Background: Suicidal ideation, an important risk factor for suicide, is strongly associated with substance use. Factors such as family cohesion, connection with friends, and social support can be protective against suicidal behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between suicidal ideation, substance use, and resiliency…

The closure of schools, social hubs, and extracurricular activities due to lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2, has increased the risk factors for students' mental health. This cross-sectional study, conducted from March 2020 to March 2021, aimed to estimate socio-emotional, cognitive, and affective disorders and substance…

Adolescents are likely to experiment with risky behaviors, such as substance use, which can have implications lasting throughout their lives. Private schools, while not immune to substance use, tend to report lower levels of substance use among their students when compared to the adolescent population in general. This quantitative study focuses on…

This study examined the spoken language, written language, and executive functions of 19 female adolescents with high risk factors in a long-term, holistic program. Standardized assessment results revealed that 63.2% of the participants had below-average spoken language, 68.5% had below-average written language, and 68.4% and 42.1% had some level…

The commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) has come at a precarious time, which finds education and schooling under attack by hate-filled and dehumanizing rhetoric. The current socio-political climate situates education and teachers as a public enemy, and an onslaught of anti-equity education bills in legislatures have been…

Teachers experience learner challenging behaviour in primary schools worldwide. In South Africa, learner behaviour is undermining teaching and learning and compromising safety in some primary schools. To understand teachers' experiences of learner challenging behaviour, a qualitative data-collection approach was applied. Data from 15 teachers from…

An earlier trial of a school-based, preventative intervention, HealthWise South Africa, demonstrated some efficacy in preventing adolescent drinking and smoking in the Western Cape, South Africa. This was followed by the current implementation trial, which examined how implementation support conditions influenced adolescent drinking and smoking…

The use of standardized assessment in evidence-based practice (EBP) is critical in identifying empirically supported interventions (ESIs); however, the subject has received minimal attention in the literature. In a sample of child welfare involved youth, this study sought to determine whether there was a relationship between dimensions of trauma…

Children with disabilities are at increased risk of experiencing stressful life events. These events include various forms of abuse, neglect, and household instability, such as exposure to violence, parental or guardian incarceration, and living with someone with mental illness or alcohol or drug problems. Stressful life events experienced in…

This literature review aims to understand who is and is not being served by Head Start among families experiencing adversity; the range of recruitment, selection, enrollment, and retention (RSER) strategies that programs use with families experiencing adversity; the factors that shape the use of RSER strategies; and the effectiveness of specific…

School-based health services (SBHS) are a convenient, powerful, yet underused strategy to meet student needs and increase equitable access to healthcare. At a time when the nation is combating a youth mental health crisis and federal education funding is at an all-time high, state leaders can do more to leverage federal funding streams,…

Multidimensional causes of insufficient sleep among adolescents are not fully explored, particularly, the association between substance use and sleep duration. The 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) of high school students (N = 14,638; 51% female, 14-18 years old) was used to examine the association between substance use, namely…

There has been a paucity of research investigating the illicit substance use habits of adolescent Orthodox Jewish males, particularly the contributing factors that moderate these behaviors. This research study represents an exploratory effort to ascertain the perceptions of Orthodox Jewish high school principals and classroom rabbis regarding the…

Informant accuracy is a pervasive issue in the social sciences and persists through the ongoing use of self-report measures of behaviors that are subject to recall errors. The current study reports findings from methods we used to measure substance use among adolescents in South India. We used a repeated-measures, mixed-methods design that began…

Introduction: Hookah smoking is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, especially among young adults. The growth of social media has also enabled sharing of opinions, experiences, and marketing related to hookah via user-generated content. Aim: To evaluate the portrayal and promotion of hookah on Instagram and to highlight public health…