Previous meta-analyses have found higher self-compassion is associated with lower anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of self-compassion as an active ingredient in the treatment and prevention of anxiety and depression in youth. This was conducted through (i) a systematic review of the literature and (ii)…

Assets for a Healthy Adolescence - Experiential Outdoor Service Learning (AHA-EOSL) Program, provided by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps-CO (RMYC), engaged 165 youth during summer 2021 in Youth Crews (ages 14-18) who worked together in 8-10 member for two or five weeks while performing meaningful conservation and service projects. RMYC focused on…

Assets for a Healthy Adolescence - Experiential Outdoor Service Learning (AHA-EOSL) Program, provided by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps-CO (RMYC), engaged 165 youth during summer 2021 in Youth Crews (ages 14-18) who worked together in 8-10 member crews for two or five weeks and performed meaningful conservation and service projects. RMYC focused on…

Purpose: There is limited research examining community-based youth empowerment that addresses smoking prevention in the rural Indonesian context. This paper describes participatory action research (PAR) applied to develop a framework for empowering youth aged 17-25 years toward smoking prevention. This research conducted in the Indonesian rural…

Adolescent substance abuse can lead to detrimental long-term outcomes; thus, many schools have implemented programs to reduce both the incidence and prevalence of these issues. The "Botvin LifeSkills Training" (LST) program has demonstrated promising results in randomized controlled trials, but program results outside randomized trials…

Assets for a Healthy Adolescence - Experiential Prevention (AHA-EOSL) Program, provided by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps-CO (RMYC), engaged 165 youth during summer 2021 in Community Youth Crews (ages 14-15) or Regional Youth Crews (ages 16-18). Participants in both programs lived, camped (24/7), and worked together in 8-10 member crews for two or…

The authors' aim in this article is to stimulate thinking and a new generation of scholarship on how compassion develops over the life span and may be cultivated to improve individual and societal health, well-being, and interpersonal relationships. The authors discuss conceptualizations of compassion, overview research on the development of…

Learning remains largely out of reach for many of the most vulnerable children around the world. In low- and middle-income countries, an estimated 56% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. This share is projected to rise to 70% after the pandemic. The school closures imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, coupled with an enduring…

Background: More than half of the children in the world experience some form of interpersonal violence every year. As compared with high-income countries, policy responses in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are limited due to resource constraints and paucity of evidence for effective interventions to reduce violence against children in…

The paper explores the opportunities and challenges of combining media literacy and social-emotional literacy to promote mental health and well-being in school curricula. It describes the implementation of an experimental module within the program "Crescere insieme What's Up" (Growing up together What's Up). This upstream prevention and…

Background: HealthWise South Africa: Life Skills for Adolescents (HW) is an evidence-based substance use and sexual risk prevention program that emphasizes the positive use of leisure time. Since 2000, this program has evolved from pilot testing through an efficacy trial involving over 7,000 youth in the Cape Town area. Beginning in 2011, through…

The purposes of this study were to (a) derive prevalence estimates for elder mistreatment (emotional, physical, sexual, neglectful, and financial mistreatment of older adults [age 60 +]) in a randomly selected sample of South Carolinians; (b) examine correlates (i.e., potential risk factors) of mistreatment; and (c) examine incident…

Adolescent suicide is a growing phenomenon that is not adequately addressed in graduate education. Students and clinicians who experience a patient suicide respond negatively which in turn affects perceived competence. As a result, education in adolescent suicide is warranted. Therefore, this dissertation is a graduate level course on adolescent…

Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) is a summer employment, academic remediation, and life skills program intended to lower school dropout rates by reducing summer learning loss and preventing teen parenthood. The program is integrated into the federal summer jobs program and is offered during six-to-eight-week sessions in two consecutive…

This chapter provides an international perspective on the promotion of positive development and the prevention of risky behavior among youth. We discuss some of the specific challenges that youth face in low- and middle-income countries and identify six key evidence-based policies and programs that aim to promote positive youth development and…