Who is using PrEP on-demand? Factors associated with PrEP use modality among Black and Hispanic/Latino emerging adults.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly efficacious HIV prevention medication, yet Black and Hispanic/Latino sexual minority men's and gender diverse individuals' (SMMGD) PrEP use is limited due to factors such as PrEP barriers and anticipated PrEP stigma. Although most individuals who use PrEP take it as a daily regimen, there is evidence that many SMMGD are interested in using "on-demand" (also known as event-driven or intermittent or 2-1-1) PrEP. We used stepwise multinomial logistic regression to explore factors associated with on-demand, daily, and no PrEP use among 820 Black and Hispanic/Latino SMMGD ages 18-29 in the United States. We found that greater reported PrEP barriers were associated with higher odds of using PrEP on-demand or not using PrEP compared to daily PrEP use. More past 3-month sex partners and greater comfort telling others about PrEP use were associated with lower odds of on-demand compared to daily PrEP use. In addition, compared to daily PrEP use, more past 3-month sex partners, greater comfort telling others about PrEP use, and higher anticipated PrEP stigma were associated with lower odds of no current PrEP use compared to daily PrEP use. Findings may inform clinical practices and interventions to promote PrEP uptake and adherence.

The Art of Social Justice: Examining Arts Programming as a Context for Critical Consciousness Development Among Youth.

Critical consciousness has been linked to a range of positive outcomes, particularly among marginalized youth; yet, evidence on its developmental antecedents remains limited. The current study examines whether arts participation is associated with positive change in critical consciousness, and whether these associations differ by youth's social group status. The sample consisted of high school youth (N = 2537; 10% Latinx, 7% Multiracial; 4% Black; 5% Asian; 72% White; 2% Other; 53% Female; Mage = 15.69; age range = 10-20). The results showed that youth with higher arts participation demonstrate higher growth in critical reflection and action, adjusting for baseline critical consciousness, other types of extracurricular participation, and demographic characteristics. The association between arts participation and critical action was significantly stronger for youth of color than for white youth, and the association between arts participation and critical reflection was marginally significantly stronger for white youth than for youth of color. These findings suggest that it is crucial to extend opportunities for arts involvement to all students, and to expand the ways in which arts involvement can promote critical consciousness for youth of varying dimensions of oppression and privilege.

Youth-specific sexual and gender minority state-level policies: Implications for pronoun, name, and bathroom/locker room use among gender minority youth.

While research that investigates the importance of school-level promotive factors (e.g., teacher support) for sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) well-being has proliferated, less research has focused on state-level climate and policy implications for gender minority youth-specific experiences. This study investigated the impact of two youth-specific SGM state-level laws (i.e., "anti-LGBT laws" and conversion therapy bans) on social transition experiences (i.e., name/pronoun use and using desired bathroom/locker rooms) of GMY (n = 4000) aged 13-17. Through a series of multivariable regression models, it was determined that the absence of laws that restricted rights for sexual and gender minority people was associated with greater use of the correct name and correct pronouns for transgender youth. These differences were further explained by binary gender identity (transgender binary or nonbinary) status, region, and age in multivariable models. Findings highlight the importance of enacting more uniform protections for SGMY, especially to protect transgender youth that live in the southern region of the U.S.

Greater Engagement in Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) and GSA Characteristics Predict Youth Empowerment and Reduced Mental Health Concerns.

Extracurricular groups can promote healthy development, yet the literature has given limited attention to indirect associations between extracurricular involvement and mental health or to sexual and gender minority youth. Among 580 youth (Mage  = 15.59, range = 10-20 years) and adult advisors in 38 Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs), multilevel structural equation models showed that greater engagement in GSAs over the school year predicted increased perceived peer validation, self-efficacy to promote social justice, and hope (baseline adjusted). Through increased hope, greater engagement indirectly predicted reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms at the year's end (baseline adjusted). GSAs whose members had more mental health discussions and more meetings reported reduced mental health concerns. Findings suggest how groups addressing issues of equity and justice improve members' health.

For Better or Worse? System-Justifying Beliefs in Sixth-Grade Predict Trajectories of Self-Esteem and Behavior Across Early Adolescence.

