Public School Preparedness for School Shootings: A Phenomenological Overview of School Staff Perspectives

School Mental Health - Public school trauma responses to school shootings in the USA would benefit from a greater focus on trauma intervention in the aftermath of a shooting. The current research...     

On Latent School Refusal in Junior High School

Abstract: School refusal is a grave social problem for adolescents, their families, schools andsociety in Japan today as well as other developed countries. We researched the mentality of junior high school pupils about their feelings or moods toward school attendance with a set of questionnaires in order to know how much they were oppressed by daily schoolattendance.
From such a viewpoint, we tried the questionnaire program at seven public junior highschools in a small city in the suburbs that developed rapidly and located not far away from a big city. We selected our subjects at random from one class out of each grade of each junior high school. The number of the subject pupils was 838: 429 boys and 409 girls. We postulated that the latent school refusals were those who answered all "yes" to three items which was always the case by school refusals in our climical experience. We found 117 latent school refusals out of the 838: 65 boys and 52 girls.
We considered three factors–problems concerning school, family and other daily activities.
From our research, we recognize that there are many pupils attending school with the possibility of them becoming dropouts (14.0%). Their mentality is characteristic of school refusal itself while they attend school almost everyday. We clinicians should be aware of the social structure and make every effort to secure the healthy development of adolescents.     

Adolescent Obesity and School Performance and Perceptions of the School Environment Among Minnesota High School Students

This study examined associations between adolescent obesity and school performance and perceptions of the social environment and safety at school. Data are from the Minnesota Student Survey (n = 87,468 students) which was administered statewide in the spring of 2007. Student’s responses to questions about grades achieved in school, skipping school, future school plans, and perceptions of the social environment and safety in school were analyzed in relation to their weight status using logistic regression and general linear modeling. Overweight and obese adolescents were significantly less likely to plan to go to college; more likely to report skipping school because of fears of safety, lower academic grades, an individualized education plan, and negative perceptions about the social environment and safety in school than non-overweight students (all p < .001). Study findings can help guide school and other health professionals’ assessment and intervention strategies to improve the quality of life for overweight and obese youth.     

School Bullying and Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Do School Belonging and School Achievement Matter?

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction - The objective of this study is to examine whether school bullying predicts increased internalizing and externalizing behavior through...     

School Violence Reduction: A Model Jamaican Secondary School Program

Violence in United States' schools is epidemic. Solutions are rare. Community mental health centers are now being challenged to become part of the solution. The Montego Bay Secondary School project presents an example of how violence reduction can be achieved using almost no physical resources and the special effect, called the Bruno Effect, created by one Jamaican police officer with the consultation of a psychodynamically-led training and intervention team. The Bruno Effect resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of physical attacks from an observed 5 fights per day (3 out of the 5 involved knives and cutting) to 1 per week. The violence rate returned immediately to its former level as soon as Bruno left the school. The dramatic violence reduction appears related to establishing an adult protective shield. Results stem from the unique personality of the adult protector, as well as a combination of the special role of the police and the outside intervention team.