Associations of School Diversity with Students' Race-based Victimization and School Connectedness: A Combined Influence of Student and Teacher Racial/Ethnic Diversity and Socioeconomic Diversity.

School diversity has been shown to be associated with students' school experiences. However, most studies have focused solely on student racial/ethnic diversity, in spite of the multifaceted nature of diversity. This study assessed how the combined influence of student and teacher racial/ethnic diversity and socioeconomic diversity were related to race-based victimization, school connectedness, and racial/ethnic disparities of these outcomes. The participants were Asian, Black, Latinx, and White students (n = 100,408; 46.2-53.5% female) in Grade 7 to Grade 12 attending 278 public schools in California. The participating schools' diversity contexts were categorized into four latent profiles differentiated by varying levels of student and teacher racial/ethnic diversity and socioeconomic diversity. Race-based victimization was the least prevalent in schools with low student racial/ethnic diversity, low socioeconomic diversity, and moderate teacher racial/ethnic diversity. The magnitude of racial/ethnic disparities in race-based victimization differed across the four latent profiles; racial/ethnic disparities were minimal when there were similar numbers of students in each racial/ethnic group. School diversity's relation with school connectedness was minimal. White students perceived higher school connectedness than other racial/ethnic groups across profiles, but the White-Latinx gap was smaller in profiles with schools having a homogeneous Latinx student population. The findings underline the importance of understanding school diversity's interaction with students' characteristics, particularly racial/ethnic identity, on students' school experiences.

Elevating the Voices of Girls in Custody for Improved Treatment and Systemic Change in the Juvenile Justice System.

The U.S. juvenile justice system does not meet the needs of girls in custody, and often fails to address girls' symptoms of trauma and high rates of sexual exploitation histories. As the system shifts away from punitive detention to a trauma-informed approach with community-based services, community psychologists and other helping professionals can help center the needs and experiences of girls in custody. As part of a multi-year collaboration, our research team created a confidential youth advisory process in one juvenile detention center (JDC). We acted as liaisons between the girls in custody and JDC administrators, reporting girls' feedback to agencies at monthly meetings. Participant confidentiality, safety, and consent were priorities. The girls' feedback, which was conceptualized within a System Responsiveness and hierarchy of needs framework, led JDC probation and mental health staff to improve services (e.g., better laundry system, longer showers, warmer food), climate (e.g., consistent reward system, confidentiality of grievances), and treatment (e.g., increase focus on gender and culture) to reduce the trauma of incarceration among girls in custody. Girls' feedback also catalyzed systemic change that led to a reduction in the JDC population in favor of wraparound community-based services better suited to meet girls' needs. Implications for community psychology values and the juvenile justice system, including the benefits and challenges of this type of collaboration, are discussed.

Protecting youth from gang membership: Individual and school-level emotional competence.

The current study examined the association between adolescent emotional competence, operationalized and measured at both the individual and the school levels, and gang membership. The study involved a sample of 12,040 students (51.4% females; mean = 16.9 years) participating in the biennial state department of education coordinated California Healthy Kids Survey, which assesses a range of adolescent health-related behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of individual emotional competence were associated with a lower likelihood of identifying as a gang member. Moreover, a stronger negative association between emotional competence and identifying as a gang member was found when emotional competence was operationalized at the school level. Implications include the role of schools in promoting emotional regulation, empathy, and behavioral regulation of their entire student body as part of an overall strategy to reduce individual student's attraction to gangs.

Dating and Sexual Violence Research in the Schools: Balancing Protection of Confidentiality with Supporting the Welfare of Survivors.

Rigorous research and program evaluation are needed to understand the experience of dating and sexual violence among youth and the impact of prevention and intervention efforts. Our dilemma in doing this work occurred when youth disclosed dating and sexual violence on a research survey. What responsibility do researchers have to protect survivors' confidentiality as a research participant versus taking steps to ensure the student has the opportunity to access help? In our evaluation of a pilot dating violence prevention program, our protocols employed widely used procedures for providing resources to participants upon their completion of the survey and de-identifying survey data. Upon reviewing preliminary survey results, we became concerned that these established procedures were not sufficient to support research participants who were adolescent survivors of dating and sexual violence. We followed a structured ethical decision-making process to examine legal and ethical considerations, consult with colleagues, consider impacts and alternative solutions, and ultimately find a solution. Through this process, we developed procedures that balance participant confidentiality and the desire to support the welfare of survivors, which other researchers may want to employ when conducting youth sexual and dating violence research in school and community settings.

