Maria J Elias
Biographic Data
| ID | 934739 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maria J Elias |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maria J |
| FAMILY NAME | Elias |
| SIGNATURE | ELIAS M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1218-7840 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 49 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 253 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 49 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Strengthening Schools and Students Against Historically Fueled Violence, Bias, and Unkindness, With a Focus on School Psychologists Among the Pupil Services Professions
Schools have not been sheltered from the history of extremist and race-based violence in the United States, regardless of efforts to prevent this history from being taught to students. Although the focus of this commentary has been on school psychologists, ensuring that positive school culture and climate norms are implemented without exception or exemption is a shared responsibility among school counselors, social workers, psychiatrists, nurses,…
Social–emotional competencies and character are at the foundation of education regardless of technology
Innovative technologies like AI need to be brought into education in ways that will support best pedagogical practices. Examining the history of adoption of innovations shows that their impact often is hard to predict. Future use of AI must be accompanied by clarity about the educational purposes that AI is intended to enhance. Key to ensuring that AI’s impact is positive is recognizing that AI is operator dependent, and the social–emotional and …
Longitudinal associations between well-being and academic achievement throughout the Covid-19 pandemic: Testing the moderating role of academic stress among first-generation and continuing college stu…
First-generation and ethnic-racial minoritized college students experience greater academic disparities, but limited work has focused on intersectional experiences underlying academic achievement in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic over time. The current longitudinal study examined the associations between various forms of well-being (i.e., emotional, psychological, and social) at T1 (Time 1; acute pandemic) predicting academic achie…
Cultural Socialization and Civic Engagement Among Racially Diverse Students of Color: Examining Ethnic-Racial Identity Components as Mediators and Neighborhood Racial Composition as a Moderator
Understanding the factors that promote civic engagement among emerging adult college students is crucial, especially considering its association with positive youth development. The current study examined ethnic-racial identity (ERI) exploration, resolution, and affirmation as mediators of the relation between cultural socialization and civic engagement. Additionally, the extent to which students were raised in predominantly minoritized neighborh…
Exploring social‐emotional learning, school climate, and social network analysis
There is currently limited research on student peer leadership in the social‐emotional literature. This paper used exploratory methods of social network analysis to understand the structure of school peer relationships, peer leadership, and school climate. Self‐report measures of perceptions of peer leadership and climate were given to students during the 2016–2017 school year. Data collected from a peer leadership survey were used to calculate c…
The impact of school climate in social‐normative expectations in low and high SES schools
This study examined the associations among race/ethnicity, school climate, and social‐normative expectations (expectations about peers' future achievement) in high and low socioeconomic status (SES) schools, with a particular focus on school climate as a process that might influence social‐normative expectations. Results showed that more positive perceptions of school climate were significantly associated with higher levels of social‐normative ex…
Cultural Socialization and Ethnic-Racial Identity Mediated by Positive and Negative Conversations about Race: Exploring Differences among Asian American, African American, Latinx, Multiracial, and Whi…
The current study examined associations between cultural socialization and ethnic-racial identity via positive and negative conversations about one’s ethnicity/race. Ethnic-racial differences between Asian American, African American, Latinx, Multiracial, and White students were explored. College students 18–22 (M age = 18.46) participating in a university-wide study provided self-reports of childhood cultural socialization, engagement in conversa…
Empowering students for social action in social studies
In these challenging times, it is essential to activate student voice and prepare them for civic engagement and social action. Social-emotional learning strategies integrated into the social studies curriculum help to accomplish just that. Laura Bond, Maurice Elias, and Samuel Nayman describe the STAT program, which enables students to build both social-emotional and citizenship skills that will help them to take action on the issues they care ab…
