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Research demonstrates that school connectedness protects students from risky behaviors and improves healthy development and academic achievement. Despite its importance, there has been little focus on how to promote school connectedness through school-based interventions. One problem with this area of practical application is that school connectedness has been discussed in various disciplines, leading to multiple definitions and theoretical inconsistency in its usage. Another problem is the limited theoretical understanding of the core components that promote school connectedness, which is crucial in implementing and evaluating school-based interventions. Our critical review of definitions and theoretical models creates a more consistent foundation for practical applications that educators can adapt in school settings to enhance school connectedness.

Despite the pervasiveness of bullying, less is known about the protective factors that could mitigate the effect of victimization on life satisfaction. We investigated the role of school connectedness as a mediator in the association between victimization and life satisfaction. Participants included 1284 elementary school students. The results from the structural equation modeling suggested that peer victimization has negative impacts on children's life satisfaction both directly and indirectly through lowered level of school connectedness. We address implications school counseling practice.

The purpose of this meta‐analysis was to examine the effectiveness of school counselor‐led social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions, including an exploration of the moderators that could influence variations in these effect sizes. Drawing from 28 published articles over the last 20 years in school counseling‐affiliated academic journals, results indicated that school counseling SEL interventions result in a small to moderate significant mean effect size (Hedges's g = 0.308). While the moderator analyses did not yield statistically significant results, the different magnitudes of the effect sizes across the subgroups based on these moderators have implications for school counseling practice, research, and policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the model minority myth, scant attention has been given to the college preparation of Asian American (AA) students. Using the national sample of High School Longitudinal Study of 2009–2013, this study examined associations among student–counselor interactions, school connectedness, and college enrollment of AA students. The results of the structural equation modeling indicated that school connectedness fully mediated the association between student–counselor interactions and college enrollment. The findings from the current study suggest that when AA students interact with school counselors in the 9th grade, they tend to feel more connected to their school, which, in turn, leads to increased college enrollment decisions in the 12th grade. Implications for helping professionals in schools are discussed. Practitioner Points: Contrary to the model minority myth, our findings from the national data set revealed that a substantial number of Asian American (AA) students had college enrollment rates below the national average.AA students' connectedness to school in 9th grade can contribute to enhancing college enrollment decisions in 12th grade.School connectedness explains how AA students' interactions with school counselors could facilitate their college enrollment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the role of school connectedness in mediating the relations of social skills and school climate of diversity (SCD) to life satisfaction (LS) among school-aged children. This study also investigated whether there is any gender difference in relationships. Participants included 873 elementary school students in Grades 4 through 6. The results of the structural equation modeling supported the partial mediating role of school connectedness, indicating that social skills and SCD lead to LS both directly and indirectly through enhanced school connectedness. Multigroup analysis demonstrated that the direct path from the SCD to LS was significant only for boys, while other paths are invariant across gender. Implications are addressed for school-based interventions to promote school connectedness and LS.

The purpose of this content analysis was to examine the use of theory in school-counselor-led interventions. Specifically, we examined intervention characteristics, evaluation design, and use of theory in school-counselor-led intervention studies that were published by the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), and in other school-counseling-related journals from 2003 to 2022. Drawing from 45 published articles, results indicated that few school counseling articles explicitly included ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors (ASCA, 2021) or integrated formal counseling theory to inform student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between faculty burnout and scholarly productivity, as well as job satisfaction as a moderator, among 251 counseling faculty in the U.S. Faculty burnout was predictive of scholarly productivity. Job satisfaction moderated the relationship between faculty burnout and scholarly productivity. Implications for counseling faculty and higher education institutions are discussed.

School counselors are front‐line providers to K‐12 students in the areas of learning, mental health, and career development, based on their foundation in prevention, development, wellness, and social justice. Although school counseling remains an important role within K‐12 schools, the profession faces existential threats to its continued existence due largely to the lack of applied outcome research validating its positive impact on student development. This conceptual article has two aims: (a) to reassert the unique importance of school counselors as a prevention provider who promote wellness, development, and social justice and (b) describe how theory‐informed school counseling practice is a solution using Advocating‐Student within Environment theory as an example. Implications for scholarship, training, and practice are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various neurotransmitters are involved in regulating stress systems. In this study, we investigated the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid-rich rice bran extract (GRBe) in mice stressed by forced swimming and tail suspension tests. Four weeks of oral administration of GRBe (500–2000 mg/kg) reduced the levels of dopamine and corticosterone in the blood and brain while increasing serotonin levels. GRBe was involved not only in stress but also in regulating sleep and obesity-related genes. Modern society experiences diverse and tense lives because of urbanization and informatization, which cause excessive stress due to complicated interpersonal relationships, heavy work burden, and fatigue from the organized society. High levels of stress cause psychological instability and disrupt the balance in the autonomic nervous system, which maintains the body's equilibrium, resulting in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hormonal imbalances, and sleep disorders. Therefore, our results suggest that GRBe is a useful substance that can relieve tension by ultimately influencing a depressive-like state by lowering the levels of neuronal substances, hormones, and cytokines involved in stress and sleep disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]