Using latent profile analysis (LPA), this study empirically identified dual-factor mental health subtypes, with a goal of examining structural stability of emerging latent classes over three high school years. Profiles' relations with distal indicators of well-being, psychosocial distress, and self-reported grades were examined to explore the…

The assessment of psychosocial strengths in children and adolescents has predominately focused on the measurement of single traits and constructs, such as grit (Christopoulou, Lakioti, Pezirkianidis, Karakasidou, & Stalikas, 2018), optimism (Oberle, Guhn, Gadermann, Thomson, & Schonert-Reichl, 2018), hope (Pedrotti, 2018), and gratitude…

ClassDojo is one of the world's most successful educational technologies, currently used by over 3 million teachers and 35 million children globally. It reinforces and enacts emerging governmental "psycho-policies" around the measurement and modification of children's social and emotional learning in schools. This article focuses…

Considering the many positive outcomes associated with adolescents' sense of school belonging, including psychological functioning, it is possible that including an assessment of school belonging within a complete mental health screening process could contribute to the prediction of students' future mental health status. This exploratory study…

Outdoor adventure-based experiences allow students to engage in physical activities and process learning tasks within a novel, open environment that is unlike any classroom. Past outdoor adventure-based research has indicated two primary participant outcomes: intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship skills or IIRS (Moore & Russell, 2002).…

Bullying prevention efforts have yielded mixed effects over the last 20 years. Program effectiveness is driven by a number of factors (e.g., program elements and implementation), but there remains a dearth of understanding regarding the role of school climate on the impact of bullying prevention programs. This gap is surprising, given research…

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a universal yoga-based social-emotional wellness promotion program, Transformative Life Skills, on indicators of adolescent emotional distress, prosocial behavior, and attitudes toward violence in a high-risk sample. Participants included 49 students attending an alternative education school in an…

This project examines the early educational experiences of 6 young African American males (ages 18-25) who attended urban schools in San Diego, California. All 6 men were incarcerated for at least 1-year before participating in a pre-release program. The participants were part of a pre-release program in San Diego, California, which was selected…

Many adolescents experiment with marijuana; the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 46% of high school seniors have tried this drug at some time. Pushing boundaries is what young people do, and some researchers believe that trying marijuana is a normal part of growing up. RAND Corporation researchers have revisited Shedler and Block's…