Despite high rates of mental health concerns among youth, they are unlikely to receive mental health care, with mental health stigma acting as a barrier. The present study explores youth perceptions of the influences of stigma and what should be done to address it, drawing on a large (n = 705) mixed methods dataset of youth aged 14 to 24 from the…

A primary goal of this study was to examine adolescents' use of the most commonly used social media apps in the United States. An additional goal was to examine the relationship between social media use and adolescent externalizing behaviors. The moderating influences of gender and race/ethnicity also were assessed. The sample included 1,072…

We apply the theory of collateral consequences and a social stress process framework to school discipline to examine whether exclusionary school discipline policies are associated with the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents who have never been suspended or expelled and whether this association varies across race/ethnicity. Data are from…

The 2016 U.S. Presidential election led to a rise in mental health concerns among marginalized youth. We consider how LGBTQ+ and ally youth responded in Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs). In this secondary analysis, we used survey data to assess for associations between frequency of discussions of the election in GSAs and mental health outcomes.…

Firearm suicides among adolescents have increased in the US and rates vary across racial and ethnic groups. In this study, we examined contextual information around adolescent firearm suicides and analyzed how incident characteristics vary across racial and ethnic groups. We analyzed firearm suicides among adolescents (ages 10-18 years) from 2004…

This study explored the development and impact of shame and pride among sexual minority adolescents (SMA) to better understand emotions as psychosocial mechanisms of wellbeing. Shame and pride are salient to understanding the experiences of SMAs because American society has culturally constructed their identities to be dichotomized as shameful and…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth experience numerous disparities, including but not limited to access to health care, HIV risk, safety in school, educational opportunities, and family support. Historically, research on this community lumped together LGBQ experiences with experiences of transgender and…

The following study examined the association between race, ethnicity, referral source, and reasons for attrition from substance use treatment in a sample of 72,643 discharges of adolescent youth in the United States from 2014 to 2016. Black and Hispanic adolescents were more likely to be discharged due to incarceration and termination by the…

Prior studies have demonstrated that peer victimization is a common problem affecting youth and has short-term mental health consequences. There is less known about the long-term consequences of peer victimization during the transition to adulthood, or the processes whereby bully victimization may lead to poor mental health. This study utilized…

During adolescence, adolescents are given more freedom to independently interact with a variety of social contexts. The eco-developmental model suggests that the activity spaces where adolescents spend their time affect substance-use behaviors beyond peer influences, and that the relationships may differ based on the adolescent's demographic…

Depression has been increasing rapidly and is prevalent among youth. Inadequate mental health service utilization for youth and relevant racial/ethnic disparities are a growing concern. The current study used a nationally representative database to examine racial/ethnic disparities in youth depression prevalence, mental health services…

Adolescent health has a significant influence as individuals transition to adulthood and can have lifelong effects on well-being. In addition to well-established structural determinants of health such as racism and poverty, proximal determinants of adolescent health illuminate on the health effects of the daily circumstances of adolescents. Guided…

While previous research has shown alcohol use to increase developmentally throughout adolescence, the age of alcohol initiation has rarely been incorporated into developmental trajectories. Simultaneous estimation of the effects of early alcohol initiation was made in relation to the recency and frequency of alcohol use utilizing a sample of 1,209…

Although parental monitoring often reduces youth risk behaviors, some research on bullying perpetration has found that parental monitoring deters bullying while other research has found a null effect or a positive effect. We investigated the bidirectional relationships of bullying perpetration and parental monitoring from age 11 to 18 years,…

Research suggests that youth with more financial and social resources are more likely to have access to mentorship. Conversely, the rising star hypothesis posits that youth who show promise through their individual successes are more likely to be mentored. Utilizing a nationally representative sample (N = 4,882), we tested whether demographic…