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Prior research has shown that college access programs help to increase college-going for youth from lower-income backgrounds. In addition to increasing college access, these programs also provide social support to youth and impact their academic and non-academic outcomes. Guided by risk and resilience frameworks, the present study examined social support from the college access program as a promotive factor for adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The results indicated that social support was positively associated with personal resources, future college-going, and confidence in academic abilities. Overall, the current findings affirm the importance of investigating social support for adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These findings also have implications for future research related to social support from college access programs.

Current theories suggest that bone modeling and remodeling are controlled at the cellular level through signals mediated by osteocytes. However, the specific signals to which bone cells respond are still unknown. Two primary theories are: (1) osteocytes are stimulated via the mechanical deformation of the perilacunar bone matrix and (2) osteocytes are stimulated via fluid flow generated shear stresses acting on osteocyte cell processes within canaliculi. Recently, much focus has been placed on fluid flow theories since in vitro experiments have shown that bone cells are more responsive to analytically estimated levels of fluid shear stress than to direct mechanical stretching using macroscopic strain levels measured on bone in vivo. However, due to the complex microstructural organization of bone, local perilacunar bone tissue strains potentially acting on osteocytes cannot be reliably estimated from macroscopic bone strain measurements. Thus, the objective of this study was to quantify local perilacunar bone matrix strains due to macroscopically applied bone strains similar in magnitude to those that occur in vivo. Using a digital image correlation strain measurement technique, experimentally measured bone matrix strains around osteocyte lacunae resulting from macroscopic strains of approximately 2000 microstrain are significantly greater than macroscopic strain on average and can reach peak levels of over 30,000 microstrain locally. Average strain concentration factors ranged from 1.1 to 3.8, which is consistent with analytical and numerical estimates. This information should lead to a better understanding of how bone cells are affected by whole bone functional loading.

Black students’ school experiences are important for their mental health. The current study explored the link between school connectedness in middle childhood and depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors among Black adolescents. Participants were Black youth (Mage = 9.36 years, SD = 0.38 at time 1), (Mage = 15.59 years, SD = 0.60 at time 2), and 50.2% female. The findings demonstrated a significant association between school connectedness assessed at age nine and reduced depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors reported at age fifteen. Notably, gender moderated the relationship between school connectedness and depressive symptoms, with a stronger association found for girls. These results offer valuable insights into how early perceptions of school connectedness impact the mental health of Black adolescents as they grow older. These findings also indicate that girls might be more attuned to the social and emotional aspects of their schools. These findings validate the significance of a sense of connection to school with mental health outcomes among Black adolescents and indicate the possibility of school connectedness interventions to enhance their overall well-being.

Youth from racial minority backgrounds frequently report encountering racial discrimination within their school. These experiences can create additional barriers to their pursuit of higher education. This study explored whether critical thinking can protect and enhance youth college aspirations despite discrimination. We examined whether critical thinking protects against the impact of racial discrimination on beliefs about future college plans in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 189 adolescents (Mage = 14.47, SD = 1.402, 66.8% female) using a cross-sectional approach. Results indicated that among adolescents with low and moderate critical thinking skills, higher levels of in-school racial discrimination were linked to lower beliefs in their future college attendance. This suggests that in environments where racial discrimination is prevalent, individuals with lower critical thinking skills are more susceptible to negative effects on their college expectations. Conversely, for adolescents with high critical thinking skills, the relationship between in-school racial discrimination and beliefs about college plans was not significant. These findings emphasize the importance of developing critical thinking skills through interventions and policies to mitigate the adverse effects of in-school racial discrimination and to promote college access and success among underrepresented racial minority youth.

This study explores longitudinal influences of various factors on Black parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Guided by Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler’s Model of Parent Involvement, this research examines whether parents’ school climate perceptions, attitudes about involvement, self-efficacy, and children’s academic performance predict parent involvement over time. Utilizing data from the Maryland Adolescence in Context Study with a sample of 560 Black parents, we found that positive school climate perceptions and favorable attitudes towards involvement significantly predict increased parent involvement in later years. The results underscore the importance of supportive school environments and parent attitudes in fostering their involvement.

