M.A. / The principal aim of the study was to determine whether or not certain aspects of emotional intelligence account for the difference between students' academic success or failure. Although an in-depth study of existing literature on the topic of academic prowess soon disclosed that all aspects of an individual's functioning play a part in his or her academic performance, a flaw was uncovered in this argument in terms of the link between the individual's ability to deal with emotional processes and his or her academic functioning. The present study could, therefore, be considered to be the springboard for theory-building regarding the link between aspects of emotional intelligence and academic performance. Various studies in the domain of emotions have been undertaken with a view to study the manner in which individuals evaluate, communicate and apply emotions in their bid to solve problems and to adapt to circumstances of life. Emotional intelligence can be viewed as a meta ability that co-determines the extent to which an individual develops his or her potential, acquires and hones skills (including his or her intellect) and achieves his or her objectives. The manner in which the individual processes emotional contents could, therefore, have a profound effect on all intra and interpersonal aspects of his or her functioning, including his or her academic performance. In addition, existing literature soon discloses the multidimensional nature of the concept academic success to be a complex interchange between cognitive and non-cognitive factors. The interdependency between a number of these factors often serves to complicate any attempt to study them, however, and oft-times results in inconsistent and even contradictory findings. In the present study, the part that the individual's way of coping with emotional contents plays in his or her academic performance is subjected to close scrutiny. The experimental group selected for the purposes of the present study comprised 133 students in the age group 18 to 23 enrolled for a course in Psychology 1 at the Rand Afrikaans University. The said experimental group was deemed to represent the population of Human Sciences students at this institution. Based on their final-marks for Psychology 1, these students were divided into two categories, namely students who achieved academic success and students who failed to achieve academic success. Following, both groups of students were subjected to the Emotional Intelligence Battery of tests. Hotelling's T2-test was then used to determine whether or not the mean vectors of the two groups differed from each other. The F-test was applied to determine whether or not the variances between the two independent groups were homogeneous. Student's t-test was used to determine whether or not there be a statistically significant difference between the two means in terms of the five sub-scales of the Emotional Intelligence Battery. A stepwise discriminant analysis was conducted to determine which of the five variables (viz. the Social Translations (CBT) sub-scale of the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence, the Hogan Empathy Scale (HIES), the Self—Control Schedule (SCS), the Neuroticism sub-scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the total score of the Adolescent Self-Concept Scale (ASCS)) to the greatest extent contributed towards the differences between the two criterion groups (viz. academically successful students; academically unsuccessful students). The results of Hotelling's T 2-test indicated that the Emotional Intelligence Battery did indeed differentiate between students who achieved academic success and those who failed to achieve academic success in the specified population. Statistically significant differences were found in the vectors of means of Group 1 (viz. students who achieved academic success) and Group 2 (viz. students who failed to achieve academic success) with respect to the five sub-scales of the Emotional Intelligence Battery taken together. Statistically significant differences were found between the means of the two groups in respect of both the Social Translations sub-scale of the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence and the Hogan Empathy Scale. No statistically significant differences were, however, uncovered between the means of the two groups in respect of the rest of the sub-scales of the Emotional Intelligence Battery. The results of the stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that the variables Test 1 (the Social Translations sub-scale of the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence) and Test 5 (the Adolescent Self-Concept Scale (ASCS)) contributed towards the discrimination between Group 1 (academically successful students) and Group 2 (academically unsuccessful students). All in all, 64.8% of the experimental subjects was correctly classified by the two variables. In the present study, research was only undertaken in respect of the link between certain aspects of emotional intelligence and academic success. The present study could, therefore, be deemed to constitude an exploratory study, as no other study has ever been undertaken in the domain of the processing of emotional content in academic success. It is recommended that future research subject academic performance to a multidimensional scrutiny, with emotional intelligence being one of the factors. Further, it is recommended that future research be undertaken to determine the skills and abilities of experimental subjects from different cultural backgrounds and of both sexes, and that a comparison be drawn between these subjects' abilities and skills and their emotional intelligence.

