Background: Educators in rural schools are uniquely situated to address youth mental health disparities, yet often face challenges in delivering mental health supports. This paper describes the process of adapting the evidence-based Coping Power program, a small group prevention program for youth with aggressive behavior problems, to be a…

As evidence-based interventions are scaled, fidelity of implementation, and thus effectiveness, often wanes. Validated fidelity measures can improve researchers' ability to attribute outcomes to the intervention and help practitioners feel more confident in implementing the intervention as intended. We aim to provide a model for the validation of…

Bystanders play an essential role in school bullying prevention. This study examines student bystanders' perceptions of severity and willingness to intervene in scenarios involving physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying. It focuses on five distinct victim reactions: pretending nothing happened, seeking help, fighting back, crying, and no…

LifeSkills Training is the only program to prevent substance use disorder among adolescents that has evidence of effects on substance use outcomes from multiple randomized controlled trials. Evaluations have shown that the version for middle school students reduces their use of substances in high school, but these studies were conducted in the…

Adolescence is a time of significant physical, mental, emotional, and social development marked by numerous transitions and challenges. Middle school is one of the earliest and perhaps first times of significant social and physical transition that impacts early adolescent development. As a result, schools are becoming a primary care setting for…

This study examines how bullies, victims, bully-victims, and uninvolved adolescents perceive the activities of the class project of the ViSC social competence program. The ViSC program is a whole school socio-ecological anti-bullying program that was implemented in 43 classes, grade 7, 8, and 9, in three Cypriot schools. A sample of 778…

Indigenous communities demonstrate immense cultural strengths despite being impacted by mental health and academic disparities due to ongoing systemic racism and historical trauma. Given that schools are a context in which indigenous youths' needs have potential to be met through preventive intervention, this scoping review explores and summarizes…

Indigenous communities demonstrate immense cultural strengths despite being impacted by mental health and academic disparities due to ongoing systemic racism and historical trauma. Given that schools are a context in which indigenous youths' needs have potential to be met through preventive intervention, this scoping review explores and summarizes…

Cross-national studies consistently reveal that bullying is a pervasive problem in schools and associated with a multitude of deleterious outcomes. The present dissertation conducted two studies to further provide insight into this complex phenomenon and facilitate the development of effective bullying prevention programs. Youth involved in…

The present study examined whether emotional abuse and neglect differentially predicted decreases in emotional clarity, and whether emotional clarity, in turn, predicted increases in depressive symptoms. Participants included 204 early adolescents (52% African American; 54% female; M age = 12.85 years) who completed four assessments with measures…

IPSY (Information + Psychosocial Competence = Protection) is a universal life skills program aiming at the promotion of generic intra-and interpersonal life skills, substance specific skills (for example, resistance skills), school bonding, knowledge, and the prevention of substance misuse with a focus on alcohol and tobacco in youth. This program…

Despite reticence from the central office, strong middle level teacher leaders worked together to develop an effective anti-bullying program that addresses a significant need for safety and inclusion for all middle school students. This article describes how one teacher's concerns changed her school's attitude with regard to bullying from assuming…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

Bullying has become an increasingly serious problem in today's schools. Many states have passed legislation to ensure schools do all they can to prevent and address bullying. Even though the school is a place that is to be safe for all children, in some instances this is not the case. This paper discusses bullying and focuses on the different…