(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the August 2015 Issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health correlates the real and perceived crime rates in neighbourhoods with adolescent activity behaviours and weight status. "Socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (N = 2,455, 53.4% female) from 20 urban, public middle and high schools in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota responded to a classroom survey in the Eating and Activity in Teens 2010 study. BMI was measured by research staff. Participants' mean age was 14.6 (standard deviation = 2.0); 82.7% represented racial/ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic white. Linear regressions examined associations between crime perceived by adolescents and crime reported to police and the outcomes of interest (BMI z-scores, physical activity, and screen time). Models were stratified by gender and adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and school. BMI was positively associated with perceived crime among girls and boys and with reported crime in girls. For girls, there was an association between higher perceived crime and increased screen time; for boys, between higher reported property crime and reduced physical activity. Perceived crime was associated with reported crime, both property and personal, in both genders." Should we worry less about fast food outlets and more about safe streets? Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service)  The news stories we identified this week included a story about an American forum organized by the White House to "rethink school discipline". The news release stated "The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice are hosting teams of superintendents, principals, and teachers from across the country today for "Rethink Discipline," a day-long conference at the White House on creating positive school climates and implementing effective discipline practices. The conference seeks to advance the national conversation about reducing the overuse of unnecessary out of school suspensions and expulsions and replacing these practices with positive alternatives that keep students in school and engaged in learning, but also ensure accountability." According to data released at the Forum , the number of US students losing critical learning time due to out of school suspensions and expulsions is staggering. Over 3 million students are suspended or expelled every year. A number of excellent actions were also announced, including policy, planning and profession al guides, a clearinghouse/web site and a public awareness campaign. The initiative was also linked to other US initiatives on racism, gender equity and similar policy directions. The search for meaningful alternatives to suspension are real and laudable. But do these various actions address the core dilemma for teachers; namely, if one or a few students continually disrupt the order and learning of other students, or if they break defined rules in a significant manner, what is the disciplinary pathway to follow. Particularly if the pathway is made more difficult and complicated by various administrative needs, family and neighbourhood factors and more? Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service)  Among the news stories this week were several items reporting on the intrusion of video cameras into schools to record student and staff behaviours. In Iowa, a school district has required school principals to wear video cameras much like the police are now doing in several cities. In Abu Dhabi and other countries, video cameras are now being used to record student behaviours on school buses. Ironically, this weeks news items included a national report from the education ministry in the US that student violence and fear of violence are declining. Read more>>

(From the ISHN Member information service)  An article in Issue #12, 2014 of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence uses "General Strain" theory to explain and understand interpersonal aggression at school. "Using data from a sample of 296 middle school students in a southwestern state of the United States, this article examined whether different types of strain and negative emotions are positively associated with psychological, physical, and general bullying. Overall findings of negative binomial regression analyses tended to be consistent with our expectations, while some aspects of GST received more empirical support than others. Strains and negative emotions were mostly related positively either to psychological or physical bullying, with negative emotions, anger and depression, partly mediating the strain-bullying relationship." This being the first encounter with strain theories for us, our quick look on the Internet found an excellent Canadian government report examining the roots of violence in response to a school shooting in Ontario. The Appendix on Literature reviews in that report has discussed several such strain theories in relation to school violence. Other sections of that report review school-based and school-linked violence prevention. Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #3, 2013 of Safer Communities make the argument that youth justice systems should be based on a preventive approach when dealing with youth rather than the assumption of guilt or trouble that often accompanies their treatment in the system. "The paper presents three general findings. First, young people can be subject to youth justice intervention without a “presenting problem” or offence committed. More pertinently this form of pre-emptive criminalisation violates the child's human rights, due-process and legal safeguards. Second, young people who are drawn into the net of formal youth justice intervention can suffer from the stigmatising and labelling effects of being criminalised. Third, there is a pressing need for youth justice policy and practice to be transformed, in order to allow for the implementation of more informal, diversionary and restorative measures. The paper considers “alternative perspectives” and the prospect of a youth justice predicated upon the principles of informal justice, child-friendly values and the notion of inclusion".  Read More>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #3, 2013 of the Journal on Emotional and Behavioral Disorders delves into the impact of lower socio-economic status (SES) on child development. The authors identify small but significant, and likely modifiable facts that affect literacy and language, aggression, and internalizing behaviours including depression. They suggest that "Given the small observed associations, policy makers and programmers may focus interventions on family and community factors that contribute to child and adolescent developmental outcomes across the socioeconomic spectrum". Read more>>

(An item from ISHN Member information service) A theory about teacher behaviours in implementing programs, the Planning Realistic Intervention Implementation and Maintenance by Educators, is used to explain a teacher's use of a behaviour support program for students. The case study is reported in an article in Issue #1, 2013 of School Psychology Quarterly. The authors report that "We propose that to transform student outcomes through evidence-based practice, conceptualization of mediators' intervention implementation must move beyond quantification of discrete intervention steps implemented. Intervention implementation requires behavior change and thus can be conceptualized as an adult behavior change process. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how adult behavior change theory may inform how intervention implementation is conceptualized, facilitated, and supported. An empirically supported theory of adult behavior change from health psychology, the Health Action Process Approach, and how it has informed development of PRIME (Planning Realistic Intervention Implementation and Maintenance by Educators), a system of supports to facilitate mediators' implementation of school-based interventions, are introduced". Read More>>