The barriers to school attendance that affect young Aboriginal people in Australia are diverse, immense and well documented; however, except for a handful of studies, Aboriginal students' voices receive no platform for policy makers to hear them. In this paper, we present results from yarning circles about barriers to school attendance conducted…

Although research has identified numerous neighborhood mechanisms influencing urban adolescent risk behaviors, less is known about how community contexts influence rural adolescents. This study explores perceived controls against adolescent drinking (i.e., tolerance of community adolescent alcohol use), adolescent perceptions of community…

First Nations youth in Canada demonstrate disproportionately high rates of negative behaviors such as violence, substance abuse, and leaving school early. An understanding of historical context and current environment helps explain these patterns. Providing culturally relevant opportunities for youth to build healthy relationships and leadership…

Background: Escalation of youth violence within a large geographic school-complex area in southeastern rural Hawaii became a major problem in 2006. How cultural forces impact the problem was an impetus to examine youth violence from perspectives of adults and children in rural communities. Gathering these data was an essential first step toward…

The prevalence and severity of child and adolescent overweight (OW) in the United States have been documented, but little is known regarding the prevalence of OW and "Extent of Overweight" (EOW) in individual states or specific regions within states. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of OW and EOW in school-aged…