Scholars call for more attention to how marginalization influences the development of low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth and emphasize the importance of youth's subjective perceptions of contexts. This study examines how beliefs about the fairness of the American system (system justification) in sixth grade influence trajectories of self-esteem and behavior among 257 early adolescents (average age 11.4) from a diverse, low-income, middle school in an urban southwestern city. System justification was associated with higher self-esteem, less delinquent behavior, and better classroom behavior in sixth grade but worse trajectories of these outcomes from sixth to eighth grade. These findings provide novel evidence that system-justifying beliefs undermine the well-being of marginalized youth and that early adolescence is a critical developmental period for this process.

Theorizing Safety Informed Settings: Supporting Staff at Youth Residential Facilities.

Each year approximately 48,000 youth are incarcerated in residential placement facilities (YRFs) in the United States. The limited existing literature addressing the workforce in these settings paints a complicated picture. The YRF workforce is highly motivated to work with legal system involved youth. However, YRF staff report high rates of burnout, job fatigue, and work-related stress. The current paper proposes solutions to persistent problems faced by staff in these settings by integrating literature from criminology, organizational psychology, trauma-informed care, and community psychology. In doing so, we highlight previously overlooked aspects of intervention for trauma-organized settings and respond to recent calls for community psychologists to take a more active role in the adaptation of trauma-informed care in community settings. We conclude by advancing three recommendations, drawn from setting-level theory and inspired by the principles of trauma-informed care, to transform YRFs.

Interrogating the Intersections: How Intersectional Perspectives Can Inform Developmental Scholarship on Critical Consciousness.

Developmental psychologists widely recognize that the social structures and inequities of American society influence youth development. A burgeoning body of research also considers how youth marginalized by society critically evaluate societal inequities and take action to change them (critical consciousness, Freire [Education for critical consciousness (Vol. 1). Bloomsbury Publishing.]), suggesting that marginalized youth who are more critically conscious experience improved mental health and better educational and occupational outcomes and are more engaged in traditional forms of civic behavior. The current manuscript critically reviews and extends this area of research from an intersectional perspective. Drawing from core writings in intersectionality and more recent psychological applications, we contend that research on marginalized youth's critical consciousness could be further strengthened by (1) focusing on marginalizing systems, rather than marginalized individuals; (2) conceptualizing and examining multiple systems of oppression; and (3) paying greater attention to sociohistorical knowledge. We conclude with some initial concrete recommendations for integrating principles of intersectionality into scholarship on youths' critical consciousness development.

"This is probably the reason why she resorted to that kind of action": A qualitative analysis of juvenile justice workers attributions for girls' offending.

A large body of evidence suggests that within the juvenile justice system, girls fare worse than boys on several measures, including number of arrests, length of stay, and mental health outcomes while in the system. Scholarship suggests a myriad of gendered social factors that precipitate girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system; however, less is known about how stakeholders within the juvenile justice system perceive the girls they work with or interpret their experiences. The current paper examines the attributions that juvenile justice system workers make about the reasons girls offend. In line with previous research, we identify both internal (personality, character traits) and external (situational) explanations for girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system that correspond to gender stereotypes and expectations of girls. Furthermore, we identify structural attributions as a special subset of external attributions that take into account how larger social, economic, and historical factors shape girls' situations and experiences and contribute to their criminal behavior. These structural attributions have implications for practitioners' views of justice and the role of the juvenile justice system in the lives of girls. We conclude with a set of implications for practice and policy.

A bitter pill to swallow? Patterns of critical consciousness and socioemotional and academic well-being in early adolescence.

An increasing body of research on critical consciousness explores how youth understand and react to inequality in their social contexts. The operationalization of critical consciousness remains inchoate, however. Developmental psychology traditionally conceptualizes critical consciousness as three components (critical reflection, political efficacy, and critical action), but how levels of these components combine for different youth or relate to outcomes remains unclear. This article uses latent class analysis to examine how components of critical consciousness pattern together in a sample 448 of marginalized (racial/ethnic minority) youth, and relate to demographic characteristics, socioemotional outcomes, and academic well-being. We identify four classes of critical consciousness components differentiated by their level of critical reflection, beliefs about the fairness of the United States, and external and internal political efficacy. Ethnicity was related to class membership, but gender and socioeconomic status were not. Controlling for race/ethnicity, we find differences in cross-sectional measures of depression, academic engagement, academic competence, and grades of youth across these classes and identify sociopolitical efficacy as a key predictor of positive youth development. Our findings provide theoretical clarity and practical insight into the complexity of critical consciousness and the combination of components that is most beneficial for positive youth development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).