Using positive peer reporting to improve the social interactions and acceptance of socially isolated adolescents in residential care: a systematic replication.
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We studied how rewarding youth in residential care for publicly reporting positive social behavior influenced the social interactions and acceptance of their most socially isolated peers. Results showed that the intervention resulted in substantial improvements in social interactions by the previously isolated peers. Peer acceptance ratings also improved for 2 of the target youths. (+info)
The social development of children with severe learning difficulties: a case study of an inclusive education initiative between two primary schools in Oxfordshire, UK.
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This case study of primary age children in two linked Oxfordshire schools investigated the contribution of staff attitudes and practices to inequalities in education, and contrasted the socialisation of children with similar learning difficulties in different educational placements. Participant observation of a group of children and carers in a special school suggested areas of more rigorous inquiry. Structured observations compared this group with a matched sample of children with similar learning difficulties in a mainstream setting. Staff on both sites were invited to comment on findings arising from analysed data in order to identify attitudes and policies which might account for the observed differences in practice. The study was engendered by experience of differences arising from educational placement. The theoretical stance arose through reviewing previous work, predominantly the debate on inclusive education, and the wider issues of human rights and equal opportunities embedded in the social development of people with disabilities. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is established in some depth. The project was designed to investigate issues of the wider social perspective, by conducting a micro-study of one model of educational inclusion whose outcomes have direct relevance to those issues. (+info)
Teaching basic skills to children with Down syndrome and developmental delays: the relative efficacy of interactive modeling with social rewards for benchmark achievements and passive observation.
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In interventions attempting to remediate deficiencies in the skills repertoire of developmentally delayed children, no less than in medical interventions, it may be fairly said that less is more. That is, the instructor should intervene as little as possible both from the perspective of efficient instructional practice and from time allotment concerns which modern classrooms face. Evidence from this laboratory has indicated that in skills training for children with severe developmental delays the passive observation of a model demonstrating the target skill is more effective than interactive modeling involving hand-over-hand instruction with verbal prompting. We have considered the role of verbal prompting in interactive modeling and have found that prompts intended to provide typical social reinforcers are counterproductive (e.g., Biederman, Davey, Ryder, & Franchi, 1994). The present study examines the efficacy of hand-over-hand modeling with response-contingent verbal prompts. In such instruction, tasks are divided into identifiable sequential components, and the achievement of each component is marked by the delivery of some form of verbal prompt. In a within-subjects design, children were trained in one skill with response-contingent verbal prompts and in a second skill with simple passive observation. A separate group of children were trained with less rigorous verbal prompting in one skill and with passive observation in a second. Consistent with previous research, we found that passive modeling was overall significantly more effective than hand-over-hand modeling and moreover that passive modeling was significantly more effective than hand-over-hand modeling with response-contingent prompting. Our evidence therefore indicates that current classroom practice in training basic skills to children with severe developmental delays may require reassessment in that simple observation of modeled skills appears to be more effective than more labor-intensive instruction. (+info)
The specificity of disrupted processes in families of adult children of alcoholics.
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Children of alcoholics (COAs) have been characterized as an at-risk population in part, because of the dysfunctional family environments that disrupt psychosocial development among offspring exposed to parental alcoholism. This study examined the specificity of problematic family environments to children of alcoholics vs children exposed to other significant family stressors that included parental death, unemployment, separation, divorce, or major illness. University students completed self-report measures of family stressors, family relationship problems, family communication quality, family conflict, and relationship with parents. Based on a family stressor checklist, 20 students exposed only to parental alcoholism and no other family stressors were compared to several other groups exposed to specific family stressors, and to 50 control subjects who had reported no family stressors. Results showed that students from families where a parent is or was an alcoholic, and where there were no other family stressors, recall disturbed family relations no more commonly than students specifically exposed to other family stressors such as parental divorce, death, or major illness, and no more commonly than those who reported no family stressors. Further analyses suggest that the disruption of COAs' family environments may be explained by their increased likelihood of experiencing additional family stressors that can have a disruptive effect, such as parental separation, divorce and unemployment. (+info)
Latency to paroxetine-induced anxiolysis in the rat is reduced by co-administration of the 5-HT(1A) receptor antagonist WAY100635.