M.A. / Leadership has been defined as the competencies and processes required to enable and empower ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the face of adversity. It is also the ability to constantly turn in superior performance to the benefit of oneself and the organisation (Bennis & Nanus, 1985; Charlton, 1993; Kelly, 1986; Senge, 1991). This definition includes being skilled in emotional competencies. Emotional competence results in being attuned to those one is dealing with, as well as being self-aware. This study focusses on the emotional intelligence factors considered to be characteristic of effective leaders. The link between the management of emotions and leadership ability is gaining increasing interest in business. People who are unable to maintain a degree of control over their emotional life, fight inner battles that sabotage the ability for focussed work and clear thoughts (Goleman, 1995). Unclear thinking and a lack of focus may in turn, contribute to decreased productivity and an overall decline in organisational success. Emotionally intelligent leaders with the ability to think clearly whilst being in tune with self and others, would thus be required to lead an emotionally intelligent organisation (Cooper & Sawaf, 1997). Leaders may not necessarily occupy positions of authority in the organisation, yet even at lower organisational levels they lead others by example. Otto (1995) refers to such leaders as "little leaders". It is the purpose of this study, to identify specific emotional competencies that may be characteristic of successful "little leaders". The question to be addressed, is: Is their a statistically significant difference in factors of emotional intelligence, between a group of identified "little leaders" and a group of nonleaders at the same level in an organisational context? A leadership questionnaire (The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), (Bass & Avolio, 1990b)) consisting of 45 items was administered to managers of a large financial institution. They were asked to rate their subordinates using this scale as it identifies the presence of transformational and transactional leadership behaviour (Bass, 1985). Only the transformational leadership scores were used to identify two groups. Based on the transformational leadership scores of the MLQ, rated employees were grouped into leader and non-leader groups. Of the 220 (N=220) rating forms returned, 31 subjects fell into the leader group and 31 fell into the non-leader group based on the cutoff scores provided by the authors of the questionnaire. The middle ratings were not utilised for the present study. No participant in the study was made aware of the grouping procedure. The employee group was all English speaking, with a minimum educational level of matric. They occupied similar positions within the hierarchy and were all of non-managerial status. All 220 employees were asked to complete the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) inorder to ensure privacy regarding the group ratings (Bar-On, 1996a). The EQ-i assesses 15 factors said to be important indicators of emotional intelligence. These include; problem solving ability, social responsibility, happiness, independence, stress tolerance, self-actualisation, assertiveness, reality testing, interpersonal relationship, self regard, impulse control, flexibility, self awareness, empathy and optimism. Two additional factors, namely, positive and negative impression provide assistance in score validation. Comparative statistics (Wilks' coefficient lambda and Students t-test) were used to analyse the data. A stepwise discriminant analysis was also conducted. A comparison of EQ-i scores between the leader group and the non-leader group indicates that the factors of optimism and self-actualisation are significantly higher for the leader group than for the non-leader group. The non-leader group had significantly higher scores on the positive impression scale, indicating a possible skewing of results for that group. A total of four variables was extracted following the stepwise discriminant analysis namely, positive impression, self-actualisation, self-regard and optimism. Generally, the research data appear to support the fundamental postulates of transformational leadership theory. Transformational leaders are able to raise awareness in both self and others regarding issues of consequence (Bass, 1997). This heightening of awareness requires a leader with vision, self-confidence, and inner strength to argue successfully for what he or she sees as right or good (Bass, 1997; Charlton, 1993; Senge, 1991). The factors of self-actualisation and optimism indicate an awareness of self and an ability to influence others (Seligman, 1990). The research findings indicate that the application of emotional intelligence theory to leadership identification may assist those in the fields of recruitment, selection and training and development. Future empirical research within the same empirical framework as this investigation, may benefit from greater standardisation and broader application of the assessment instrument used, the use of larger experimental populations and a possible replication of the findings of the present investigation. A comprehensive exploration of the interaction of Emotional Intelligence factors and the contribution of other possible factors to emotional intelligence in leadership may also contribute to the accuracy of future identification of potential leaders.

