Safety, security, freedom of expression, love, and support are critical components for adolescent youth that encourage growth and development. This study explored how Black girls make sense of their educational experiences while partnering with school staff through the RoyalSapphires program. Children must be in relationships with well intended…

A self-report assessment scale of school connectedness was validated in this study based on the data from middle-school children in a northeastern state of the United States (n = 145). The scale was based on the School Bonding Model (Morita, 1991), which was derived reductively from the social control (bond) theory (Hirschi, 1969). This validation…

Sustaining effective school-based prevention programs is critical to improving youth and population-based health. This article reports on results from the Aban Aya Sustainability Project, an effort to sustain a school-based prevention program that was tested via a randomized trial and targeted violence, drug use, and risky sex-related behaviors…

Background: Rates of overweight in youth have increased at an alarming rate, particularly in minority youth, and depressive symptoms may affect the ability of youth to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors to manage weight and reduce their risk for health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between depressive…

Background: Obesity has become a national epidemic among youth. Declining physical activity and poor nutrition contribute to this epidemic. The purpose of this study was to obtain data on middle school students' physical activity and nutrition knowledge and practices. Methods: The Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey was developed and…

Open-ended questions were used to obtain narrative accounts of what makes a girl (or a boy) popular (or unpopular) at school. The participants were 489 African American students in Grades 1, 4, and 7 recruited from high-risk inner-city neighborhoods. Appearance and self-presentation were mentioned the most in Grades 4 and 7. Prosocial…

The present study examined the concurrent and prospective relation between a select number of potential predictors and symptoms of anxiety among a high-risk community sample of 149 predominately African American children. Parent and child reports of anxiety were assessed in the first and seventh grade. Six domains of childhood risk factors (i.e.,…