School Sense of Community, Teacher Support, and Students' School Safety Perceptions.

This study examined the association between two characteristics of school climate (sense of community and teacher support, measured both at the individual and at the school level) and students' feelings of being unsafe at school. The study involved a sample of 49,638 students aged 10-18 years who participated in the 2010-2012 California Healthy Kids Survey. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), our findings revealed that, at the individual level, students perceiving higher levels of sense of community and teacher support at school were less likely to feel unsafe within the school environment. At the school level, sense of community was negatively associated with unsafe feelings, whereas there was no association between school-level teacher support and feelings of being unsafe at school.

Adolescent gang involvement: The role of individual, family, peer, and school factors in a multilevel perspective.

Youth gang involvement is a serious public health challenge as adolescents involved in gangs are more likely than others to engage in violence and aggression. To better understand gang involvement, we examined the role of protective (empathy and parental support) and risk (peer deviance and lack of safety at school) factors, as well as their interactions, in predicting adolescent gang affiliation. The study involved a sample of 26,232 students (53.4% females; mean age = 14.62, SD = 1.69) participating in the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a survey investigating a wide range of youth health and risk behaviors administered in all California schools every 2 years. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings indicated that high levels of empathy and parental support were associated with a lower likelihood of affiliating with a gang. Associating with deviant peers and perceiving the school as unsafe were positively correlated with gang membership. At the school level, lack of safety and type of school (special education, vocational, or alternative school vs. comprehensive schools) were associated with greater probability of gang membership. Empathy mitigated the association between deviant peers and gang membership.

How school can teach civic engagement besides civic education: The role of democratic school climate.

Civic engagement, defined as involvement in community life, is influenced by reciprocal relationships between individuals and contexts and is a key factor that contributes to positive youth development. The present study evaluates a theoretical model linking perceived democratic school climate with adolescent civic engagement (operationalized as civic responsibility and intentions for future participation), taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions and perceived fairness at school. Participants were 403 adolescents (47.9 % male) ranging in age from 11 to 15 years old (mean age = 13.6). Path analysis results partially validated the proposed theoretical model. Higher levels of democratic school climate were associated with higher levels of adolescent civic responsibility; the association was fully mediated by civic discussions and perceived fairness at school. Adolescents' civic responsibility, then, was positively associated with a stronger intention to participate in the civic domain in the future.

Identifying what educators need to support trauma-informed practices in the schools: A community needs assessment.

Educators are often on the frontline of supporting the well-being of their students. Thus, it is critical to ask teachers what they need in regard to implementing trauma-informed practices in schools (TIPS). This mixed-methods, community-initiated needs assessment explored educators' well-being and use of trauma-informed resources. A random selection of 450 certificated school staff from two school districts was invited to participate. Educators (n = 178; 39.5% response rate) completed a survey, and four focus groups were conducted (n = 14) to obtain feedback on factors affecting the use of TIPS. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the factors most related to resource use. Teachers reported strong well-being and low levels of secondary traumatic stress, but high levels of burnout. Themes from the focus groups highlight administrator actions that can improve teacher well-being. Teachers rated their most used resources as a list of mental health resources, virtual-guided wellness activities, and opportunities to connect with others, whereas the most helpful were opportunities to connect with others, in-person-guided wellness activities, and training to identify students who may need support. Teacher well-being and school climate achieved traditional significance values for predicting teacher use of resources; however, they did not reach the Bonferroni-adjusted significance value. Results from this needs assessment indicate that teachers wanted resources to adequately respond to their own and their students' mental well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Implementing youth participatory action research at a continuation high school.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the process of implementing a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project at a continuation high school (CHS) and share the results of a youth-designed research project that explores barriers to high school completion. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: YPAR was implemented across three cohorts at a CHS in the central coast of California from 2019 to 2022. Student survey respondents were enrolled CHS students between March and April 2021. STUDY DESIGN: A modified YPAR curriculum integrating research methodology and social justice topics was used to guide student-led research that resulted in a cross-sectional survey. DATA COLLECTION: Field notes maintained by the first author documented the process of implementing YPAR including the curriculum, conversations, and research decisions and procedures. A student-designed survey disseminated to all enrolled students resulted in 76 (66%) participant responses. The survey included 18 close-ended questions and three narrative responses. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This study details how YPAR methodologies can be translated to a high school credit recovery program. For example, student cohorts were needed to maintain continuity over time. A student-designed survey revealed that 72% of student respondents reported taking care of family members and illuminated high rates of depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers a detailed description of how we implemented YPAR at a credit recovery program and provides student-driven perspectives on educational reform and evaluation. This project addresses the implementation and challenges of using YPAR to engage youth in transformational resistance to rapidly study and improve CHS' policy and practice.

