Juvenile Offenders in Context: How Their Worldviews Impact their Actions

Featured Research

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Featured Research

Here we showcase a sample of current research conducted within and about communities.

Coping with Mental Illness on Tumblr

Posted in: Mental Health | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Marginalized groups use social media to build social capital and form communities. Social media can be a valuable resource for people experiencing mental illness, but the support experienced online varies among #hashtag communities on Tumblr.

Recovery from Substance Abuse: We are as Successful as Those around Us

Posted in: Housing, Substance Use | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
The social environment may be a more important influence on substance abuse recovery than previously recognized. Recovery can be strongly influenced by others with whom the recovering individual has regular social contact, whether for good or for bad.

Gender-Informed Programming for Incarcerated Girls

Posted in: Children, Youth and Families, Criminal Justice | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Treatments and programs in the juvenile justice system may not work as well for girls as they do for boys. Rehabilitation programs must be understood in context including different program format types (individual, group, family) and program emphases (cognitive, behavioral, family systems).

Photograph of youth advocating for LGBT rights

Social Action Challenging Privilege and Oppression: How Emerging Adults Decide What to Do and When

Posted in: Sense of Community | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Emerging adults reflect on social issues broadly and think critically about how and when to become involved in action. This work can inform strategies to engage individuals in social justice efforts aimed at creating social change across the life-span.

Activism is Powerful for LGBT Folks

Posted in: Marginalized Groups | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
People who identify as LGBT are more likely to experience psychological distress than their heterosexual peers. Participating in LGBT-related civic and advocacy may foster connection among LGBT people, which may in turn support their well-being.

Lessons Learned from a Family-Based Intervention for Court-Involved Girls

Posted in: Children, Youth and Families, Criminal Justice | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Family-based interventions have the potential to reduce recidivism in girls. Contextual factors such as poverty, an unstructured home life, domestic violence, and neglect must be addressed in successful interventions.

Addressing the Social Determinants of Health with CBPR

Posted in: Marginalized Groups, Poverty and Socioeconomic Status, Prevention Science | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Differential access to social, economic, and environmental supports puts communities at risk for disparities in health and well‐being. CBPR is a promising approach to address the social determinants of health.

Integrating Youth in Community Based Participatory Research

Posted in: Children, Youth and Families | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: Journal of Participatory Research Methods
Meaningfully engaging youth in research, evaluation, and practice is important. We examined the value of Youth GO as an emerging participatory qualitative method to engage youth in collecting and analyzing data.

Community Resilience: More Supports, More Impact

Posted in: Children, Youth and Families, Coalition Building, Marginalized Groups | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: The American Psychologist
Most adults report at least one ACE and ACEs disproportionally impact marginalized communities. Supporting community resilience helps promote child development within families, peer groups, schools, and communities.

Juvenile Offenders in Context: How Their Worldviews Impact their Actions

Posted in: Criminal Justice, Marginalized Groups | Tags: Featured Research
Published in: American Journal of Community Psychology
Juvenile offending is not simply the outgrowth of “poor choices”. Rather, antisocial behavior may reflect adolescents’ views of unfairness and injustice within the legal system and the world at large.