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The current study examined the association between adolescent emotional competence, operationalized and measured at both the individual and the school levels, and gang membership. The study involved a sample of 12,040 students (51.4% females; mean = 16.9 years) participating in the biennial state department of education coordinated California Healthy Kids Survey, which assesses a range of adolescent health-related behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of individual emotional competence were associated with a lower likelihood of identifying as a gang member. Moreover, a stronger negative association between emotional competence and identifying as a gang member was found when emotional competence was operationalized at the school level. Implications include the role of schools in promoting emotional regulation, empathy, and behavioral regulation of their entire student body as part of an overall strategy to reduce individual student's attraction to gangs.

Mobile apps can effectively promote healthy and sustainable eating, but their success depends on initial user engagement. This study aimed to increase initial user engagement by tailoring app descriptions to users' regulatory focus (prevention versus promotion). Four conditions were created by combining two types of messages: regulatory concern (safety versus growth) and anticipated emotion (positive versus negative). The safety message emphasized the protection of health and the environment, while the growth message emphasized the improvement of well-being and environmental conservation. The message with the positive anticipated emotion described satisfaction with using the app, while the message with the negative anticipated emotion described dissatisfaction with not using the app. Participants' attitudes, desires, and intentions, as well as downloads of the app were measured to assess the effectiveness of the message. Promotion-focused individuals showed greater desire and were more likely to download the app when the message matched their focus (growth + positive anticipated emotions) than when it did not (safety + negative anticipated emotions). Conversely, prevention-focused individuals did not show increased engagement with regulatory congruent messages. These results suggest that tailoring app descriptions to users' regulatory focus may increase initial engagement among promotion-focused individuals. Further research is needed to investigate methods to increase engagement among prevention-focused individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the association between two characteristics of school climate (sense of community and teacher support, measured both at the individual and at the school level) and students' feelings of being unsafe at school. The study involved a sample of 49,638 students aged 10-18 years who participated in the 2010-2012 California Healthy Kids Survey. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), our findings revealed that, at the individual level, students perceiving higher levels of sense of community and teacher support at school were less likely to feel unsafe within the school environment. At the school level, sense of community was negatively associated with unsafe feelings, whereas there was no association between school-level teacher support and feelings of being unsafe at school.

Youth gang involvement is a serious public health challenge as adolescents involved in gangs are more likely than others to engage in violence and aggression. To better understand gang involvement, we examined the role of protective (empathy and parental support) and risk (peer deviance and lack of safety at school) factors, as well as their interactions, in predicting adolescent gang affiliation. The study involved a sample of 26,232 students (53.4% females; mean age = 14.62, SD = 1.69) participating in the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a survey investigating a wide range of youth health and risk behaviors administered in all California schools every 2 years. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings indicated that high levels of empathy and parental support were associated with a lower likelihood of affiliating with a gang. Associating with deviant peers and perceiving the school as unsafe were positively correlated with gang membership. At the school level, lack of safety and type of school (special education, vocational, or alternative school vs. comprehensive schools) were associated with greater probability of gang membership. Empathy mitigated the association between deviant peers and gang membership.

The current study examined the association between quantity, variety, and configuration of developmental assets with risk behaviors (tobacco and alcohol use) and developing emotional problems (depressive feelings and suicidal thoughts). A sample of 12,040 high school students completed surveys investigating youth health and risk behaviors, and developmental assets. Independent one-step logistic regression analyses showed that adolescents reporting a higher quantity of assets, and possessing them in multiple domains, tended to have a lower likelihood of experiencing behavioral and emotional problems. The negative association between developmental assets and negative outcomes was more consistent when quantity and variety were taken into account simultaneously, thus supporting the configuration protective model. A sufficient amount of strengths, in an adequate number of different domains, seems to provide the strongest protection against negative developmental outcomes. The research and clinical implications of findings are discussed.

Objective: Studies on protective factors for school victimization are rare and usually focus on specific assets. The current study examined the association between quantity and variety of domains of developmental assets and school victimization in adolescence. Method: Data were drawn from the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS; N = 11,790 high school students attending 17 schools). The Social and Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S) was administered as part of a federally funded school climate initiative in the spring of 2013. A mixed-effects modeling approach tested associations between configurations of assets and school victimization. Results: Adolescents reporting a higher quantity of assets in multiple domains had a lower likelihood of experiencing physical and relational victimization and fear of being victimized in school compared to youth having zero assets. Conclusions: Results supported the importance of considering the quantity of psychological and social assets and also the variety of assets across multiple domains. Interventions promoting multiple protective factors in multiple areas of youthsa' lives may have the highest likelihood of impacting adolescent well-being.

