Background: Sexual violence (SV) is a serious public health concern, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth report higher rates than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This qualitative study aimed to understand LGBTQ+ students' perspectives on how middle and high school environments can better prevent…

Adaptive functioning, or the suite of skills essential for real-world, day-to-day functioning, includes daily living, communication, and socialization abilities. Even in the absence of co-occurring intellectual disability (IQ < 70), difficulties in adaptive functioning are prominent in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Further, ASD individuals…

Substance use is a frequently cited health risk behavior in the youth gang literature, yet little is known about how substance use patterns vary among gang-involved youth or the social ecological factors that contribute to potential variation. Developing relevant and effective service approaches will require an understanding of this variation and…

Early entrance to college, a form of academic acceleration, is an educational alternative that opens pathways for advanced students to have challenging, stimulating, and relevant learning experiences. Children who choose this option enter the adult world several years earlier than most of their age peers. This involves extra growth, adaptation,…

A gap exists in the literature regarding aggression in autism spectrum disorders and how this behavior compares to other groups. In this multisite study, the "Children's Scale for Hostility and Aggression: Reactive/Proactive" and the Aggression subscale of the "Child Behavior Checklist" were rated for 414 children with autism…

The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative has spent 14 years working with young people with foster care experience, engaging them to help identify what they need to transition successfully to adulthood. Consistently, young people have emphasized that their foster care experiences are far from normal. What they need--but too often do not…

This study investigated the role of special education administrators in the transition planning process for children with disabilities ages 3-21 in selected Washington school districts. A basic qualitative study was selected to construct meaning from a described phenomenon. The study sought to identify and explain how special education…

Previous research has shown that the development of alcohol and tobacco dependence is linked and that both are influenced by environmental and intrapersonal factors, many of which likely interact over the life course. The present study examines the effects of general and alcohol- and tobacco-specific environmental influences in the family of…

This study surveyed 181 parents of students enrolled in one of two early entrance programs at the University of Washington: the Early Entrance Program for students who entered before age 15 and the University of Washington Academy for Young Scholars for students who matriculated after Grade 10. The purpose was to understand parents' perspectives…

Many adolescent clients of the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (DASA) in Washington come also with psychiatric problems, are involved with the legal system, live with someone who abuses drugs or alcohol, have poor social support networks, or live in poverty. This report describes a sample of adolescent clients who received treatment and/or…

This study analyzed data from the National Survey of America's Families to determine the effects of particular child, parent, and family factors on serious emotional and behavioral problems of children. The results were tabulated in the form of odds ratios that depict the likelihood or degree of risk of each factor. The factors were also examined…

Highlighting the link between the emotional well-being of children and adolescents and their parents' mental health, this policy brief reports key findings for Washington state from the National Survey of American Families, a national telephone survey of representative samples of American families in 13 states, including Washington. Analyses…