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Objectives: The purpose of this systematic review is to examine ways a resilience framework might inform social workers' understanding about how to mitigate risks for youth who use Internet and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Eligibility criteria: This review identified original research published between January 2006 and December 2019 that used a resilience framework to assess outcomes of youth, ages 10–19, who use ICTs. Methods of synthesis: A narrative synthesis grouped articles based on conceptualizations of resilience, risk, and protection; methods; and populations. Results: A search identified 13 peer-reviewed studies that used resilience and its relationship to outcomes. Most studies identified resilience as a mediator or moderator that buffers the effect of harm. Conclusions: Social workers who wish to mitigate risks for youth who use ICTs might focus on interventions that strengthen resilience. Currently, resilience is inconsistently conceptually defined, and more robust research is needed regarding ICT use by marginalized youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The McKinney-Vento Act (MVA) is the primary federal policy addressing homelessness in America with specific mandates designed to ameliorate the effects homelessness has on educational attainment for school-age children. The extent to which this policy is implemented may have far-reaching effects for homeless children. The MVA Implementation Scale (MVAIS) was developed for the purpose of providing a tool for assessing school-based social services personnel’s perceived knowledge and awareness of implementation of the MVA within their service areas. This study tests the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the 26-item instrument. Method: Data were collected from a purposive sample of school social workers (N = 201) attending a Mid-Western regional conference in order to examine the reliability and the validity of this measure. Results: The hypothesized factor structures were confirmed. Findings also indicated high levels of reliability among items, as well as initial evidence of instrument validity. Conclusion: Findings from this study indicate that the MVAIS adequately measures participant’s perceived implementation of the MVA. Future implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Student-mothers from low-income families are three times as likely to drop out of college as female students without children. Yet, the economic and social benefits of postsecondary education for low-income mothers underscore the importance of examining environmental barriers to completing college for these women. Methods: The intent of this study, therefore, is to develop and validate an instrument, the school support scale, aimed at measuring the perception of emotional and tangible college support among student-mothers from low-income families. Results: Findings show excellent reliabilities for emotional (α = .944) and tangible (α = .888) subscales and indicate that student-mothers who perceive faculty and staff as supportive tend to have strong commitments to the institution (p = .01). Applications: The 22-item scale can be used as an “early-warning” tool for college counselors and administrators to support student-mothers in identifying and removing barriers that contribute to problems associated with college retention of low-income mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective of this study is to establish the factor structure of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ), an instrument designed to measure parenting practices among parents of elementary school children. Methods: Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) procedures are used to validate the APQ with 790 parents of children, ages 6—10. Results: Three subscales emerged representing parenting practices associated with child behavior management (positive reinforcement, positive discipline, and negative discipline). CFA fit indices indicated adequate fit with the model, with all items loading significantly on their respective factors. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the APQ can be used to measure parenting practices associated with child behavior management among parents of children, ages 6—10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevention of underage drinking and related outcomes focuses on strengthening protective factors. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 3,862), the authors examine the effects of protective factors from three domains of adolescents' lives (individual, familial, and extrafamilial) on experiencing negative consequences of alcohol use, while controlling for relevant risk factors, among youth who have already started drinking. Results showed that protective factors had relatively little influence on not experiencing negative alcohol-related consequences, regardless of social context. One individual protective factor, strategic decision making, was related to negative drinking outcomes in cross-sectional models. In longitudinal models, maternal attachment reduced the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes over time. The effects of the risk factors remained strong in all models. Findings suggest "mixed-methods" preventive approaches, attending to risk factors, and including strategies to strengthen protective factors across multiple domains of adolescents' lives when striving to affect negative drinking-related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human behavior is dynamic, influenced by changing situations over time. Yet the impact of the dynamic nature of important explanatory variables on outcomes has only recently begun to be estimated in developmental models. Using a risk factor perspective, this article demonstrates the potential benefits of regressing time-varying outcome measures on time-varying explanatory measures in longitudinal models. The authors apply event history analysis techniques to demonstrate a methodological strategy that accounts for changes over time in two family risk factors for high school graduation. In a sample of 686 low-income youth attending school in an urban district, the authors found that maternal employment status and income are significant predictors of high school graduation only when conceptualized and measured as time-varying influences. The implications for policy and practice and, from a methodological perspective, for the use of time-varying explanatory variables in event models are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]