Posttraumatic growth, purpose, and trauma in university survivors of sexual assault.

Objective: This study focused on purpose as a key mechanism of posttraumatic growth for university student survivors of sexual assault. Participants: An online survey was completed by 278 participants of various ethnic, racial and gender backgrounds, recruited through email, social media, department subject pools, and Amazon Mechanical Turk. Methods: Researchers used mixed methods, concurrent triangulation approach in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously with closed and open-ended questions. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression demonstrated that age, purpose in life, high magnitude stressors, and trauma history were significantly related to posttraumatic growth. Emergent themes described the impacts of sexual assault, how sexual assault impacts purpose, and ways in which purpose impacted posttraumatic growth. Conclusion: Results confirmed the association of purpose with posttraumatic growth as well as other key impacts of trauma that should be investigated further. Next steps include evaluating therapeutic interventions focused on purpose.

Child Maltreatment Prevention Service Cases are Significantly Reduced During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Investigation Into Unintended Consequences of Quarantine.

Unprecedented financial and emotional stress, paired with measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 (e.g., school closures), place youth at risk for experiencing increased rates of abuse. We analyzed data from New York City's Administration for Children's Services to investigate the frequency of child maltreatment prevention service case openings during this time. Longitudinal counts of case openings were compiled for January through June of the years 2014-2020. An independent samples Kruskal-Wallis H-test suggested that pre-quarantine case openings were significantly larger than case openings during quarantine. To account for the possible influence of other historical events impacting data, a secondary Kruskal-Wallis H-test was conducted comparing only the 4 months of quarantine data available to the 4 months immediately preceding quarantine orders. The second independent samples Kruskal-Wallis H-test again suggested that pre-quarantine case openings were significantly larger than case openings during quarantine. A Poisson regression model further supported these findings, estimating that the odds of opening a new child maltreatment prevention case during quarantine declined by 49.17%. These findings highlight the severity of COVID-19 impacts on child maltreatment services and the gap between demand for services and service accessibility. We conclude with recommendations for local governments, community members, and practitioners.

Social support profiles associations with adolescents' psychological and academic functioning.

Social support is empirically linked to improved adolescent psychological and academic functioning. This study explored typologies characterized by family, peer, and school support among students in early (Grade 7; n = 27,399) and late (Grade 11; n = 27,984) adolescence. We assessed how each latent profile related to key aspects of psychological and academic functioning and the moderation of gender in these associations. Three convergent profiles (i.e., High, Moderate, and Low Support) and two divergent profiles (i.e., Minimum Peer Support and Minimum Family Support) were found in both grade levels, with psychological and academic functioning differentiated by the profiles. The Minimum Peer Support and Minimum Family Support profiles showed the lowest functioning in all domains across grade levels. The High Support profile showed the highest psychological health and academic performance. Gender moderation was observed in the associations between social support profiles and psychological functioning and was more prominent among 7th graders than 11th graders. Findings suggest that social support's impact is determined by combinations of various support sources, age, and gender. The social support profiles and their associations with students' characteristics and outcomes may inform practitioners in supporting vulnerable groups and planning interventions.

Getting precise and pragmatic about the assessment of bullying: the development of the California Bullying Victimization Scale.

