Kimberly Kendziora

Externalizing Problems in Head Start Children: An Ecological Exploration

The increased familial and environmental stressors affecting Head Start families over the last two decades have precipitated an escalation of mental health difficulties among participant children (Yoshikawa & Knitzer, 1997). Using an ecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). this study explored externalizing behavior problems among a group of Head Start children in a suburban county. Children were assessed for externalizing behavior problems in the home and classroom. Additionally, parents participated in interviews about a variety of ecological factors related to childrens behavior problems. Almost one-quarter of the children were identified by their parents as having externalizing behavioral problems in the borderline or clinical range. Twice as many girls as boys had borderline or clinical levels of behavioral problems. Child externalizing behavior was positively associated with child internalizing behavior, parent psychological symptomatology, child temperament, family environment, and exposure to community violence. Children with parent-identified externalizing behavior did have specific social problem-solving skills deficits. Additionally, they were observed to have high levels of specific inappropriate behavior, but did not exhibit high levels of teacher-rated behavior problems. The implications of these findings for Head Start program planning are discussed.

Dysregulated Coherence of Subjective and Cardiac Emotional Activation in Adolescents with Internalizing and Externalizing Problems.

BACKGROUND Effective emotion regulation should be reflected in greater coherence between physiological and subjective aspects of emotional responses. METHOD Youths with normative to clinical levels of internalizing problems (IP) and externalizing problems (EP) watched emotionally evocative film-clips while having heart rate (HR) recorded, and reported subjective feelings. RESULTS Hierarchical linear modeling revealed weaker coherence between HR and negative feelings in youths, especially boys, with more EP. Youths with IP showed coherence between HR and negative feelings that did not match the affect portrayed in the eliciting stimuli, but atypical positive emotions: they felt happier when they had slower HR. Youths without problems predominantly showed normative emotional coherence. CONCLUSIONS Youths with EP and IP experience atypical patterns of activation across physiological and experiential emotion systems which could undermine emotion regulation in evocative situations.

School Influences on Child and Youth Development

Schools play a key role in child and youth development as both social microcosms of the broader society and reciprocally influencing people and communities. As such, schools can function as a protective factor that promotes safety, motivation, relationships, and support for positive student outcomes. However, schools may also function as a risk factor with inflexible bureaucratic structures that employ harsh and exclusionary discipline that contributes to negative outcomes. This chapter discusses schools as a social institution by examining the student-, teacher-, and building-level predictors of academic and social and emotional success, as well as schools as a locus for preventive interventions.

Human Subjects Protection and Technology in Prevention Science: Selected Opportunities and Challenges

Internet-connected devices are changing the way people live, work, and relate to one another. For prevention scientists, technological advances create opportunities to promote the welfare of human subjects and society. The challenge is to obtain the benefits while minimizing risks. In this article, we use the guiding principles for ethical human subjects research and proposed changes to the Common Rule regulations, as a basis for discussing selected opportunities and challenges that new technologies present for prevention science. The benefits of conducting research with new populations, and at new levels of integration into participants’ daily lives, are presented along with five challenges along with technological and other solutions to strengthen the protections that we provide: (1) achieving adequate informed consent with procedures that are acceptable to participants in a digital age; (2) balancing opportunities for rapid development and broad reach, with gaining adequate understanding of population needs; (3) integrating data collection and intervention into participants’ lives while minimizing intrusiveness and fatigue; (4) setting appropriate expectations for responding to safety and suicide concerns; and (5) safeguarding newly available streams of sensitive data. Our goal is to promote collaboration between prevention scientists, institutional review boards, and community members to safely and ethically harness advancing technologies to strengthen impact of prevention science.

Promoting Children's and Adolescents' Social and Emotional Development: District Adaptations of a Theory of Action.

This article contributes to the broader discussion of promotion, prevention, and intervention in child and adolescent mental health by describing implementation and early outcomes of an 8-school district demonstration project aimed at making the promotion of social and emotional learning a systemic part of school districts’ practice. Eight districts are 2–3 years in to their participation in the 6-year project. The districts are large, are predominantly urban, and serve many students who are at disadvantage. The evaluation involved collection of qualitative data to measure the degree to which the districts realized the goals established in the initiative’s theory of action, as well as school climate data, extant student records, and surveys of students’ social and emotional competence. To date, results show that districts have followed highly individual pathways toward integrating social and emotional learning systemically, and all have made progress over time. Although school-level implementation remains at moderate levels, 2 districts in which we could examine school climate showed gains from preinitiative years. Four of 6 measured districts showed improvement in social and emotional competence for students in Grade 3, and achievement and discipline showed overall improvements across all districts. Overall findings show that implementation of the initiative’s theory of action by school districts is feasible, even in times of budgetary stress and leadership turnover. This establishes the potential for school districts to serve as a lever of change in the promotion of students’ social and emotional development and mental wellness.

Fostering Resilience among Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

When one considers “resilient youth,” one does not ordinarily think of young people who have become involved in the juvenile justice system. If resilience is the ability to endure adverse conditions without experiencing bad outcomes, then youth who have been arrested or detained would seem to represent the flip side of resilience those who have succumbed to the kinds of bad choices and chances that can arise from disadvantaged situations. Yet even youth in trouble have strengths and are capable of becoming resilient (Osher, 1996). It is important to recognize that getting arrested is not just a child-driven process. Some children are differentially more likely to be arrested (such as youth with mental health challenges and youth of color), and some offenses, such as running away from an abusive home, may be a sign of personal strength.

Adolescent Development for Students with Learning Disabilities and Behavioral Disorders: The Promise of Social Emotional Learning

Although a large body of research has focused on young children with learning disabilities (LD) and behavioral disorders (BD) in preschool and elementary school settings, there is considerably less information about this population during adolescence. Recent work suggests that youth with these disabilities experience challenges in areas such as social skills, increased depressive symptoms, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. In addition, for a small percentage of the population, negative outcomes experienced during early childhood appear to persist in adolescence and early adulthood suggesting the need for additional interventions. Two primary aims guide the current chapter. First, we review key domains of adolescent development (social, emotional, and behavioral) and highlight ways in which development differs for students with LD and BD. Second, we introduce the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) and the accumulating body of research that suggests that this approach could have numerous benefits for this population. We describe the results of recent meta-analytic reviews of SEL programs to indicate the current state of the field, highlight a few evidence-based universal and indicated SEL programs for secondary school settings, and describe important areas for future research.

Conducting Prevention Research and Evaluation in Schools

In a time when schools are experiencing the burden of multiple high-priority initiatives and, in many cases, tight budgets, federal priorities to increase evidence for programs and to promote educationally relevant research are increasing the research demands on schools. Given the increasing pressures experienced by schools, researchers need to carefully and artfully plan their work to maximize chances for success. This chapter presents some real-world challenges and solutions from research partnerships carried out with schools and districts including describing some considerations in maintaining the integrity of experimental designs in schools. We organize the chapter around a four-phase process of research with schools that includes (1) planning (building authentic partnerships with schools), (2) recruitment, (3) data collection, and (4) communication. At each phase, it is important for researchers to be open to educators’ ideas and ensure that the research serves the educators’ as well as the researchers’ mission. Our recommendations for researchers emphasize (1) respectful of school culture and customs; (2) patient if your study is not the school’s first priority; (3) authentic in your intentions to improve student outcomes, and to build positive relationships with school personnel; (4) persistent in engaging across seasons and across turnover of school/district leaders; and (5) demonstrably grateful to school staff for their participation and partnership in your study.