Using cases of criminal dismemberment in the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), we directly compared decapitation-only and dismemberment homicides. We also explored clusters of victim, suspect, and incident variables, including how decapitation-only and dismemberment homicides fit within the clusters. Victims who were only decapitated were more likely to be recovered in a residence and were more likely to be the suspect's child or other relative. Additionally, decapitated-only victims were more likely to be a juvenile. Victims of decapitation-only homicides were more likely to be linked to a suspect who was on scene when first responders arrived or was in acute mental health crisis compared with homicides in which the victims were dismembered. Dismemberment homicides were more likely to involve multiple suspects, movement of the body from the homicide location, or concealment of the body (burial, wrapping/placement of the body into a container). Adult victims under the age of 65 were more likely to be dismembered. The cluster analysis yielded results consistent with the direct comparison and identified a third cluster of incidents involving intimate partner violence between current/former romantic partners. Our findings highlight the utilitarian nature of most criminal dismemberments and counter stereotypes of offenders who target strangers or dismember while experiencing mental illness.
Michelle C. Huffman, Taylor E. Burd, Lindsey Bellomy et al.
Hispanic Americans face persistent health disparities rooted in complex sociocultural and bioecodevelopmental dynamics. Identifying early neurodevelopmental trajectories that confer risk or resilience during adolescence is critical for developing targeted health equity interventions. Grounded in the NIMHD Research Framework and bioecodevelopmental theory, data from 12- to 14-year-old Hispanic adolescents in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study were analyzed (n=236). Partial least squares correlation (PLSC) was used to evaluate multivariate associations between sociocultural measures, spanning individual, family, and community levels, and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) networks. Post hoc linear mixed-effects models examined how derived sociocultural-rsFC patterns predicted measures of physical and mental health, linking bioecodevelopmental patterns to adolescent well-being. PLSC revealed dual community- and family-level neural pathways of biological embedding, diverging from traditional nested bioecodevelopmental assumptions. The community pathway linked child opportunity and neighborhood disadvantage to connectivity across Cingulo-Opercular, Default, Dorsal Attention, Visual Networks. This community-rsFC profile was associated with lower respiratory functioning, reflecting an allostatic load marker of environmental stress. The family pathway linked caregiver ethnic identity and heritage acculturation to Default, Ventral Attention, Sensorimotor-Mouth, and Visual Networks connectivity, suggesting that the family system shapes neural systems underlying social attunement and identity formation. Structural community factors and familial culture impose distinct neurobiological demands on the adolescent connectome among Hispanic youth. Findings highlight respiratory health as a biological marker of environmental adversity and underscore the necessity of structural and culturally sustaining interventions to promote health equity among Hispanic youth.
Angela R. Laird, Chloe Hampson, Micaela Lembo et al.
Canada has welcomed over 100,000 Syrian refugees since 2015, many of whom have faced displacement-related challenges that shape their socio-emotional well-being. Refugee children, in particular, are at heightened risk for socio-emotional difficulties due to their developmental sensitivity to adversity, exposure to traumatic events, and resettlement stressors. Assessing children’s socio-emotional well-being often relies on both parent-reports and child self-reports; however, discrepancies between these reports commonly occur, and the factors influencing such discrepancies are not well understood, particularly in displaced populations. The present study examined predictors of parent-child discrepancies in reports of socio-emotional well-being and explored whether such discrepancies were associated with children’s learning outcomes. Participants were Syrian refugee children (N = 55, Mage = 14.42) who were resettled in Canada for an average of six years. Results revealed that children consistently self-reported more socio-emotional problems than their parents reported. Moreover, longer time resettled in Canada predicted greater parent-child discrepancies, suggesting that resettlement-related factors and acculturation influence parent-child discrepancies. However, child self-reports, but not parent-reports, showed limited external validity; while parent-child communication barriers may contribute to discrepancies, differences in how socio-emotional constructs are understood and reported by parents and children are important to consider. These findings underscore the importance of including multiple informants in socio-emotional well-being assessments and carefully considering cultural and contextual factors when designing assessments, specifically given the complex dynamics in displaced families. Future research is important to advance the literature to determine whether assessments of socio-emotional well-being should be adapted for specific populations, as suggested by the present findings.
Andrea De Bartolo, Yuying Huang, Hamza Qayumi et al.
A number of U.S. states have enacted bans on tobacco use by students, staff, and visitors anywhere on the grounds of public elementary and secondary schools statewide. These laws are intended to reduce tobacco use, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, reinforce anti-tobacco curricula taught in schools, and prevent children from viewing their teachers and fellow students using tobacco products. We examine the impact that the laws have on the smoking behavior of students, teachers, and other school staff by using stacked difference-in-differences estimators that exploit the time variation in adoption of the laws across states. The results presented in this paper suggest that statewide school smoking bans have little impact on smoking behavior.
