Adolescence is characterized as a time of impulsivity, emotional decision-making, and peer influence; thus, interventions targeting the development of effective psychosocial skills are imperative. Improved psychosocial functioning can equip adolescents for successfully overcoming future life challenges. There are few studies that have examined how adolescents' psychosocial skills could be improved in the context of substance abuse prevention program participation. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in psychosocial skills in a group of adolescents who participated in 2 of 10 Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence (Lions Quest SFA) programs being used in central Virginia middle schools. This study examined whether Lions Quest SFA was useful in observing changes in the total score of lagging psychosocial skills, which incorporated measures of impulse control, emotion regulation, and social skills. The adolescent population of interest had already demonstrated weaknesses in these areas as they had been referred to this program from school-based mental health services. This archival study used an ANCOVA to analyze 1-year pre- and posttest score differences on the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems and examine possible gender differences following participation in the program for 1 school year. The secondary dataset consisted of pre- and posttest scores of 36 male students and 30 female students. The results of this study demonstrated implications for social change as they extended the knowledge in this area by suggesting that participation in the Lions Quest SFA program may contribute to the improvement of psychosocial skills, and these findings could contribute to the improvement of treatment interventions used at Horizon Behavioral Health.

O bullying escolar é um tipo de violência entre pares que envolve agressões intencionais, repetitivas e praticadas em uma relação de desigualdade de poder entre vítimas e agressores. É considerado um problema importante a ser investigado e enfrentado nas escolas por exercer efeitos negativos sobre os desenvolvimentos físico, emocional e social dos estudantes. A sua ocorrência se encontra relacionada a aspectos contextuais da instituição escolar e pessoais dos estudantes. Entretanto, esta investigação direcionou seu foco às características de natureza pessoal que tornam os estudantes vulneráveis à vitimização por bullying, no sentido de proporcionar àqueles em condição de vítima melhores condições para se autodefenderem e fazerem amizades para aumentarem o seu apoio social recebido diante das agressões que sofrem. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi verificar se a melhoria das habilidades sociais reduz a vitimização em estudantes brasileiros do 6º ano escolar que são vítimas de bullying. Trata-se de um estudo de intervenção realizado em seis escolas públicas da cidade de Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil. Participaram 78 estudantes vítimas de bullying que foram alocadas em dois grupos: intervenção (n=38) comparação (n=40). Os participantes dos dois grupos foram avaliados em relação à vitimização por bullying e ao desenvolvimento de habilidades sociais, antes e depois de finalizada a intervenção em habilidades sociais. As oito sessões, realizadas uma vez por semana, com duração de 50 minutos cada, enfocaram habilidades de civilidade, fazer amizades, autocontrole e expressividade emocional, empatia, assertividade e solução de problemas interpessoais. Os dados foram analisados estatisticamente mediante modelos de regressão de Poisson com efeito aleatório. Análises pré e pós-teste revelaram que os grupos intervenção e comparação apresentaram redução significativa na vitimização por bullying. Os participantes da intervenção diminuíram a dificuldade que apresentaram em praticar as habilidades sociais em nível estatisticamente não significativo. Como mudanças comportamentais demandam maior tempo para se efetivarem nas relações sociais, o pouco tempo existente entre a finalização da intervenção e a avaliação pós-teste pode ter influenciado o resultado. Entretanto, a tendência de melhora nas habilidades sociais das vítimas de bullying foi percebida por seus pares que as indicaram com maior aceitação social, maior capacidade de resolução de conflitos, mais simpatia e menor indicação de que possuíam poucos amigos, em comparação com a avaliação inicial (pré-teste). Apesar de não apresentarem diferença significativa, são resultados que demonstram progressos na posição social das vítimas. Embora não seja possível atribuir a diminuição da vitimização à intervenção realizada, são resultados que atestam a positividade do estudo e que, a longo prazo, podem ampliar sua magnitude ao ponto de tornarem-se significativos. Diante dos resultados, sugere-se que outros modelos de intervenção antibullying sejam testados na realidade nacional, com vistas à identificação daquelas mais