Black youth who experience community violence occupy multiple environments with varying levels of influence on how they display resiliency to prevent adverse mental health outcomes. Considering the recent rise of mental health concerns (i.e., increase in suicidal outcomes) among Black youth, along with the abundance of research illustrating the detrimental impact of community violence, more research is needed to examine how different environmental factors (e.g., family and school) shape how youth protect their mental health while displaying resiliency navigating community violence. The purpose of this study was to examine how family and school contexts predict Black youths’ ability to display resiliency to navigate community violence and prevent adverse mental health outcomes. This study utilized a path analysis to examine the associations between parent relationships, parent bonding, school climate, resilience to adverse community experiences, community violence, and mental health among 548 Black adolescents in Chicago. Findings highlight that parent relationships, parent bonding, and school climate influence the association between resilience to community violence and mental health outcomes among Black youth. Implications for mental health practice and policy among Black youth are discussed.

The environmental impacts of global warming driven by methane (CH4) emissions have catalyzed significant research initiatives in developing novel technologies that enable proactive and rapid detection of CH4. Several data-driven machine learning (ML) models were tested to determine how well they identified fugitive CH4 and its related intensity in the affected areas. Various meteorological characteristics, including wind speed, temperature, pressure, relative humidity, water vapor, and heat flux, were included in the simulation. We used the ensemble learning method to determine the best-performing weighted ensemble ML models built upon several weaker lower-layer ML models to (i) detect the presence of CH4 as a classification problem and (ii) predict the intensity of CH4 as a regression problem. The classification model performance for CH4 detection was evaluated using accuracy, F1 score, Matthew’s Correlation Coefficient (MCC), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC ROC), with the top-performing model being 97.2%, 0.972, 0.945 and 0.995, respectively. The R 2 score was used to evaluate the regression model performance for CH4 intensity prediction, with the R 2 score of the best-performing model being 0.858. The ML models developed in this study for fugitive CH4 detection and intensity prediction can be used with fixed environmental sensors deployed on the ground or with sensors mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for mobile detection.

Although it is well-documented that school-based racial discrimination can have adverse effects on African American adolescents, the understanding of how socio-emotional factors can act as safeguards is still limited. This study explores whether emotion regulation, mentor support, and parent racial socialization help African American boys cope with school-based racial discrimination. Factors such as emotion regulation are internal assets, while mentor support and parent racial socialization are external resources. Four hundred and eighty-seven African American boys aged 12 to 18 (M = 14.33; SD = 1.62) participated. School-based racial discrimination correlated negatively with psychological well-being. Only emotion regulation and parental racial socialization were related to positive psychological well-being. However, mentor support buffered against the negative impacts of school-based racial discrimination on psychological well-being. These results underscore the significance of assets and resources in bolstering African American boys’ resilience against school-based racial discrimination, with implications for interventions and future research.

Past research has found that stressful events such as racial discrimination can spur social development in racially marginalized youth. Critical consciousness has been identified as one such developmental task. Yet, there is still much to learn regarding the role of racial discrimination in developing critical consciousness, particularly as it relates to the mechanism linking racial discrimination to critical consciousness. We examine whether stress, in the form of psychological distress, may explain the link between online racial discrimination and critical consciousness. Online racial discrimination is a type of racial discrimination and is a growing risk to safe internet use for ethnically and racially marginalized youth. The current study employed a moderated mediation model to examine the associations between online racial discrimination and critical consciousness (critical agency and critical action). Data were from 356 Black and Latino adolescents, 50% each (Mage = 15.97, SD = 1.61), and 78.92% female. The model included psychological distress as a mediator between online racial discrimination and critical consciousness and self-esteem as a moderator of psychological distress and two critical consciousness dimensions. Psychological distress was a successful mediator, and self-esteem moderated the link between psychological distress and critical consciousness dimensions. The present findings suggest that psychological distress may be one mechanism through which online racial discrimination may impact the development of critical consciousness in Black and Latino adolescents.

In the USA, suicide is a leading cause of death for adolescents ages 12 to 18 (National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 2019). Given the urgency of this public health crisis, this paper aims to explore the impact of a sense of school belonging and teacher-based discrimination and peer-based prejudice on suicidal ideation and attempts among Black youth. This secondary analysis used a sample of Black youth ( N  = 4229; M age  = 16) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents to Adult Health data. Independent variables included a sense of school belonging, school-based teacher discrimination, and school-based peer prejudice; the dependent variable was suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The results of multinomial regression analyses revealed that as Black adolescents’ sense of school belonging decreased, they were 35% more likely to be at risk for suicidal ideation and attempts. Findings from our study support the assertion that the school microsystem plays a substantial role in modifying the risk of suicidal behavior among Black youth.