers, parents, and students affect ability grouping decisions; (2) A student's perceived work ethic and grades earned in previous classes influence teacher's decisions regarding ability placement; (3) The parent's right to overrule teacher course recommendations and course placement criterion contribute towards the achievement gap; and (4) Course enrollment and standardized test scores demonstrate the existence of an achievement gap in Central Jersey High School. </p>

<p>This study examined students&rsquo; use of self-regulation strategies in fully online and blended courses in a rural high school in northeast Georgia. An examination of self-regulation strategies between and within ethnic groups, gender, students&rsquo; grade level, and students enrolled or not enrolled in online or blended courses was conducted. Students (n = 507) and teachers (n = 57) from the high school were provided online learning tasks aimed to advance strategies on self-regulated learning. A modified version of the MSLQ (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie (1991) was used for the students&rsquo; survey. The 19-items modified MSLQ survey was associated with eight factors of self-regulation. The eight factors were goal setting, motivation, task strategies, environment structuring, time management, help-seeking, self-efficacy for computer usage, and self-evaluation. However, based on factor analyses, only three factors emerged from the principal component analysis (PCA). The three factors were task strategies, goal setting, and self-efficacy for computer usage. In the qualitative investigation, teacher questionnaires and teacher interviews were used to generate a rich account of students&rsquo; self-regulated strategies, offering insight that helped to identify what self-regulated strategies students need to succeed in online and blended courses. </p>

<p> Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) is a pathological preoccupation with muscularity, more common in men than in women. MD is estimated to affect several hundreds of thousands of individuals. There has been little research related to MD in the male adolescent population and the prevalence is unknown. The mean age of onset of MD is estimated to be 19 years, and sports participation increases the risk for developing MD as well as other psychological difficulties. The pilot study revealed a potential relationship between MD symptoms and athletic and academic performance, low levels of self-esteem, high levels of perfectionist qualities, and use of performance-enhancing drugs. This study was conducted to substantiate previous findings and to understand MD symptomatology among male adolescent student athletes and its relation to athletic and academic performance as well as media influence, low levels of self-esteem, high levels of perfectionist qualities, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Participants included 67 male student athletes ages 14 through 18 who completed a four-page questionnaire. Results showed that MD symptomatology is prevalent among male high school athletes and is positively correlated with perfectionism and media influence. Current findings indicate the need for school programs and treatments to address MD symptoms. Further, the results offer important implications for school psychologists to make meaningful contributions in the school system through professional development to staff, counseling for students, and collaboration with parents.</p>

<p>Lao American college students' holistic identity development was examined in this study. The research utilized modified grounded theory methods to generate a model of holistic identity development for Lao American students whose families immigrated to the United States after 1978 as a part of the third wave of Laotian immigrants. Chickering and Reisser's (1993) psychosocial identity development theory and Kodama, McEwen, Liang, and Lee's (2002) negotiating identity and development task model for Asian Americans were utilized as an <i> a priori</i> theoretical foundation. Interviews explored participant perceptions and lived experiences as related to the elements of these two theories. Grounded theory development techniques were utilized in the analysis to explore the nature and interactions of various elements of the <i> a priori</i> theories. Data were collected using one exploratory focus group followed by in-depth interviews. Each participant was a child of parents who were refugees; all but one was born in the U.S. Findings center around three themes related to Lao American college students' holistic identity development: (a) the enmeshment of purpose and identity, (b) the influence and integration of family and culture influences, and (c) the fluidity of community influence. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of implications for theory, policy, and practice. </p>

<p> Disruptive classroom behavior is frequently cited as a critical component in teacher job dissatisfaction and burnout. As corporal punishment is eliminated in many classrooms worldwide, teachers report a perception of increased disruptive classroom behavior that many feel ill equipped to address. Teachers also often report a lack of training in evidence-based behavior management tools that have been studied with international populations and culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse populations. The Good Behavior Game offers teachers a classroom-wide behavior management tool that has been studied both in the United States and abroad with students from diverse backgrounds, primarily in developed countries or large cities within developing countries. This intervention is based on basic and well-tested principles of behavior theory and has a long and defensible history indicating its efficacy across cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic traditions. However, use of this tool in developing countries with few resources and diverse student populations has not been fully investigated. This research investigates the use of the Good Behavior Game in classrooms within a small, Central American town, where corporal punishment has been recently banned, educational resources are limited, and the population is both international and diverse. Results from the current study indicate that the GBG is effective in reducing out of seat, talking out, and tattling across three elementary classrooms in Belize, Central America and represents the first research to do so. Evidence further indicates that teachers were able to implement this intervention with fidelity, and that both teachers and students report high treatment acceptability.</p>

<p> Students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) are educated in restrictive placements at higher rates than students in other disability categories due to their challenging behavior and inability to function in the general educational environment (Bullock &amp; Gable, 2006). The increasing utilization of alternative programming to educate students with EBD has prompted scholars to more closely examine and identify critical intervention components of these programs (Simpson et al., 2011). Although outcomes associated with restrictive placements have been investigated, there has not been any systematic investigation of whether the recommended elements of comprehensive programming are in place in these settings, whether they are being implemented with integrity and whether they, in turn, lead to improved outcomes. Therefore, a review of the literature aimed at examining studies of restrictive settings for the existence of the eight critical elements for effective EBD programs (Simpson et al., 2011) and the associated academic, behavioral, and social outcomes was conducted. The review revealed that none of the studies described the existence of supports in all eight areas. Examination of the outcomes across the studies indicated that students with EBD made some progress academically, behaviorally, and socially, but the extent and practical significance of that progress varied. A descriptive study was also conducted. Administrators and teachers from Board of Cooperative Educations Services (BOCES) specialized programs and approved day treatment programs in New York State were surveyed about the intensity and fidelity of implementation of evidence-based academic practices, effective behavior management and treatment plans, and social skills instruction. Means and standard deviations were used to summarize the levels of intensity and implementation fidelity across the sample. Two-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to determine the effect of type of program and the respondents' professional position on the three elements. Overall, the results suggest that the three critical elements are present in some capacity and implemented with at least medium fidelity across the two restrictive settings. Significant differences were found between programs and positions in regards to the perceived levels of intensity and fidelity of implementation of the practices. Implications for future research, practice, and limitations are discussed.</p>