Natural Environments Near Schools: Potential Benefits for Socio-Emotional and Behavioral Development in Early Childhood.

Features of the natural environment such as tree canopy and green space have been found to promote health and well-being; however, minimal research has investigated potential benefits of nature near schools for early childhood development. This study examined differences in teacher ratings of preschoolers' socio-emotional and behavioral functioning in relation to the presence of natural elements (e.g., trees, parks) near children's homes and schools. Students' development of emotional and behavioral regulatory skills was the greatest when there were high levels of tree canopy either at home or school. Additionally, students developed greater independence and social skills when their schools were in neighborhoods with limited impervious surface (e.g., concrete); this trend was the most pronounced for students from neighborhoods low in impervious surface. Further, results suggested that associations with tree canopy may fluctuate seasonally (i.e., stronger relationships in the spring) and that the potential impact of school nature may depend on levels of home nature exposure. Although not yielding causal evidence regarding the impact of nature exposure or the effectiveness of greening interventions, findings suggest that school administrators and city planners could collaborate to maximize potential benefits of greening efforts near schools or within their catchment zones.

Effects of Extracurricular Participation on the Internalizing Problems and Intrapersonal Strengths of Youth in a System of Care.

Although extracurricular participation has been linked to positive youth outcomes in the general population, no research to date has examined benefits for youth diagnosed with mental health challenges. Youth in systems of care (SOCs) receive a variety of services and supports that could help them capitalize on this potential for positive development, such as access to flexible funding to support recreational interests. However, research has not examined the degree to which the increased community involvement (e.g., extracurricular participation) sought in SOCs contributes to improved outcomes. This study addresses these gaps by investigating the relationships between both average and increased extracurricular participation frequency and breadth and internalizing problems and intrapersonal strengths among SOC youth. Findings revealed that, on average, higher frequency of youth participation was associated with higher intrapersonal strengths and lower internalizing problems. Increases in participation frequency were also associated with increased strengths and decreased internalizing problems. These findings suggest that efforts to implement supports for increasing extracurricular participation of SOC youth could improve their psychosocial outcomes beyond the benefits yielded via formal services. Taken together, these results provide support for advocacy efforts to integrate youth with mental health challenges into existing extracurriculars and to create new extracurricular opportunities.

Wraparound Team Composition, Youth Self-determination, and Youth Satisfaction in Transition Services.

Wraparound, a team-based planning process for youth and families, has been widely adopted in school-based services for older adolescents and emerging adults with serious mental health conditions transitioning to adulthood. Reservations have been voiced, however, regarding possible drawbacks of teams for these youth, including concerns about difficulties with involving supportive adults, and whether youth might perceive team-based planning as a threat to their developing autonomy. To date, however, no studies have examined the feasibility of involving supports in teams and relationships between team composition and youth's service experiences. The present study examined the relationships between team composition and youth's perceptions of self-determination and service satisfaction among 36 youths in seven school-based programs using a specialized form of wraparound for transition services. Findings showed that meeting participation by caregivers and professionals from both inside and outside of schools was common and that regular participation by combinations of these types of adults was related to youth self-determination and satisfaction.

Understanding the ecology and development of children and families experiencing homelessness: implications for practice, supportive services, and policy.

The experience of homelessness can pervade multiple levels and facets of a child and family's world. In view of the historical risks in the lives of children who are experiencing homelessness (e.g., growing up under conditions of poverty, exposure to family violence), it is clear that interventions, services, and supports need to be equally comprehensive to have a positive influence on child functioning and development. Consequently, service systems, providers, and community supports need to address the circumstances of children and families experiencing homelessness and, more specifically, better attend to their ecologies and the diverse factors that can affect their well-being and adjustment trajectories. Such an approach is needed to better understand the range of factors and influences on the development and adaptation of these youngsters at home, at school, and with their peers as well as to guide the identification and implementation of adequate family-centered services and supports.

Perceptions of family environment and wraparound processes: associations with age and implications for serving transitioning youth in systems of care.

