published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

This thesis examines the significance of the study of art, specifically discipline-based art education, for behaviorally disordered public school students. A brief description of the distinctions between art education and art therapy is given and appropriate terms are defined. A discussion of the labels that constitute behavioral disorders and the general educational needs of that population is included. General benefits of art instruction for behaviorally disordered (BD) students are explored with the intention of demonstrating how a discipline-based art program can specifically enhance those benefits. A sample discipline-based drawing lesson adapted for behaviorally disordered students follows.

The purpose of this study was to explore regular education student perceptions of the effects of implementing behavioral interventions for seriously emotionally disturbed students (SED) in the regular classroom. Student perceptions of classroom friction or disruptiveness, apathy, and general enjoyment or satisfaction were evaluated. It was predicted that regular education students would report more classroom friction, increased apathy, and less satisfaction when interventions were implemented in the regular classroom for a target SED student.

The purpose of this study was to delineate the differences between the types of behavioral management techniques used by teachers of students with emotional/behavioral disorders.

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics that distinguish children with behavior disorders who drop out of psychotherapy treatment from those who remain in treatment. The sample included 379 children (268 male and 111 female) who were diagnosed with a behavior disorder at Dallas County Mental Health/Mental Retardation (MH/MR), a community mental health clinic in Dallas, Texas. The results indicated that certain characteristics increased the likelihood that a child would drop out of therapy, including reliance on aid, the presence of maternal psychopathology, and more severe externalizing and internalizing behaviors. This study also found that younger children with behavior disorders had a greater probability of dropping out of treatment. Minority status, gender, parent marital status, and referral source were not found to be associated with dropping out of treatment. Future studies should focus on specific interventions that clinicians could employ to deter premature termination from treatment.

This study was conducted to measure the effects of classroom instruction entitled Citizenship curriculum Training on high school discipline. Data for this study were collected and analyzed for fifty-eight ninth-grade students who had been referred to the principal's office three or more times the semester prior to the experimental treatment. An experimental group of twenty-nine students received citizenship curriculum instruction. The control group of twenty-nine students received only the school's traditional curriculum during second period class. Two teachers presented the citizenship curriculum training which included instructional units on beliefs, attitudes, emotions, anger, decision-making, communications, confrontation, positive attention, stress, peer pressure, authority figures, getting along in school, and the society game. Data were collected relative to grade-point average, absences, discipline referrals, and attitude toward high school as measured by the Remitters High School Attitude Scale. T-tests for correlated samples and analysis of covariance examined the effects of the Citizenship Curriculum Training on the four variables measured. The .05 level of significance was used to test the four hypotheses. The results of the study indicate that Citizenship Curriculum Training does not improve the students' gradepoint averages, absentee rate, lower the number of discipline referrals, and does not improve students' attitude as measured by the Remitters High School Attitude Scale. It is recommended that similar studies be conducted to address the problems of grade-point average, number of discipline referrals to the office, high absentee rate, and attitudes toward high school by teaching discipline students in small classes with a curriculum that aims at improving these specific problems. Future studies should collect the posttest data the first grading period following the experimental treatment to test for immediate results.

This study examined the relationship among the factors of parental stress, marital adjustment, life event stress, and behavior problems of children and whether the sources and levels of parental stress, marital adjustment, and life event stress differed among families of children with . behavior problems and families whose children did not experience behavior problems. The subjects for this study were 60 mothers and their children from the North Texas metropolitan area chosen from two populations. Group I was composed of mothers of 30 children referred to a university related counseling center for behavior problems. Group II was composed of 30 mothers of children identified as not experiencing difficulty. Each mother completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Short Marital Adjustment Test (SMAT), and Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire (SRRQ). Hotellings T tests were used to determine whether the groups differed on sources and levels of parenting stress, marital adjustment, and life event stress. The groups differed significantly on the variables of sources and levels of parenting stress but not on marital adjustment or life event stress. The multiple regression technique was used to determine which variable or combination of variables would predict group membership. Parenting stress was found to be the best predictor of group membership. Based on this study, mothers who have a child with behavior problems do have an increased level of parenting stress. This increased level of stress is related to characteristics of their child and to their own personal characteristics. Those mothers who experience increased levels of parenting stress do not experience significantly less satisfaction in their marriages nor do their children experience more stressful life events than other children.