efetivos. Recomenda-se que estudos futuros utilizem abordagens não focalizadas exclusivamente nos aspectos individuais dos estudantes. Intervenções em habilidades sociais podem ser mais eficazes se desenvolvidas em conjunto com outras que envolvam também a variedade de situações, contextos e sujeitos implicados no bullying, como os pares, equipe escolar e família / School bullying is a type of violence between peers involving intentional, repetitive aggressions, and practices in an unequal power relationship between victims and aggressors. It is considered an important problem to be investigated and coped with in schools, as it has adverse effects on the physical, emotional and social development of students. Its occurrence relates to contextual aspects of scholastic institutions and personal aspects of students from students. Thus, this investigation\'s focus is directed at personal characteristics that make students vulnerable to bullying victimization, in a sense to propitiate better conditions for victims in terms of self-defense and building friendships, to increase the social support received when coping with these aggressions. Thus, the objective of this study was to verify if the improvement of social skills reduces victimization of Brazilian students from the 6th school year who are bullying victims. We conducted an intervention study in six public schools from the city of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Seventy-eight students, victims of bullying, participated in the study, and they were allocated into two groups: intervention (n=38) and comparison (n=40). Participants from both groups were assessed in relation to bullying victimization and the development of social skills, before and after a social skills intervention. The eight sessions, conducted once a week, with 50 minutes duration each, focused on civility skills, to build friendships, self-control and emotional expressivity, empathy, assertiveness and resolving interpersonal problems. The data were statistically analyzed through Poisson\'s regression models with random effects. Pre- and post-tests analyses revealed that intervention and comparison groups significantly reduced bullying victimization. Intervention participants presented decreased difficulty in practicing social skills at a non-significant statistical level. As behavioral changes require more time to be effective in social relationships, the limited time existing between the end of the intervention and the post-test assessment could have influenced the result. However, the tendency to increase the social abilities of bullying victims was perceived by their pairs as indicating they had better social acceptance, greater capacity for conflict resolution, more sympathy and less indication that they had few friends, in comparison to the initial assessment (pre-test). Despite not presenting significant differences, those are results demonstrating progress in the victims\' social position. Although it is not possible to attribute the decrease in victimization to the intervention, those are results proving the positivity of the study that, in the long-term, may broaden its magnitude to a level that it can become significant. Considering the results, we suggest other anti-bullying intervention models to be tested in the reality of the national context, aiming to identify the most effective ones. We recommend future studies to use approaches not focused exclusively on individual aspects of students. Social skills interventions can be more effective if developed with other interventions, including a variety of situations, contexts, and subjects involved in bullying, such as peers, school teams, and family members

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of individualized video-modeled Social Story interventions on the social communication skills of three children with High Functioning Autism/Aspergers Syndrome (HFA/AS). Using a multiple-baseline across participants design, video-modeled Social Stories were implemented and direct observations of the participants identified target behaviors were collected two times per week during unstructured school activities (e.g., recess). Overall, data demonstrated that video modeled Social Stories were effective for improving the rates of social communication for the participants, though modifications to allow access to social reinforcement was needed in two cases. In addition, all three participants demonstrated maintenance of skills at a two-week follow-up. However, generalization of skills was only observed for one participant.The present research provides no definitive claims of the effectiveness of a combined intervention for children with HFA/AS, Rather, it adds preliminary evidence that a combined intervention that teaches social communication skills and provides for a model of appropriate behavior may be a beneficial method of remediating social skill difficulties for many children and youth with HFA/AS.

