There is compelling evidence that helping adolescents develop certain traits (especially related to resiliency) can mitigate the confounding effects of suicide. Specific demographics of youth appear to have higher rates of suicidal behavior including those with mental health diagnoses and educational disabilities that affect students' academic achievement. We looked at evidence based social and emotional learning programs (SEL) that fostered adaptive coping skills and resilience. We identified Strong Teens (Carrizales-Engelmann, Merrell, Feuerborn, Gueldner, & Tran, 2016) as a program that could be easily administered and adapted into traditional and nontraditional school settings. This study was conducted in a residential treatment center (RTC) for adolescent males. The RTC permitted one of their therapists to implement the Strong Teens over the course of two consecutively run groups. Group 1 included seven boys and Group 2 included four boys. We relied on the therapist's self-assessment of modifications made to the program; the researcher's field notes collected during observations; emails between the therapist and researcher; the researcher's notes taken during conversations between the therapist and researcher; monthly Youth Outcome Questionnaire Self Report (Y-OQ-SR) test scores; youth Strong Teens pre and post test scores; and youth exit surveys conducted in one-one interviews at the conclusion of the Strong Teens lessons. Fidelity of program implementation was measured by the therapist and researcher completing the Strong Teens fidelity checklist (included in the Strong Teens manual). Based on collected data, we make the following recommendations: Adapt the Strong Teens program to increase student participation and receptiveness; carefully consider the size of the group, taking into account the capacity of the group leader to manage the group's behaviors and attend to individual needs; consider conducting groups sessions in settings that help youth feel safe and comfortable--groups held outside may be preferable to groups held inside classrooms; mental health professionals and teachers who lead the Strong Teens lessons may consider learning about a variety of basic therapeutic strategies and how these strategies might fit participants' needs; when evaluating the effectiveness of Strong Teens, carefully gather, consider, and contextualize a variety of data (quantitative and qualitative) from a variety of sources (youth participants, group leaders, and others who interact with the youth); in addition to focusing on teaching information and skills, group leaders must consider motivational strategies; focus initial conversations on why one would use such strategies to benefit oneself--later conversations may expand to include how strategies benefit others.

A lack of knowledge about individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can create stereotypes, which serve as barriers to interaction. Television is a component in the development of social attitudes in teenagers. Using social learning theory as a framework, the purpose of this quantitative 2-group, posttest only, experimental design was to determine whether observational learning could be effective in generating positive teen attitudes toward peers with ASD. Senior high school students (N = 130) completed the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) Survey to determine whether observing a video clip can positively affect the attitudes of teens about their peers with ASD. A t test for independent sample groups was used to compare mean scores on the ATDP. According to study findings, 18-year-old students who watched a video clip of a panel of teens with ASD had more positive attitude scores (M = 74.91, SD = 8.4) than did the 18-year-old students who watched an innocuous video clip (M = 48.57, SD = 9.1), t (128) = 17.14, p < .0001. This finding was in alignment with the research on the impact of media on teen attitudes. The media representation of persons with disabilities may facilitate social change by helping to reduce negative stereotypes and to promote positive attitudes about person with specific disabilities. Positive attitudes toward teens with ASD can lead to positive social interactions between teens with and without ASD. In addition, this research may produce social change by fostering social experiences and opportunities for teens with ASD to learn social behaviors and social language by modeling their typical peers.

Every year in the United States, anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 youths under the age of 19 will experience the death of a parent (or both) or a sibling. The Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon, was established in 1983 to assist grieving children. Support groups are based on principles of nondirective play therapy. During the years 1996-2000, The Dougy Center administered questionnaires to a number of its clients. The results of one of these questionnaires, The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), showed that 48% of those receiving services were severely depressed at the time of entrance into the program with another 15% showing symptoms of mild-moderate depression. Depression is the most commonly studied outcome of grief and mourning among all age groups (children, adolescents, and adults). Two additional questionnaires measured basic symptomatology at the time of intake into the program. The Child Intake Form showed that those ages 3-12 generally had difficulty being around others since the death and wanted to spend more time alone. The Teen Intake Form showed that those ages 13-18 relied upon friends for support following the death; furthermore, normal patterns of eating, sleeping, and attending school have been disrupted since the death. The only questionnaire to be administered after clients had received services was the Family Self-Evaluation (FSE). Children and teens responded to this questionnaire, reporting that since attending groups at The Dougy Center they are feeling better. Many respondents reported that the most helpful aspect of the support groups came from knowing that others were experiencing similar emotions and transitions. Limitations in the reported findings came from too small of a sample size, convenience sampling procedures, administration of an age-inappropriate instrument, and a lack of pretesting and posttesting procedures.

