Unhealthy relationships have a devastating impact on adolescents' academic performance, including poor attendance, difficulty concentrating, and feeling unsafe at school. Schools provide an ideal setting to positively influence adolescents' attitudes, knowledge, and relationship skills by integrating healthy relationship lessons into sexuality…

Within contemporary developmental science, models derived from relational developmental systems (RDS) metatheory emphasize that the basic process of human development involves mutually-influential relations, termed developmental regulations, between the developing individual and his or her complex and changing physical, social, and cultural…

Suicide remains the third leading cause of death among young people in the United States. Considering that youth who contemplate suicide generally exhibit warning signs before engaging in lethal self-harm, school-based mental health professionals can play a vital role in identifying students who are at risk for suicidal behavior. Nevertheless, the…

According to a 2009 AP-MTV survey of 1,247 people ages 14-24, 50% of those surveyed have experienced cyberbullying (Gatti 1). Victims were twice as likely to need help from a mental health professional and were three times more likely to drop out of school than those surveyed who did not report being cyberbullied (5). Given this alarming social…

A substantial proportion of high school students consume alcohol, with nearly a quarter of 12th grade students reporting binge drinking in the past two weeks. Drinking alcohol in adolescence is associated with a variety of other risky behaviors, as well as with an increased likelihood of long-term problems reaching into adulthood. This "Adolescent…

Youth violence in the city of Philadelphia, PA, has reached epidemic proportions. The majority of homicides related to gun violence is most prevalent among African American males aged 19 to 24 years. Therefore, it is essential to implement youth violence prevention programs to a target population several years younger than this age group to…

This paper outlines early findings from the Tasmanian-based Social Norms Analysis Project (SNAP). The Social Norms model is presented as a theoretically informed, evidence-based model for reducing alcohol-related harm in youthful populations by utilising the complex and often positive contributions peer groups make to adolescent health and…

In this article, the authors describe McLane High School's Turning Points Academy (TPA), a revolutionary program which was created to counter the low graduation rates and even lower college attendance rates at McLane (Fresno, California). TPA, which began in 1994, is a small learning community that each spring brings 145 McLane sophomores to the…

National statistics reveal an alarming trend concerning the use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which is better known as ecstasy. Results from the Monitoring the Future survey of 50,000 secondary youth reveal that use among 8th graders rose to 3.1%, 5.4% among 10th graders, and 8.2% among 12th graders. High school faculty and staff must be…