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We report here the use of rat high-light social interaction to model the temporal anxiolytic/antidepressant effects of SSRIs seen in the clinic. Compared to vehicle controls, 21, but not 14, days of paroxetine treatment (3 mg kg(-1), p.o., daily) produced a marked increase in rat social interaction (Vehicle=71.3+/-7.3 s; Paroxetine=116.7+/-14.7 s; P<0.01) with no concurrent effect on locomotor activity, consistent with anxiolysis. To assess whether concurrent 5-HT(1A) receptor blockade reduces the time to onset of anxiolysis seen with paroxetine alone (21 days), rats were implanted with osmotic minipumps to continuously infuse the 5-HT(1A) receptor antagonist WAY100635 (1 mg kg(-1) day(-1), s.c., 7 days) alone or in combination with paroxetine (3 mg kg(-1), p.o., daily, 7 days), prior to anxiety testing. Paroxetine (Veh/Par=61.9+/-7.9 s) or WAY100635 (WAY/Veh=71.6+/-4.7 s) alone, had no effect on social interaction time compared to vehicle treated controls (Veh/Veh=76.4+/-4.9 s), whilst coadministration of WAY100635 with paroxetine, produced a marked elevation in social interaction (WAY/Par=149.3+/-16.8 s; P<0.01) relative to all other groups with no concurrent change in locomotor activity. In contrast, acute administration of WAY100635 (0.03 mg kg(-1), s.c.) with paroxetine (3 mg kg(-1), p.o.) did not alter any behavioural measure, suggesting that the anxiolysis induced by the combination after 7 days is attributable to a CNS adaptive response. This data demonstrates that coadministration of a 5-HT(1A) receptor antagonist with paroxetine markedly reduces the latency to anxiolysis, in the rat. This study supports the use of the rat social interaction test to further delineate adaptive changes in the CNS responsible for the anxiolytic/antidepressant action of SSRIs seen in humans. (+info)
Caring relationships: an investment in health?
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Although the US has created the most expensive, technologically advanced medical system in the world, health outcomes are not commensurate with investment. The author argues that providers and policy makers have neglected the effect of human relationships on health, citing research showing that better relationships lead to better health. The author concludes with recommendations for improving public health by supporting society's investments in social capital. (+info)
Fairness versus reason in the ultimatum game.
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In the Ultimatum Game, two players are offered a chance to win a certain sum of money. All they must do is divide it. The proposer suggests how to split the sum. The responder can accept or reject the deal. If the deal is rejected, neither player gets anything. The rational solution, suggested by game theory, is for the proposer to offer the smallest possible share and for the responder to accept it. If humans play the game, however, the most frequent outcome is a fair share. In this paper, we develop an evolutionary approach to the Ultimatum Game. We show that fairness will evolve if the proposer can obtain some information on what deals the responder has accepted in the past. Hence, the evolution of fairness, similarly to the evolution of cooperation, is linked to reputation. (+info)
Friendship as a moderating factor in the pathway between early harsh home environment and later victimization in the peer group. The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group.
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Two prospective investigations of the moderating role of dyadic friendship in the developmental pathway to peer victimization are reported. In Study 1, the preschool home environments (i.e., harsh discipline, marital conflict, stress, abuse, and maternal hostility) of 389 children were assessed by trained interviewers. These children were then followed into the middle years of elementary school, with peer victimization, group social acceptance, and friendship assessed annually with a peer nomination inventory. In Study 2, the home environments of 243 children were assessed in the summer before 1st grade, and victimization, group acceptance, and friendship were assessed annually over the next 3 years. In both studies, early harsh, punitive, and hostile family environments predicted later victimization by peers for children who had a low number of friendships. However, the predictive associations did not hold for children who had numerous friendships. These findings provide support for conceptualizations of friendship as a moderating factor in the pathways to peer group victimization. (+info)