M.A. (Psychology) / This study has been undertaken in the belief, on the one hand, that it will stimulate awareness among student counsellors of the fact that factors like a third world orientation, minority group membership, culturalism and ethnocism has an influence on the emotional experience and behavior of the students which have wide implications for career maturity as well as for counseling and, on the other hand, that it may provide guidelines for student counsellors in their guidance and helping of students. This study consists of two phases. The first phase, as expounded in chapters one, two and three, is devoted to an exploration of the situation of the student, possible theories in career guidance and the role and function of student counsellors in cross-cultural situations. Chapters four, five and six deals with the second phase which consists of an empirical investigation. An experimental approach was followed and the crites Maturity Investigation was used as a pre- and posttest to measure the achievement of the students. The experimental group completed a program based on the model of Super for the development of career maturity. computer analyses with the BDMP3D-program was employed to compare the raw . scores among the experimental group and control group. comparisons were also made among the students of SWA/Namibia as members from a third world orientation and the students of the RAU as members of a first world orientation.The results were that there was a significant difference in performance between the experimental group and the control group, as well as between the SWA/Namibia and RAU students. In conclusion it is recommended that a guidance the development of career maturity in such situation as existing at the Academy, should form total guidance program. program for a complex part of the It is also recommended that the guidance service should be extended and developed to make provision for a career library and information centre as well as for the opportunity to give ample guidance to students during the orientation period and to pupils before entering the Academy.

M.A. / The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy expectations among disadvantaged Grade 12 students. Factor analysis was used for this purpose. The construct of career maturity was dealt with comprehensively by means of a theoretical review of the contributions made by Donald Super, John Crites and Ronelle Langley. The second construct, i.e., career decision-making self-efficacy expectations was covered by reviewing the contributions of Albert Bandura, Nancy Betz, Steven Brown, Gail Hackett and Robert Lent. Three measurement instruments were utilised, namely, the Biographical Questionnaire, the Career Development Questionnaire (CDQ) and the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSES). The data was analysed by means of principal factor analysis with iterated communalities. The Scree-test and eigenvalues-greater-than-one criterion were used to determine the number of factors. The factors were obliquely rotated according to the Promax criterion. The factor analysis revealed that career maturity and career decisionmaking self-efficacy expectations are two distinguishable but empirically and conceptually related constructs. Although the CDQ and CDMSES and their respective sub-scales define two separate factors, the correlation between the factors show that they are not entirely independent. Factor analysis also revealed that the CDQ and CDMSES were valid and reliable measures of career maturity and career decision-making selfefficacy for a sample other than the white, middle-class samples. The results also show that the disadvantaged learner has a lower level of career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy as compared to a normative high school sample and an affluent sample. These results were expected, especially in the light of South Africa's historical past. Changes in the economic environment may prove to be instrumental in changing perceptions about the world of work and attitudes towards career planning and choice. Researchers are challenged to implement programmes that will assist in the enhancement of career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy ofthe disadvantaged learner.

Adolescence traditionally has been recognized and accepted as a period of exploration of an occasional rebellion against the adult world. Explorations are viewed by behavioral scientists as a quest for identity expansion, and as such, a necessary phase for attaining maturity. Several tasks have been identified which each adolescent must complete if he is to reach maturity. For the present these tasks can be summarized as character formation, attainment of sexual identity, establishment of mature relationships and emancipation from parental control. Society's attitude towards the rebellion and exploitation of youth is mixed. This confusion seems related to a general breakdown in custom, dispensation of child-adolescent labor, and restriction on sexual activity. Perhaps the confusion is particularly noted in relation to the adolescent unwed mother who may be viewed as having violated moral standards. While America has been from its inception relatively free of entrenched social groups, traditions and values, there were customs and values which served to regulate behavior: curfew, chaperones, maiden aunts in the parlor and mothers in the kitchen.

