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The incidence of "pure" obsessive-compulsive disorders in the clinical population was found to be around 1.2 percent for a clinical sample record--stretching over a 2.5-year period--of around 2500 adolescents in a German child and adolescent psychiatry clinic. Over a 3-month period (time-frame) a sample of 350 new entries to the clinic were given a comprehensive series of questionnaires [Child Behaviour Checklist (YSR), Achenbach, 1991; Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R)] and clinical assessment measures of socio-psychological, medical and educational attitudes (Englert and Poustka, 1995). Two groups of low and high trait compulsive individuals were generated (using the Symptom Check List, SCL-90-R) and socio-demographic and individual differences examined between these groups. Females were more likely than males to display high compulsive scores. Self-injurious behaviour was higher among the high compulsive group. There was no difference found in cognitive functioning, nor in family functioning, between the low and high trait compulsive groups. Multiple regression analyses using trait compulsivity as a dimensional trait (outcome variable) revealed the significant determinants were anxiety, depression, aggressiveness, phobic anxiety and psychoticism. Furthermore, the SCL Scales most predictive of compulsivity were depression, anxiety, aggression, phobic anxiety and psychoticism. Almost one-half of our patients displayed marked or full recovery after treatment and another 42 percent showed partial improvement (relief of symptoms in terms of reduction of frequency and intensity). The implications for future research are discussed. (Contains 6 tables.)

Background: The outcomes of social inclusion and skills training programmes for pupils with special educational needs have been mixed. Programmes are generally based on research with mainstream samples yet it has been suggested that the social skills important for sociometric acceptance may be different for children who have special educational needs. Aims: The study aims to compare peer-assessed behavioural characteristics associated with sociometric status for included children who have moderate learning difficulties and their mainstream classmates. Sample: Mainstream classmates (N=867) of all the children ascertained as having Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) and included in mainstream middle schools (8?12 years) in one English county. Subgroups of rejected mainstream (n=38) and pupils with MLD (n=32) were further investigated. Method: Discriminant function analysis was carried out with peer assessment items as predictors of sociometric status group membership in the mainstream sample and contrasted with previously reported data from pupils with MLD in the same classes. Cluster analysis was used to identify behavioural subtypes within the rejected groups drawn from each sample. For pupils with MLD subtypes were validated using teacher assessments of social behaviour. Results: Systematic differences were identified across different analyses between the peer-assessed ehavioural characteristics associated with rejected sociometric status for pupils with MLD and for mainstream pupils. Conclusions: The appropriateness of generic social skills training programmes for promoting the social inclusion of pupils with MLD should be questioned and consideration given to rejected pupil subtypes.

Study examines the classes of variables identified in D. L. MacMillan and G. M. Morrison's (1984) multicomponent model for research on sociometric status in special education. Results are discussed with reference to social-exchange theory, as an integrative basis for research on children's sociometric status. Implications for mainstreaming practice are considered. (Author/GCP)

The authors evaluate a model suggesting that the performance of highly neurotic individuals, relative to their stable counterparts, is more strongly influenced by factors relating to the allocation of attentional resources. First, an air traffic control simulation was used to examine the interaction between effort intensity and scores on the Anxiety subscale of Eysenck Personality Profiler Neuroticism in the prediction of task performance. Overall effort intensity enhanced performance for highly anxious individuals more so than for individuals with low anxiety. Second, a longitudinal field study was used to examine the interaction between office busyness and Eysenck Personality Inventory Neuroticism in the prediction of telesales performance. Changes in office busyness were associated with greater performance improvements for highly neurotic individuals compared with less neurotic individuals. These studies suggest that highly neurotic individuals outperform their stable counterparts in a busy work environment or if they are expending a high level of effort. Keywords: neuroticism, resource allocation, performance, telesales, air traffic control

This article explains the importance of the validity of sociometric measurement tools and describes how the research is skewed when it is not. Topics include social acceptance, learning disability, and methodology.

A number of different types of sociometric classification systems have been developed to gauge children's social status within their school peer groups. Each type of classification method features differences in the sociometric instruments used to collect the data that provide the basis for classification and each type of classification method has variants. A study was conducted to compare sociometric status group classification methods in terms of distribution/classification differences between methods, test-retest reliability and construct validity. The results are discussed.

Accurate knowledge about suicide among 150 English students was not associated with age, sex, personality, or attitudes toward suicide.

ABSTRACT. Research on sociometric data collection and analysis methods is reviewed and implications for assessing the social status of mainstreamed children with learning difficulties are evaluated. Recommendations are made for [...]