Addressing the unique needs of youth transitioning to adulthood has long been viewed as a priority in implementation of systems of care (SOCs) and wraparound. Developmental research and "practice-based evidence" suggest that there are differences between transitioning youth and their younger peers in family environment and wraparound team processes. Although these differences are thought to have significant implications for wraparound practice, few studies have examined them empirically. The present research involves two studies examining differences across several age cohorts (i.e., 10­12, 13, 14, 15, 16­17 year-olds) ranging from early adolescent to transitioning youth in: (1) caregiver perceptions of role-related strain and family environment quality, and (2) facilitator, caregiver, and youth perceptions of wraparound processes. In Study #1, older age was associated with higher levels of caregiver strain. In Study #2, age was associated with differences between youth and other team members' perceptions of wraparound processes, such that older youth perceived teams as less cohesive than others on their teams. These findings suggest that transitioning youth and their families merit special consideration in wraparound implementation and underscore the importance of considering the perceptions of transitioning youth in system change and practice improvement efforts (192 words).

Parent-adolescent violence and later behavioral health problems among homeless and housed youth.

Parent-adolescent violence (i.e., violence between parents and adolescents) is an important pathway to homelessness and predicts poor behavioral health outcomes among youth. However, few studies have examined links between parent violence and outcomes among youth who are homeless. Existing research has also tended to ignore adolescent violence toward parents, despite evidence that mutual violence is common. The current study examines prospective links of parent-adolescent violence to outcomes among youth who were homeless and demographically matched youth, through two complementary substudies: (a) an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of items measuring parent and adolescent violence combined in the same analysis; and (b) an examination of predictive relationships between the factors identified in the EFA and behavioral health problems, including mental health and alcohol abuse problems. Predictive relationships were examined in the overall sample and by gender, ethnic, and housing status subgroups. Results of the EFA suggested that parent-adolescent violence includes intraindividual (i.e., separate parent and adolescent) physical components and a shared psychological component. Each of these components contributed uniquely to predicting later youth behavioral health. Implications for research and practice with youth who are homeless are discussed.

Predicting improvement of transitioning young people in the partnerships for youth transition initiative: findings from a multisite demonstration.

Prior research has indicated that young people with serious mental health conditions show poorer progress and greater challenges in the transition to adulthood, as reflected by lower rates of employment and postsecondary education, higher rates of criminal justice involvement, and greater interference in daily activities from mental health and substance use disorders. Little knowledge exists, however, regarding improvement on these indicators among young people enrolled in community-based transition support programs and individual characteristics that might moderate this improvement. This study describes rates of improvement on indicators of transition progress and challenges among young people enrolled in a multisite demonstration of transition support programs. Young people in the study showed increased rates of progress and decreased rates of challenges over four quarters of enrollment. Moderation of these changes by individual characteristics including demographic, historical, and diagnostic variables suggested ways of improving transition support programs and avenues for future research.

The relationship between self-reported received and perceived social support: a meta-analytic review.

Social support is broad term encompassing a variety of constructs, including support perceptions (perceived support) and receipt of supportive behaviors (received support). Of these constructs, only perceived support has been regarded as consistently linked to health, and researchers have offered differing assessments of the strength of the received-perceived support relationship. An overall estimate of the received-perceived support relationship would clearly further the dialogue on the relationship between received and perceived support and thus assist in the theoretical development of the field. This study evaluated all available studies using the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB; Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsey, 1981, American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 435-447) and any measure of perceived social support. Using effect sizes from 23 studies, we found an average correlation of r = .35, p < .001. Implications of this estimate for further development of models of social support as well as interventions to enhance social support are discussed.

Homelessness among families, children, and adolescents: an ecological-developmental perspective.

This paper reviews and evaluates the literatures on children in families that are homeless and on adolescents who are homeless on their own. After presenting several emerging theoretical approaches, we propose a broad ecological-developmental perspective that recognizes that, although persons in these groups often lack resources and experience negative events that can amplify the risk for poor outcomes, they also have resources and adaptive potential. The perspective also recognizes that homelessness may have different meanings and outcomes at different points in development and that we need to consider interactions between individual development and multiple levels of social organization in order to foster new solutions to homelessness. On the basis of this perspective, we discuss directions for treatment and preventive interventions as well as social policy.