This cluster-randomized efficacy trial evaluated the impact of the Ready for Wages intervention, a classroom-based social skills program designed to improve the employability of youth living and being educated in juvenile justice settings. Fifteen juvenile justice facility schools participated. Data were collected from 118 classrooms: 59 treatment…

As a well-established, evidence-based intervention for social anxiety disorder, at the core of exposure-based therapy lies a careful consideration of the context(s) in which clients' symptoms and impairments manifest (Raggi et al., 2018). Indeed, the latest evidence on the "active ingredients" of change within exposure-based therapy…

Social anxiety disorder (SAD), a highly prevalent and impairing psychological condition in adolescents, is characterized by persistent fear of social and performance situations. Existing evidence suggests that racism and discrimination may heighten risk for SAD and present barriers to treatment in Black youth. Yet, intervention research on SAD in…

Purpose: A prior randomized trial found a school social intervention yielded significantly better outcomes (social and autism features) immediately following intervention compared to typical school programming (services-as-usual [SAU]) for children on the autism spectrum. In that study, children in the SAU condition subsequently completed a summer…

Making school meaningful is a widely accepted goal in education, yet "what" is considered meaningful, meaningful to "whom," and "why," leaves room for interrogation. This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aims to understand: (1) The extent to which students experience meaningful education at EL Education…

Burnout is the leading cause of the special education teacher shortage. A burnout intervention adapted for teachers was tested in two studies. Study 1 used a randomized design; Study 2 was a pre-post design. In Study 1, 44 teachers were randomized into the intervention or an active control. To enhance impact, for Study 2, personal goal-setting was…

The situational model of bystander behavior is a validated 5-step process for understanding intervention in bullying and sexual harassment, yet the individual-level and contextual-level factors that facilitate the progression from one step to the next are not well understood. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether individual…

"The Upstart Great Plains TASK Force: Taking All to Success in Kindergarten" was a five-year Education, Innovation and Research (EIR) expansion grant (U411A180001) funded through the US Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Four research studies were conducted during the grant period of 2018 to 2023: a…

Adolescents with elevated social anxiety commonly experience peer-related impairments--particularly with same-age, unfamiliar peers--stemming from their "avoidant behaviors." Yet, peer-related impairments are not unique to social anxiety. For example, adolescents who experience social anxiety may also experience symptoms of attention…

This review discusses research conducted globally between March 2020 and March 2023 examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent social functioning, including their lifestyle, extracurricular activities, family environment, peer environment, and social skills. Research highlights the widespread impact, with largely negative effects.…

Assessing youth psychopathology involves collecting multiple informants' reports. Yet, multi-informant reports often disagree, necessitating integrative strategies that optimize predictive power. The "Trait" score approach leverages principal components analysis (PCA) to account for the context and perspective from which informants…

Adolescents who experience social anxiety often display distressing fears that unfamiliar individuals evaluate their performance in social settings. These fears typically manifest as fears of negative evaluation (FNE) and/or fears of positive evaluation (FPE). Two well-established survey measures were originally developed to assess these…

Understanding others' perspectives and integrating this knowledge in social interactions is challenging for young children; even adults struggle with this skill. While young children show the capacity to understand what others can and cannot see under supportive laboratory conditions, more research is necessary to understand how children implement…

Socially anxious adolescents often endure anxiety-provoking situations using "safety behaviors": strategies for minimizing in-the-moment distress (e.g., avoiding eye contact, rehearsing statements before entering a conversation). Studies linking safety behaviors to impaired functioning have largely focused on adults. In a sample of 134…

Introduction: Schools play an important role in promoting physical activity for youth. However, school-based physical activity opportunities often compete with other academic priorities, limiting their implementation. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore elementary school teacher and staff perspectives on providing physical…