The purpose of this study was to examine whether seventh-grade positive peer affiliation and conduct problems mediated the relationship between sixth-grade parental monitoring of behavior and eighth-grade school participation and grades among students with elevated behavior ratings (EBR; n = 821) and students with unelevated behavior ratings (UBR;…

Universal screening continues to be a missed opportunity for addressing mental health in schools. The current study compared three separate self-report screening tools: the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Third Edition: Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-3 BESS), Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Screener (YIEPS),…

The present study reports on the psychometric defensibility of the Psychological Wellbeing and Distress Screener (PWDS), which is a 10-item self-report behavior rating scale for measuring youth's bidimensional (also known as dual-factor or two-continua) mental health. The PWDS was developed using preexisting items within the Health Behavior in…

The purpose of the current study was to understand the association between bullying experiences (i.e., bullying, victimization, and defending) and social, emotional, and cognitive factors. The social factor was social skills (i.e., empathy, assertion, cooperation, responsibility); the emotional factor was emotional difficulties (i.e., personal…

Behavioral and emotional problems among children and adolescents can lead to numerous negative outcomes without intervention. From a prevention standpoint, screening for behavioral and emotional risk is an important step toward identifying such problems before the point of diagnosis or referral. The present study conducted a k-means cluster…

This study evaluated the efficacy of an intentionally brief school-based mentoring program. This academic goal-focused mentoring program was developed through a series of iterative randomized controlled trials, and is informed by research in social cognitive theory, cognitive dissonance theory, motivational interviewing, and research in academic…