Runaway and homeless youth often have a constellation of background behavioral, emotional, and familial problems that contribute to stress and maladaptive behaviors, which, in turn, can lead to self-harming and suicidal behaviors. The current study examined the roles of stress and maladaptive behaviors as mediators between demographic and…

Studies of adolescent community samples suggest that substance use, risky sexual behavior, delinquency, and other problem behaviors can be explained in part by a single, underlying factor or syndrome. Of current interest is the generalizability of these findings to subgroups or special populations of youths who may be at high risk for problem…

Young offenders internationally have a higher incidence of mental health problems compared with adolescents in the general population. Mental health issues, particularly comorbid presentations, affect the response to and outcome of rehabilitation and hence recidivism of offending. Most information on the mental health of young offenders has…

School dropout is a complex social problem. In 1999, more boys (15 %) than girls (9 %) dropped out of Canadian schools prior to graduation (Bowlby and McMullen, 2002). In the United States, Kaufman et al. (2000) evaluated that 5 % more boys than girls dropped out of school. This literature review focuses on the place given to gender within studies…