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Objective: The goal of this study was to test if a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) compared to an active control ameliorates the impacts of life stressors on momentary mindfulness and emotion regulation difficulties among adolescents exposed to chronic stressors. Method: Adolescents exposed to chronic stressors (N = 81, Mage = 13.75 years; 56% boys; 24% Hispanic/Latino, 57% White) were randomized to receive MBI within the context of a community-based mentoring program (MBI + mentoring) or mentoring-alone. Participants completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) three times each day for 7 days at three intervals/bursts (preintervention, midintervention, and postintervention), contributing to a total of 3,178 EMA reports. EMA assessed momentary exposure to life stressors, mindfulness (vs. mindlessness), and emotion regulation difficulties. Results: Linear mixed-effects models revealed that the interaction between intervention arm (MBI + mentoring vs. mentoring-alone) and burst was significantly associated with the random slopes of life stressor exposure predicting mindful attention (b = −.05, SE =.01, p <.001), mindful nonjudgment (b = −.03, SE =.01, p <.001), and emotion regulation difficulties (b = −.04, SE =.01, p <.001). Estimated marginal means revealed that MBI + mentoring, compared to mentoring-alone, produced small but significant attenuation in the association of life stressors with mindful attention, mindful nonjudgment, and emotion regulation difficulties at postintervention. Conclusion: Mindfulness training may buffer adolescents exposed to chronic stressors against the negative impacts of life stressors on mindfulness and emotion regulation in daily life. Going forward, it will be important to investigate these relationships in the context of mental/physical health outcomes and to include longer periods of follow-up to determine the sustainable benefits of MBI for adolescent health. What is the public health significance of this article?: Adolescents exposed to chronic stressors are at high risk for developing mental health problems, in part, due to impairments in emotion regulation that can happen after experiencing stressors. Results from this study revealed that mindfulness training may help to protect adolescents from the negative impacts of everyday life stressors on momentary mindfulness and emotion regulation difficulties in their daily lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents faced with chronic stressors (e.g., financial instability, interpersonal violence) are at heightened risk for developing mental health problems, likely due in part to stressors that interfere with effective emotion regulation. Although mindfulness may help to act as a buffer against the deleterious effects of life stressors, a relatively untested assumption is that adolescents can maintain mindfulness during periods of stress. This paper explores this assumption by investigating the real‐time, dynamic relationships among life stressors, mindfulness, and emotion regulation difficulties among adolescents exposed to chronic stressors. Eighty‐one participants who were 10–18 years old (M = 14.33; SD = 2.20; 56% male; 57% Non‐Hispanic White) completed ecological momentary assessments (EMA) three times a day for 7 days and contributed a total of 1186 EMA reports. Multilevel structural equation modelling revealed that the presence (vs. absence) of stressors was associated with lower momentary mindfulness and greater momentary emotion regulation difficulties concurrently and prospectively. Stressors with greater severity were also concurrently, but not prospectively, associated with lower momentary mindfulness and greater momentary emotion regulation difficulties. Findings highlight that exposure to life stressors may degrade momentary mindfulness and emotion regulation. Given that mindfulness and emotion regulation are closely associated with mental health, these results also demonstrate one way that stressors may contribute to health disparities at the micro‐level. Going forward, it will be important to investigate methods of helping adolescents learn to maintain mindfulness and adaptive emotion regulation in the face of stressful events. This study was preregistered (NCT04927286). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College student mentors are increasingly mentoring at-risk youth, yet little is known about the benefits that college students derive from their experience mentoring within the context of a service-learning course. This qualitative study used focus groups to examine college students' experiences as participants in a unique program, Campus Corps: Therapeutic Mentoring of At-Risk Youth. This course-based, service-learning program utilizes college student mentors to mentor at-risk youth within a family systems framework. In 19 focus groups conducted with 141 college student participants, the student mentors indicated that they experienced significant personal growth and professional development through their participation in the program and that the program positively influenced their civic attitudes and their orientation toward civic engagement. This article provides a review of related research, describes the program, explores the findings of the focus groups, and discusses implications for college service-learning programs.

Objective: The benefits of mindfulness-training and mentoring for college students have yet to be investigated. We aimed to provide an exploratory and descriptive account of their potential benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: In February 2020, 49 undergraduates (M = 20.51 years-old; 94% female) participated in a randomized trial of 12-week mentoring + mindfulness or mentoring-as-usual. After five weekly mentoring-sessions, programs were interrupted by COVID-19; mentoring continued online. Methods: Undergraduates completed questionnaires about mental health, behaviors, and regulatory processes in February and July 2020, with additional COVID-19-related questions at follow-up. Results: Participants reported moderate COVID-19-related perceived stress, but mental health, health behaviors, and regulatory processes did not diminish over time, with no condition differences. Undergraduates described using contemplative practices and social support to cope with COVID-19-stress. Conclusions: Undergraduates showed stable mental health/health behaviors despite moderate COVID-19-related-stress. Future research on mentoring with a mindfulness component among a larger and more heterogeneous sample will be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth mentoring can have a profound impact on the lives of high-risk youth. This study presents the Campus Corps program, a time-limited (12-week), structured mentoring program for high-risk youth (ages 11--18), and results from a quasi-experimental pilot evaluation. Baseline and post-intervention problem behavior data from 315 offending youth were used in multiple regression analyses. After accounting for baseline group differences, pre-intervention scores, and demographic covariates, Campus Corps participants (n = 187, 63.1% male) reported less engagement in problem behavior, lower acceptance of problem behavior, and a greater sense of autonomy from marijuana use post-intervention than participants in the comparison condition (n = 128, 66.4% male). Conversely, post-intervention group differences were not observed for peer refusal skills or autonomy from alcohol use. A description of the Campus Corps program design and supplemental preliminary findings contribute to the growing knowledge base of youth mentoring program designs and outcomes.

