Police Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Among Youth: A Systematic Review.

Youth exposure to violence increases the risk of poor mental and physical health outcomes lasting into adulthood. Traumatic stress is an outcome of particular concern as the physiological stress response impacts the developing brain. Recently, youth exposure to police violence has been conceptualized as an adverse childhood experience that may impact traumatic stress.

Polysubstance Use among Maryland High School Students: Variations across County-Level School Districts.

Background: Polysubstance use is a highly prevalent public health issue, particularly among adolescents, and decisions on prevention programming and policies are often made at the local level. While there is a growing literature examining patterns of polysubstance use among adolescents, little is known about differences in those patterns across geographic regions.

Methods: Using a large, representative sample of high school students from the state of Maryland ( = 41,091) from the 2018 Maryland Youth Risk Behavior Survey, we conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) of adolescent substance use along nine binary indicators, including past 30-day combustible tobacco, e-cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis use, as well as lifetime use of prescription opioids, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and injection drug use.

Anticipation of Racially Motivated Police Brutality and Youth Mental Health.

Purpose: Exposure to police brutality is a significant risk to adolescent mental health. This study extends this literature by exploring connections between anticipation of racially motivated police brutality and multiple facets of adolescent mental health.

Methods: Students ages 14 to 18 ( = 151) were recruited from a study administered in Baltimore City public schools.

School Climate and Bullying Bystander Responses in Middle and High School.

Bullying bystanders' reactions are important for either stopping or perpetuating bullying behaviors. Given school-based bullying programs' focus on bystanders, understanding the associations between school-level factors and individual bystander responses can improve intervention efficacy. Data from 64,670 adolescents were used to examine bullying bystander responses as a function of 13 school-climate dimensions within 3 main factors (Engagement, Environment, Safety) and individual-level factors (e.

Confirming Profiles of Comorbid Psychological Symptoms in Urban Youth: Exploring Gender Differences and Trait Mindfulness.

Prior work has identified the need for replication of psychological research; however, validation efforts are rare. The purpose of the current study was to confirm latent profiles of comorbid psychological symptoms in an urban adolescent sample and examine differences in gender and trait mindfulness across these profiles. Cross-sectional data from 201 eighth grade students (63% female; M = 13.

Multilevel Barriers and Facilitators to Sustainability of a Universal Trauma-Informed School-Based Mental Health Intervention Following an Efficacy Trial: A Qualitative Study.

Limited research exists about factors that influence the sustainability of preventive school mental health interventions when research support ends. This study assessed barriers and facilitators to sustaining RAP (Relax, be Aware, do a Personal rating) Club, a trauma-informed universal mental health intervention, in urban schools following efficacy trial implementation. Between 2016-2018, 13 Baltimore City schools implemented RAP Club.

Research with youth of color in low-income communities: Strategies for recruiting and retaining participants.

Background: Youth of color from low-income urban communities are crucial participants in research, as their involvement can shape effective, culturally responsive interventions and policy to promote youth health and well-being. These young people, however, are an often-neglected research population, due in part to perceived challenges associated with their inclusion as well as marginalized communities' justifiable mistrust of research.

Objectives: Based on our experience conducting a school-based randomized intervention trial in Baltimore, Maryland, we present strategies for conducting research with low-income, urban youth of color.

Factors that Influenced Adoption of a School-Based Trauma-Informed Universal Mental Health Intervention.

We know little about why school administrators choose to adopt preventive mental health interventions within the context of school-based prevention trials. This study used a qualitative multiple-case study design to identify factors that influenced the adoption of a trauma-informed universal intervention by urban public school administrators during an efficacy trial. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 school administrators who adopted a trauma-informed mindfulness intervention called RAP (Relax, be Aware, and do a Personal Rating) Club as part of their participation in a school-based trial with eighth graders.

Electronic and School Bullying Victimization by Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Minority Status in a Nationally Representative Adolescent Sample.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the prevalence of electronic and school bullying victimization in sexual and racial/ethnic minorities in a nationally representative U.S. sample of high school students.

A randomized controlled trial of a trauma-informed school prevention program for urban youth: Rationale, design, and methods.

Introduction: Youth in disadvantaged urban areas are frequently exposed to chronic stress and trauma, including housing instability, neighborhood violence, and other poverty-related adversities. These exposures increase risk for emotional, behavioral, and academic problems and ultimately, school dropout. Schools are a promising setting in which to address these issues; however, there are few universal, trauma-informed school-based interventions for urban youth.

Preschool children with gender normative and gender non-normative peer preferences: psychosocial and environmental correlates.

We addressed several issues concerning children who show gender non-normative (GNN) patterns of peer play. First, do young children with GNN peer preferences differ from children with gender normative (GN) peer preferences in problem behaviors? Second, do GNN and GN children differ in sociability and isolation and do they have differential socialization opportunities with externalizing, internalizing, and socially competent peers? We employed a Bayesian approach for classifying children as GNN based on their peer preferences as compared to their peers using a sample of Head Start preschool children from a large Southwestern city (N = 257; 53 % boys; M age = 51 months; 66 % Mexican American). To calculate socialization opportunities, we assessed affiliation to each child in the class and weighted that by each peer's characteristics to determine the exposure that each child had to different kinds of peers.