Bonnie Doren

School-to-Work Components That Predict Postschool Success for Students with and without Disabilities:

This article examines recent efforts to improve the school-to-work transition process for all students. This study examined the extent to which the instructional components and skill outcomes associated with school-to-work programs actually predict better postschool outcomes for students with and without disabilities. Findings provide general support for the school-based and work-based instructional components envisioned as part of a comprehensive school-to-work program—-particularly an emphasis on academic skills, work experience while in school, and continuing support for 1 year postschool. Recommendations emphasize building school-to-work programs for all students in a manner that serves each student equally well.

Self-Determination and Student Involvement in Standards-Based Reform

Promoting self-determination has become “best practice” in the education of students with disabilities. We synthesize the decades work in this area as a foundation for considering issues pertaining to promoting self-determination in light of the current educational context. We particularly examine the role of promoting self-determination in light of federal standards-based reform initiatives. We conclude that school reform efforts provide an opportunity to infuse instruction in self-determination into the education programs of all students, including students with disabilities. Many state and local standards include a focus on component elements of self-determined behavior and promoting self-determination enables students to perform more effectively within other content domains. The importance of personnel preparation to enable teachers to promote self-determination is discussed.

Predicting Participation in Postsecondary Education for School Leavers with Disabilities

This study examined predictors of participation in postsecondary education for school leavers with disabilities, using instruments, procedures, and logistic regression analyses that were used in an original study. Both studies found six predictors to be associated with participation in postsecondary education: (a) high scores on a functional achievement inventory, (b) completing instruction successfully in certain relevant curricular areas, (c) participating in transition planning (d) parent satisfaction and (e) student satisfaction with instruction received by the student, and (f) parent perception that the student no longer needed help in certain critical skill areas.

Transition to Employment: Role of the Family in Career Development

This study investigated the role of the family in career development and postschool employment outcomes for young adults with learning disabilities. Using a multiple-case study design, the authors examined a set of family structural and process variables. Fifty-nine in-depth interviews were conducted with young adults, parents, and school staff. Family structure was not directly linked to employment outcomes, but family socioeconomic status was related to initial career decision making and vocational identity development. Family process variables, including family relationships, involvement, support and advocacy, career aspirations, and intentional career-related activities worked in combination to form 3 patterns of family interaction labeled (a) advocates, (b) protectors, and (c) removed. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Mood, recall, and selectivity effects in normal college students

In three experiments we explored the relation between normal variation in depressed mood and memory in college students. Subjects read and subsequently recalled stories whose protagonists experienced good, bad, and neutral events. Contrary to predictions arising independently from capacity theory and from schema theory, the recall of depressed and nondepressed subjects did not differ in either overall level or in affective content. The results are not easily handled by a conceptualization of depression, tied to schema theory, which proposes that negative cognitions are important for the initiation and maintenance of depression. The general usefulness of induction procedures in research on the depressive syndrome is discussed.

Waging a Living: Career Development and Long-Term Employment Outcomes for Young Adults with Disabilities:

Youth with disabilities face many barriers in making the transition from high school to stable long-term employment. Researchers used case study methodology to examine the career development process and postschool employment outcomes for a sample of individuals with disabilities who were working in living wage occupations 7 to 10 years after exiting high school. Key influences on initial post-high school placement included (a) participation in work experience, (b) transition services and supports, and (c) family support and expectations. Ongoing career advancement was supported by a combination of factors including (a) participation in postsecondary education or training; (b) steady work experiences; and (c) a set of personal attributes, including self-efficacy and persistence. These themes were present across all participants, but specific experiences and outcomes varied by gender.

PREDICTING THE ARREST STATUS OF ADOLESCENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN TRANSITION

The purposes of this study were to (a) explore predictors of arrest status with a sample of adolescents with disabilities while in school and (b) examine whether predictors of in-school arrest status would also predict arrest status 1 year out of school. Student and parent interviews were conducted while students were still in school and then 1 year after leaving school. Logistic regression analyses revealed an association between demonstrating lower personal/social-achievement skills and being arrested. In addition, gender and disability status each was associated with being arrested: Males with disabilities were more likely than females with disabilities to be arrested sometime in their school career and 1 year out of school; individuals identified with serious emotional disturbance (SED) or specific learning disabilities (SLD) were more likely to be arrested sometime in their school career and 1 year out of school than individuals with disabilities who were not identified as SED or SLD. Furthermore, being arrested at least once while in school was a powerful predictor of being arrested 1 year out of school. Finally, persons who were identified as SLD and who had dropped out of school were substantially more likely to be arrested 1 year out of school than persons with disabilities with only one of these characteristics.

Employment Inequality Revisited: Predictors of Better Employment Outcomes for Young Women with Disabilities in Transition

Young women with disabilities are more likely to experience poorer postschool employment outcomes than young men with disabilities. This study explores factors associated with better employment outcomes for both young women and young men with disabilities, and factors associated uniquely with better outcomes for young women. Findings indicate that two factors predict better outcomes for both young women and young men with disabilities: having two or more job experiences while in high school, and having used the self-family-friend network to find their postschool job. Females who came from a family with a low household annual income, who had low self-esteem at the time of exit from high school, and who fit both of these characteristics were much less likely to be competitively employed out of school than females who did not fit these characteristics. These variables did not affect the employment status of males in the study. Implications for both practice and research are discussed.

Predictors of Victimization Experiences of Adolescents with Disabilities in Transition

This study explored predictors of victimization experiences on a sample of adolescents with disabilities while in school and 1 year after leaving school, through phone interviews of students and parents. Logistic regression analyses revealed that people with serious emotional disturbance who demonstrated low personal/social achievement skills were more likely to experience victimization sometime in their school career than were people with other disabilities and higher personal/social skills. Variables affecting victimization rates 1 year out of school included prior victimization (while in school), gender (females were more likely to be victimized), and arrest record of people with serious emotional disturbance after leaving school.

Crossing the Great Divide: Predicting Productive Engagement for Young Women with Disabilities:

Recent research suggests that young women with disabilities are less likely then young men to be engaged productively in postschool employment and education activities. This study explored factors associated with better employment and education outcomes for both young women and young men with disabilities, and factors associated uniquely with better outcomes for young women. Findings indicated that three factors predicted better outcomes for both young women and young men with disabilities: student self-esteem at time of exit from school, continuing instructional needs in personal-social skills, and continuing instructional needs in vocational skills. Three variables predicted productive engagement for the young women with disabilities in our study. Young women who experienced early parenting responsibilities or who came from a family with a low annual household income were less likely to be engaged in productive work and education activities. Young women with disabilities were more likely to be productively engaged when these young women and their parents agreed on the students postschool work and education goals. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.