The rise and growing prevalence of juvenile delinquency is a matter of concern for many parties. This study aims to establish a research instrument in the form of a questionnaire that can be deployed to assess the learning environment perceived by high school students. This research endeavor constitutes a developmental study, wherein the outcomes…

Adolescent behavior now occurs offline and online. Frequently studied and treated independently, the relationship between offline problem behaviors and online risk taking is not well understood. This study asked whether there are any problematic behaviors predictive of online risk taking by high school students. Using a 2009 dataset of 2,077 high…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that there are over 400,000 children currently in foster care in the United States. Most youth are in the system for at least a year, with 38% for two years or longer. The most common placement setting for children in foster care is nonrelative foster family homes; about half of youth exit…

School and district administrators play a key role in identifying strategies that can support students dealing with mental health challenges. The EdWeek Research Center surveyed these educational leaders and high school students to learn more about their perspectives on the role of social media, absenteeism, and other factors in students'…

Every year millions of children suffer the loss of a parent due to incarceration. This exploratory study investigated an eight-session group intervention to support this vulnerable population. Within the group, attendance, academic achievement, self-esteem, and delinquent and aggressive behavior were explored. This article will discuss the results…

Childhood exposure to traumatic experiences and subsequent psychological symptoms increase the risk for lifelong behavioral and mental health problems, including depression diagnoses, reduced adaptive coping strategies, substance abuse, and early death, with negative impacts on children's social development and academic achievement.…

Using an integrated administrative data set, out-of-home residential placements (i.e., child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health) were examined in a sample of early adolescents in a large urban school district. Out-of-home placements were tracked across Grades 7 to 9 in a population of 58,000 youth. This included 10,911 students identified…

California's state youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), is violent, isolated, and lacks accountability. Fights and riots are a part of daily life and create a culture of fear. DJJ's violent conditions are concealed by an absence of state oversight and the facilities' long distances from youths' families and…

The purpose of this study was to explore significant variables predicting adolescent suicidal attempts. Socio-environmental variables such as gender, school record, school grade, school adaptation, and family intimacy together with intra-individual variables including depression, anxiety, delinquency, stress, and self-esteem were considered as…

Background: Despite the growing number of Latino youth in the US, little research has examined factors that influence the development of mental health symptoms among this population, including factors related to immigration. Objectives: This study examined the link between negative life events (NLEs) and two outcomes, symptoms of anxiety and…

Keeping firearms at home may increase personal safety but it may also increase the risk of injury. This study uses data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to assess the extent to which adolescents' easy access to firearms at home increases the risk of violent offending and violent victimization. Access to…

Effects on delinquency made by grade level, school type (based on grade levels accommodated), and prosocial school climate were assessed, controlling for individual-level risk and protective factors. Data were obtained from the Substance Abuse Services Division of Alabama's state mental health agency and analyzed via hierarchical linear modeling,…

We examine school performance among 83 adolescents at risk for major depression. Negative mood interfered with subjective measures of school performance, including ability to do well in school, homework completion, concentrate in class, interact with peers, and going to class. No significant relationships were found for mood and objective measures…

This study examined whether the impact of contextual-level socioeconomic disadvantage on adolescent mental health is contingent upon individual-level perceptions of social support. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a panel survey of a nationally representative United States sample (analytic N =…