Despite efforts to reduce and prevent incidents, bullying behaviors remain prevalent in schools, leading to poor outcomes for all involved. While the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is one of the most extensively implemented school environment interventions in the USA, it has yet to yield consistently positive results across contexts,…

Background/purpose: This study aims to develop and assess the effectiveness of a sexual harassment handling model through the "Courageous Campus" campaign, which is based on educational outreach in higher education institutions in Medan city. The urgency of this campaign is underscored by the increasing cases of sexual harassment in the…

Using a randomized controlled trial, we investigated changes in both sexual harassment (SH) perpetration and victimization of 2104 middle school students in New York City who received divergent saturation and dosage levels of "Shifting Boundaries," an SH prevention program, which was represented by the length of the program. We assessed…

Recent research has suggested the importance of understanding for whom programs are most effective (Supplee et al., 2013) and that multidimensional profiles of risk and protective factors may moderate the effectiveness of programs (Lanza & Rhoades, 2012). For school-based prevention programs, moderators of program effectiveness may occur at…

Bullying was a pervasive issue affecting high schools in the United States despite anti-bullying programs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of former high school bullying victims about why anti-bullying programs have not reduced incidents of bullying. The conceptual framework that supported this study was…

The leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States is tobacco product use. The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which was completed in 2022, showed that the e-cigarette epidemic among youth continues to remain a public health threat. The survey revealed that over 2.5 million middle and high school students…

Background: Despite recent tobacco control efforts, adolescent vaping remains an epidemic in the United States. The purpose of our study was to understand high school student vaping behaviors using the perceptions of Massachusetts school personnel during the critical window from when the Massachusetts statewide flavor ban legislation was passed in…

Adolescent suicide is a growing public health concern. This research explores adolescent perceptions of suicide to identify potential focus areas for future prevention programming. This qualitative study utilized focus groups with 14 high school students. Thematic analysis was used to capture key concepts. Salient themes included: "Deciding…

Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among adolescents, globally. Though post-primary, school-based suicide prevention (PSSP) has the potential to be a key strategy for preventing adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STBs), there are persisting challenges to translating PSSP research to practice. Intervention and contextual factors…

Bullying and peer victimization are increasingly recognized as a detriment to the well-being of students. While the past two decades have seen the development of several effective approaches to prevention at the elementary and middle school levels, very little research has documented effective strategies for students in high schools. The current…

Universal and selective preventive interventions targeting youth behavioral problems have shown crossover effects on suicide risk, the second leading cause of death among youth. However, the mechanisms that explain this long-term unanticipated benefit are understudied and unclear. The current study examines the crossover effects of PROSPER, a…

Background: Educators in rural schools are uniquely situated to address youth mental health disparities, yet often face challenges in delivering mental health supports. This paper describes the process of adapting the evidence-based Coping Power program, a small group prevention program for youth with aggressive behavior problems, to be a…

This article follows the early-stage planning, implementation, and evaluation of a university--school-based partnership (USBP) between a large Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2) and local high schools in Georgia. The purpose of the partnership was to implement suicide and substance use prevention efforts over 3 years. USBPs are…

Objective: Despite evidence-based interventions for the psychiatric disorders that often precede suicidality, suicide remains a leading cause of death among youth. There has been increased interest in whether preventive interventions targeting early risk factors lead to decreased distal risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB). We examined…

Electronic cigarette use during middle school and high school has become an alarming public health concern. Educating youth about the risks of using e-cigarettes through a prevention program can be instrumental in curbing the growing numbers. Our Extension team implemented a prevention program, Escape Vapes, which adapted three Stanford University…