Promotion of social and emotional learning in a Chinese elementary school
Although there is substantial evidence for the merits of integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) into educational settings, little empirical research on this learning approach has been conducted in Mainland China. We synthesized the frameworks of Western SEL and the guidelines of Chinese mental health education, and conducted a preliminary assessment of a short-term SEL curriculum that we designed and piloted in an elementary school. We r…
Youth leadership programming in high-poverty minority students
Student Self‐Reported Positive Purpose Over Two Years in Urban Middle Schools
We used Developmental Systems Theory as a framework for understanding the role of contextual factors in the development of purpose in urban adolescents. The sample included primarily low-socioeconomic students of color attending urban middle schools (n = 2,629; 10-16 years of age). Longitudinal data were collected at four time points across two years. We used hierarchical linear modeling to model change in purpose. On average, purpose declined ov…
Social-Normative Expectations Mediates School Climate’s Association With Academic Achievement in Latino Middle School Students
Many Latino students miss opportunities to develop their full potential in U.S. schools. Increasing attention is being paid to the malleable, nonacademic, factors that can affect student learning. The current study sought to evaluate the impact of school climate on Language Arts grade for Latino students in a large, low-income, urban middle school. In addition, the novel construct of Social-Normative Expectations, student perceptions of school-wi…
The increasing impact of socioeconomics and race on standardized academic test scores across elementary, middle, and high school
For students and schools, the current policy is to measure success via standardized testing. Yet the immutable factors of socioeconomic status (SES) and race have, consistently, been implicated in fostering an achievement gap. The current study explores, at the school-level, the impact of these factors on test scores. Percentage of students proficient for Language and Math was analyzed from 452 schools across the state of New Jersey. By high scho…
Guidance for Schools Selecting Antibullying Approaches: Translating Evidence-Based Strategies to Contemporary Implementation Realities
This article synthesizes the current research on bullying prevention and intervention in order to provide guidance to schools seeking to select and implement antibullying strategies. Evidence-based best practices that are shared across generally effective antibullying approaches are elucidated, and these strategies are grounded in examples garnered from model antibullying programs as implemented in contemporary schools. Future directions for prac…
Evaluation of the Meaning of Life Program in Israel
During the 2009–2010 academic year, 10 schools participated in the Meaning of Life educational program, an adaption of the popular U.S. Laws of Life program. The program sought to encourage each participant to develop a personal approach to finding meaning in life. To evaluate the success of the program, we conducted a study to compare measures of psychological health among participants in the program. We administered questionnaires to participan…
Developing social and emotional aspects of learning: The American experience
Developments in American policy, research and professional development to promote social and emotional learning in schools have drawn on work carried out by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), encouraged by the popular and political catalyst of Daniel Goleman’s work on emotional intelligence. Based on CASEL’s exploration and articulation of the implications of emotional intelligence for schools, this article de…
The Urgency of Doing: Assessing the System of Sustainable Implementation Model via the Schools Implementing Towards Sustainability (Sits) Scale
School‐based prevention and promotion interventions (SBPPI) improve desirable outcomes (e.g., commitment to school and attendance) and reduce undesirable outcomes (e.g., suspensions and violence). Unfortunately, our understanding of how to effectively implement and sustain SBPPI outside of well‐controlled conditions is lacking. To bridge this science/“real world” practice gap, a system of sustainable implementation, which merges implementation st…
School violence, adjustment, and the influence of hope on low-income, African American youth
The current study investigated the prevalence and impact of exposure to school violence using a cross-sectional design with a sample of 132 low-income, African American fifth graders (mean age = 10.20). Additionally, hope was examined in relation to adjustment and as a potential resilience factor in the context of school violence. Students completed self-report measures for exposure to school violence frequencies, self-concept, and hope. Teachers…
Social competence, social support, and academic achievement in minority, low-income, urban elementary school children.
