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Discusses the implementation of action theory with adolescents in Israel making the transition to military life. Suggests that action theory offers a comprehensive strategy for counseling persons who are confronting a stressful episode in life through a more detailed and socially embedded collaboration between the counselor, client, and peers. (Contains 26 references.) (GCP)

Objective: This study evaluated the relationship between a family adversity index and DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) subtypes and associated behavior problems. The relationship of family adversity to symptoms and subtypes of ADHD was examined. Method: Parents and 206 children aged 7-13 completed diagnostic interviews and rating scales about socioeconomic status, parental lifetime psychiatric disorders, marital conflict, and stressful life events. Results: Children with ADHD combined type experienced more risk factors than community controls (p = .002) or children with ADHD predominantly inattentive type (p = .02). The families of children with ADHD combined type described more risk factors associated with family adversity than the families of children with ADHD inattentive type and the control group. Parent-rated symptoms of child inattention/disorganization were related uniquely to the adversity index score independently of conduct disorder symptoms. Children's perceptions of marital conflict were independently related to inattention and hyperactivity behaviors as rated by parents and teachers after control of all other risk factors. Oppositional defiant symptoms were independently related to marital conflict and maternal psychopathology, whereas conduct disorder symptoms were uniquely related to low socioeconomic status and maternal psychopathology. Conclusions: Family adversity is related to ADHD combined type in children and may be related specifically to ADHD symptoms in addition to conduct disorder symptoms.

Interviews with four adults over 65 in Learning in Retirement Institutes explored life events, their experience of retirement, and the impact of institute participation. Recurring themes were personal growth, self-esteem, contribution to society, and empowerment. (Contains 22 references.) (SK)

Describes how Taylor's life experiences shaped her writing. Discusses nine of her books, what influenced them, and the context in which they were written. (SG)

Investigated hypothesized reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent maladjustment using data from 6-year, prospective longitudinal study. Found that from seventh to twelfth grades, stressful life events, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors were reciprocally interrelated over time. Found that stressful life events at one point predicted delinquent behaviors one year later, which significantly predicted stressful life events a year after that, and vice versa. (Author/KB)

This article describes changes in lifestyle of adults with intellectual disabilities after moving from institutional to community residential service provision in Queensland, Australia. Evidence is presented validating the advantages of this type of service provision for residents with an intellectual disability, including the case study of one individual following deinstitutionalization. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This essay discusses how Maude Adams influenced James M. Barrie's creative process and became his inspiration. Set change theory is underscored as a cognitive explanation for Barrie's illumination. The psychoanalytic theory of transference is proposed as an underlying mechanism for facilitating the change of mental set during the incubation stage. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Interviewed elementary school teachers of culturally diverse students to explore the relationship between life experience and pedagogy. Teachers' pivotal life experiences focused on teacher and student relationships. Teachers had fashioned their teaching styles and practices after their own backgrounds and had discovered the duality of personal and professional experiences.(SM)

A study examined career aspirations of 15 girls (ages 14-19) with behavior disorders and the contribution of life experiences. Results indicate participants were highly engaged with their school-supported vocational experiences, family cohesion had a significant effect on career aspirations, and participants believed they had little control over their lives. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This article explores the advancement of gifted girls in the past 25 years and argues that the problem of underachievement of talented females continues to exist. The diversity of gifted women's creativity, their need to engage in meaningful work, and their need to balance work and family is discussed. (Contains references.) (CR)

Five first-hand Web page accounts of unusual sensory perceptual experiences written by persons with high-functioning autism were selected for qualitative analysis. Four core categories emerged: turbulent sensory perceptual experiences; coping mechanisms; enjoyable sensory perceptual experiences; and awareness of being different, suggesting they experienced distress and enjoyment from sensory perceptual experiences. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Individuals have been theorized to develop anaclitic and introjective depression to the extent that they may be characterized as dependent and self-critical, respectively. Studied whether suicidal behavior could also be reliably broken down into two distinctive types. Sixty-four undergraduate students who had attempted suicide were interviewed, and the lethality of their attempts was assessed with the Risk-Rescue Rating scale. (Contains 42 references and 3 tables.) (Author/JBJ)

