In the past years, the number of mindfulness-based intervention and prevention programs has increased steadily. In order to achieve the intended program outcomes, program implementers need to understand the essential and indispensable components that define a program's success. This chapter describes the complex process of identifying the core…

Aggressive and weapons carrying behaviors are indicative of youth violence. The theory of planned behavior is used in the current analysis to improve our understanding of violence-related behaviors. We examine the influence of perceived behavioral control (self-control and decision making) as a part of the overall framework for understanding the…

When most people think about 4-H, they remember county fairs, livestock programs, and agricultural education. While these programs are still prominent, 4-H has grown in order to meet the growing demands of today's youth. The organization has expanded services and programs to serve rural, suburban, and urban youth in every state in the U.S. 4-H is…

There is compelling evidence for the role of social information processing (SIP) in aggressive behavior. However, less is known about factors that influence stability versus instability in patterns of SIP over time. Latent transition analysis was used to identify SIP patterns over one year and examine how community violence exposure, aggressive…

The focus of this study was to prospectively investigate the effect of aggressive behavior and of classroom behavioral context, as measured in the fall of 1st grade, on the timing of 1st school removal across Grades 1-7 in a sample of predominately urban minority youths from Baltimore, Maryland. Using a multilevel discrete-time survival framework,…

Community and school violence continue to be a major public health problem, especially among urban children and adolescents. Little research has focused on the effect of school safety and neighborhood violence on academic performance. This study examines the effect of the school and neighborhood climate on academic achievement among a population…

Students attacking other students. Students attacking teachers, support staff, and even community members. Disrespectful and threatening language, overwhelmed or inattentive parents, and an administrative system that often appears unable to bring back order in the classroom. These are stories have become an everyday part of teaching in urban…

Although elementary schools provide an opportunity for early identification and treatment of academic and psychological problems, relatively little is known about the types of symptoms being addressed in schools. Latent profile analysis on data from 678 urban first graders yielded 3 classes of children: nonsymptomatic (NS), internalizers and…

Youth violence is a significant public health problem. Although the relationship between neighborhood-level factors and urban youth violence is recognized, the specific mechanisms of this relationship are often unclear. Prominent neighborhood individuals were identified within four select low-income urban neighborhoods in Baltimore City. In-depth…