A social-contextual approach to cancer prevention among participants associated with the working class may result in behavior-change messages that are more relevant to them and contribute to a reduction in health disparities among classes. This article reports findings from a qualitative study of adults in working-class occupations and/or living…

Some adolescents develop an especially strong need for autonomy, desiring to be "their own boss" and determined to follow their own rules. Previous research indicates that an exaggerated need for autonomy is associated with aggression and other problem behaviors. Yet little is known about the origins of such "me-first" attitudes. Why do some young…

Students who engage in physical aggression in school present a serious challenge to maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment. Unlike other forms of student aggression, fighting is explicit, is violent, and demands attention. A fight between students in a classroom, hallway, or the lunchroom brings every other activity to a halt and…

Recent increases in the delinquency and incarceration of girls have prompted juvenile justice professionals to search for effective, gender-specific prevention and treatment strategies. Given the dearth of research on girls' programming, these professionals are often left to sort out discrepancies between two major bodies of literature that…

Based on the existing literature on the positive relationship that exists between high instances of HIV infections and a high degree of gender injustices in southern Africa, there is clearly a need for HIV-prevention interventions, to focus on the need for changing the existing gender norms. Social change begins with change at the individual…

Background: Federal zero-tolerance policies require the exclusion of students exhibiting violent behaviors, with the intent of maintaining a safe school environment for other students to learn. In California, legislation has been passed that provides for the placement of expelled students in community day schools (CDSs). Purpose: This study…

The rapid rise of technology, which has become embedded in all facets of 21st century society during the past decade, has fostered a corresponding rise in its misuse. Digital citizenship abuse, a relatively new phenomenon of this electronic age, is a rapidly growing global problem. Parents, schools, and society play roles in supporting appropriate…

This technical brief describes updates to a database of dropout prevention programs and policies in 2006/07 created by the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands and described in the Issues & Answers report, "Piloting a searchable database of dropout prevention programs in nine low-income urban school districts in the…

In 2010, alcohol was once again the substance of choice among American youth. In fact, a greater proportion of American young people use alcohol than use other drugs or tobacco, and this use of alcohol by youth under the legal drinking age of 21 has profound negative consequences not just for underage drinkers, but also for their families, their…

Teen pregnancy in the United States has declined significantly in the last two decades. Despite these declines, rates of teen birth, HIV, and STIs in the United States remain among the highest of any industrialized nation. Socio-economic, cultural and structural factors such as poverty, limited access to health care, racism and unemployment…

The 2009 Institute of Medicine report on prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders (National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2009b) presented evidence that major depression can be prevented. In this article, we highlight the implications of the report for public policy and research. Randomized controlled trials have shown…

For more than 20 years, the efficacy of using the wraparound approach to support high-risk youth has been examined in educational and community settings. Few studies show the value of wraparound service from either a school- or community-based agency as a dropout prevention strategy. Findings from a federal research grant project suggest that many…

Though African-American youth in the South are at high risk for HIV infection, abstinence until marriage education continues to be the only option in some public schools. Using community-based participatory research methods, we conducted 11 focus groups with African-American adults and youth in a rural community in North Carolina with high rates…

Child obesity research has generally not examined multiple layers of parent-child relationships during weight-related activities such as feeding, eating and play. A literature review was conducted to locate empirical studies that measured parent-child interactions and child eating and child weight variables; five papers met the inclusion criteria…

The Stoneleigh Foundation of Philadelphia has historically focused its strategic investments on improving outcomes for youth involved or at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Stoneleigh began its support for youth courts by providing a fellowship award from 2009 to 2011 to public interest lawyer Gregory Volz to…