This study has been made in an attempt to illustrate how the genius that was George Eliot developed, how a magnificent intellect was driven first to achievement by emotional frustration and then was coupled with emotional maturity in person, developing emotional maturity in the creative artist and producing at last the supreme and delicate balance of intellectual and emotional maturity in the philosopher who found her medium in creative art.

O objetivo deste trabalho é estabelecer indicadores do Método de Rorschach, avaliado segundo a proposta de Aníbal Silveira (1964/1985), para a avaliação psicológica exigida na lei para a concessão do porte de arma de fogo. A amostra foi composta por 150 sujeitos do sexo masculino, de 19 a 51 anos, divididos em três grupos: um grupo controle (GC) extraído da pesquisa de Coelho (2000), um grupo normativo. O segundo grupo (GPA) constituiu-se de 50 candidatos ao porte de arma de fogo para o exercício da função na Guarda Civil de um município de São Paulo e o terceiro, por 50 presidiários (GPR) com histórico de violência e crimes praticados com o uso de arma de fogo e que fizeram parte da pesquisa de Morana (2003). Os protocolos de Rorschach destes três grupos foram comparados quanto aos índices: Impulsividade (IMP), Adaptação à Realidade (RMI), Índice Conativo (Con), Resposta de Movimento (RM) e Resposta de Cor (RC). Para IMP o grupo controle apresentou valores próximos ao esperado, enquanto que GPA e GPR apresentaram esse índice diferente e acima do GC. O RMI não apresentou diferenças significantes entre os três grupos, mas sim nos índices que o compõem (%F+, %V e %A), tanto no total das respostas quanto para as respostas às pranchas monocromáticas e coloridas. O Índice Conativo não diferenciou nenhum dos três grupos, seja no total como nos conjuntos mono e color. Para a RM não foram encontradas diferenças significantes entre GPA e GRP porém houve diferença entre o grupo controle e os outros dois grupos. Quanto a RC, não houve diferenças entre o GC e o GPA, sendo que ambos apresentaram diferenças significantes com o GPR. Concluiu-se que tais indicadores, exceto o índice Conativo, podem discriminar sujeitos mais violentos os quais, por questões emocionais, poderiam ser contra-indicados para a concessão do porte de arma de fogo, contribuindo assim para a avaliação psicológica exigida daqueles que buscam o porte de arma. / The purpose of this work is to establish Rorschach Method\'s indicators, evaluated as proposed by Anibal Silveira (1964/1985), for psychological evaluation, a law requirement to a handgun license. The sample was composed by 150 men, aged between 19 and 51 years old, divided in three groups: one control group (GC) extracted from Coelho (2000) research with normal men. The second group (GPA) was composed by 50 candidates to a handgun license as Civil Guards of a town in São Paulo State and the third (GPR), composed by 50 prisoners who committed armed crimes studied in Morana\'s (2003) research. The Rorschach protocols of these three groups were compared regarding the following indexes: Impulsivity (IMP), Adaptation to Reality (RMI), Conative Index (Con), Movement responses (RM) and Color responses (RC). The control group presented expected values for the IMP, while GPA and GPR\'s were higher. There were no significant differences between the three groups regarding RMI index, but they were found in the indexes that compose it (% F, % V and % A), either in total responses, as in responses to monochromatic and colored cards. There were no differences between the three groups in the conative index, in total and in mono and color sets. To RM, no significant differences were obtained between GPA and GPR, but a difference was found between the Control Group and the two other groups. There were no differences between GC and GPA in the RC, but both presented significant differences related to GPR. We concluded that these indicators, except for the conative index, can discriminate violent individuals, who should not be approved to obtain a handgun license for emotional reasons. We conclude also that these indicators can contribute to psychological evaluation of handgun license candidates.

