Executive Functions (EFs) development is critically affected by stress and trauma, as well as the socioeconomic context in which children grow up (Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010, Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 43-53). Research in this field is surprisingly lacking in relation to war contexts. This study represents a first…

This paper highlights how the social world understandings of Rey, an 11th grade Latino student, supported his exploration into and insights of a short story. This work is grounded in the Cultural Modelling Framework. This framework provides students with the chance to acquire important comprehension strategies needed to interpret complex fiction…

This study examines preservice teacher coursework and interview data related to encountering student trauma, secondary trauma, and the role of self-care during clinical placement experiences. A thematic analysis of the data led to the identification of four main themes: the power of student stories, recognition of the many forms of trauma,…

Infants who stay in emergency shelters with their families are most likely to demonstrate resilience despite homelessness if they experience positive, nurturing relationships with their parents. We discuss the strengths and challenges of infants experiencing family homelessness as well as intervention and research evaluation in those contexts.…

Purpose: Incarcerated women serving life sentences are a growing subpopulation with multiple mental health needs. However, no existing interventions have been designed for or tested with this population. Method: This study tested a gender-responsive, trauma-informed intervention ("Beyond Violence") and examined changes in incarcerated…

This article introduces the empirical support for and theoretical tenets of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP), a comprehensive, evidence-based, psychotherapy model. GFPP's approach emerges from positive and social psychology research, and is informed by psychotherapy research from the common and contextual models. Its interventions focus…

Community college students who experience childhood trauma may have difficulty with academic success and completion. Several authors have defined adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as nine specific events before the age of 18 and related those to significant disease and compromised health in adulthood. This study investigates community college…

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to gain an understanding of elementary school teachers' experiences and perceptions related to maladaptive behaviors of students in their classrooms. The research question was: What are teachers' experience with maladaptive behaviors in the classroom? In this study, eight elementary school…

Objective: To evaluate support for three hypotheses about the etiology of adolescent-onset ADHD symptoms: (1) a "cool" cognitive load hypothesis, (2) a "hot" rewards processing hypothesis, and (3) a trauma exposure hypothesis. Method: Participants (N=50) were drawn from two public high schools in a culturally diverse…

It is estimated that approximately 60% of children have experienced some form of trauma in their lifetime (Wiest-Stevenson & Lee, 2016). Research in the last 20 years has shown the impact of childhood trauma on human development, social development, and learning, and yet, there is very little literature in school counseling about this topic…

Sexual activity and desire have often been seen as inimical to Christian spirituality and practice, and many people have come to view Christianity as austere and shaming regarding sexuality. However, sexuality, religion, and policy-making have become so intertwined, that to ignore how they intersect and affect particular individuals' lives does a…

Background: Children and adolescents exposed to chronic trauma have a greater risk for mental health disorders and school failure. Children and adolescents of minority racial/ethnic groups and those living in poverty are at greater risk of exposure to trauma and less likely to have access to mental health services. School-based health centers…

The present article sheds new light on trauma as a devastating phenomenon respecting the construction of male and female characters' identities and reveals reconstruction of male and female identities in Virginia Woolf's (1882-1941) "The Waves" (1931). Trauma is defined as an unexpected event that leaves the most terrible marks on the…

This phenomenological dissertation study explored the lived experiences of adoptive parents in the process of raising their internationally adopted adolescents. The researcher interviewed 9 participants. Criteria for selection of the research sample included having personal experience with parenting one or more international adolescents adopted at…

Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children's brain and…