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Objective: This study explores how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) relate to race/ethnicity and academic achievement among a sample of college students. Participants: Participants were students attending a large public university in the Southwest (n = 404). Methods: Online surveys captured ACE scores, demographics, and self-reported GPA. Results: Students of Color had higher ACE scores and lower GPAs than White students. Regression analyses also revealed that an ACE score of 4 or higher is associated with lower GPAs, but only for Students of Color (Black and Hispanic students), not for White students. Conclusions: There are race/ethnic differences in the incidence and impact of adverse childhood experiences on post-secondary academic achievement. Thus, it is important for colleges and universities to create a trauma-informed campus culture and holistic mental health support system, particularly for Students of Color, who may not have had access to high quality care before attending college.

Young people today face a multitude of challenges, especially when growing up in an urban environment. Risk factors such as poverty, exposure to gangs, drugs, and community and family violence threaten healthy development. The positive youth development (PYD) approach attempts to combat these personal and environmental challenges by providing youth with positive, asset-building experiences and meaningful, supportive relationships. There is a need for creative youth development programming that brings these two elements together in a structured and voluntary context, such as a wilderness-based program. This study explored the impact of a PYD program that utilizes mentor-supported wilderness expeditions to build developmental assets among a diverse sample of 159 urban youth in the United States. The Developmental Assets Profile was administered pre- and post-program, as well as 90 days post-program. Quantitative findings show that this type of programming can be an asset-building experience for youth facing multiple risk factors.

Research reveals that Black youth are less likely to use alcohol than White youth. It has been argued that Blacks are more likely to abstain because they have less disposable income, are more religious, and have more family support and/or control than White youth. It has also been suggested that not only are these compositional characteristics different and likely to suppress use rates but also that the effects of these factors vary as well. However, there are no comprehensive empirical investigations of these explanations. This study uses the Add Health Survey to examine alcohol and drug use by race and/or ethnicity and to explore how differences in composition and process might produce differences in use. Results suggest that the socioeconomic contexts of Black and White youth differ considerably. However, differences in alcohol use are almost entirely explained by differences in process, in particular, the influence of peers and the family. (Contains 3 tables.)

Investigated suicidal strains contributing to suicidal behaviors among adolescents by race. Data from the Add Health Project support the presence of process differences by race and delineate the specific nature of these differences. For example, Blacks experience more status strains, but they are more religious than Whites (which serves to suppress black suicide rates). (Contains references.) (SM)

Studied social strains contributing to suicidal behavior among adolescents by sex using the Add Health study of about 19,000 adolescents. Results support the presence of process differences and delineate the specific nature of these differences. Results also support models suggesting males are more status oriented and females are more relationally dependent. (SLD)

Individuals deemed high in personal control tend to attribute life events to internal, rather than external causes. A lack of perceived personal control has been linked repeatedly to deficiencies in mental and physical health. Many scholars and practitioners have suggested that eating disorders are yet another problem stemming from a perceived lack of personal control. However, empirical research linking attributional tendencies and eating disorders is limited. In the present study, it is argued that eating disorders actually could be associated with a tendency to make internal attributions of responsibility for events. Using a sample of college females, this study offers preliminary support for this assertion. Results offer a unique challenge to the view of internal attributions as universally adaptive.

The popular press has disseminated widely the idea that adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) have relational deficiencies. This literature has been challenged due to its reliance on clinical samples; however, evidence of no difference between ACOAs and non-ACOAs has come from studies of college students. The National Survey of Families and Households is used to examine the effect of growing up in an alcoholic family on adult marital and cohabiting relationships. In support of the deficit model, results reveal that ACOAs are less likely to marry and have lower levels of marital quality and stability than non-ACOAs. Additional ACOA deficiencies that serve to mediate these relationships are also identified. However, while ACOAs commonly are profiled as women exhibiting excessive dependency, results reveal effects for men and women and evidence for relational patterns characterized by distance rather than overinvolvement. Research using more representative samples is needed to dispel misleading stereotypes.

In the present study we use the 2007 National Survey of Child Health to examine whether parental social support is associated with children's overweight/obesity and if this relationship is moderated by race/ethnicity, acculturation, and/or parent's sex. Results reveal that Hispanics (English and Spanish-speaking) and African Americans have considerably higher rates of child overweight/obesity and are less likely to have social support with parenting than Whites. Social support emerged as a significant predictor of overweight/obesity only for English-speaking Hispanic fathers. However, the magnitude of this effect was substantial. English-speaking Hispanic fathers were more than twice as likely as White fathers to have an overweight/obese child, but with social support, the odds declined by 80%. Findings suggest a need to understand better how race/ethnicity and acculturative stress shape fathers' parenting practices and how social support serves to buffer these strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]