Posted in: Prevention Science, Sense of Community | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
It is intuitive that social support and positive interactions within communities are linked to better physical and emotional health for individual community members. However, we have not be able to say, from a research standpoint, how or why this is the case. In Sharing Positive Experiences Boosts Resilient Thinking: Everyday Benefits of Social Connection and […]

Posted in: Children, Youth and Families, Mental Health | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Exposure to violence (ETV) is associated with poorer mental and physical health outcomes including mental distress, suicidal ideation, problematic behaviors, and substance abuse. Individuals with regular exposure to violence may be at higher risk of hopelessness and more likely to avoid consideration of the future in a positive way. Up to now, we haven’t known […]

Posted in: Children, Youth and Families, Criminal Justice | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
What is the role of a spiritual leader in the private sphere of the home? How do church leaders address the tensions between reducing the rate of divorce, promoting family stability, and addressing the needs of church members at risk for emotional, financial, and physical violence within their families? The “holy hush” refers to a […]

Posted in: Marginalized Groups, Mental Health, Public Policy | Tags: Featured Research, Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
If we return to the definition of citizenship as a sense of belonging to a group, we gain an understanding of “community” as more broad than simple geographical proximity, membership, or identification with a group.

Posted in: Criminal Justice | Tags: Featured Research
In 2009, approximately 11,000 sexual assault kits (also called “rape kits”) were found in a remote police property storage facility in Detroit, Michigan. The vast majority of these kits had never been tested by a crime laboratory for forensic DNA evidence. This meant that about 11,000 rape victims had sexual assault kits collected at a […]

Posted in: Public Policy, Violence Prevention | Tags: Featured Research, Research
A policy brief developed by the Research-to-Policy Collaboration with support from the Society for Community Research and Action. Approximately 40 million people worldwide, including many in the United States, are estimated to be victims of human trafficking — a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control both adults […]