Social and emotional learning: a framework for promoting mental health and reducing risk behavior in children and youth.

Many programs have been developed to help schools enhance students' health and reduce the prevalence of drug use, violence, and high-risk sexual behaviors. How should educators choose among these? This article describes selection criteria based on theory, research, and best educational practice that identify key social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies and program features. The SEL competencies for students include 17 skills and attitudes organized into four groups: awareness of self and others; positive attitudes and values; responsible decision making; and social interaction skills. The 11 program features critical to the success of school-based SEL programs emphasize curriculum design, coordination with larger systems, educator preparation and support, and program evaluation. Developed by the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the SEL framework can be used to guide selection of research-based prevention programs that address health, substance abuse, violence prevention, sexuality, character, and social skills.

The detection of simulated malingering using a computerized category classification test.

A category classification test was used to differentiate between normal student control participants, students instructed to malinger a memory deficit, and amnesic patients. Controls (N = 44) and amnesic patients (N = 10) were instructed to do their best, while simulators of malingering (N = 43) were instructed to fake a memory deficit for credit and possible financial compensation. Participants studied a list of high distortions of a prototype dot pattern and were then asked to choose whether or not a new set of dot patterns (random patterns, high distortions, low distortions, and the prototype) belonged to the same category of dot patterns as studied. Malingerers performed significantly worse than normal controls and amnesic patients. A discriminant function analysis showed that the classification test can be used to correctly classify participants as simulated malingerers, controls, or amnesic patients significantly higher than chance. These results indicate that a category classification test can be used in the detection of simulated malingering and that some tests of implicit memory provide a potential supplement to standard forced choice tests in the detection of malingering.

The detection of simulated malingering using a computerized priming test.

A word completion priming test was used to differentiate between normal student control subjects and students instructed to malinger. Controls (n = 60) were instructed to do their best, while malingering subjects (n = 60) were instructed to fake a memory deficit for credit and possible financial compensation. Subjects initially rated and completed stems for words that had at least 10 possible completions. Thirty minutes later, subjects rated and completed stems for words that were either uniquely defined by the stem or could only be completed with a variation of the word. Simulated malingerers and controls differed significantly on response latencies (time to produce rated words-time to produce baseline words, 10 second time limit) and priming scores. Discriminant function analyses showed that as high as 92% of the controls could be correctly identified, and 73% of the malingerers could be correctly identified. These results indicate that priming tests can be used in the detection of malingering.