Accurate assessment of bullying is essential to intervention planning and evaluation. Limitations to many currently available self-report measures of bullying victimization include a lack of psychometric information, use of the emotionally laden term "bullying" in definition-first approaches to self-report surveys, and not assessing all components of the definition of bullying (chronicity, intentionality, and imbalance of power) in behavioral-based self-report methods. To address these limitations, we developed the California Bullying Victimization Scale (CBVS), which is a self-report scale that measures the three-part definition of bullying without the use of the term bully. We examined test-retest reliability and the concurrent and predictive validity of the CBVS across students in Grades 5-12 in four central California schools. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing the CBVS with a common, definition-based bullying victimization measure. Predictive validity was examined through the co-administration of measures of psychological well-being. Analysis by grade and gender are included. Results support the test-retest reliability of the CBVS over a 2-week period. The CBVS was significantly, positively correlated with another bullying assessment and was related in expected directions to measures of well-being. Implications for differentiating peer victimization and bullying victimization via self-report measures are discussed.

Decision-Making Model for Addressing Role Conflict for Psychology Trainees When Supporting Family and Community.

As the field of psychology continues to make efforts to diversify the field, training programs must adapt to include the needs of diverse students. Universities in the United States mirror middle-class norms and values, which implies that students are expected to separate from familial roles and focus on their personal growth. This conflicts with core values and intentions of students from collectivist cultures. Although psychology trainees are obligated to adhere to professional ethical standards, a growing number of psychology trainees from collectivistic cultures need support to manage role conflict within potentially ambiguous standards regarding how to care for family and community members. This need is further complicated when training programs consider the lack of equitable access to mental health care resources in communities where their psychology trainees come from. In this paper, we engage in ethical decision making to address two scenarios representing role conflict between training program expectations and collectivist community and familial obligations. Through this exercise we develop and propose a Decision-Making Model for Addressing Role Conflict for Psychology Trainees. This conceptual model details a novel framework to assist psychology trainees when addressing the mental health of family and community while also providing guidance to help graduate training programs proactively equip their students with the skills and ethical framework they need to balance role conflicts such as when family and community members desire and need mental health support.

Transgenerational Trauma and Mental Health Needs among Armenian Genocide Descendants.

The trauma of a genocide can be transmitted to subsequent generations though familial mental health, sociopolitical trauma, and cultural narratives, thereby impacting mental health and well-being. Understanding specific mechanisms that are unique to each ethnic group impacted by genocide illuminates cultural, sociopolitical, and individual factors related to the transmission. For the Armenian community, the unresolved historical loss of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, with the threat of acculturation for such a large diasporic population, a continued denial by the perpetrators, as well as subsequent generations' refugee experiences, may further exasperate the impact of transgenerational trauma from the genocide. This literature review explores the mental health needs of Armenian youth in the current sociopolitical context and provides implications for how schools and communities may use this knowledge to inform supports that center Armenian community healing. Future directions for research are also discussed.

Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes in Grocery Store Workers amid the COVID-19 Pandemic and Implications for Workplace Safety and Moral Injury.

Limited research exists on the mental health (MH) of grocery store workers (GSWs), who have been on the frontlines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A disaster MH conceptual model incorporating demographics, disaster exposure and threat (COVID-19 fear and workplace threat perception), perceived stress, and social support (lack of from family and friends) was utilized to predict MH outcomes (anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms; PTSS) of GSWs. GSWs (n = 842) were recruited through a regional union in California. The participants were diverse (62.1% female) and were 18-69 years of age (M = 41.5, SD = 13.9). They completed an online survey regarding COVID-19 fear, workplace threat perception, perceived stress, lack of social support, and workplace needs/recommendations for support. Three hierarchical linear regression models were run assessing each MH outcome. Thematic analysis coding and an inductive approach were utilized for analyzing open-ended responses of workplace needs/recommendations. Females and younger GSWs (ages 18-29 years old) on average, reported higher MH symptoms than males and older age groups, respectively. COVID-19 fear and perceived stress were significant predictors of anxiety, while COVID-19 fear, workplace threat perception, and perceived stress significantly predicted depression and PTSS, explaining almost half of the variance for each model. Social support and demographics were not predictive of MH outcomes. Almost half of GSWs (40%) requested increased safety protections in the workplace. Feelings of fear of COVID-19, threat in the workplace, and overall perceived stress are predictive of GSWs' MH outcomes. Increasing feelings of safety in the workplace and reducing stress may lessen MH symptoms.

