There is an increasing acceptance within applied psychology of a socio-cognitive model, based on the belief that social behaviour is determined by expectations and beliefs and is under the control of mediating processes such as self-concept or reflective ability. Within this model children with behaviour problems are assumed to have maladaptive beliefs and expectations and to be deficient in appropriate skills. Treatment of such children is directed at changing the mediating cognitions. The research reported examined four components of the model thought to be of especial clinical relevance for educational psychologists. These were social problem solving skills, self-concept, attributions for educational success and failure and good and bad behaviour, and perceptions of potentially stressful situations. Within each area the performance of a group of non-problem children was studied to examine the effects of age, sex and ability on children's responses. In addition two groups of problem children, both from special educational settings, were compared with the non-problem chldren to determine the extent to which maladjusted children show systematic differences in mediating structures, and whether existing assessment techniques can contribute to an appropriate clinical appraisal. Differences between problem and non-problem groups were found in all four areas but the pattern of differences did not provide unqualified support for the existence of general mediational deficits. Such deficits were thought to be more specific than generally assumed. Existing measures in all areas were found to be problematic. The implications of these findings for the assessment of problem behaviour and for a model of maladjustment behaviour were considered.

This study was designed to determine the effects of play therapy on the adjustment of children identified as socially and psychologically maladjusted. The effects of play therapy on six variables were investigated. Those variables were: social adjustment, personal adjustment, self-concept, school-related self-concept, behavioral maturity as rated by the teacher, and inferred self-concept as rated by the parent. The general nature of the research hypotheses was that play therapy would effect positive change in the children on the six variables. The results of the study led to the conclusion that during a fifteen-week period play therapy effects statistically significant change in social adjustment, but not in personal adjustment, self-concept, or behavior as perceived by others. Implications of the study based on observations of the experimenter were that all changes made during the therapy process were not reflected by the tests which were available. It was recommended that further research on the effects of play therapy place special emphasis on the selection or development of instruments to measure changes made during therapy.

The purpose of this study is three-fold: 1. To determine the types, causes, and effects of maladjustments found in elementary children. 2. To suggest means of helping maladjusted children adjust themselves to a complex life. 3. To leave data on file for future reference and the use of future elementary teachers who will be confronted with the problems of maladjusted children.

The purpose of this study is to try to determine some of the leading causes of juvenile delinquency in Stephens County so as to recommend methods of prevention and treatment.

The diagnostic value of children's play was investigated. The question explored was "Can maladjusted children be discriminated from adjusted children through observation of their play therapy behavior?" The play of 15 maladjusted and 15 adjusted children 5 to 10 years of age was compared during an initial 36-minute play therapy session. Three scales of the Play Therapy Observational Instrument (PTOI)—emotional discomfort, social inadequacy, and use of fantasy-- were used to rate the children's play. The children in the maladjusted group were referred by their parents for counseling and their teachers reported the children had exhibited one or more problem behaviors indicative of emotional disturbance. The children in the adjusted group were recommended by their teachers as exhibiting none of the problem behaviors and their parents did not believe their children needed counseling. Discriminant function equations predicted correct group membership for 23 of the 30 children during the second 12-minute time segment and for the entire play session. The analysis showed the play behaviors on the emotional discomfort scale of the PTOI items discriminated maladjusted and adjusted children. During the second and third 12-minute time segments and when all three time segments were combined, maladjusted children's play expressed significantly more dysphoric feelings, conflictual themes, play disruptions, and negative self-disclosing statements than were expressed by the adjusted children (p < .01, .03, .01, respectively). There were no significant differences between the two groups on play behaviors measured by the social inadequacy play and use of fantasy play scales of the PTOI. Positive correlations were found between the children's age and social inadequacy play behaviors and between the social status of the parents' occupations and social inadequacy play behaviors. The results also suggested a negative correlation between the social status of parents' occupations and the use of fantasy play scores. A negative correlation was present between the use of fantasy and the social inadequacy play scores.

The purpose of the study is to discover the maladjusted children in one first-grade classroom; to diagnose the behavior problems of the pupils by means of the case study procedure; to present methods of remedial treatment to eliminate the maladjustment; to set up a guidance program that will help individual maladjusted children adjust themselves; to provide information that will he useful to teachers in dealing with maladjusted children.