In the current study, 45 girls and 41 boys participated in focus groups following a program designed to teach them about social justice. The children articulated the discrepancy between their own gender identity and gender role stereotypes and discussed potential problems with conforming to gender role expectations as well as consequences of nonconformity. They articulated the ways in which gender identity is complex and they described the importance of choice and authenticity. Based on these findings, we present a model of how children's gender identity develops in relationship to experiences of gender prejudice. In particular, we highlight how children act and react to gender role socialization as part of a dynamic negotiation process. Throughout the current article we strive to highlight the need for an alternative in the gender conformity process for children, with children in the position of power regarding their own gender identity development.

A wide variety of universities are engaged in service-learning activities that create opportunities for K-12 students to interact with university students. Engaging students in their communities and working toward social justice in a variety of settings provides positive outcomes for communities, university students and the K-12 students involved. At Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, college students have been working in K-12 school settings facilitating FAIR, a social justice and diversity curriculum. The FAIR curriculum is outlined and suggestions for how to utilize the curriculum as a service-learning assignment are provided. As a service-learning assignment, FAIR, is beneficial to the K-12 students and schools while engaging university students in social justice action in an experiential and meaningful way. Outcomes are presented from our use of this service-learning curriculum. Finally, we provide instructions and plans for implementation.

Diversity and social justice-related issues have profound effects on individual development and societal health, including creating positive self-images, growing strong relationships with others, and learning how to contribute to fairness in society. Ideally, social justice education is introduced to children early on. The curriculum presented in this article provides school counsellors with a way to begin this introduction. FAIR (Fairness for All Individuals through Respect) is an experiential curriculum that invites children to learn about social justice and diversity. School counsellors are ideally situated to bring FAIR to schools creating shared experiences and a culture of social justice school-wide. FAIR consists primarily of five experiential activities that address issues of race, gender, and class societal injustices. In this article, we describe these activities and outline how school counsellors can use FAIR.

To determine how gender in parenting was addressed, a content analysis was conducted on the six best-selling self-help books (1997-2002) that provide general parenting advice. A feminist perspective was used to code gendered meaning units in the six books. Findings were that 82% of the implicit gender messages across all books were stereotypical, and that "Parenthood by Proxy" ( Schlessinger, 2000) and "Children Are From Heaven" ( Gray, 1999) had a gendered agenda in that they contained highly prescriptive content about gender. Practitioners can use these findings in selecting parenting advice books to increase their understanding of the information about gender that parents may glean from these books, and to address these messages with families with whom they work.

Examines data from interviews with 47 middle-class, dual-earner couples with children, who perceive themselves as successful in balancing family and work. Details how these couples practiced marital partnership in ways that supported effective work-family balance. Data indicates that these successful couples equally share housework and emotion work. Clinical applications for therapists working with dual-earner couples are offered. (Contains 31 references.)

Content analysis of 23 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Master Series tapes was used to determine how well feminist behaviors have been incorporated into ideal family therapy practice. Feminist behaviors were infrequent, being evident in fewer than 3% of time blocks in event sampling and 10 of 39 feminist behaviors of the Feminist Family Therapist Behavior Checklist. (BF)

Investigated adaptive strategies of middle class, dual earner couples (N=47) with children that are successfully managing family and work. Guided by grounded-theory methodology, analysis of interview data revealed these successful couples structured their lives around 10 major strategies. Each strategy is defined and illustrated through the participant's own words. (BF)

A content analysis was performed on 43 articles published between 1970 and 1998 discerned as relating family systems theory (FST) frameworks and constructs to organizational consultation. Frameworks and constructs were investigated in relation to four independent variables: type of organization; decade of article publication; gender; and educational training of author. (BF)

Content analysis was conducted of the top eleven relationship self help books on the New York Times Bestseller List over ten years to determine the degree to which they support a feminist approach to therapy. Results indicated the number of feminist and nonfeminist approach books is about equal and that bestsellers have become less feminist oriented over time. (BF)

Examined the impact of an 8-week intervention program designed to reduce racial/ethnic stereotyping among preschoolers varying in classification skill. Found that children in the experimental group had increased in classification skills at posttest and were less likely to sort photo cards by race/ethnicity and more likely to sort them by gender and age than were control group children. (Author/KB)

Examines the experience of the family arrangement in which fathers choose to stay at home as the primary caregiver while their wives provide the family's income. Results indicate that couples choose this arrangement for both practical and philosophical reasons and that these couples are sharing more responsibilities than couples have traditionally. (GCP)

Research is presented on therapy techniques used on a multigenerational, multicouple farm family, specifically to reduce stress intrinsic to agricultural production. These methods include problem identification, goal setting, reorganization of the family's business interrelationships and the introduction of self-care practices.