Background: School nurses play a vital role in ensuring the health and well-being of their students, but little is known about menstrual products and resources available in schools. This study assessed period product resources and needs in Missouri schools from the perspective of school nurses and analyzed differences by district enrollment…

Background: Primary school teachers play an important role in furnishing children with basic knowledge about health literacy and awareness of COVID-19. This study was conducted to determine the levels of health literacy and COVID-19 awareness among preservice primary school teachers and the factors associated with this. Methods: The sample of this…

Background: Few studies have attempted to define clusters of chronic disease predictors with additional focus on racial/ethnic differences. The purpose of this study was to highlight differences in predictors of chronic diseases among American high school students by identifying subgroups using latent class analysis (LCA). Methods: The chronic…

Background: Prevention of early age initiation of cannabis use is a national priority, highlighting the importance of identifying cannabis-specific attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control in relation to initiation age. Methods: Data were from the NEXT Generation Health Study, a national longitudinal sample of US adolescents followed…

Background: Although previous research indicates an association between school connectedness and adolescents' sleep quality, its causal direction has not been determined. This study used a 2-wave cross-lagged panel analysis to explore the likely causal direction between these 2 constructs. Methods: Participants were 888 Chinese adolescents (43.80%…

Background: Eating patterns such as breakfast consumption and fruit and vegetable intake have been associated with academic achievement and cognitive function. Method: The purpose of this study was to learn more about psychological (emotion-driven eating) and behavioral (over-eating) eating patterns and motives, and the roles of body image,…

Background: We examined prevalence, incidence, and trajectory of obesity from kindergarten through grade 8 in one of the first states to implement annual surveillance. Methods: Participants included 16,414 children enrolled in kindergarten in Arkansas in 2004 with complete body mass index (BMI) measurements in kindergarten and eighth grade.…

Background: Depression continues to be a public health crisis for young adults. For high school students, past research has identified trauma as a significant predictor of depression. Congruent with the theory of cumulative stress, the present study hypothesized that the effect of sexual assault on depression would be stronger among lesbian, gay,…

Background: School-based health centers (SBHC) can address unmet mental health needs. Little is known about how students seek care from different providers at SBHCs. We describe and compare how students' SBHC visits differ for students seen by mental health providers (MH group) relative to students seen only by primary care providers (PC group).…

Objectives: We examined the longitudinal relationship between cardiovascular fitness (CRF) and academic performance (AP) among students in a diverse public school district. Furthermore, we determined whether the relationship between CRF and AP varied by student sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: This study used data from 2005-2006 to…

Background: Adolescence is a critical phase of development and experimentation with delinquent behaviors. There is a growing body of literature exploring individual and structural impacts of discrimination on health outcomes and delinquent behaviors. However, there is limited research assessing how school diversity and discrimination impact…

Background: School factors play important roles in adolescent suicide. However, little is known about how school climate is associated with adolescent suicide. This study examined the relationship between perceived school climate and adolescent suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and whether these relations were explained by adolescent sleep…

Background: Lifetime educational attainment is an important predictor of health and well-being for women in the United States. In this study, we examine the roles of sociocultural factors in youth and an understudied biological life event, pubertal timing, in predicting women's lifetime educational attainment. Methods: Using data from the National…

Background: Youth suicide is a serious public health problem in the United States. School environments, and the attention of school adults, are promising but minimally studied avenues for promoting mental health among students. Methods: The 2013 New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey data were analyzed to identify ways in which the school…

Background: The high rates of childhood overweight and obesity in the United States have generated interest in schools as sites for monitoring body mass index (BMI) information. This study established baseline values for a 5-year longitudinal assessment of BMI of elementary school children and examined variation across the schools, because little…