Dosage Effects of a Preventive Social-Emotional Learning Intervention on Achievement Loss Associated with Middle School Transition
The relationship between sense of hope, family support and post-traumatic stress disorder among children: The case of young victims of rocket attacks in Israel
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is diagnosed commonly in Israeli children following violent episodes of the ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict. Research has suggested that as many as 70% of war-affected children present symptoms of PTSD. This study examined two factors that may contribute to resiliency: perceived social support and sense of hope. The research participants (n = 311) were children who experienced the rocket attacks during Israel's…
How expressions of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity relate to emotional intelligence and self-concept in urban fifth-grade students
This study investigated how the tendency to express forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity in a free-response essay relates to emotional intelligence and self-concept in 89 5th-graders (mean age = 10.84 years) from an urban public school district in New Jersey. Readers coded essays for expressions of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity using originally developed rubrics. These data were compared with self-reports on scales of emotional intellige…
Social and Emotional Learning: Promoting the Development of All Students
High-stakes tests. Substance abuse. Suicide. Academic standards. Delinquency. Media and technology. Teacher retention. Interpersonal violence. Dropouts. Changes in families. The list of issues faci...
How forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity are related to the mental health and well-being of youth: A review of the literature
Youth today often face challenges that can undermine important opportunities to achieve their full potential in school, in the workplace, in relationships, and within themselves. This article reviews the literature addressing certain personal qualities that have shown promise in the promotion of youth resilience against such threats. More specifically, the values of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity are considered. The purpose of this literat…
Applying organizational theories to action research in community settings: A case study in urban schools
Action research is well grounded in the worlds of organizational and community psychology. The practice of action research within each of these fields has been shaped by their dominant settings, theories, and values; where these diverge, rich learning opportunities have been created. Each phase of the action research cycle has particular challenges that can be overcome by integrating theories from both fields. This article outlines organizational…
Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning
A comprehensive mission for schools is to educate students to be knowledgeable, responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring, and contributing citizens. This mission is supported by the growing number of school-based prevention and youth development programs. Yet, the current impact of these programs is limited because of insufficient coordination with other components of school operations and inattention to implementation and evaluation factor…
Impact of a preventive social problem solving intervention on children's coping with middle‐school stressors
Children receiving 1 year or 1/2 year of a preventive social problem solving program in elementary school were compared with each other and with a no-treatment group upon entry into middle school. One year of training was significantly related to reductions in the severity of a variety of middle-school stressors. Most importantly, a clear mediating role for social problem solving (SPS) skills was found. Children lacking in SPS skills were more li…
Patterns of adolescent involvement in problem behaviors: Relationship to self‐efficacy, social competence, and life events
Using a sample of 556 adolescents from a suburban community, patterns of various adolescent problem behaviors (e.g., delinquent behavior, smoking, use of alcohol or drugs) and their links to self‐efficacy, social competence, and life events were examined. Cluster analysis was conducted to identify four subgroups of adolescents who showed distinct patterns of problem behaviors. These clusters were compared on the measures of self‐efficacy, social …
Capturing excellence in applied settings: A participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator role for community psychologists
Community psychology faces a crisis of personpower similar to that which Albee identified in the clinical field four decades ago. It is clear that there are not, and likely never will be, a sufficient number of community psychologists to be able to provide assessment, consultation, and planned change toward facilitating an inclusive psychological sense of community and sound health and prosocial development in all settings that could benefit from…
Academic and nonacademic community psychologists: An analysis of divergence in settings, roles, and values
Conclusions Differences between academic and nonacademic psychologists may be viewed as immutable, worthy of encouragement, or as a situation which the latter group must remedy by becoming “more scientific.” We contend that for community psychology, which perceives theory, application, and action as valid aspects of its broad paradigm, it would be most adaptive to explicitly address the challenge of managing a balance between diversity and cohesi…
