There's an increase in mental health concerns with youth, making it imperative to address developing educators' capacity for identifying and delivering mental health supports. Youth Mental Health First Aid (Y-MHFA) aims to provide the tools for adults to offer aid to youth in need or in crisis. This review examined outcomes associated with Y-MHFA…

A dual-factor model (DFM) of mental health conceptualizes complete mental health as both low levels of psychopathology and high levels of subjective well-being (SWB). Although middle adolescence (ages 14 to 18 years old) is associated with increases in symptoms of psychopathology and declines in SWB, further research is needed to understand how…

Research on the importance of complete mental health has led to increased focus on students' subjective well-being (i.e., happiness and life satisfaction) coupled with the traditional attention to psychopathology. Although screeners for psychopathology abound, the present project is novel in applying best practices in universal screening to grade…

Most interventions intended to improve subjective well-being, termed "positive psychology interventions" (PPIs), have neglected to include relevant stakeholders in youth's lives and have not included booster sessions intended to maintain gains in subjective well-being. The current study investigated the impact of a multitarget,…

In this chapter, we focus on research that is most pertinent to gifted education. We begin with an overview of the constructs (organized within the three original pillars of positive psychology) relevant to youth, education, and gifted education. First, we offer a working definition of giftedness and gifted education. [This paper was published in:…

Research has shown that students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs experience higher levels of stress compared to students in general education classes. Elevated stress can serve as a risk factor for students' academic and mental health problems. Given the documented stress of these students,…

Research has shown that students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs experience higher levels of stress compared to students in general education classes. Elevated stress can serve as a risk factor for students' academic and mental health problems. Given the documented stress of these students,…

Most research on positive psychology interventions (PPIs) has involved young adults and adolescents, but not young children. O'Grady (2013) suggested some conceptually promising pedagogical strategies that teachers can use to integrate PPI into the elementary school classroom. These general ideas include: (1) teaching the language of emotions and…

Modern definitions of complete mental health include both positive and negative indicators of psychological functioning. We examined the associations between peer relationships (victimization and receipt of prosocial acts) and multiple indicators of mental health that represent subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative…

Although Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate (AP/IB) students may not be the most obvious group of adolescents in need of extra supports, this population has salient and unique risk factors in need of specialized services, such as elevated perceived stress levels. The heightened academic demands placed on these students is an…

Although Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate (AP/IB) students may not be the most obvious group of adolescents in need of extra supports, this population has salient and unique risk factors in need of specialized services, such as elevated perceived stress levels. The heightened academic demands placed on these students is an…

This study provided an independent examination of the Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (TSRI), a teacher report measure developed in Singapore. A total of 500 American high school students were rated by 84 teachers. Exploratory factor analysis supported the existence of three factors representing instrumental help, satisfaction, and…

High school students in accelerated curricula face stressors beyond typical adolescent developmental challenges. The Student Rating of Environmental Stressors Scale (StRESS) is a self-report measure of environmental stressors appropriate for students in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. We developed the StRESS…

High school students in accelerated curricula face stressors beyond typical adolescent developmental challenges. The Student Rating of Environmental Stressors Scale (StRESS) is a self-report measure of environmental stressors appropriate for students in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. We developed the StRESS…

The common path through which youth with mental health problems actually receive treatment is the education system. The current study used qualitative methodology to explore why school psychologists are not providing the level of mental health services that children need, leaders in the field call for, and practitioners desire. Thirty-nine school…