Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) help connect youth to opportunities for career exploration, skill development, and mentorship. Despite heightened investment in SYEPs, research regarding positive impacts is limited. Most of the common SYEP evaluation strategies are rooted in deficit thinking and focus on outcomes such as reducing violent…

Examined young adult participation in high school activities and identity group as predictors of later substance use, psychological adjustment, and educational and occupational outcomes. Found both participation and identity may consolidate specific skills, attitudes, values, and social networks that have a far-ranging impact on the transition to…

Identified risk factors related to suicidal behavior in European American and African American adolescents. For males in both groups, risk factors for suicidal ideation and behavior were found at individual, family, and extrafamilial levels of social ecology. For females, the same factors occurred for suicidal attempts but not suicidal thoughts.…