Applying organizational theories to action research in community settings: A case study in urban schools
Action research is well grounded in the worlds of organizational and community psychology. The practice of action research within each of these fields has been shaped by their dominant settings, theories, and values; where these diverge, rich learning opportunities have been created. Each phase of the action research cycle has particular challenges that can be overcome by integrating theories from both fields. This article outlines organizational…
Social-Normative Expectations Mediates School Climate’s Association With Academic Achievement in Latino Middle School Students
Many Latino students miss opportunities to develop their full potential in U.S. schools. Increasing attention is being paid to the malleable, nonacademic, factors that can affect student learning. The current study sought to evaluate the impact of school climate on Language Arts grade for Latino students in a large, low-income, urban middle school. In addition, the novel construct of Social-Normative Expectations, student perceptions of school-wi…
Establishing enduring prevention programs: Advancing the legacy of Swampscott
The recent anniversary of the 1965 Swampscott Conference provided an opportunity to reconsider the implications of that meeting for prevention research. An unfulfilled aspect of the Swampscott legacy is the relative paucity of demonstration programs that become enduring parts of their host settings. A macrolevel, systems-oriented reformulation of Albee's (1982) prevention formula is presented to help conceptualize the linkage of prevention progra…
Cultural Socialization and Civic Engagement Among Racially Diverse Students of Color: Examining Ethnic-Racial Identity Components as Mediators and Neighborhood Racial Composition as a Moderator
Understanding the factors that promote civic engagement among emerging adult college students is crucial, especially considering its association with positive youth development. The current study examined ethnic-racial identity (ERI) exploration, resolution, and affirmation as mediators of the relation between cultural socialization and civic engagement. Additionally, the extent to which students were raised in predominantly minoritized neighborh…
Guidance for Schools Selecting Antibullying Approaches: Translating Evidence-Based Strategies to Contemporary Implementation Realities
This article synthesizes the current research on bullying prevention and intervention in order to provide guidance to schools seeking to select and implement antibullying strategies. Evidence-based best practices that are shared across generally effective antibullying approaches are elucidated, and these strategies are grounded in examples garnered from model antibullying programs as implemented in contemporary schools. Future directions for prac…
The relationship between sense of hope, family support and post-traumatic stress disorder among children: The case of young victims of rocket attacks in Israel
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is diagnosed commonly in Israeli children following violent episodes of the ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict. Research has suggested that as many as 70% of war-affected children present symptoms of PTSD. This study examined two factors that may contribute to resiliency: perceived social support and sense of hope. The research participants (n = 311) were children who experienced the rocket attacks during Israel's…
Evaluation of the Meaning of Life Program in Israel
During the 2009–2010 academic year, 10 schools participated in the Meaning of Life educational program, an adaption of the popular U.S. Laws of Life program. The program sought to encourage each participant to develop a personal approach to finding meaning in life. To evaluate the success of the program, we conducted a study to compare measures of psychological health among participants in the program. We administered questionnaires to participan…
Children's responses to interpersonal obstacles as a predictor of social competence
Divergence between community psychologists in academic and nonacademic settings: A closer look at the implications
Conclusion The ecological principle of interdependence has been a guiding theme in our research and conceptualization. For the development of community psychology, academic and applied interest and networks must be integrated in ways which value the views and resources of both groups. This is the focus of Kelly's (1984) remarks. The dynamic interplay of ideas, data, and practices is likely to facilitate the collaboration between researchers and s…
Student Self‐Reported Positive Purpose Over Two Years in Urban Middle Schools
We used Developmental Systems Theory as a framework for understanding the role of contextual factors in the development of purpose in urban adolescents. The sample included primarily low-socioeconomic students of color attending urban middle schools (n = 2,629; 10-16 years of age). Longitudinal data were collected at four time points across two years. We used hierarchical linear modeling to model change in purpose. On average, purpose declined ov…
Developing social and emotional aspects of learning: The American experience
Developments in American policy, research and professional development to promote social and emotional learning in schools have drawn on work carried out by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), encouraged by the popular and political catalyst of Daniel Goleman’s work on emotional intelligence. Based on CASEL’s exploration and articulation of the implications of emotional intelligence for schools, this article de…