O objetivo deste trabalho é estabelecer indicadores do Método de Rorschach, avaliado segundo a proposta de Aníbal Silveira (1964/1985), para a avaliação psicológica exigida na lei para a concessão do porte de arma de fogo. A amostra foi composta por 150 sujeitos do sexo masculino, de 19 a 51 anos, divididos em três grupos: um grupo controle (GC) extraído da pesquisa de Coelho (2000), um grupo normativo. O segundo grupo (GPA) constituiu-se de 50 candidatos ao porte de arma de fogo para o exercício da função na Guarda Civil de um município de São Paulo e o terceiro, por 50 presidiários (GPR) com histórico de violência e crimes praticados com o uso de arma de fogo e que fizeram parte da pesquisa de Morana (2003). Os protocolos de Rorschach destes três grupos foram comparados quanto aos índices: Impulsividade (IMP), Adaptação à Realidade (RMI), Índice Conativo (Con), Resposta de Movimento (RM) e Resposta de Cor (RC). Para IMP o grupo controle apresentou valores próximos ao esperado, enquanto que GPA e GPR apresentaram esse índice diferente e acima do GC. O RMI não apresentou diferenças significantes entre os três grupos, mas sim nos índices que o compõem (%F+, %V e %A), tanto no total das respostas quanto para as respostas às pranchas monocromáticas e coloridas. O Índice Conativo não diferenciou nenhum dos três grupos, seja no total como nos conjuntos mono e color. Para a RM não foram encontradas diferenças significantes entre GPA e GRP porém houve diferença entre o grupo controle e os outros dois grupos. Quanto a RC, não houve diferenças entre o GC e o GPA, sendo que ambos apresentaram diferenças significantes com o GPR. Concluiu-se que tais indicadores, exceto o índice Conativo, podem discriminar sujeitos mais violentos os quais, por questões emocionais, poderiam ser contra-indicados para a concessão do porte de arma de fogo, contribuindo assim para a avaliação psicológica exigida daqueles que buscam o porte de arma. / The purpose of this work is to establish Rorschach Method\'s indicators, evaluated as proposed by Anibal Silveira (1964/1985), for psychological evaluation, a law requirement to a handgun license. The sample was composed by 150 men, aged between 19 and 51 years old, divided in three groups: one control group (GC) extracted from Coelho (2000) research with normal men. The second group (GPA) was composed by 50 candidates to a handgun license as Civil Guards of a town in São Paulo State and the third (GPR), composed by 50 prisoners who committed armed crimes studied in Morana\'s (2003) research. The Rorschach protocols of these three groups were compared regarding the following indexes: Impulsivity (IMP), Adaptation to Reality (RMI), Conative Index (Con), Movement responses (RM) and Color responses (RC). The control group presented expected values for the IMP, while GPA and GPR\'s were higher. There were no significant differences between the three groups regarding RMI index, but they were found in the indexes that compose it (% F, % V and % A), either in total responses, as in responses to monochromatic and colored cards. There were no differences between the three groups in the conative index, in total and in mono and color sets. To RM, no significant differences were obtained between GPA and GPR, but a difference was found between the Control Group and the two other groups. There were no differences between GC and GPA in the RC, but both presented significant differences related to GPR. We concluded that these indicators, except for the conative index, can discriminate violent individuals, who should not be approved to obtain a handgun license for emotional reasons. We conclude also that these indicators can contribute to psychological evaluation of handgun license candidates.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-25T13:16:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 John Londerry Batista.pdf: 1663439 bytes, checksum: cba1b0998a6c5b880c6b77d8ac869ad3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-25T13:16:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 John Londerry Batista.pdf: 1663439 bytes, checksum: cba1b0998a6c5b880c6b77d8ac869ad3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-15 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / This work aims to understand the capacity to be alone from the psychoanalytic perspective of D. Winnicott, thus seeking the importance of this theoretical formulation for human maturation and, consequently, showing its relevance to the clinic. In our clinical experience, we find many people who fear being alone and are always in search of someone or something