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Civility is an important construct to be addressed in relation to child and youth development. The issue of classroom incivility is of particular interest, given its potential negative impacts to both the psychosocial well-being of adolescents and the overall learning environment. Therefore, the current study sought to investigate similarities and differences between perceptions of middle and high school students and teachers. Participants consisted of 40 intermediate and high school teachers and 52 students in Grades 7-12. Both students and teachers rated uncivil behaviour in the classroom based on how serious they thought it was and how often it occurred in their classroom. Further, participants responded to open-ended questions to allow for a deeper exploration of the viewpoints and lived experiences of both students and teachers. Findings suggest that adolescent students consider uncivil behaviours that may be seen as disrespectful towards the teacher as more uncivil than do teachers themselves. Teachers tended to focus on adolescents engaging in uncivil behaviuor towards each other as being more serious as well as a focus the negative implications of classroom incivility to the learning environment. These differing perceptions of uncivil behaviour in the classroom have important implications for intervention within educational settings.

Background: Human-animal interactions in human services are on the rise, with an increased focus on the welfare of animals involved as well as on client safety. Based on scientifically based training methods, it has been proposed that horses involved in therapy settings could benefit from learning proactive strategies to reduce stress. One possible strategy is audible exhale communication (AEC). Inviting horses to actively use this strategy with humans could enhance the welfare of horses in equine-assisted therapy (EAT), thereby increasing client safety., Methods: A pilot project was conducted to test the feasibility of training 20 therapy horses to use AEC as a veto signal for an activity, while therapists responded to the signals. The number of audible exhales from the horses was compared between the initial and final training sessions. Furthermore, we tested whether age, years of training experience, and therapy experience served as moderating variables for the outcome. Additionally, qualitative observations were made by therapists working with the horses., Results: It has become apparent that training the horses to use AEC was successful. After 6 months of training, the horses showed a significantly higher number of audible exhales than in the initial training session, with a large effect size. Neither age nor years of training or therapy experience was found to be a moderating variable. The horses were eagerly engaged with newly acquired tools. These showed fewer indications of stress, greater sense of relaxation, and more positive emotions., Conclusion: Based on the findings of this pilot study, training horses to use AEC might be a feasible approach to reduce stress in horses working in therapeutic settings, increase client safety, enhance human-animal relationships, and open up new possibilities for improving the therapeutic process. This method is applicable to all horses, regardless of their age, training level, or experience in therapy. For future research, it would be interesting to replicate and extend the approach by addressing the aforementioned limitations and using a randomized controlled design to investigate the introduction and impact of AEC in a therapeutic setting and to gain more comprehensive insights.

Compassion and self-compassion have significant benefits for well-being and mental health. Recent literature has demonstrated that some individuals experience fear when receiving compassion from oneself or others. Fear of compassion from oneself, from others, and for others are separate but related constructs that have been strongly linked to self-criticism, depression, anxiety, and stress among college students. The present study examines how fears of compassion (measured by the Fear of Compassion scales) relate to Big Five personality traits (measured by the NEO Five Factor Inventory; Costa & McCrae, 1992) in college students. Bivariate correlational analyses revealed fear of compassion to be correlated positively with neuroticism and negatively with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. These findings add to the literature in understanding which individuals harbor fear of compassion. Clinical implications and recommendations are discussed.

Gender dysphoria (GD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) co-occur relatively often, but there is no evidence-based treatment for this specific group. Therefore, we examined the effects of a group intervention for adolescents with ASD and GD in a pilot study with a pre-post-test design. The adolescents completed questionnaires on quality of life, self-esteem, gender dysphoric feelings, and social responsiveness. Results show that participating in this peer support group seems to increase aspects of quality of life, i.e., increased parent-reported psychological well-being and decreased psychological complaints. Even though more research is needed, these results indicate that peer support is an invaluable part of treatment for adolescents with ASD and GD.

During the pandemic, much of the focus of administrators and scholars has been on its impact on residential students and the sudden shift to online instruction. While justified, researchers have yet to focus on online students--who often represent marginalized communities in higher education--to ask whether they were impacted by factors related to the pandemic other than the modality shift. In this study, we examined how the first-year retention of online students was affected during the pandemic, and whether it differed from first-year residential students who transitioned online. We examined records of two student cohorts (Fall 2017 and Fall 2019) from a university to determine each cohort's retention rate by modality. Holding other relevant factors constant, we found the COVID cohort of students were less likely to persist to the following Fall regardless of modality, although residential students were still much more likely to be retained overall. However, Black and Hispanic students were less likely to be retained across both modalities, and even Black residential students were more vulnerable to not returning than their White counterparts, suggesting that racial inequalities persist across learning modalities. We conclude by suggesting how one retention tool--financial aid--could be used to address the particular needs of online students to improve their retention.

Adolescent substance use is typically addressed from the perspectives of school personnel (e.g., teachers, school counselors, social workers, and resource officers) who interact daily with students in school settings. Consequences of adolescent substance use in the schools may include suspension or expulsion and possible legal involvement. However, many adolescents do not have access to evidence-based treatment to address drug and alcohol use. Services are often not available or fragmented, resulting in poor compliance with treatment and inadequate treatment outcomes for youth. Cross-sector collaboration among schools, community behavioral health agencies, and juvenile court service units offers an opportunity to improve access to care and efficiency in delivering care to adolescents with drug and alcohol problems. Illuminated through a single case study, embedded substance use treatment in schools through partnerships with the court service unit and community behavioral health providers can increase access to care. Counselors and social workers play a key role in advocating for joint efforts to increase service access and improve treatment outcomes. Advocacy efforts may include participation and leadership in community coalitions, training and consultation in evidence-based practices, and seamless communication across all organizations that serve youth with substance use disorders.

The authors investigate the personality traits of parents and children and their significant influence on the behavior of the other. Using the HEXACO model of personality, the authors examine the behavior of one hundred parent-child dyads on a playground to understand broader parent-child relationships. Their analyses reveal two opposed types of parental behavior (engaged parents versus unengaged parents) and child behavior (introverted cautious play versus autonomous energetic play) on the playground. The authors assert their study demonstrates that the personality traits of both parents and children as measured by the HEXACO model play a significant role in parental and child behaviors during play and in broader interactions.