The author reports on the issue of bullying that rose on state legislative agendas this year, with 21 states passing anti-bullying laws--some of which expanded schools' responsibilities to keep a check on any harassment that goes on among students. States set out to write clear definitions of bullying and to regulate school policies and…

The present study extended regulatory focus theory (Idson & Higgins, 2000) to an educational setting and attempted to identify individuals with high motivation after both success and failure feedback. College students in Hong Kong (N = 180) participated in an experiment with a 2 promotion focus (high vs. low) x 2 prevention focus (high vs.…

In April 2011, the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued the General Comment No. 13 on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence. Its Article 19 declares that "protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programs to provide necessary support for the child and for…

Schools today struggle to prepare students for the moral and performance character challenges they will face in the 21st Century. Whether it is bolstering academic performance, reducing dropout, or improving integrity and safety, developing the character and culture of excellence and ethics is a critical need of schools--and yet they must do so…

Individuals experiencing non-suicidal self-injurious (NSSI) thoughts only are greatly overlooked by current research. This investigation aimed at determining how three groups of university students differed in their reported quality of childhood relationships with parents, and histories of physical and sexual abuses. These groups included students…

The association between community-aggregated levels of individual and peer risk and protective factors and prevalence of adolescent substance use was examined in repeated cross-sectional data among youth in 41 communities ranging in population from 1,578 to 106,221. The association between community levels of these risk and protective factors in…

Western Michigan University's Suicide Prevention Program utilizes multiple technological components, including an online training course, a Web site, and 2 social networking Web site profiles, as integral aspects of a comprehensive program. This article discusses the development, maintenance, use, and impact of the technological aspects of this…

Objective: Risk for suicide is often higher among college students, compared to same-age noncollegiate peers, and may be exacerbated by quality of social support and interactions. The authors examined the independent contributions of positive social support and negative social exchanges to suicide ideation and attempts in college students.…

Two child groups (5-6 and 8-9 years of age) participated in a challenging rule-following task while they were (a) told that they were in the presence of a watchful invisible person ("Princess Alice"), (b) observed by a real adult, or (c) unsupervised. Children were covertly videotaped performing the task in the experimenter's absence. Older…

Purpose of the study: To determine whether reported falls at baseline are associated with an older adult's decision to make a residential adjustment (RA) and the type of adjustment made in the subsequent 2 years. Design and Methods: Observations (n = 25,036) were from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative sample of…

This article examines a biosocial model of the impact of puberty on indigenous girls' early-onset substance use by considering the potential mediating role of peer context (i.e., mixed-sex peer groups and substance use prototypes) on the puberty and substance use relationship. Data include responses from 360 girls of a common indigenous cultural…

Students often drop out of university because they were not yet ready for higher education studies. This article reports on research done on the perceptions of a group of students of the role that their gap year had played in preparing them for higher education studies. The research approach was qualitative. Data was gathered by means of 34…

This study examined the effects of in-service training with performance feedback on preschool teachers' use of classroom preventive practices. Three practices designed to prevent challenging behavior were selected: transition preparations, rule reminders, and social-emotional teaching strategies. Following a brief training on each practice,…

Previous research has identified school bonding as protective against substance use during adolescence. However, there is still a question as to whether school involvement predicts changes in substance use or if substance use actually predicts changes in level of school bonding. This study investigated the relationship between school bonding and…

This article presents results from a study that evaluated an online message system designed to improve the delivery of prevention programs. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with 32 agencies and schools that implemented substance use prevention programs and examined differences between the comparison and intervention groups. We also examined…