to do. And very often we listen to these individuals who, when alone, do not know what to do, feel lost, helpless, so they prefer to work without rest to feel alive. This led us to interest in the study of the capacity to be alone in the light of Winnicottian psychoanalytic thinking. For this, in view of the classical principle of hermeneutics, in which each concept of an author must be elucidated in the totality of his work, one sought the comprehension of the capacity to be alone in the whole psychoanalytic thought of D. W. Winnicott. In this way, we tried to contextualize the starting point of the Winnicottian psychoanalytic vision and global comprehension of its psychoanalytic perspective, emphasizing some concepts, such as: the human animal, the experience animal, the ego and id, his notion of Instinct and drive, that of false and true self, that of ego (egorelatedness), the paradox, that of favorable environment, and especially its fundamental theory of human emotional maturation. We emphasize these concepts, therefore, as they support the understanding of the study theme. From this, we sought to reflect on the ability to be alone and to explain the understanding of this original Winnicottian formulation, served as a clinical case attended and described by Winnicott himself, the so-called case B. From the theory of emotional maturity of DW Winnicott, the ability to be alone is associated with an important initial moment of human development: the essential solitude. With evolving from the integrative process of the individual, five fundamental themes need to be established for him to experience being alone, as ability: first, the status of a unitary identity; Acquisition of a personality and a personal identity (true self); Third, the organization of the egoic nucleus that makes possible to experience a personal environment; Fourth, personal development facilitated by the maternal environment and, finally, the recognition and incorporation of maternal (mother-environment) care as a good object. Thus, in Winnicott's perspective, being alone as a capacity is a highly sophisticated phenomenon, in which the individual enjoying emotional health can experience, with all confidence in himself and in the environment in which he is inserted, being with himself, calmly, Being able to rest, relax without losing contact with shared reality and, moreover, live their interpersonal relationships, be it friendship or loving, with personal sense, experiencing them as real and valiant / Este trabalho tem como objetivo compreender a capacidade de estar só desde a perspectiva psicanalítica de D. W. Winnicott, buscando, assim, a importância dessa formulação teórica para o amadurecimento humano e, consequentemente, mostrando a sua relevância para a clínica. Em nossa experiência clínica, encontramos muitas pessoas que temem estar sós e sempre estão em busca de alguém ou de algo para fazer. E, com muita frequência, escutamos desses indivíduos que, quando estão sós, não sabem o que fazer, sentem-se perdidos, desamparados, por isso, preferem trabalhar sem descanso para se sentirem vivos. Isso nos levou a nos interessar pelo estudo da capacidade de estar só à luz do pensamento psicanalítico winnicottiano. Para tanto, tendo em vista o princípio clássico da hermenêutica, no qual cada conceito de um autor deve ser elucidado na totalidade de sua obra, buscamos a compreensão da capacidade de estar só no conjunto do pensamento psicanalítico de D. W . Winnicott. Desse modo, procuramos contextualizar o ponto de partida da visão psicanalítica winnicottiana e compreensão global de sua perspectiva psicanalítica, enfatizando alguns conceitos, tais como: o de animal humano, o de experiência, o de ego e de id, a sua noção de instinto e de pulsão, o de falso e verdadeiro si-mesmo, o de relação de ego (egorelatedness), o paradoxo, o de ambiente favorável, e, especialmente, a sua fundamental teoria do amadurecimento emocional humano. Destacamos tais conceitos, pois, eles sustentam o entendimento do tema do estudo. A partir disso, procuramos refletir sobre a capacidade de estar só e, para explicitar a compreensão desta original formulação winnicottiana, servimos de um caso clínico atendido e descrito pelo próprio Winnicott, o denominado caso B. A partir da teoria do amadurecimento emocional de D. W. Winnicott, a capacidade de estar só se associa a um importante momento inicial do desenvolvimento humano: a solidão essencial. Com evoluir do processo integrativo do indivíduo, cinco temas fundamentais necessitam ser estabelecidos para que ele experimente o estar só como capacidade: primeiro, o