Attachment--and loss.

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(08)60886-7.pdf

Behavioural strategies to reduce HIV transmission: how to make them work better

OBJECTIVES: This article provides an introduction to the October 2011 special issue of the Journal of School Health on "Healthier Students Are Better Learners." METHODS: Literature was reviewed and synthesized to identify health problems affecting school-aged youth that are highly prevalent, disproportionately affect urban minority youth, directly and indirectly causally affect academic achievement, and can be feasibly and effectively addressed through school health programs and services. RESULTS: Based on these criteria, 7 educationally relevant health disparities were selected as strategic priorities to help close the achievement gap: (1) vision, (2) asthma, (3) teen pregnancy, (4) aggression and violence, (5) physical activity, (6) breakfast, and (7) inattention and hyperactivity. Research clearly shows that these health problems influence students' motivation and ability to learn. Disparities among urban minority youth are outlined, along with the causal pathways through which each adversely affects academic achievement, including sensory perceptions, cognition, school connectedness, absenteeism, and dropping out. Evidence-based approaches that schools can implement to address these problems are presented. These health problems and the causal pathways they influence have interactive and a synergistic effect, which is why they must be addressed collectively using a coordinated approach. CONCLUSIONS: No matter how well teachers are prepared to teach, no matter what accountability measures are put in place, no matter what governing structures are established for schools, educational progress will be profoundly limited if students are not motivated and able to learn. Particular health problems play a major role in limiting the motivation and ability to learn of urban minority youth. This is why reducing these disparities through a coordinated approach warrants validation as a cohesive school improvement initiative to close the achievement gap. Local, state, and national policies for implementing this recommendation are suggested. Language: en

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00632.x

Healthier students are better learners: a missing link in school reforms to close the achievement gap.

/pdf/healthier-students-are-better-learners-a-missing-link-in-30es13m72r.pdf

Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap. Equity Matters. Research Review No. 6.

Once in a while, a book comes along that captures the ideas of a diverse group of people, giving them a common ground for future thinking and planning. Joy Dryfoos' Adolescents at Risk synthesizes research in four seemingly separate spheres of adolescent behavior: delinquency, substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy, and school failure. The strength of the book is the author's refreshing ability to gather information from a variety of sources and create something new that could become the foundation of a rational, practical approach to the alarming state of adolescent health and welfare in America. By first establishing the separate threads of research on each of the four behaviors and then addressing their overlap as the basis of prevention programs, she weaves the final picture of a national strategy to improve programs set up to reach adolescents. The volume is beautifully organized to enable the reader to quickly review an enormous

Adolescents at Risk: Prevalence and Prevention

OBJECTIVE. Emerging evidence about optimal youth development highlights the importance of both reducing negative behavior and promoting positive behavior. In our study we tested a contextual model derived from positive youth-development theory by examining the association of family, school, and community risk and promotive factors, with several outcome indices of both positive and negative adolescent development. METHODS. A sample of 42305 adolescents aged 11 to 17 (51% girls) was drawn from the 2003 National Survey of Children9s Health. Survey item composites were formed representing promotive and risk factors in the family (eg, closeness, aggression) and school and community (eg, community connectedness, school violence). Outcome composites reflected positive (social competence, health-promoting behavior, self-esteem) and negative (externalizing, internalizing, academic problems) developmental outcomes. Ordinary least squares regression was used to test the overall model. RESULTS. Between 0.10 and 0.50 of the variance in each outcome was explained by the contextual model. Multiple positive family characteristics were related to adolescent social competence and self-esteem, as well as lowered levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior and academic problems. Family communication, rules about television, and parents9 own healthy behavior were related to adolescent health-promoting behavior. School and community safety were associated with increased social competence and decreased externalizing behavior. School violence was related to adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior, as well as academic problems and lower self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS. Our results support the proposition that healthy adolescent development has roots in multiple contexts. Youth who were involved in contexts that provided positive resources from important others (ie, parents, schools, and communities) not only were less likely to exhibit negative outcomes, but also were more likely to show evidence of positive development. These findings provide important implications for intervention and prevention efforts and, more generally, for the promotion of positive, competent, and healthy youth development.

Risk and Promotive Factors in Families, Schools, and Communities: A Contextual Model of Positive Youth Development in Adolescence

Negative affect, risk perception, and adolescent risk behavior

The impact of community risks and resources on adolescent risky behavior and health care expenditures.

This study examined (a) relations between multiple interpersonal contexts and sustained risky and health-promoting behavior over a 2-year period and (b) health care outcomes of this behavior Two hundred and ninety 13- to 19-year olds completed 2 phone surveys assessing negative and positive behavior and risk and protective factors in multiple interpersonal contexts Across context, constructs related to resources, interpersonal connection, and control emerged to predict positive and negative behavior Adolescents engaging in sustained risky behavior used more health care and had higher expenditures than those who were not; youth engaging in sustained health-promoting behavior had fewer encounters with the health care system and were less costly than those who were not Findings are discussed relevant to current research on adolescent behavior and policy for intervention and prevention

Laura A. Curry

Papers

Risk and Promotive Factors in Families, Schools, and Communities: A Contextual Model of Positive Youth Development in Adolescence

Negative affect, risk perception, and adolescent risk behavior

The impact of community risks and resources on adolescent risky behavior and health care expenditures.

The People They Know: Links Between Interpersonal Contexts and Adolescent Risky and Health-Promoting Behavior