Believe-Empathy-Wellness-Empower-Listen-Learn (BE WELL) program offers a promising replacement for traditional punitive suspensions in California schools. Amidst the over 6 million suspensions reported in 2022, this on-campus program fosters self-reflection, academic growth, and life skills within a compassionate and accepting learning…

Previous research on student learning outcomes has begun to advocate for the inclusion of student researchers. To fully grasp undergraduate student perspectives of learning objectives, this study was co-created and conducted by undergraduate student researchers, allowing for an inclusive, equity-centered research model to guide our findings. We…

Drawing on scholarship focused on the concept of emotional labor, this study investigates the communicative role of college instructors in managing their students' mental health. Interviews with instructors (N = 17) focused on their perceived communicative roles in their students' mental health management, the communicative techniques they use to…

Our UC Santa Barbara research team engages in ongoing efforts to enhance and validate the Social Emotional Health Surveys (Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education). The initiative to enhance the secondary version is supported by an Institute of Education Sciences grant (#R305A160157, 2016-2020), which provides funding to refine, standardize, and…

The research examined (a) girls' responses to personal experiences of gender and/or ethnic/racial discrimination, (b) social support from parents and friends following the discrimination, and (c) the relationship between girls' reported coping strategies to the discrimination and their self-esteem. Participants were 74 adolescent girls…