The Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center will welcome its 2025 Bennett Lecturer, Catherine Bradshaw, senior associate dean for research and professor at the University of Virginia., on Nov. ...

Lisa Gatzke-Kopp has been named head of the Penn State Department of Human Development and Family Studies. She joined the College of Health and Human Development in 2007 as an assistant professor and ...

Choosing a school-based mindfulness program can be a daunting task. Programs vary in their content, cost, length and expected outcomes. To help aid in understanding of what these programs offer, Sebri...

Researchers across different disciplines increasingly recognize the importance of communicating their findings beyond academic audiences, especially to policymakers who can act on evidence to improve ...

Introduction School-based prevention efforts to support social and emotional learning in adolescence frequently struggle to demonstrate sizable impact, and scholars suggest this may be due to a lack...

The first wave of data Penn State’s HEALthy Brain and Child [...]

Hi, I'm Paige Amormino. I am currently in the fifth and final year of my Psychology Ph.D. program working with Dr. Abigail Marsh in the Laboratory on Social...

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Low-income students who received a preschool intervention focused on social-emotional development continued to benefit from it during their teen years according to a recent stud...

Objective: Research shows a high proportion of college seniors experience alcohol problems repeatedly. The present study examined associations between behavioral willingness to experience alcohol consequences (BW), protective behavioral strategies to reduce harmful drinking (PBS), drinking, and repeated alcohol problems (RAPs) early in the senior year, and how these constructs influenced BW, PBS, drinking, and RAPs later in the senior year. Method: The sample included randomly selected first year students from a large northeastern university that met the inclusion criterion of consuming alcohol prior to enrollment. Students were followed each semester across 4 years. The study (N = 1,753; 58% female) focused on the assessments in the fall (T1) and spring (T2) semesters of their senior year (mean age = 21). A longitudinal path model examined associations among BW, PBS, drinking, and RAPs at both waves. Results: BW, drinking, and PBS had direct, concurrent associations with RAPs at T1 and T2. The nature of the associations was positive for BW and drinking and negative for PBS. Prospective analyses revealed significant independent, positive associations between T1 RAPs and T2 BW, drinking, and RAPs, while a negative independent association between T1 RAPs and PBS was observed at T2. Conclusions: Findings show evidence for a cycle of alcohol use behavior between BW, drinking, and RAPs. Based on the findings, interventions targeting college seniors seem warranted to reduce developing further alcohol problems in adulthood.

Objective: The present study aimed to characterize profiles of mental health, incorporating indicators of both psychopathology and well-being, among college students and determine whether institutional belonging differentially relates to past-month substance use by mental health profile. Method: Students (N = 4,018; 59.5% female, 74.7% White) completed a survey regarding mental health (i.e., anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, stress, flourishing, academic confidence), institutional belonging, and whether they had engaged in any binge drinking of alcohol and use of cannabis and nicotine products, including nicotine vaping, over the past month. Results: Latent profile analyses indicated five profiles of mental health with differing levels of psychopathology and well-being. Greater institutional belonging was only related to higher odds of binge drinking among students in profiles characterized by average or high well-being, irrespective of psychopathology. Among students with overall poor mental health, higher institutional belonging was related to higher odds of nicotine use. Results were generally invariant to campus and year in college. Conclusions: Our findings highlight that both positive and negative aspects of mental health should be considered when assessing college students' substance use. Greater institutional belonging may incur risk for substance use differentially by mental health, with respect to binge drinking for those with high levels of positive well-being and nonvaping nicotine use for those with overall poor mental health. Because associations emerged between belonging and substance use risk, institutions could consider implementing or raising awareness of alcohol-free, inclusive activities to ensure that students can feel a sense of belonging while abstaining from drinking.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mental health counseling (MHC) may help U.S. veterans recover and build resilience after experiencing military sexual trauma (MST), according to a new study from researchers at ...