Janay B. Sander

Psychometric Properties of the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth in a Sample of Girls.

A new measure has been developed to assess depressive symptoms, the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth (BDI-Y; J. S. Beck, A. T. Beck, & J. B. Jolly, 2001). This research extends previous validation research of BDI-Y total scores by examining internal consistency and convergent and predictive validity within a school-based sample (n=859) of girls 9-13 years old by age level and for selected races or ethnic groups. Scores had high internal consistency, and there was support for using the BDI-Y to assess depressive symptoms. Reliability was slightly lower for 9-year-olds, but reliability and validity estimates did not differ by race or ethnic group. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis results provide some support for unidimensionality of scores but also point toward possible refinements.

A Qualitative Study of Juvenile Offenders, Student Engagement, and Interpersonal Relationships: Implications for Research Directions and Preventionist Approaches

Background factors that correlate with juvenile delinquency are consistent across the interdisciplinary literature base. Yet, information about the process of how risks relate to outcomes, especially within school settings, is limited. Researchers used qualitative methods to examine school and interpersonal experiences from the perspective of juvenile offenders and their families. Sixteen families were recruited from juvenile probation facilities in 2 different geographic regions. Consensual Qualitative Research methods yielded consistent themes, including the central role of advocacy to obtain appropriate school services, the importance of flexibility in discipline policies, classroom experiences that shaped outcomes, and the importance of nonjudgmental social support for the adolescents and their parents. The findings and recommendations for school consultants are presented from a preventionist standpoint, and self-determination theory is discussed in relation to future juvenile delinquency research.

Social Justice and Juvenile Offenders: Examples of Fairness, Respect, and Access in Education Settings

Youths involved in juvenile justice face unique barriers to educational and mental health services. This qualitative study illustrates social justice violations that are particularly salient for this population. Youths on probation, their mothers, and juvenile probation staff participated in interviews as part of a multisite study conducted in Texas and California. Interviews were coded using the Consensual Qualitative Research method. This study provides detailed examples of social justice components of fairness, respect, and access within school and juvenile justice settings. Implications for how schools could address these types of situations to promote fairness and decrease discrimination and stigma for youths with a criminal record who are trying to succeed in school are also discussed.

School-Based Consultation: Training Challenges, Solutions and Building Cultural Competence.

ABSTRACT This is a consensual qualitative research study of the perceptions of university faculty about methods and tools to teach students the professional competency area of school-based psychological consultation, with special attention to cultural competence. The participants (n = 7) included faculty of school psychology programs located in the Northeast, South, Midwest, and Mountain regions of the United States. Participants were from programs serving urban, suburban, and rural settings and represented a wide range of consultation backgrounds, experiences, and theoretical orientation. The analysis revealed three major themes: general coverage of the consultation skills and content, university tension with school setting needs, and specific hurdles and solutions to diversity training. This study also provided ideas on how trainers might overcome some of the barriers to addressing diversity.

Introduction to Special Issue on Multicultural Competence in Consultation

ABSTRACT The purpose of this special issue is to highlight current research on multicultural consultation in school psychology, broadly defined. Given the need to advance multicultural consultation, articles addressing research, practice, and training issues are included. The articles in this issue collectively bring to the fore the importance of the voice and perspective in the culturally sensitive consultation process. For example, trainers must consider not only the voices of their students, but also their own voices in how they teach consultation. Researchers have to consider their own voices as well as the voices of the participants and how those participants might perceive a dominant or more powerful group, including researchers. Therefore, these articles reflect the complex nature of engaging in culturally sensitive consultation, due in large measure to the process of being able to incorporate differing, sometimes competing, perspectives and then using that information to transform consultation services, research, and teaching.

Effects of Tier I Differentiation and Reading Intervention on Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and High Stakes Measures.

This quasi-experimental study examined differences in student reading outcomes. Participants were third grade non-struggling readers. Intervention classrooms included core curriculum instruction plus evidence-based reading comprehension instruction and differentiated repeated readings. Comparison classrooms provided core curriculum instruction only. Significant group mean differences were found on four fluency-related measures, but not for three other measures. Non-significant mean score differences had moderate effect sizes in the direction of improved reading outcomes for the intervention group, including a statewide high stakes test (Hedges g = .41). Results suggest that the addition of evidence-based differentiated reading instruction is beneficial for Tier I.

Comparing Communities: The Cultural Characteristics of Ethnic Social Capital

Social capital includes access to resources based on social networks, similar to how economic capital is access to fiscal resources. We explore ethnic social capital as a variant of social capital that includes the social resources that are available to a person as a result of being a member of an ethnic and cultural network. This study identifies the way that ethnic social capital is important for understanding the resilience of ethnic minority youth in the context of inequality including living in impoverished and high-crime neighborhoods. This study examines social capital in 239 males and females aged 14 to 22 years from a racially and ethnically diverse urban community with neighborhoods impacted by high levels of crime in the northeast United States. Compared with results from a racially homogeneous (non-Hispanic White) population living in an urban area of the Midwest, the diverse sample demonstrated different aspects of social capital that are highly correlated with the cultural value of collectivism. Specifically, the diverse sample showed significantly higher participation in their community and reaching out to support others. The sample in the Midwest, demonstrated greater feelings of safety in the community, greater satisfaction with their position in life, and greater ability to ask others for help. Both samples showed an equal level of tolerance for diversity. Results are discussed in terms of examining the cultural manifestations of ethnic social capital and resilience with ethnic minority populations.