Background: Sexual violence (SV) is a serious public health concern, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth report higher rates than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This qualitative study aimed to understand LGBTQ+ students' perspectives on how middle and high school environments can better prevent…

Sexual violence among adolescents is a major concern. This study examined the impact of the peer-led "Sources of Strength" program on gender-based violence and attitudes dismissive of sexual harassment. Twenty high schools in Colorado were randomized to intervention (n = 11) or waitlist control (n = 9); students (N = 6461; 9th-11th…

Research highlights the high rates and deleterious outcomes of teen dating and sexual violence (DSV), underscoring the critical role of prevention. School personnel have an important role in preventing DSV among teens. The purpose of this study was to explore the rates and correlates of school personnel's opportunity and actions to intervene in…

With sexual violence prevention programs gaining traction in secondary schools, students' attitudes toward sexual violence have begun to be measured more frequently. While these attitudes are measured as outcomes of prevention programs, students' preexisting attitudes toward sexual violence shape how prevention programs are received by the…

High-profile school attacks highlight the need for effective school safety solutions. School safety tip lines offer a prevention-based solution. However, little is known about their effectiveness. Using a quasi-experimental multilevel design, we examined the association between school tip-line adoption and violent threats and attacks at school…

Many bystander programs to prevent violence have been developed and evaluated in college populations. An exception is the randomized controlled trial of Green Dot, found effective in reducing violence rates and violence acceptance in 26 high-schools (2010-2014). In 'Life's Snapshot', 10,727 seniors were recruited from these same schools with the…

Costs of providing the Green Dot bystander-based intervention, shown to be effective in the reduction of sexual violence among Kentucky high school students, were estimated based on data from a large cluster-randomized clinical trial. Rape Crisis Center Educators were trained to provide Green Dot curriculum to students. Implementing Green Dot in…

Child exploitation and victimization occur in numerous ways and affect young people of all ages, races, backgrounds, socioeconomic situations, and geographic locations. It is a difficult but important subject for educators, who interact with students more directly and for more hours in a week than most other adults in students' lives. But armed…

According to the CDC, 1.5 million high school students experience dating abuse annually. High school students who have been physically hurt by a partner earn grades of C or D twice as often as grades of A or B. They are 25% more likely to drop out of high school than their non-abused peers. Over a lifetime, victims of dating abuse experience a 20%…

Although studies indicate school-based HIV/AIDS education programs effectively reduce risky behaviors, only 33 states and the District of Columbia in US mandate HIV/AIDS education. Ideally, school-based HIV/AIDS education should begin before puberty, or at the latest before first sexual intercourse. In 2011, 20% US states had fewer schools…

Focus groups (N = 15 groups; 8 with girls, 7 with boys) with adolescents in high schools near Cape Town, South Africa, were used to conduct a qualitative investigation of reported reasons for using and not using substances and for having and not having sex. Adolescents reported Enhancement, Negative States, Social, and Aversive Social motivations…

Background: The incidence of psychological, physical, and sexual violence in intimate dating relationships has a significant impact on young people. These issues are of great concern to researchers, educators, and administrators who strive to help youth be happy and healthy. This review focused on prevention and intervention efforts implemented in…

This study investigated the effects of a Men as Allies--based intervention on high school students' rape-supportive attitudes and behaviors. As hypothesized at posttest, the male and female experimental groups demonstrated a significant decrease in rape-supportive attitudes, which was maintained at follow-up. Male participants viewed peers'…

Using data from the 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, this study examined select sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of weight perceptions and weight control behaviors among Black, Hispanic and White females (n = 6,089). Results showed little difference across ethnic groups for perceptions of body weight with slightly over…

Objective: The aim of this article is twofold: first, to examine the prevalence of being the victim of actual and attempted rape among a large representative sample of Cape Town high school students; and second, to identify the correlates of sexual assault for both boys and girls, including alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, behavioral problems,…