Universal screening for social, emotional, and behavioral risk is an important method for identifying students in need of additional or targeted support (Eklund and Dowdy in School Mental Health 6:40-49, 2014). Research is needed to explore how potential bias may be implicated in universal screening. We investigated student demographics as…

Introduction: Leadership support has been identified as a key facilitator to successful implementation of school-based initiatives. School leadership contributions to student academic success and school reform have been documented, but less work has focused on the effects of leadership on school mental health initiatives such as social, emotional,…

Over the past 10 years, identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) risk has dramatically increased due to the wide-spread implementation of screening programs; yet, there is limited understanding about parent perceptions and experiences during the time period when risk is identified, but prior to receiving a formal diagnosis--a period that…

Along with increased attention to universal screening for identifying social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) concerns is the need to ensure the psychometric adequacy of tools available. Nearly all extant tests of universal SEB screening validity focus on traditional inferential forms with little to no study of the consequences of actions…

This study examined parental playfulness as a mediator of the association between mothers' emotional difficulties (anxiety, depression) and their children's psychosocial adjustment (externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviours). We also examined the associations between parental playfulness and mothers' supportive / unsupportive…

Mental disorders are among the most common and disabling conditions affecting children and adolescents. Patterns of school attendance among students with and without mental disorders were examined using data from the 2013-2014 Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. One in seven school students had a mental disorder…

COVID-19 negatively impacts students' learning as well as physical and mental health. This study examined the effects of perceived online learning difficulties and cyberbullying on academic engagement and mental health, and if parenting styles and student-teacher relationship moderated these relations among 733 middle school students (54.3% boys)…

This study explored the profiles of Longitudinal Life Environmental Satisfaction (LLES) during the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating their predicting role in social-emotional adjustment in children and early adolescents. 488 children (M[subscript age] = 8.54; SD = 0.63), and 129 early adolescents (M[subscript]age = 11.08, SD = 0.48) completed two…

Students' emotional and behavioral difficulties are recognized as a continuing issue in the adolescent development and education. Since adolescents spend a great amount of time in schools, a central question is how schools can facilitate adolescents' adjustment and positive schooling. Using the ERG theory of human needs, the present study aims to…

School-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes represent a practical method of improving social and emotional well-being in students. To date, however, what is less well understood is why a theoretically sound, appropriately administered, engaging universal SEL programme may be more effective for some children over others. In the…

A concerning number of students fail to achieve writing proficiency, yet little attention has been devoted to examining why this occurs. While robust evidence indicates that behavior impacts reading and math achievement, the relationship between behavior and writing skills is unclear, particularly among young students. The authors examined the…

Student characteristics, their attitude to school and classroom climate can influence teacher-student relationships and adjustment to school. Poor early school experiences are associated with school avoidance, disruptive behaviour, teacher conflict, and suspension and exclusion. The focus, however, remains on the behaviour of individual children,…

The current study examined between-teacher variance in teacher ratings of student behavioral and emotional risk to identify student, teacher and classroom characteristics that predict such differences and can be considered in future research and practice. Data were taken from seven elementary schools in one school district implementing universal…

Students with early indicators of behavior risk have predictable, negative outcomes, and those with co-existing academic problems have significantly more negative outcomes. Identifying academic subclasses of students with behavior risk can inform integrated interventions and school-based problem-solving teams. In addition, identifying academic…

Universal screening is useful in the early identification of behavioral and emotional concerns, but teacher-related variance can potentially influence screening scores and resulting decisions. The current study examined the extent to which burnout and self-efficacy as teacher-level variables accounted for variance in universal screening scores.…