To answer the question of whether teaching social and emotional skills to foster social-emotional development can help schools extend their role beyond the transfer of knowledge, the authors conducted a meta-analytical review of 75 recently published studies that reported the effects of universal, school-based social, emotional, and/or behavioral (SEB) programs. The analyzed interventions had a variety of intended outcomes, but the increase in social skills and decrease in antisocial behavior were most often reported. Although considerable differences in efficacy exist, the analysis demonstrated that overall beneficial effects on all seven major categories of outcomes occurred: social skills, antisocial behavior, substance abuse, positive self-image, academic achievement, mental health, and prosocial behavior. Generally, immediate effects were stronger than delayed effects, with the exception of substance abuse, which showed a sleeper effect. Limitations of the analysis and moderators of the effectiveness of SEB programs in schools are discussed in the final section of the article. C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychology in the Schools

This article analyses secular trends in suicide and parasuicide and provides support for the hypothesis that a true increase in these phenomena has occurred since the early 1950s up to at least the early or mid‐1980s among the adolescent and young adult populations of Europe and North America, particularly young men. One of the potential causal mechanisms for this development, increasing secular trends in and lowering of age of onset for depressive disorders, is examined. Although it is difficult to assess whether the earlier age of onset observed for depressive disorders is reflected in an increase of suicide mortality at a lower age, there is indirect evidence to suggest that this might be the case. Studies show that lifetime parasuicide prevalence rates for the general population do not exceed and sometimes even remain below the rates for adolescents. Assuming that recall of past episodes remains constant throughout the life span, one possible explanation for this finding is an earlier age of the first‐ever parasuicidal act. Since parasuicide is an important precursor of suicide, a lowering of age for first‐ever parasuicides can be expected to lower the age for suicides and increase the overall lifetime risk.

This article reviews ihe scope of suicide and atiempted suicide as public health problems from an international perspective. Socio-demographic trends are analyzed and explanatory theories for international differences proposed. Suicide and attempted Fuicide can be prevented, but the development and evaluation of effective large-scale prevention programs is still in its infancy. Inadequacies in current programs across the world has promoted the establishment of national Task Forces on Suicide Prevention in the United States, Canada and The Netherlands, as well as a WHO strategy on suicide prevention. These groups have formulated comprehensive strategies for the prevention of suicide. The main components of these strategies are: -Design and implementation of national research programs; -The improvement of services; ~ The provision of information and training on suicide prevention i o relevant professional groups, organizations and the general public; and ~ Formulation of strategies and techniques to deal with special risk groups. The added recommendations are seen as important steps in translating a comprehensive national plan to prevent suicide into clinical and research programs that can be effectively implemented to prevent these tragedies around the world.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This article presents the development of and data on the dimensional structure, reliability, and validity of 2 new inventories for assessing different aspects of fear of flying: the Flight Anxiety Situations questionnaire (FAS), which assesses anxiety related to flying experienced in different situations, and the Flight Anxiety Modality questionnaire (FAM), which measures symptom modalities in which anxiety in flight situations is expressed. Two initial questionnaires were constructed from multiple sources. Factor analytic studies were conducted to assess their internal structure, and the final versions were examined in a sample of 746 patients who experienced fear of flying. A principal-components analysis investigated the optimal dimensional structure in 2 randomly created subsamples. A 3-factor solution for the FAS and a 2-factor solution for the FAM were revealed. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were good to excellent. Moderately strong correlations between the subscales suggest sufficient factorial specificity and convergent validity. The subscales were sensitive to change.

No abstract