estatuto de um identidade unitária, segundo, a aquisição de uma personalidade e uma identidade pessoal (si-mesmo verdadeiro), terceiro, a organização do núcleo egoico, que possibilita experimentar um ambiente pessoal, quarto, o desenvolvimento pessoal facilitado pelo ambiente materno e, por último, o reconhecimento e a incorporação dos cuidados maternos (mãe-ambiente) como um objeto bom. Assim, na perspectiva winnicottiana, o estar só, como capacidade, constitui um fenômeno altamente sofisticado, em que o indivíduo, gozando de saúde emocional, pode experimentar, com toda confiança em si e no ambiente em que está inserido, o estar consigo mesmo, tranquilamente, sendo capaz de descansar, relaxar sem perder o contato com a realidade compartilhada e, além disso, viver as suas relações interpessoais, seja de amizade ou amorosas, com sentido pessoal, experimentando-as como real e valorosas

Schools are increasingly expected to prevent and decrease violence, substance use, and other problem behaviors linked to academics and prepare students to be contributing members of society. One approach with proven success in promoting positive outcomes related to a broad range of student behaviors and personal characteristics is social-emotional learning, also known as positive youth development or social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs. Currently, little is known about the relationship between SECD and these outcomes in low-income, urban, minority populations. The present studies (a) examine key methodological design issues in conducting a cluster-randomized trial with such populations, and (b) assess whether an intervention designed to promote SECD was effective in improving the SECD developmental status of children from this population. Data for this study come from the Chicago cluster-randomized controlled trial (CRCT) of Positive Action (PA). The trial was longitudinal at the school level with a place-focused intent-to-treat design at the student level. This CRCT collected data on children in grades 3 through 8, for a total of 6 years and 8 data collection points. Manuscript #1 focuses on the design, sample, planned analyses, and a latent class analysis (LCA) of mobility patterns. Specifically, the setting and recruitment of schools is described, as well as the process by which schools were matched into pairs and randomized into PA or control, including the list of criteria for school eligibility and variables used for matching. Additionally, this paper thoroughly describes the primary analyses to test for program effects using three-level growth curve models (time nested within students nested within schools), as well as several sensitivity analyses that will also be conducted when evaluating this program. Further, this manuscript discusses secondary tests of meditation and moderation, which will assist in the understanding of how the program works (mediation) and for whom (moderation). Finally, this paper also provides several descriptive statistics and characteristics of the students and teachers in this sample. In terms of baseline equivalency, PA and control schools did not significantly differ on matching variables before or during the trial. Minimal differences were found on baseline reports from students, teachers, and parents; half of these differences favored PA students and half favored control students. Manuscript #2 focuses on the intervention effects on the student-, teacher-, and parent-reported social-emotional outcomes assessed during the Chicago CRCT, following the analytic procedures outlined in the first paper and focusing on the effectiveness of PA on social-emotional outcomes. Results indicate that PA had a significant effect on student self-reports of prosocial interactions, honesty, self-development, self-control, respect for parents and teachers, empathy, altruism, positive actions/feelings, negative moral center, and aggressive problem solving. Additionally, it was found that PA had marginal effects on teacher-reported responsibility. Minimal differences by gender were found; no differences by mobility status were found. Together, these two papers involved a sample of students in a high-risk setting; generating improvements can be particularly difficult in urban areas. The empirical evidence of effectiveness of a SECD program in a high-risk population, as demonstrated in the present study, should serve as a call to action for policymakers and school officials who are increasingly challenged to positively impact not only academic achievement, but also behavior and character development. / Graduation date: 2012