There is increasing recognition that contextual aspects of social situations are important determinants of children's social information processing. While it is generally accepted that friends influence children's social behavior, the immediate influence of a friend in specific conflict situations is less understood. Contextualized vignettes depicting hypothetical peer conflict situations were developed to examine the impact of situational context, namely a friend's suggested attribution and an antagonist action cue, on students' social information processing. A repeated measures design examined the proximal influence of situational context on 4th and 5th grade students' (N=367) own intent attributions, emotional reactions, and response evaluations to hypothetical peer conflict scenarios. Results indicated that situational context is important to students' social cognition. Students adjusted their social cognition and emotion in response to cues to an antagonist's intent and were influenced by a friend's comments during peer conflict scenarios. Students' responses were more aligned with the antagonist's action than a friend's suggested attribution. However, a friends' attribution was influential in situations where it conflicted with the antagonist's action. Results of this study help to increase knowledge regarding the context of social cognition and can assist in the development of more ecologically valid social skill interventions.

No description available.

This thesis examined the social competency and affective functioning of people with mild intellectual disabilities through salient variables that impact on people with disabilities who have been deinstitutionalised. Its primary purpose was to extend the previous research on the impact of deinstitutionalisation by incorporating multi-dimensional self-concept, adaptive behaviour and quality of life, in combination with self esteem and locus of control, in longitudinal/comparison design. It is also aimed to examine the development of identity, self-esteem and social competencies from a qualitative perspective. Finally it assessed the efficacy of an interpersonal cognitive problem-solving intervention which incorporated techniques for the development of maintenance and generalisation and determined the impact of this intervention on real-life social behaviours. The findings have important implications for current theory of the self-concept for people with intellectual disabilities, the provision of programs and techniques to improve self-concept, and also for the provision of social skills programs to enhance the social competencies and the social integration for people who have been deinstitutionalised. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examined the social competency and affective functioning of people with mild intellectual disabilities through salient variables that impact on people with disabilities who have been deinstitutionalised. Its primary purpose was to extend the previous research on the impact of deinstitutionalisation by incorporating multi-dimensional self-concept, adaptive behaviour and quality of life, in combination with self esteem and locus of control, in longitudinal/comparison design. It is also aimed to examine the development of identity, self-esteem and social competencies from a qualitative perspective. Finally it assessed the efficacy of an interpersonal cognitive problem-solving intervention which incorporated techniques for the development of maintenance and generalisation and determined the impact of this intervention on real-life social behaviours. The findings have important implications for current theory of the self-concept for people with intellectual disabilities, the provision of programs and techniques to improve self-concept, and also for the provision of social skills programs to enhance the social competencies and the social integration for people who have been deinstitutionalised. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examined the social competency and affective functioning of people with mild intellectual disabilities through salient variables that impact on people with disabilities who have been deinstitutionalised. Its primary purpose was to extend the previous research on the impact of deinstitutionalisation by incorporating multi-dimensional self-concept, adaptive behaviour and quality of life, in combination with self esteem and locus of control, in longitudinal/comparison design. It is also aimed to examine the development of identity, self-esteem and social competencies from a qualitative perspective. Finally it assessed the efficacy of an interpersonal cognitive problem-solving intervention which incorporated techniques for the development of maintenance and generalisation and determined the impact of this intervention on real-life social behaviours. The findings have important implications for current theory of the self-concept for people with intellectual disabilities, the provision of programs and techniques to improve self-concept, and also for the provision of social skills programs to enhance the social competencies and the social integration for people who have been deinstitutionalised. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 83-105) Also available in print.

<p>The aim of my study is to look at how the interaction might look like in a preschool; how interaction is between children and adults, children and children. The starting point is what is written about the interaction before and tie it together with the observation. The focus will be on how the interaction and gender roles appear in the preschool.</p><p>The theory is mainly about pre-school, different educational starting point on how a pre-school to work for gender equality. Which is also a requirement from the National Curriculum documents for the preschools and that they should strive for.</p><p>In this study, I found that you can work for several different methods and theories of interaction in the preschool and that they can complement each other. But mainly it is important that all employees have to work with the same reason.</p>