The Research-based Developmentally Informed (REDI) program enriched Head Start classrooms with teacher-delivered curriculum components designed to enhance child social-emotional learning and language-literacy skills. Parents received information about the program via backpack express, including weekly handouts about program topics and three DVDs…

Guided by the biopsychosocial model, we examined (a) the prevalence of weight control behaviors (WCBs; i.e., trying to stay the same weight, lose weight, gain weight, or do nothing about weight) among early adolescent boys by race/ethnicity and grade level, and (b) how the boys' perceptions of sociocultural pressures (from parents, peers, and…

Longitudinal data from 746 adolescents in Toronto, Canada (54% females), was gathered in eight waves over seven years (1995 through 2001), beginning when the youths were 10 to 12 years old (mean age = 11.8, SD = 1.2 years). Five trajectories of substance use were identified: chronic-high, childhood onset-rapid high, childhood onset-moderate,…

This study determined the effectiveness of a parent support intervention to improve parental involvement and students' scores in reading. During the past 4 years (2006-2010), the students' seventh-grade reading scores at the study site on the state end-of-grade (EOG) reading test declined from 71.1% to 28.1%, which represented a decrease of 43.0%…

Background: Hispanic youths have high rates of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancies, yet little research has targeted multiple protective/risk factors for early sexual initiation in this group. This study examined two main factors--parenting practices and acculturation--on early sexual initiation among Hispanic middle school students in…

Focus groups explored the bullying prevention suggestions of 62 Grade 5 to 8 students. Discussions were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Students advocated a comprehensive approach including uniforms, increased supervision, playground activities, group restructuring to prevent social isolation, influential presenters, prevention skills…

This article reports on mother-child conflict as an outcome and moderator of Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), a preventive intervention for depression. Forty-one adolescents (average age = 13.37, SD = 1.19) with elevated depression symptoms were randomized to receive IPT-AST or school counseling (SC). Adolescents…

Objective: This article describes the process and outcomes of an abstinence-orientated empowerment program that was delivered to an adolescent multicultural population. Method: The study employed a time-limited pretest-posttest OXO design with an N of 130 drawn from youth in public schools from fifth grade to ninth grade. A paired-samples t test…

In order to combat escalating aggression and violence in schools, it is important to understand the relationship between intrafamilial communication and aggressive behaviors. In this study, the authors examined the link between preadolescents' perceptions of parent-child communication and their levels of school-based aggressive behavior. The…

Burgeoning research on the adolescent (e.g., middle-school) years suggests that this is a particularly vulnerable period for the development of maladaptive eating patterns. Prior research has established a link between perceptions of maternal parenting practices and adolescent onset of problematic eating behaviors. The authors hypothesized that…