The Urgency of Doing: Assessing the System of Sustainable Implementation Model via the Schools Implementing Towards Sustainability (Sits) Scale
School‐based prevention and promotion interventions (SBPPI) improve desirable outcomes (e.g., commitment to school and attendance) and reduce undesirable outcomes (e.g., suspensions and violence). Unfortunately, our understanding of how to effectively implement and sustain SBPPI outside of well‐controlled conditions is lacking. To bridge this science/“real world” practice gap, a system of sustainable implementation, which merges implementation st…
Bringing Together Educational Standards and Social and Emotional Learning: Making the Case for Educators
Social and emotional learning (SEL) has as its goals to strengthen a person’s ability to understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of life. The authors, all of whom have worked in training teachers in the promotion of students’ social and emotional skills, have found that educators often view efforts at building such skills as standing in opposition to the academic focus of their state curriculum standards. This view hinder…
Improving coping skills of emotionally disturbed boys through television-based social problem solving
Ten specially selected videotapes, showing children involved in working through problem situations, were shown twice a week for five weeks to boys in special education classes at a residential treatment center, and were followed by discussions led by teachers and aides. Multiple overlapping control groups were used in a pretest, posttest, follow-up design. Results indicated clear gains in emotional control, personality functioning, and prosocial …
Academic and nonacademic community psychologists: An analysis of divergence in settings, roles, and values
Conclusions Differences between academic and nonacademic psychologists may be viewed as immutable, worthy of encouragement, or as a situation which the latter group must remedy by becoming “more scientific.” We contend that for community psychology, which perceives theory, application, and action as valid aspects of its broad paradigm, it would be most adaptive to explicitly address the challenge of managing a balance between diversity and cohesi…
Divergence between community psychologists in academic and nonacademic settings: A closer look at the implications
Conclusion The ecological principle of interdependence has been a guiding theme in our research and conceptualization. For the development of community psychology, academic and applied interest and networks must be integrated in ways which value the views and resources of both groups. This is the focus of Kelly's (1984) remarks. The dynamic interplay of ideas, data, and practices is likely to facilitate the collaboration between researchers and s…
Impact of a preventive social problem solving intervention on children's coping with middle‐school stressors
Children receiving 1 year or 1/2 year of a preventive social problem solving program in elementary school were compared with each other and with a no-treatment group upon entry into middle school. One year of training was significantly related to reductions in the severity of a variety of middle-school stressors. Most importantly, a clear mediating role for social problem solving (SPS) skills was found. Children lacking in SPS skills were more li…
Establishing enduring prevention programs: Advancing the legacy of Swampscott
The recent anniversary of the 1965 Swampscott Conference provided an opportunity to reconsider the implications of that meeting for prevention research. An unfulfilled aspect of the Swampscott legacy is the relative paucity of demonstration programs that become enduring parts of their host settings. A macrolevel, systems-oriented reformulation of Albee's (1982) prevention formula is presented to help conceptualize the linkage of prevention progra…
Improving the continuity between undergraduate psychology and graduate community psychology: Analysis and case study
Discussions of graduate education in community psychology often have failed to note that undergraduate psychology programs exercise a crucial gatekeeping function by helping to shape students' attitudes about areas for subsequent study. Integrating concepts and methods of community psychology in undergraduate curricula is proposed as a change strategy to improve the viability of community psychology as a discipline. The Applied and Community Psyc…
Children's responses to interpersonal obstacles as a predictor of social competence
The challenges and choices involved in writing a book about prevention
Institutionalization of mental health programs in organizational contexts: The case of elementary schools
Bringing a mental health program into a setting can be conceptualized as an example of attempting an organizational innovation. The study of innovation has generated substantial information in recent years, most often concerning the adoption and implementation phases of the innovation process. This article describes a two-part study of the institutionalization phase, in which an innovation becomes established as a routine practice within an organ…
The relationship of bystander intervention variables to adolescents' responses to suicidal peers
An ecological, interpersonal skills approach to drop-out prevention