Civic engagement, defined as involvement in community life, is influenced by reciprocal relationships between individuals and contexts and is a key factor that contributes to positive youth development. The present study evaluates a theoretical model linking perceived democratic school climate with adolescent civic engagement (operationalized as civic responsibility and intentions for future participation), taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions and perceived fairness at school. Participants were 403 adolescents (47.9 % male) ranging in age from 11 to 15 years old (mean age = 13.6). Path analysis results partially validated the proposed theoretical model. Higher levels of democratic school climate were associated with higher levels of adolescent civic responsibility; the association was fully mediated by civic discussions and perceived fairness at school. Adolescents' civic responsibility, then, was positively associated with a stronger intention to participate in the civic domain in the future.

Research on the social determinants of Problematic Social Media Use (PSMU) among adolescents is scant and focused on proximal contexts and interpersonal relationships. This study examines the relation of PSMU with economic inequality, measured at country, school and individual levels. It also evaluated the moderating role of family and peer support in these associations. The 2017/18 Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study measured PSMU in 179,049 adolescents aged 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds in 43 countries and sub-regions of Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia) and the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, and Wales). Associations between inequality and PSMU were tested using multilevel logistic regression analyis. Results showed that adolescents who were relatively more deprived than their schoolmates and attended more economically unequal schools had a higher likelihood of reporting PSMU. In addition, school wealth inequality was more closely related to PSMU among adolescents with lower levels of peer support. A similar effect of country income inequality was found, but only in adolescents who reported low family support. Our findings expand the existing literature on the detrimental impact of inequalities in different social contexts on adolescent wellbeing by showing the role of inequalities in the engagement in PSMU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given the severity of outcomes associated with involvement in bullying and the resources spent in an effort to reduce its prevalence, it is important to investigate trends in the bullying's occurrence. The main aim of this study was to identify trends from 2002 to 2010 in prevalence of bullying and victimization among Italian adolescents. Methods: The survey reported here is part of the larger population-based cross-sectional (2002, 2006, and 2010) "Health Behaviour in School Aged Children" (HBSC) transnational study. The sample was comprised of 13,174 Italian middle and secondary school students (11- to 15-year-olds; 50.3% girls). Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire. Measures included involvement in bullying as either a perpetrator or a victim. Trends were determined using Gamma statistics. Results: Consistent and robust decreases in the prevalence of bullying between 2002 and 2010 were detected in Italy. During this time frame both frequent and occasional bullying and victimization decreased by half. Conclusions: We measured a strong decrease in involvement in bullying behavior in Italy, in particular after 2006, when the Italian government invested more systematically in the prevention effort on bullying. This is encouraging news for policymakers and practitioners working in the field of bullying prevention.

Adopting a multi-informant methodology, the current study examines the relative influence of multiple parental characteristics (civic responsibility, encouragement of civic action, parent-youth closeness) on adolescents' civic responsibility (local and global). The participants were 384 early and middle adolescents (47.9% male), randomly selected from an Italian city (mean age = 13.6; SD = 1.63), and one parent for each adolescent. The results show a positive association between the parents' local civic responsibility and the adolescents' responsibility toward the local community, and between the parents' global civic responsibility and the adolescents' responsibility toward societal issues. Moreover, parental encouragement of civic action and parent-youth closeness were positively associated with the adolescents' civic responsibility. Finally, an interaction between the parents' local civic responsibility and parent-child closeness was found in which parents' civic responsibility had stronger influence on youth civic responsibility when the parent-child relationship was characterized by medium or high levels of closeness.

This study examines the role of school unfairness in predicting violent behavior among Italian early adolescents. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the relations between individual (demographics, psychosocial and relational characteristics, and perception of procedural and relational school unfairness), and class characteristics (mean school unfairness and socioeconomic status) and students' violent behavior. Data were analyzed using a two-level model based on 6,744 students (3,398 boys; M age=14.14) nested within 348 classes. After adjusting for age, gender, and psychosocial confounding factors, relational and procedural unfairness in the school showed a significant association with violent behavior. School unfairness predicted between-school variation in violent behavior, in that procedural unfairness at the school level increased the risk for violent behavior. However, relational unfairness at the school level decreased the risk for violent behavior. The present study suggests that the quality of relationships with teachers may be key in predicting students' violent behavior. (Contains 2 tables and 1 footnote.)