Background: Mass school shootings have created fear in the American public. The results of this fear have been the hardening of schools, lockdowns, and active shooter drills, yet the mass shootings have not ended. The goal of this study was to analyze the mental health awareness of K-12 public schools teachers in Texas with a goal to identify the…

Background: Addressing school violence is an important public health goal. To assess the role of school mental health curricula in violence prevention, we evaluated effects of an anti-stigma curriculum on violence victimization/perpetration. Methods: An ethnically/socioeconomically diverse sample of 751 sixth-graders (mean age 11.5 years) across…

Background: Whereas dating violence among high school students has been linked with sexual risk-taking and substance use, this association has been understudied among early adolescents. We estimated the prevalence of physical and nonphysical dating violence in a sample of middle school students and examined associations between dating violence,…

Determined the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among Texas high school students attending dropout prevention/recovery alternative schools. Student surveys indicated that a substantial number participated in behaviors that placed them at acute or chronic health risk. There were differences in prevalence of risk behaviors by gender,…

Surveys of 8th and 10th graders regarding carrying weapons to school and associated risk factors compared those who carried guns with those who did not. Results found an enormous increase in guns at school over seven years. Most students had been crime victims and carried guns out of fear or anger. (SM)