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After measuring the Quality of Life and identifying the deficiencies in your community, what steps should you take to improve the Quality of Life? This volume reviews methods for improving the Quality of Life that are based upon improving each of the ten domains of the Quality of Life. Steps to improve health, means of reducing environmental toxins, orientation to bring about better self-concept and mental health, and so forth. In each such area, steps are set forth for eliminating undesirable and debilitating features of the domain. Social change comes about by the application of devised steps. The process has been called 'telesis'. It is the application of intelligent, well-tested interventions to bring about improvement. In some cases it may effect change quickly and others may require a continuing process of adjustment and change. As a handbook for community workers, the volume provides a framework for intervention that could lead to a better tomorrow.

Four essential questions for the study of civility involve developing a definition of the term, determining its effects, establishing trends, and predicting the consequences of civility. A framework for studying it includes the actors, their gender, situations and settings, occupational role requirements, the cultural imperatives defining civility, and the processes through which it is learned. Objective measures of civility in the United States show its variability and change. Four items in the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS) are combined to form a scale of civility. Correlates of the scale show that civility does not differ by gender, color, or region. It is weakly associated with income but is significantly associated with education, occupation, and health. Age, education, and health provide a predictive model of civility. Anger, an emotional aspect of interpersonal exchange, reveals reactions characteristic of civil behavior: waiting for anger to pass before responding, trying to forget the incident, not thinking of revenge, not walking away from the situation, and not yelling or hitting. Hypotheses are proposed for further study that involves age, marital status, occupation, health, and emotional control.

We're told a story of how American Indians taught their young to swim: They tied a rope around the youngster and tossed him in the water. Social indicators were tossed into the water without the rope! Without the rope of adequate Federal or private funds for support, social indicators were forced to learn to swim. And swim, they did.

Because of changes in the magnitude of cohorts to be educated, the elementary-school population will decrease by some 7 million pupils & more than 250,000 teachers, followed by increases of the same magnitude over the fourteen years following 1982. Such variation will impose traumatic adjustments upon the educational system. The increasing enrollment in prekindergarten schools pushes new responsibilities on the school system & promises to accelerate progress in primary grades. Several unmet needs of schoolchildren which require attention--correction of speech deficiencies & the special problems of the emotionally disturbed--are identified. The record of retention in school is satisfactory up to high-school ages, but dropouts & decreasing enrollment of youth, ages seventeen & over, are unmistakable. Educational lag is apparent in both dropping out & in falling behind the modal grade of the school-age group. Fs are beginning to surpass Ms in Coll attendance. The continuation from high school to Coll appears to have peaked & is now decreasing, however, Coll attendance by youth in the top half of the ability spectrum may be above the record two decades ago. As to learning, particularly in the secondary schools, evidence of improvement is scant while there are extensive indicators of decreasing test performance at the end of high school. Models of processes of education are needed to identify appropriate educational statistics to improve social indicators of education in the US. 6 Tables, 4 Charts. Modified HA.

Because of changes in the magnitude of cohorts to be educated, the elementary school population will fluctuate by a decrease of some 7 million pupils and more than a quarter of a million teachers, followed by increases of the same magnitude over the 14 years following 1982. Such variation will impose traumatic adjustments upon the educational system. The increasing enrollment in prekindergarten schools pushes new responsibilities on the school system and promises to accelerate progress in primary grades. A number of unmet needs of school children, which require attention, correction of speech deficiencies and the special problems of the emotionally disturbed, for example, are identified. The record of retention in school is satisfactory up to high school ages, but drop-outs and decreasing enrollment of youth 17 years and over are unmistakable. Educational lag is apparent in both dropping out and in falling behind the modal grade of the school age group. Females are beginning to surpass males in college going. The continuation from high school to college appears to have peaked and now is decreasing, but the college attendance of youth in the top half of the ability spectrum may be superior to the record two decades ago. As to learning, particularly in the secondary schools, the evidence of improvement is scant while there are extensive indicators of decreasing test performance at the end of high school. Models of processes of education are needed to identify appropriate educational statistics to improve social indicators of education in the United States.

The sociocultural system, through rewards such as status, sociability of group activities, value orientations, attitudes, and the like, evokes outdoor recreation preferences, as is revealed by actual participation rates. Physical activ ity associated with many forms of outdoor recreation leads to more vigorous health. Physical activity groups, such as athletes engaged in a particular sport, exhibit personality traits that are different from those of nonathletes. However, it has not been demonstrated that personality traits are altered through participating in physical exercise or sport. Persons with different socioeconomic characteristics exhibit different recreation participation rates. From 1960 to 1965, these rates have been changing. Major increases in passive recreational activities have occurred, but participation rates in activities that require large allocations of natural resources have increased very little. Active forms of recreation, chiefly characterizing youth, have increased notably, while backwoods activities have increased only slightly.

An overview on studies of outdoor recreation reveals that the S-cul system through rewards such as status, sociability of group activities, value orientations, att's, etc, evokes outdoor recreation preferences as indicated by actual participation rates. Some res shows that participation in sports is strongly associated with soc'ly desirable characteristics that facilitate personal adjustment in the normal soc groups of US society. Eg, a study of M athletes elicited negative scores on a femininity scale & lower intelliegnce scores when compared with non-athletes. The study implies that lower intelligence is soc'ly desirable in the US. Swimmers are less restrained, more ascendant & soc'ly bold & outgoing, while nonswimmers are more restrained, submissive, shy & seclusive, & more emotionally unstable, hypersensitive & self-centered. However, it has not been demonstrated that personality traits can be altered through participation in physical exercise or sport. Persons with diff SE characteristics exhibit diff recreation participation rates. Participation in outdoor activities is associated with age, sex, educ, income, size of place of residence, color, etc, but these provide only a moderately satisfactory basis for predicting outdoor recreation. While predictive factors differ by region, the addition of opportunity characteristics to the model does not appear to improve precision. Over the period 1960-65 Sum recreational activity per person increased by about 40%. Passive forms of recreation increased the most, while backwoods activities increased very little. The vigorous recreational activities of youth also increased in frequency. Outdoor recreation has not been distributed more liberally among the disadvantaged. Reasons given include lack of time & inadequate or inaccessible supply & indicate that these impediments have been increasing for the disadvantaged. However, their capability to engage in outdoor recreation as based upon skill, age, equipment, etc, is improving. 4 Tables. Modified HA.

Recreation (R) surveys are classified by method of data collection: from persons passing a transportation point (travel studies), from persons engaging in an activity (on-site surveys), from persons at their homes (household surveys). Variables included in these studies are identified. The NATIONAL SUR- VEY OF FISHING AND HUNTING has been used to formulate legislation & programs. The US Outdoor R Resources Review Commission, which published 27 reports on US R, used participation rates from the NATIONAL RECREATION SURVEY & econ studies to project future US R demand to 1976 & 2000. 'On-site' surveys sponsored by ORRRC & others have assessed programs & user satisfaction in parks & wilderness areas. A multivariate analysis reported by Mueller & Gurin shows outdoor R participation signif'ly associated with sex, age, income, occup, fam cycle, size of place of residence, race, region, & educ, accounting for 30% of variance in participation score. Unexplained variance suggests examination of motivational variables in relation to participation in particular activities. Outdoor activity days are estimated to increase from 28 in 1960 (per person, 12 yrs old & over), to 38 in 2000. Results of R surveys apply in land use planning, econ studies of investment, legislative policy making, & program & facility planning. The function of leisure in work, motivation, personality development, & the process of group formation & integration requires further study. A. L. Ferriss.