Background: Sexting, the sharing of sexually suggestive photos, may be a gateway behavior to early sexual activity and increase the likelihood of social ostracism. Methods: Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 6021) data from 2015 among Pennsylvania 9th-12th grade students were used to examine associations between consensual and nonconsensual sexting…

Many studies have examined significant factors associated with school delinquency among adolescents, including relationship violence, property damage, and other serious threats to students' safety. However, students' coping behaviors after being victims of or witnesses to violence and other forms of delinquency have not been thoroughly examined.…

The New York Civil Liberties Union's Teen Activist Project (TAP) and Youth Organizing Institute are peer educator and organizing programs for high school students in New York City. In recent years, students from both programs have identified bullying and harassment and the lack of comprehensive sex education as major problems in New York City…

A diverse group of adolescents (N = 41) from a large city in the Midwestern United States participated in focus groups about misogynistic and homophobic language. Our qualitative analysis yielded two major themes. First, participants discussed this language as a way to regulate peers' conformity to norms related to gender and sexuality. Second,…

The purpose of this study was to get an insight about how high school female students perceive the transition to university life, and to understand the transition experience of university female students in the first semester. An exploratory study design was used where 166 high school female students and 88 first year university female students…

This paper explores the intersection of feminism and service-learning by describing the creation of a women's studies course for girls attending an alternative high school. In the course participants could critique sexist practices in the media and in the school, as well as establish cultural competence through engaging in service projects that…

This collection of fact sheets includes: (1) Alcohol and Drug Use; (2) Bullying and Suicidal Behaviors; (3) Dietary Behaviors; (4) Disease Prevention and Health Care Access; (5) Injury Risk and Violence; (6) Physical Inactivity; (7) Sexual Behaviors; (8) Tobacco Use; and (9) Weight Management. [For "[West Virginia Youth Risk Behavior/School…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Push Outs -- Children of Color and includes: (1) Partnerships, Not Push Outs--Collaboration is Critical to Dealing with Disparities…

"Pervasive Vulnerabilities" explores the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of adolescent girls and boys and female teachers in order to expose the continuing persistence of sexual harassment in the United States. The book addresses the sexual double standard that continues to hold girls and women accountable for male sexual aggression, and…

The School Health Profiles (Profiles) is a system of surveys assessing school health policies and practices in states, large urban school districts, and territories. Profiles surveys are conducted biennially by education and health agencies among middle and high school principals and lead health education teachers. Profiles monitors the current…

There is growing interest in gender differences in the experience of various forms of peer victimization; however, much of the work to date has used traditional variable-centered approaches by focusing on scales or individual forms of victimization in isolation. The current study explored whether there were discrete groups of adolescents who…

Gender-based violence is pervasive in South African society and is often seen as the driver of HIV, particularly affecting youth. Rural KwaZulu-Natal, where we have been working in a district in an on-going university-school partnership, is noted as the epicentre of the epidemic. The two secondary schools in this study were therefore conveniently…

The study aimed to develop the Homophobic Bullying Scale and to investigate its psychometric properties. The items of the Homophobic Bullying Scale were created to measure high school students' bullying behaviors motivated by homophobia, including verbal bullying, relational bullying, physical bullying, property bullying, sexual harassment, and…

Sexual violence is a potential key risk factor for adolescent suicidal behavior but has not been studied extensively. Thus, the current study examined the extent to which sexual assault predicted suicide attempts among adolescent students in the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey (2007 data). Gender differences in suicidal…

Sexual harassment is a highly troubling gendered phenomenon that plagues young women on a daily basis. The way in which sexual harassment is perceived and treated is varied and is largely based on racial and class stereotypes. This paper highlights the findings from a study in which a group of middle and high school teachers were interviewed and…