Friendship quality and ethnocultural boys: An exploratory evaluation of the WiseGuyz Program.

Tier 1 school mental health programs for middle school youth often focus on healthy relationships promotion. However, the vast majority of these programs take a gender‐ and race‐neutral approach (i.e., content that does not focus on the way that gender, race, and ethnicity intersect to shape relationships and mental health). Embedding these intersections into Tier 1 programs is critical to equitably advancing mental health for middle school youth. This article specifically explores associations between participation in a Tier 1 gender‐transformative healthy relationships program and friendship quality for Ethnocultural boys. Data were drawn from 278 White and Ethnocultural boys who participated in the program in 2016–2017 or 2017–2018 in a Western Canadian province. Data were analyzed using three‐level multilevel models. In these data, we found that Ethnocultural boys who participated in WiseGuyz reported improved friendship quality with their closest same‐sex friend following the end of the program. We also found that Ethnocultural boys who reported a positive change in male role norms related to emotional restriction reported significant improvements to friendship quality from pre‐ to post‐test. Findings suggest the importance of embedding equity into Tier 1 school mental health programming through a specific focus on intersections between gender, race, and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]