Elementary school teacher well-being and supportive measures amid COVID-19: An exploratory study.

As frontline education providers, teachers have encountered many challenges since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand teacher well-being during this crisis and inform practices to support them, this study employed an online survey with a mixed-methods approach to assess teacher well-being and the support they need to work effectively. A sample of 151 elementary school teachers in the United States was recruited in summer 2020 to complete an online survey through emails and social media outlets. Participants were asked to provide retrospective reports of their experiences teaching in spring 2020 after schools closed due to COVID-19. The majority of participants reported feeling emotionally exhausted and high levels of task stress and job ambiguity. Consistent with hypotheses, path analysis testing a model informed by the job demand-resources framework indicated that task stress and job ambiguity were robustly related to teacher well-being. Moreover, three job resources (i.e., teaching efficacy, school connectedness, and teaching autonomy) were related to job satisfaction. A moderation finding revealed that teachers who reported high teaching efficacy felt emotionally exhausted when they were unclear of their job duties. Thematic analysis of responses to an open-ended question found that teachers would feel supported if provided resources to develop competence in distance learning, workplace emotional support, and flexibility during COVID-19. The findings identified a critical need to allocate more attention and resources to support teacher psychological health by strengthening emotional support, autonomy, and teaching efficacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Cyberbullying victimization and student engagement among adolescents: Does school climate matter?

Although the psychological impacts of cyberbullying victimization (CBV) have been documented, research is inconclusive about the role of contextual factors in the association between CBV and student engagement. Sampling 16,237 adolescents from 43 schools in Delaware, we used multilevel modeling to test how CBV was associated with emotional and cognitive-behavioral engagement at both the student and school levels, with the control for demographic factors and traditional bullying victimization (TBV). We also examined the moderating effects of school climate and grade level on the association between CBV and student engagement. CBV had a small but significant positive association with emotional engagement and a small but significant negative association with cognitive-behavioral engagement. School-level climate intensified the negative association between student-level CBV and cognitive-behavioral engagement and mitigated the positive association between student-level school climate and emotional engagement. The positive association between CBV and emotional engagement was stronger for high school than middle school students, whereas the negative association between CBV and cognitive-behavioral engagement was stronger for middle than high school students. The findings support the promotive role of positive school climate in student engagement promotion. The findings also support the healthy context paradox, which suggests that bullying victims' engagement in schools may be exacerbated in a social context with positive school climate perceived by the group members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Featured counter-trafficking program: Resiliency Interventions for Sexual Exploitation (RISE).

This invited article is one of several comprising part of a special issue of Child Abuse and Neglect focused on child trafficking and health. The purpose of each invited article is to describe a specific program serving children who are survivors of trafficking (a subset of commercial sexual exploitation-CSE). These programs are featured to raise awareness of innovative counter-trafficking strategies emerging worldwide and facilitate collaboration on program development and outcomes research. This article describes Resiliency Interventions for Sexual Exploitation (RISE), a US-based multidisciplinary program dedicated to assisting female, LGBT and gender non-conforming (GNC) youth victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and child trafficking to develop the skills and resources for successful community reintegration. This is accomplished through daily collaborations with community partners (MDT-Multidisciplinary Treatment Teams), gender-specific trauma-focused services, comprehensive outreach and engagement efforts and intensive case management.

Retrospective perceptions of power imbalance in childhood bullying among college students.

OBJECTIVE: Bullying is characterized by differences in power between targets and aggressors. This study examines how experiences with power dynamics in childhood bullying are associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety in college. PARTICIPANTS: First-year college students (N = 470) at four universities reported on childhood bullying victimization and power imbalance. METHOD: Participants completed an online survey in fall 2012 that assessed childhood bullying victimization and symptoms of depression and anxiety. RESULTS: Students reporting childhood bullying victimization who indicated they were unable to defend themselves had greater symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who reported victimization but indicated they were able to defend themselves. Qualitative analyses explored why students perceived they could not defend themselves, including factors related to themselves and aggressors. CONCLUSION: For college students, feeling unable to defend oneself during childhood bullying victimization may be a focus for intervention and help explain diverse college outcomes associated with bullying victimization.