Purpose: Each year, over one million children in the United States experience homelessness. Homelessness can occur at any stage in life in the absence of adequate prevention or intervention measures. The Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) offers an evidence-based model to help understand the significant threats to childhood development. Our objective was to determine whether the five NCF components predict ever experiencing homelessness in one’s lifetime. Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health in-home interviews with adolescents at Waves I and III (N = 15,197). Hierarchical logistic regression analysis was conducted to test associations between self-reported experiences of homelessness and the NCF components, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Being thrown out by a caregiver had the strongest association, with over six times the odds of experiencing homelessness (p≤ .001). Experiencing child neglect nearly doubled the odds (p≤ .001), and those left home alone by 6th grade had 42% higher odds (p< .05). Failing to follow instructions or finish tasks early in childhood increased homelessness odds by 77% (p≤ .001). Receiving food stamps more than doubled the odds (p≤ .01). Needing but not getting medical care had 52% higher odds, while having insurance lowered odds by 33% (p≤ .01). Discussion: Findings demonstrate that all NCF components are associated with experiencing homelessness, and adversities can increase the odds of homelessness during the life course. This study highlights that these components are key targets for prevention efforts.
Diana Margot Rosenthal, Sarah de Godoy, Kate Guastaferro
BACKGROUND: Parenting programs grounded in social learning (SL) and attachment theory are widely implemented, yet few trials have directly compared their effects across multiple parenting domains in community contexts. This study examined the relative effectiveness of an SL-based program (Triple P - Level 4 Group) and an attachment-based program (Circle of Security - Parenting, COS-P) against treatment-as-usual (TAU) when delivered online through community agencies. METHODS: A three-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted across four community organizations in Ontario, Canada. Caregivers of children aged 2-6 years (N = 502) were randomized (1:1:1) to Triple P, COS-P, or TAU. Primary outcomes were child behavioral difficulties (SDQ-Total) and parental overreactivity with post-intervention, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included parental attributions, parenting stress, and caregiver mental health. Analyses followed an intention-to-treat framework using mixed-effects models (ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT04702191). RESULTS: Relative to TAU, Triple P demonstrated significant short-term reductions in emotional symptoms and conduct problems, and immediate improvements in hostile and helpless parenting and anxiety; however, most between-group effects did not persist beyond post-intervention. Effects on total child behavior problems at 12 months were no longer significant after correction for multiple testing. Improvements in parental attributions were sustained at 12 months. COS-P differed from TAU on only one outcome, at one time point. Within-group improvements in child behavior, dysfunctional parenting, and caregiver mood were observed in TAU, with COS-P and Triple P showing similar trends. Exploratory analyses suggested broader benefits for Triple P relative to COS-P. CONCLUSIONS: Triple P demonstrated selective short-term benefits relative to TAU across child behavioral and parenting outcomes, with sustained effects limited to parental attributions. COS-P showed no measurable effects relative to TAU. These findings highlight the importance of behavioral management and self-regulation components and point to the need for further research examining contextual moderators, maintenance strategies, and sustainable delivery approaches, including digital formats.
Andrea González, G. J. Meléndez‐Torres, Divya Joshi et al.
Abstract This study examined the associations of neighborhood collective efficacy and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) status with psychosocial and academic outcomes among Black and White adolescents. Using a sample of 2,178 adolescents (ages 14–19; 73.0% Black, 27.0% White) from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we investigated how adolescent- and caregiver-reported neighborhood collective efficacy, and its interactions with racial group and ADHD status, were associated with wellbeing and school-related outcomes. Adolescent- and caregiver-reported neighborhood collective efficacy were weakly correlated, suggesting the importance of examining both perspectives. Significant racial group × ADHD interactions emerged in relation to engagement and happiness: ADHD was associated with lower engagement and higher happiness among White adolescents, but these associations were not observed among Black adolescents. In both caregiver- and adolescent-reported models, significant racial group × neighborhood collective efficacy interactions were observed for perseverance, such that higher neighborhood collective efficacy was associated with greater perseverance among White adolescents, but not among Black adolescents. ADHD was also associated with greater trouble in school. Neither racial group nor informant’s rating of neighborhood collective efficacy was significantly associated with school suspensions, and no significant interactions emerged for suspension outcomes. Among Black and White adolescents in the present sample, these findings suggest that associations between neighborhood context, ADHD status, and psychosocial and academic outcomes differed across groups, underscoring the importance of considering social and cultural context when developing interventions to support Black youth.
Cathrin D. Green, Elizabeth S. M. Chan, Sydney E. Padgett et al.
