The State of Nevada launched the "Nevada SafeVoice" anonymous tip line to prevent harmful events in schools and to promote student safety, health, and wellbeing. We assessed the extent to which "SafeVoice" contributed to reductions in school discipline incidents, youth suicides, and increases in the positive school climate.…

Anti-transgender school policies have proliferated in the United States from 2019 to 2024, impacting school climate for transgender and nonbinary learners. In this quantitative study, we examined differences in the experiences of school climate factors (e.g., safety, mattering, mental health outcomes, etc.) between male, female, and nonbinary high…

This study uses open source information to examine school shootings in the United States for the 1990-2016 period. We innovatively created a national-level database to address the gaps in existing research and identified 652 school shootings. These shootings included 473 intentional shootings (encompassing 354 with known offenders and 119 with…

This study seeks to expand the conceptualization of campus safety incorporating both physical and psychological dimensions and drawing attention to the experiences of Black college students. Using the 2019 ACHA-NCHA biannual assessment, this study examined campus safety experiences of Black/African American in comparison to White undergraduate…

This systematic review synthesizes research on school-based crisis intervention protocols, descriptions, and evaluations. We performed a comprehensive literature search, and 60 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. We found an overwhelming lack of evaluation studies (n = 3), suggesting that interventions are being administered…

Background: Our aim was to identify sex- and location-specific risk factors for suicide ideation/planning and attempts among American Indian youth. Methods: Biennial data for 6417 American Indian high school students attending reservation and urban schools were extracted from the Montana volunteer sample Youth Risk Behavior Survey data for pooled…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. After a two-year pandemic, issues related to funding, teacher recruitment and retention, and serving disadvantaged students have become more severe in rural school districts. In the five-part report series, "Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the…

In 2013, VA became the first state to mandate the use of threat assessment teams in its K-12 public schools. We provide an account of the development and adaptation of threat assessment as a school safety practice and research on the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines in VA schools. We describe the state law and the question of whether…

Growing evidence suggests that exposure to early-life adversity poses risk to youth development, with impaired mental health a central concern. This population-representative study of adolescent students (n = 11,222) investigates the effects of two key forms of early adversity--victimization and poverty--on adolescent mental health in a step-wise…

There are known cultural variations in correlates of and symptoms related to suicide-related thoughts and behaviors; however, the majority of research that informs suicide prevention in school systems has focused on research based on Euro-American/White students. By exploring school-related risk and protective factors in ethnic-racial minoritized…

In addition to the potential loss of life, school shootings can evoke feelings of profound fear and anxiety that disturb a community's sense of safety and security. Questions have been raised about whether schools' approaches to addressing student behavior are a factor in school shootings. These approaches include discipline that removes the…

Research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning or queer (LGBTQ) youth are at high risk for bullying and violence, poor mental health, and other challenges. The availability of data from WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), which provides arguably more data on LGBTQ youth than any other source in the nation,…

Schools across the US have implemented suicide prevention procedures to detect risk among students and facilitate linkage to mental health services. Yet, many students at risk for suicide do not access mental health treatment, and significant racial/ethnic disparities in service utilization persist. Quality improvement of suicide prevention…

School violence, school violent victimization, and suicidal ideation among adolescents are serious public health concerns. This pilot study investigated the influence of steroid use on problem behaviors. Secondary data analyses of the 2014 PRIDE Questionnaire were performed based on information collected from 38,414 high school adolescents.…

Although homeless youth face a higher risk of victimization and mental health problems, little is known about school victimization and mental health outcomes for school-attending homeless youth. This study examined the relationship between school climate and school-related victimization and mental health problems among homeless youth. Multivariate…