Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-Origin Adolescents: Interrelations Between School and Family Contexts

This study, as guided by cultural-ecological frameworks, examined multiple contextual stressors, including subjective economic hardship, acculturation, discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety, as simultaneously linked to adolescents’ depressive symptoms, as well as the role of gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness on these associations. Data come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Portes and Rumbaut 2012) that included second-generation 8th- and 9th-grade children of foreign-born parents from the Mexican-origin subsample (n = 755; 52% male; time 1 M age = 14.20 years). Adolescents were either born in (60%) or immigrated prior to age 5 to the USA. Results of the regression analysis conducted via Mplus indicated that Mexican-origin female adolescents had higher levels of depressive symptoms at age 17. Subjective economic hardship, general discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. Family cohesion was related to lower levels of depressive symptoms. Youth gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness were significant moderators. The present findings point to not only the harmful effects of subjective economic hardship, general discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety on second-generation Mexican-origin adolescents’ mental health but also the significant protective role of school connectedness and family cohesion in promoting adolescents’ well-being. Implications for school psychology research and practice are discussed

A Longitudinal Examination of Peer Victimization on Depressive Symptoms Among Asian American School‑Aged Youth

The current study sought to examine the prospective relationship of peer victimization on changes in Asian American youth’s depressive symptoms during early adolescence, a crucial period for the development of depression and engagement in peer victimization among youth. Further, as guided by cultural–ecological frameworks, the current study also sought to examine the role of school-based peer support and gender as moderators on the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms among this understudied population. Participants included Asian American youth (N = 232; M age = 12.96, SD = 1.40; 51% girls) who completed questionnaires in the school context. Data for this study included two measurement occasions over a 1-year interval. Results indicated that high levels of adolescents’ perceptions of peer victimization were associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms 1 year later. Additionally, results indicated that peer victimization interacted with reports of peer support within school, such that under conditions of moderate to high levels of school-based peer support, high levels of peer victimization related to increased depressive symptoms. Findings contribute to our understanding of the development of depressive symptoms among early adolescent Asian American youth and have implications for school-based depression prevention programming for Asian American youth

Examining the initial usability, acceptability and feasibility of a digital mental health intervention for college students in India

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156228/2/ijop12640_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156228/1/ijop12640.pd

Developing a Brief Behavior Rating Scale for Progress Monitoring of Depression in School Settings

Frequent formative assessment of students’ functioning, or progress monitoring, is a critical component of multi-tiered systems of support as data inform data-driven decisions about response to treatment. Progress monitoring tools for students’ academic and behavioral functioning are readily available and widely researched; however, despite the documented prevalence of depressive disorders among youth and that schools have been put forth as an ideal location for the delivery of mental health services, there are currently no progress monitoring tools to examine students’ response to interventions that target depression. To address this gap, this study sought to develop a progress monitoring assessment of students’ depressive symptoms using an empirically informed model for creating Brief Behavior Rating Scales (BBRS). Using this model, a four-item BBRS of depressive symptoms (BBRS-D) was created from the item pools of the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth (BDI-Y) and Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) administered during a treatment study of depression in female youth; the resulting short scale corresponds well to the full-length assessments (i.e., r = .65 and r = .59); however, the BBRS-D possessed lower than adequate internal consistency (α = .50

Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-Origin Adolescents: Interrelations Between School and Family Contexts

This study, as guided by cultural-ecological frameworks, examined multiple contextual stressors, including subjective economic hardship, acculturation, discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety, as simultaneously linked to adolescents’ depressive symptoms, as well as the role of gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness on these associations. Data come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Portes and Rumbaut 2012) that included second-generation 8th- and 9th-grade children of foreign-born parents from the Mexican-origin subsample (n = 755; 52% male; time 1 M age = 14.20 years). Adolescents were either born in (60%) or immigrated prior to age 5 to the USA. Results of the regression analysis conducted via Mplus indicated that Mexican-origin female adolescents had higher levels of depressive symptoms at age 17. Subjective economic hardship, general discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. Family cohesion was related to lower levels of depressive symptoms. Youth gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness were significant moderators. The present findings point to not only the harmful effects of subjective economic hardship, general discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety on second-generation Mexican-origin adolescents’ mental health but also the significant protective role of school connectedness and family cohesion in promoting adolescents’ well-being. Implications for school psychology research and practice are discussed

The Distal Role of Adolescents’ Awareness of and Perceived Discrimination on Young Adults’ Socioeconomic Attainment among Mexican-Origin Immigrant Families

Cultural-ecological frameworks posit that there are harmful effects of social stratification on developmental outcomes. In particular, awareness of aspects of social stratification in society and interpersonal experiences of discrimination, more generally and within specific contexts, may differentially influence outcomes across life stages; yet, few studies have examined the distal effects during adolescence on early adult developmental outcomes. The current study fills this gap by examining distal mechanisms linking adolescents’ (Time 1: ages 13–15) awareness of and perceived general and school discrimination to young adults’ (Time 3: ages 23–25) socioeconomic attainment (i.e., educational attainment, occupational prestige, earned income) through adolescents’ (Time 2: ages 16–18) academic adjustment (i.e., grades and educational expectations). The study also examined variation by adaptive culture (i.e., English and Spanish language use behavior, familism values) and youth gender. Data are from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (N = 755 Mexican-origin adolescents and their foreign-born parents; 51.5% male adolescents; Time 1 M age = 14.20 years). The results revealed that adolescent’s awareness of societal discrimination (Time 1) related to adolescents’ higher grades (Time 2), which, in turn, related to higher educational attainment and occupational prestige in early adulthood (Time 3). For young women, but not men, sources of perceived discrimination within the school context during adolescence related to lower educational attainment. Additional variation by adaptive culture and gender was also found. Implications discussed are related to positive development among Mexican-origin youth in immigrant families

A Longitudinal Examination of Peer Victimization on Depressive Symptoms Among Asian American School‑Aged Youth

The current study sought to examine the prospective relationship of peer victimization on changes in Asian American youth’s depressive symptoms during early adolescence, a crucial period for the development of depression and engagement in peer victimization among youth. Further, as guided by cultural–ecological frameworks, the current study also sought to examine the role of school-based peer support and gender as moderators on the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms among this understudied population. Participants included Asian American youth (N = 232; M age = 12.96, SD = 1.40; 51% girls) who completed questionnaires in the school context. Data for this study included two measurement occasions over a 1-year interval. Results indicated that high levels of adolescents’ perceptions of peer victimization were associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms 1 year later. Additionally, results indicated that peer victimization interacted with reports of peer support within school, such that under conditions of moderate to high levels of school-based peer support, high levels of peer victimization related to increased depressive symptoms. Findings contribute to our understanding of the development of depressive symptoms among early adolescent Asian American youth and have implications for school-based depression prevention programming for Asian American youth

Addressing the Internalizing Behavior of Students in Schools: Applications of the MTSS Model

This paper describes the growing literature on school-based mental health and the articles included in the current special issue

Reviewing Manuscripts Submitted to Peer-Reviewed Journals

There is need for large numbers of high-quality peer reviews across journals. This chapter provides information about the peer-review process and practical recommendations from the perspective of journal editorial team members. It describes expectations for peer reviewers, suggests a process to follow when reviewing, and offers resources to support high-quality reviewing. It introduces key ethical guidelines to follow while reviewing and describes how to get involved, stay engaged, and mentor others in reviewing