This content analysis examines the representations of minorities in the two most popular teen beauty magazines: Seventeen and YM. Nine issues for 2003 constituted the sample frame yielding a total of 620 advertisements containing human models. After setting up a theoretical framework of the new racism and White beauty, this study investigates the portrayals of minority models. Overall, when compared with earlier studies the number of minority models used in mainstream magazine advertising rose and the portrayals of minority models in prominent roles increased. Yet, the subtle nature of the new racism was reinforced in the following findings: Prominent models were more likely to be light skin than medium skin or dark skin; Black and Hispanic models appeared in more expensive advertisements than Asians and Whites; minority models were less likely to be seen in the workplace than whites but more likely to be portrayed in leisure places and school than whites. Chi-square analysis (p< .000) revealed a significant difference between a model's skin tone and body exposure. A textual analysis reinforced the findings of the new racism in teen magazine advertising. It also led to additional perspective on racial hierarchy, long standing stereotypes in the mass media and the White standard of beauty. Although a content analysis cannot be used to determine media effects, this study adds to the body of research on the portrayals of minorities in advertising, White beauty and the new racism. It suggests a number of further issues to examine.

School Buses for Students Supporting Seniors (SBFSSS) is an intergenerational program which utilizes school buses to transport high school students to visit homebound seniors for engagement in common occupations. It addresses current issues of social isolation of aging in place seniors and age-segregation communication of cell phone using teens. / 2021-06-18T00:00:00Z

The high teen birth rate in Holyoke, Massachusetts is a complex problem. The teen birth rate is over five times the state‘s rate and nearly three times the national rate. Since a majority of these births are to Latinas of Puerto Rican descent it is important to include the perceptions of Puerto Rican teens in approaches to prevent teen pregnancy and reduce the birth rate. Although there is a plethora of research on the topic of teen pregnancy and births, there is scarcity in the area of perceptions held by teens of Puerto Rican descent about teen pregnancy and births, future consequences faced by teen parents, contributing and protective factors of teen pregnancy, and potential preventive interventions. This qualitative study used a series of eight focus groups to gather data and examine perceptions held by Puerto Rican teens living in Holyoke about teen pregnancy and birth. The Ecological Model of Health Behavior provided the theoretical framework. Findings indicate that Puerto Rican teens in Holyoke perceive that: teen pregnancy is largely unintentional and a problem with negative outcomes, a lack of information on sexual health and reproduction contributes to this problem, sexual and reproductive health education should be provided to all teens, social factors may either contribute to or prevent teen pregnancy teens, and they want their ideas heard. These findings suggest that teen pregnancy and birth is a complex public health problem in need of a comprehensive approach recognizing that interventions focused on individuals are not likely to have powerful or sustained effects. Rather a combination of interventions addressing individual, interpersonal, community and societal levels are needed for risk reduction and effective behavior change

Strong Teens is a curriculum designed to help students develop the social-emotional skills needed to manage challenges and become successful socially and academically (Carrizales- Engelmann et al., 2016). Strong Teens has shown promise among adolescents, but this was the first study to evaluate the newly updated version of the intervention in a high school setting. The curriculum was implemented by a special education teacher with students at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. A mixed method design was used to evaluate outcomes with 16 ninth grade students. Overall findings suggest that Strong Teens was effective at improving students' social emotional knowledge over a 3-month period. However, there was a worsening of students' internalizing symptoms and teacher-student relationships. The teacher implemented the curriculum with low to moderate fidelity. Students were mostly neutral in their view of Strong Teens, while the teacher held a more favorable view. Future studies should include a larger sample size, offer training to educators on the implementation of Strong Teens, and consider using a more effective collection method to ensure students' anonymity.

The opportunity for online engagement increases possible exposure to potentially risky behaviors for teens, which may have significant negative consequences (Hair et al., 2009). Effective family communication about online safety can help reduce the risky adolescent behavior and limit the consequences after it occurs. This paper contributes a theory of communication factors that positively influence teen and parent perception of communication about online safety and provides design implications based on those findings. Previous work identified gaps in family communication, however, this study seeks to empirically identify factors that would close the communication gap from the perspective of both teens and parents. I analyzed data from a survey of 215 teen-parent pairs with a cross-sectional design and examined the factors that contribute to increased family communication about online safety. For parents, active mediation, technical monitoring of their teens' devices, and a perceived positive affect schedule of the teen were associated with higher levels of family communication. Our results were similar for teens, except that parental monitoring and the teen's online safety concern were also positively associated with increased family communication, while restrictive mediation was associated with lower levels of family communication. A key implication of these findings is that teens do not want to be left alone, but desire active mediation and monitoring. Teens do not want technological based restriction. As the first study to explore specific mechanisms which may improve family communication between parents and teens regarding online safety, I am able to recommend design solutions that allow teens an active role in their own online safety and facilitate effective family communication from the perspectives of both parties by assisting parents to adopt active mediation techniques rather than developing technologies that encourage restrictive parenting. Many designs for parents and teen monitoring historically support a restrictive approach (P. Wisniewski et al., 2017). Rather than focus on parental control applications, I advance both analytical support for a more nuanced theoretical and practical applications.

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