ABSTRACT There is little doubt that children's social‐emotional skills predict better educational outcomes, yet few public preschool evaluation studies have explored associations between public preschool attendance and children's social‐emotional development through elementary school. This is surprising, as the field of preschool evaluation research has recently been consumed by a search for skills in the elementary school years that could be promising mechanisms linking preschool attendance to better adult educational and economic outcomes, especially for children from low‐income backgrounds who are typically the target of public preschool. The current study seeks to fill this knowledge gap, examining whether children who did not attend preschool versus those who attended one of the two primary public preschool programs in the US display more advanced social‐emotional skills in both the immediate aftermath of preschool—kindergarten—and into the mid‐elementary grades. Using propensity score methods, we predict children's social skills and emotional development in kindergarten ( n = 907; M age = 5.52 years) and again in fourth grade ( n = 595; M age = 9.52 years) from public preschool attendance (school‐based pre‐k and Head Start) versus no preschool. In our race‐ethnically diverse sample of children from low‐income families, there were no associations between preschool attendance and social‐emotional outcomes at either the end of kindergarten or in 4th grade. We interpret these results in the context of scientific evidence regarding what it might take to promote early social‐emotional development in typical US preschool settings.
Deborah A Phillips, Ann Wright, Anne Martin et al.
This dissertation investigated how motivation and constraints relate to participation in outdoor and community recreation among children with disabilities and adults who are blind or visually impaired. Although outdoor recreation is associated with important physical, psychological, and social benefits, people with disabilities continue to participate at lower rates than their peers without disabilities, and prior work shows that barriers extend well beyond physical access to include structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal constraints. Drawing on the Constraint–Negotiation Model (CNM) and social cognitive theory, this dissertation addressed gaps in multivariate research and life-course perspectives by examining whether and how motivations, perceived constraints, and participation are linked in two distinct but complementary populations. Study 1 used a cross-sectional online survey of parents and guardians of children with disabilities who are customers of a large Mid-Atlantic municipal park system. Parents reported consistently high motivation across achievement, social, and nature domains, and these motivational orientations were broadly similar across demographic groups. However, neither demographic characteristics nor motivation subscales significantly predicted 30-day facility use, revealing a clear disconnect between strong parental endorsement of recreation benefits and actual utilization. Study 2 surveyed adults who are blind or visually impaired across North America about their motivations, perceived intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints, participation in outdoor recreation, and health-related quality of life. Participants reported moderate motivation and moderate constraints, with constraint subscales strongly interrelated. That is, structural constraints showed modest negative associations with participation, and intrapersonal and structural constraints had small negative associations with health-related quality of life. In contrast, motivation and participation frequency had low correlation with health outcomes. Taken together, the studies suggested that motivation is not the primary limiting factor in these disability contexts. Instead, persistent structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal barriers were more consequential for both participation and well-being. Theoretically, the findings extended CNM and social cognitive perspectives by underscoring the need to incorporate negotiation-efficacy, perceptions of environmental predictability, and the cumulative psychological impact of repeated exposure to barriers. Practically, the results pointed toward organizational and environmental changes, rather than attempts to “boost” already high motivation, as the most promising pathways to more equitable participation. Recommended priorities included improving the accessibility of facilities and programs, expanding adapted equipment and transportation options, enhancing staff disability competence and inclusive communication, partnering with families and adults with visual impairments to co-design programs, and creating socially supportive, group-based opportunities. Across the lifespan, reducing constraints and strengthening support for negotiation appeared essential for translating motivation into meaningful, sustained engagement in outdoor and community recreation for people with disabilities.
There are several challenges in the learning and socialization of autistic children in the school environment, but there are also many opportunities for development and interaction. This article reflects on the challenges and possibilities involved in the educational inclusion of people with pervasive developmental disorders in early childhood education. Inclusive education guarantees students with physical, sensory, or intellectual disabilities the same right to education as other students, seeking to provide individuals with special educational needs with conditions that foster their intellectual development and integration into society. The research included field studies conducted at the Joana Maria dos Anjos Meireles Municipal Early Childhood Education Center, located in the municipality of Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Questionnaires and interviews were used to examine the realities experienced in the education of autistic students in early childhood education, as well as the actions taken by teachers during the teaching and learning process. The findings indicate that the challenges associated with including autistic students emerge as early as the first years of early childhood education. The main challenges are related to teachers’ lack of preparation, the lack of appropriate teaching resources, and the need to develop environments and methodologies that spark autistic students’ interest. The study identified considerable efforts by teachers to find strategies that support learning and inclusion. These professionals seek methodologies and teaching resources to stimulate autistic students’ learning and report that they continually pursue professional development to improve their classroom practices.