This study examined influences of maternal HIV on concerns among inner-city minority families. Findings indicated that beyond concerns reported by early adolescent children of HIV-negative mothers, concerns of children of HIV-positive mothers included mothers' sickness and death, adult responsibilities, and uncertainty about their futures. HIV-positive mothers' concerns included stigma and children assuming adult roles. Although early adolescents and mothers communicated about concerns, the quality of those discussions was unclear. (Author/KB)

Examined autonomy and individuation levels within financial, residential, romantic, and family formation domains among 17- to 27-year-olds in a community-based longitudinal study. Found that subgroup differences related to family socioeconomic status, parental divorce, gender, or race were not generally attributable to educational enrollment. Both within and between domains, many individuals showed dramatic changes in assumption of adult roles, returning to more dependent, other-determined roles for short or extended periods. (Author/KB)

A theoretical model was examined linking early adolescent interpersonal relatedness and self-definition, autonomous and controlled regulation, and negative and positive life events. Findings indicated that self-criticism predicted less positive events, whereas efficacy predicted more positive events. Effects were fully mediated by absence and presence, respectively, of autonomous motivation. Controlled motivation, predicted by self-criticism and maladaptive neediness, did not predict negative events. Findings illustrate the centrality of protective, pleasure-related processes. (Author/KB)

This interview with Annemarie Roeper, the co-founder of the Roeper School and the "Roeper Review," highlights her views on gifted education, the influences on her thinking, her educational background, her beliefs on the development of the self, the creation of the Roeper School, and the development of the Roeper Review. (Contains 4 references.) (CR)

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health on 11,506 high school students were used to test a gendered and age-graded sequential stress theory in which delinquency can play an additive and intervening role in adolescents' movement from early anger through rebellious or aggressive forms of behavior to later depressive symptoms and, especially for males, drinking problems. (Contains 73 references.) (Author/SV)

Compared conceptions of the transition to adulthood among African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and white, European Americans. Found wide support for individualistic criteria for adulthood among the three ethnic groups, but each held culturally distinctive criteria, and all three endorsed collectivistic criteria more widely than European Americans did. Participants who were older, from lower SES families, and had become parents were more likely to feel they had reached adulthood. (Author/KB)

Explored the role of rites of passage in emerging adulthood among Mormon college students. Found that the majority supported individualistic criteria for adulthood, but most also believed that rites of passage specific to their religion were necessary to become an adult. Determined that emerging adulthood is a distinct period of the life course for Mormons but is in a shortened and more structured form shaped by religious beliefs. (Author/KB)

Studied the effects of parental bonding and cognitive coping in the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in 1,310 adolescents in a vocational education school. Findings show the importance of parental bonding and the even greater importance of cognitive coping strategies in preventing depressive symptoms. (SLD)

Explored young adults' autobiographical memories of their first consumption of cigarettes using a form of life history. Analysis of 276 college students' first-person essays indicated that the first-use experience was a symbolically significant and enduring life event. Participants provided rich, detailed recollections about the contextual nature of the first smoking act and the influences and outcomes associated with the event. (SM)

In a study of French-speaking adolescents (n=547), five measures designed to examine psychological well being found that body image, self-esteem, and negative stressful life events mediate the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Further analysis of a subsample who recently transitioned to high school also found these factors mediating the relationship between pubertal status and depressive symptoms. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

In this article, a gifted student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) describes his difficulties in preschool, elementary school, junior high, high school, and college. An analysis by an Advanced Placement English teacher follows each description. A list of suggestions for working with gifted students with ADHD is provided. (Contains references.) (CR)

