Youth suicide rates have consistently risen over the past decade, and stigma related to mental health may create a barrier to young people seeking help. Schools are a common intercept point for mental health and suicide prevention programming. Hope Squad, a school-based, peer-to-peer, suicide prevention program, uses trained and mentored students…

Schools today are faced with the challenge of equipping students with the skills they need to succeed in life outside the classroom while also teaching the academic material required. More often, teachers are called on to establish environments in which students learn social and emotional skills alongside academics. With increased recognition that…

Although it is well understood that relationships are linked to healthy development and academic success, research on socialization during recess is limited. From the conceptual framework of belonging, an array of established measures was used to create an online anonymous survey specific to recess. This survey includes modified scales for…

The experience of peer victimization, or being the target of aggression, is common throughout childhood and adolescence and often results in negative developmental outcomes. Further knowledge of peer victimization is needed for effective prevention and intervention to promote positive youth development. The current study extends the victimization…

Rural schools face unique challenges that affect student academic success or failure. Youths served in rural settings experience barriers to learning that negatively influence their achievement and developmental outcomes. To improve outcomes for rural youths, it is important for schools to understand overall school experiences so that school-wide…

This article examines friend support and behavior, assessing for interdependent relationships with adolescent behavior and well-being. Keeping with an ecological framework, relationships were examined in the context of other risk and protective factors in youths' homes, neighborhoods, and schools. Using data from the School Success Profile,…

Strong connections to school and positive student-teacher relationships offer numerous social, emotional, and academic benefits for youths. Unfortunately, sexual minority youths (SMY) are at risk for disparate school connectedness and student-teacher relationship experiences compared with their peers. Using the National Longitudinal Study of…

School social workers can serve as valuable supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youths in the public school system by providing services aimed to improve school climates for all students. This article describes a qualitative study that examined gay and bisexual adolescent experiences with peer support using a…

Girl fighting and its relational context is a problem that is receiving extensive attention in popular and academic circles. This article reports on a project that gathered the opinions from focus groups of seventh- and eighth-grade girls, organized to understand the perspectives of young adolescent girls in middle school on girl fighting. Both…

Although educational attainment of poor youths has risen in recent years, aspirations still remain below those of other youths. Multiple theories have been used to understand youth aspirations, although the frameworks have not been examined concurrently. The present study used data on 11,154 low-income youths collected with the School Success…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a social skills program, "Connecting with Other: Lessons for Teaching Social and Emotional Competence," would enable students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms to develop skills to facilitate socialization with peers with and without disabilities. Students' growth was measured only in…

The importance of preventing and intervening in bullying and other forms of school violence has been well established. This has resulted in the publication of numerous programs designed to prevent bullying and violence in schools. However, a missing piece revolves around the social worker's role in identifying and assessing violent behaviors in…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that predict academic achievement and school attachment among Hispanic seventh- and eighth-grade adolescents and to determine whether the associations between these factors are similar for Hispanic and white adolescents. The sample consisted of 170 adolescents. Results for Hispanic…

It is disturbingly common for victims of peer victimization, also referred to as bullying, to withhold disclosure of their experience. This is so despite the implementation of numerous programs to increase the ability and willingness of victims to disclose and to improve the capacity of others to intervene. Disclosure is a complex matter that may…

This article focuses on student-to-student harassment, discussing incidents of harassment in schools, the effects on students, and the reasons it occurs in schools. The legal framework is reviewed with attention to the new legal standard established by the Supreme Court ruling in "Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education." Discusses the…