Interventions to keep students in school have tended to be deficit-oriented and have met with little success. Attention to the school ecology and its ability to support the diverse needs and interests of students, and efforts to increase students' engagement and teach them skills to meet everyday challenges are proposed that begin long before students become disengaged from school
Capturing excellence in applied settings: A participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator role for community psychologists
Community psychology faces a crisis of personpower similar to that which Albee identified in the clinical field four decades ago. It is clear that there are not, and likely never will be, a sufficient number of community psychologists to be able to provide assessment, consultation, and planned change toward facilitating an inclusive psychological sense of community and sound health and prosocial development in all settings that could benefit from…
Primary prevention as health and social competence promotion
Seymour sarason'spsychoanalysis, general custer and the verdicts of history, and other essays on psychology in the social scene: Essay reviews to inspire reflection and dialogue, with commentary by se…
Prevention programs and special education: Considerations related to risk, social competence, and multiculturalism
Patterns of adolescent involvement in problem behaviors: Relationship to self‐efficacy, social competence, and life events
Using a sample of 556 adolescents from a suburban community, patterns of various adolescent problem behaviors (e.g., delinquent behavior, smoking, use of alcohol or drugs) and their links to self‐efficacy, social competence, and life events were examined. Cluster analysis was conducted to identify four subgroups of adolescents who showed distinct patterns of problem behaviors. These clusters were compared on the measures of self‐efficacy, social …
Spreading a Warm Blanket of Prevention over All Children: Guidelines for Selecting Substance Abuse and Related Prevention Curricula for Use in the Schools
Implementing prevention programs in high-risk environments: Application of the resiliency paradigm
Little is known about what happens when validated model prevention programs are introduced into the schools, typically without systematic evaluation and with the assumption that they will have positive impact. This study examines the outcome of such initiatives in schools at "high risk" for program failure, identifies factors related to goal attainment in both high- and low-risk school districts, and suggests practices to guide implementation of …
How Are Kids Smart? Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom; Emotional Intelligence: A New Vision for Education; Character Education: Restoring Respect and Responsibility in our Schools
Infusing community psychology and religion: Themes from an Action-Research project in Jewish identity development
Infusing community psychology and religion: Themes from an Action-Research project in Jewish identity development
The authors discuss areas of infusion between community psychology and religion. These areas are organized around themes which have played a major role in the authors' work with an emerging line of action-research in the area of Jewish identity development. Among these themes is the importance of viewing religious identity development as contextually-bound, and a meaningful aspect of identity formation, coping, and social competence. © 2000 John …
Implementation, Sustainability, and Scaling Up of Social-Emotional and Academic Innovations in Public Schools
Many attempts at bringing successful educational programs and products “to scale” as part of school reform, particularly in urban districts, have been disappointing. Based on the experiences of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and reviews of literature addressing implementation failures, observations about failures to “scale up” are presented. These include persistent structural features in educational settin…
Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning
A comprehensive mission for schools is to educate students to be knowledgeable, responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring, and contributing citizens. This mission is supported by the growing number of school-based prevention and youth development programs. Yet, the current impact of these programs is limited because of insufficient coordination with other components of school operations and inattention to implementation and evaluation factor…
Bringing Together Educational Standards and Social and Emotional Learning: Making the Case for Educators
Social and emotional learning (SEL) has as its goals to strengthen a person’s ability to understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of life. The authors, all of whom have worked in training teachers in the promotion of students’ social and emotional skills, have found that educators often view efforts at building such skills as standing in opposition to the academic focus of their state curriculum standards. This view hinder…
Social and Emotional Learning: Promoting the Development of All Students
High-stakes tests. Substance abuse. Suicide. Academic standards. Delinquency. Media and technology. Teacher retention. Interpersonal violence. Dropouts. Changes in families. The list of issues faci...
Psychology (45 works) · Social Psychology (28 works) · Developmental psychology (23 works) · Medicine (23 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Political science (19 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (17 works) · Community Health and Development (15 works) · Health psychology (15 works) · Pedagogy (15 works)