The current state of U.S. sexual consent education among adolescents is inadequate. Despite known benefits of receiving accurate, comprehensive information and skills regarding effective consent communication during one's teenage years, adolescents are not receiving this education from their main sources of sexual information. Thus, scholars have…

This dissertation explored the effectiveness of a well-researched social skills intervention for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder for ethnically and linguistically diverse families. The UCLA PEERS program (Laugeson et al., 2009; 2012) has largely been studied using predominately White and affluent populations; thus, the study explored…

Adolescent girls in developing countries, especially those from impoverished backgrounds, face many challenges, such as cultural preference for sons, child marriage, and gender-based violence and harassment, which limit their access, opportunities, and leadership skills. The purpose of this study was to create a virtual empowerment and leadership…

ADHD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders that appears in childhood and continues through adulthood. It is considered to be a chronic disorder caused by a combination of neurobiological and genetic factors. The children and adolescents who experience this disorder have, along with other symptoms, trouble staying focused, difficulty…

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic diseases in youth and it has been shown that adolescents have the worst glycemic control of any age group. The objective of this study was to develop, test and evaluate the feasibility of an online intervention ("Can-Do-Tude") that uses the principles of motivational interviewing…

Teen Dating Violence (TDV) has become a pervasive problem for youth in the United States, with 10% to 25% of high school students engaging in physical and sexual dating violence, and with even a greater percentage of youth experiencing some form of psychological maltreatment (Kervin & Obinna, 2010, "Youth action strategies in the primary…

This dissertation discusses the development and assessment of a parent intervention and training program. Out of concern for the sexual health of adolescents in the United States, both parents and researchers have called for programs assisting parents in the sexual education of their children. Encouraging sexual communication and increasing the…

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth are disproportionally burdened by high rates of sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancy, heightening their need for sexual health interventions that are aligned to their unique culture and social context. Media technologies, including the Internet, cell phones, and video games, offer new…