This paper describes the development and validation of an instrument to assess how students deal with emotionally challenging classroom situations (the DECCS Questionnaire). The questionnaire is based on a vignette with one learning and one performance situation in a classroom, and is intended for students in grades 4 to 7. On a sample of N = 639…

Adolescents, particularly early adolescents, are vulnerable to stress created by negative peer interactions. Stress, in turn, can lead to increased mental health problems and reduced academic engagement, in addition to negative long-term consequences for cognitive development and physical health. Using four waves (2 years) of data from a cluster…

Student behavior problems in general-education classrooms present a major barrier to effective teaching. Behavior challenges, such as disruptions, noncompliance, and peer conflicts, reduce instructional time, whereas prosocial behaviors, such as paying attention, being ready to work, asking for help, participating in class, and completing…

Increased attention is being placed on improving psychological well-being and academic achievement in school students. Prior research on meditation provides support for student improvement in these important educational areas. As part of a 9th grade Quiet Time school program, 98 students were randomly assigned either to learn the Transcendent…

Upper elementary students in a Title I rural school participated in an expressive arts-based resiliency small-group intervention entitled Resilient Warriors (RWs). This mixed-methods study revealed positive changes in participating students based on teacher ratings on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We also found four qualitative…

Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) often display externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression and defiance) and experience internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression). When left untreated, these difficulties can result in negative outcomes for students in school and beyond. Cognitive-behavioral interventions (CBIs) offer…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of MoBeGo, a mobile self-monitoring app, on the initial and sustained academic engagement and disruptive behavior of third- to eighth-grade students with challenging behavior. Student-teacher pairs (N = 57) were randomly assigned to the treatment (MoBeGo) or control (business-as-usual)…

Student behavior problems in general-education classrooms present a major barrier to effective teaching. Behavior challenges, such as disruptions, noncompliance, and peer conflicts, reduce instructional time, whereas prosocial behaviors, such as paying attention, being ready to work, asking for help, participating in class, and completing…

Self-monitoring interventions for students with challenging behavior are often teacher-managed rather than self-managed. Teachers direct these interventions by completing parallel monitoring procedures, providing feedback, and delivering contingent reinforcement to students when they monitor accurately. However, within self-monitoring…

Universal screening continues to be a missed opportunity for addressing mental health in schools. The current study compared three separate self-report screening tools: the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Third Edition: Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-3 BESS), Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Screener (YIEPS),…

Middle schoolers with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) typically have a trajectory of difficult outcomes (e.g., school dropout, incarceration). Growing evidence suggests that the continuum of behavioral competence to challenges is closely linked to students' neurocognitive executive function (EF) capacities, perceived stress…

School-based empowerment programs are types of interventions targeting students with or without behavioral, psychological, and emotional difficulties at schools. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of a school-based social and mental empowerment program on students' behavioral and developmental problems. We…

This brief report presents an analog test of the relative classification validity of three cutoff values (CVs; 16, 18, and 20) derived from responses to the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: Total Difficulties Scale. Results from Bayesian t-tests, using several school-specific subjective well-being indicators as…

This study investigated risk factors for school absenteeism in a sample of 983 children in elementary and lower secondary schools in Denmark, using administrative data on absenteeism measured in the year following risk factor measurement. Risk factors were measured by survey (children and teachers) and register data. Two methods of determining…

The number of foreign languages spoken in Germany is rising, and as a result German is increasingly being learned as a second language (L2). This is a challenge for many secondary-school students, especially those who have learning disabilities (LD) and behavioral difficulties, which are often accompanied by reduced motivation to learn, in this…