A study investigated the extent to which alternate assessment scores for 41 12th-graders in Kentucky's Alternate Portfolio Program for students with significant disabilities correlated with a measure of post-school outcomes approximately one year after completing school. No significant relationship was found between these two measures. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Using 7 years of sequential data from the Family Health Study for 762 subjects aged 11 to 16 years in year 1, estimated a hierarchical growth curve model that emphasized the effects of age, life events, gender, and family cohesion on self-esteem. Results show a curvilinear relationship between age and self-esteem, suggesting that self-esteem is a dynamic, rather than static, construction in adolescence. (SLD)

One Chinese preschool uses the school ecology to address students' culture, prior knowledge, and social experience, thus enhancing learning. The ecology focuses on a theme of love and reflects children's life experiences and the local culture. The program develops all children's potential. It coordinates drawing, speaking, and thinking, prepares children for new concepts, and uses cross-curricular instruction. (SM)

Using data from the Current Population Survey and a multivariate approach, compared living arrangements of immigrant children to those of U.S.-born white children with U.S.-born parents. Findings show the "downward assimilation" among some second- and third-generation immigrant children fits a theory of segmented assimilation. Discusses implications for children in single parent families. (SLD)

Assesses traumatic experience symptomatology, resiliency factors, and stress among young adults who had experienced alcohol within their family of origin. Results indicated adult children of alcoholics had more self-reported stress, more difficulty initiating the use of mediating factors in response to life events, and more symptoms of personal dysfunction than the control group. (Contains 39 references and 2 tables.) (GCP)

Describes a study conducted at Athabasca University (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) that investigated the relationship between persistence, life events, external commitments, and resiliency in undergraduate distance education. Used scores from the Resiliency Attitudes Scale (RAS), the Life Events Inventory, and a questionnaire relating to external commitments to form the independent variables. (Author/LRW)

Presents a model of developmental adaptation that explains the process of adaptation to life stress on the basis of adverse childhood events and paternal care, and internal and external resources available for adaptation to current life events. The appraisal of past and current events, as well as coping behaviors, are hypothesized to influence the health and well-being of individuals. (Author/SD)

Generalizes the corporate mission, values, strategy, tactics model and applies it to basic personal life questions based on experiences at the Performance Development group of Walgreens. (Author/LRW)

In this study, critical events in the career development of 26 Finnish Academy professors describe the trajectories of their achievement and success. Primary themes included mentors, academic years abroad, strong interest in the domain, and luck. Also described are transformative themes. Personal stories illustrate the individualistic nature of scientific achievement. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

A study investigated critical incidents in the professional and personal lives of 11 gifted Finnish female scientists. All made important life choices that promoted their talent and career development. The majority have also made some compromises related to their scientific interests and careers, as well as personal compromises. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Contends that communication defines humanity and measures all media practice. Proposes that media practice is the quintessential expression and embodiment of contemporary humanity. Explains that in order to make sense of contemporary human experience, a new view of humanity must be developed. Concludes that dichotomies, such as those between nature and culture and technology and humanity, are false. (PM)

Examined changes in sense of family obligation (FO) among an ethnically diverse group of 745 Americans in transition from secondary school into young adulthood. Found that FO increased for all young adults, with slight variations according to ethnic and financial backgrounds. Implications of FO for employment and educational persistence depended on age and high school academic performance. A sense of FO related to more positive emotional well-being. (Author/KB)

Examined 91 first-year female students' perceptions of their pre-college and new collegiate friendships. Found that they have difficulty letting go of pre-college friendships and investing in new friendships. (EV)

Used prospective life history data from the National Child Development Study of Great Britain to examine family life risk factors and how their effects on teen childbearing risk varied, depending on the childhood age at which they were experienced. Demonstrated that socioeconomic status, family stress, and parental involvement in education during early childhood significantly contribute to the understanding of teen childbearing risk. (Author/KB)

Open communication and processing of primary attachment emotions are crucial when family systems change. Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) can be helpful by encouraging family members to express primary emotions. Expression then fosters renegotiation of bonds and clarification of attachment concerns. Case examples illustrate how EFT can be applied to family life cycle stages. (BF)