The present study explored variation in individual personality characteristics, termed "hardiness," among female elementary teachers who had differing levels of burnout despite high levels of occupational stress. One hundred thirty-four female elementary teachers completed the Teaching Events Stress Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, The Allienation Test, and the Internal-External Control Scale. Data also were collected on demographic variables, incidence of stress-related physical and mental illness, and coping activities. Teachers with high stress and low burnout were less alienated than were teachers with high stress and high burnout. The low burnout teachers chose more active types of coping activities than did the high burnout teachers.Incidence of stress-related physical illness was significantly correlated with level of stress, emotional exhaustion (burnout), and alienation. Implications for future research and school district interventions are discussed.

Viewing children's behavior from a systems perspective allows the school-based consultant an expanded perception of the contextual function of the behavior. The two key systems in a child's life, home and school, often overlap, and what occurs in one system can affect the child's behavior in the other system. By considering the relationships of the child to both home and school, a more holistic view of the child is obtained, and greater opportunity for family involvement is provided. This article explains the differences between systemic and linear approaches to behavior, and provides examples of how the school-based consultant can intervene from a systems perspective, using interviews, short-term family counseling, and teacher consultation. Issues and cautions about using a systemic approach are presented, and the need for data-based research is explored.This paper proposes to examine the therapeutic intervention from a family systems perspective, highlighting a number of issues related to this approach with specific implications for school-based mental health consultants. The literature on children's school problems has recognized the importance of family variables. Indeed, there seems to have been an increase in parents being actively involved in intervention efforts with their children, likely in part because of the requirements of Public Law 94-142. But how parents can be involved productively is still a matter of some debate (Kaufman, 1980). SYSTEMIC vs. LINEAR THINKINGThe traditional models used by school-based professionals to understand the behavior of children have tended to be linear in nature. These models, most commonly psychodynamic, phenomenological, and behavioral, typically project "straight line" thinking regarding behavior even while considering a number of facets of the problem situation. For example, a child's aggressive acting-out might be viewed psychodynamically as a reflection of poor impulse control coupled with hostility toward women (i.e., the teacher). Or the child's behavior could be understood from a behavioral viewpoint as being caused and maintained by reinforcing consequent events. From a phenomenological position, we might think in terms of the child having a poor.selfconcept, perceiving others as threatening, and believing that an aggressive response is required for self-protection. Parents and families could certainly be involved in relation to these positions. From a behavioral perspective, we would look at home contingencies for "good" behavior and how consistently the parents apply those contingencies. Psychodynamically, we would look to underlying parent-child issues (for example, of an oedipal nature), or for some personality development problems. From a phenomenological or self-theory posture, we would be concerned with the building of self-esteem at home through positive success experiences.Each of these positions is valid, given the logic of the frame of reference; but from a systems viewpoint, each would miss understanding the child's behavior in the most potentially ...

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While studies have revealed the widespread use of corporal punishment in families, it remains an area of some controversy among parents and professionals. When corporal punishment becomes an issue in a family, such as in suspected child abuse, the involved professionals have tended to view the situation in a linear, cause-effect fashion. This paper proposes that a family systems perspective of corporal punishment can cast the behavior in a more comprehensible light and offer some fruitful directions for educational or therapeutic help. Some case examples and different kinds of interventions are presented.

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