Research on the predictors of 3 bully status groups (bullies, victims, and bully victims) for school-age children and adolescents was synthesized using meta-analytic procedures. The primary purpose was to determine the relative strength of individual and contextual predictors to identify targets for prevention and intervention. Age and how bullying was measured were also considered as moderators. From an original pool of 1,622 studies conducted since 1970 (when research on bullying increased significantly), 153 studies were identified that met criteria for inclusion. A number of common and unique predictors were found for the bully status groups. The implications of the meta-analytic findings for future research on bullying and victimization prevention and intervention are discussed.

This study compared the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990) with the revision of the SSRS, now called the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; , across three raters (teacher, parent, and student) for elementary-and secondary-aged students. A detailed comparison of these two instruments' comparability has not been previously reported and was considered important because of the frequent use of the SSRS in many externally funded research studies and school districts across the country. Comparisons between the two instruments focused on key reliability and validity estimates across the rating scales for three raters (teacher, parent, and student) using forms for elementary-and secondaryaged students. As hypothesized, the two instruments had high internal consistency estimates and moderately high validity indices for total scores for both social skills and problem behavior scales. The reliability comparisons revealed the SSIS-RS was superior to the SSRS with regard to internal consistency estimates. The validity estimates revealed expected convergent relationships with the strongest relationships consistently found among the various common subscales across all forms of the two instruments. The authors concluded that the SSIS-RS offers researchers and practitioners assessing social behavior of children and youth a broader conceptualization of key social behaviors and psychometrically superior assessment results when using the SSIS-RS over the SSRS. Future research on the SSIS-RS is also identified and contextualized within a multitiered intervention system.

One of the most consistent findings in rating scale research with children and adolescents is the modest agreement among different informants' ratings. The present study systematically explored patterns of agreement among teachers, parents/caregivers, and students in domains of social skills and problem behaviors using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; F. M. Gresham & S. N. Elliott, 2008). Two subsamples from the normative sample of the SSIS-RS were used. The first sample of participants consisted of 168 students who had all 3 informants (parent, teacher, and self) complete the SSIS-RS scales, which was necessary to assess agreement across different raters. The second sample consisted of 164 students who had raters in a similar or same role (father-mother, teacher-teacher). The results replicated an extensive literature showing that cross-informant agreements for social skills and problem behaviors are weak to moderate. The current study invoked multitrait-multimethod logic to interpret the correlations among raters derived from different informants and showed that the convergent validity coefficients were consistently stronger than the discriminant validity correlations. Implications for assessment practices and future research are discussed.

BackgroundA substantial literature has established the role of the inner organizational setting on the implementation of evidence-based practices in community contexts, but very little of this research has been extended to the education sector, one of the most common settings for the delivery of mental and behavioral health services to children and adolescents. The current study examined the factor structure, psychometric properties, and interrelations of an adapted set of pragmatic organizational instruments measuring key aspects of the organizational implementation context in schools: (1) strategic implementation leadership, (2) strategic implementation climate, and (3) implementation citizenship behavior.MethodThe Implementation Leadership Scale (ILS), Implementation Climate Scale (ICS), and Implementation Citizenship Behavior Scale (ICBS) were adapted by a research team that included the original scale authors and experts in the implementation of evidence-based practices in schools. These instruments were then administered to a geographically representative sample (n = 196) of school-based mental/behavioral health consultants to assess the reliability and structural validity via a series of confirmatory factor analyses.ResultsOverall, the original factor structures for the ILS, ICS, and ICBS were confirmed in the current sample. The one exception was poor functioning of the Rewards subscale of the ICS, which was removed in the final ICS model. Correlations among the revised measures, evaluated as part of an overarching model of the organizational implementation context, indicated both unique and shared variance.ConclusionsThe current analyses suggest strong applicability of the revised instruments to implementation of evidence-based mental and behavioral practices in the education sector. The one poorly functioning subscale (Rewards on the ICS) was attributed to typical educational policies that do not allow for individual financial incentives to personnel. Potential directions for future expansion, revision, and application of the instruments in schools are discussed.

Secondary students with or at risk for emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) can be characterized as having severe deficits in social competence. Moreover, as students transition into the secondary grades, social competence takes on increased complexity and importance. Social skills training (SST) represents a class of interventions routinely implemented with secondary-age students identified as EBD as a means of improving their social competence. What is unknown, however, is whether the evidence base supports the use of SST for this particular subset of students. The purpose of this research was to synthesize the meta-analytic literature evaluating the efficacy of SST for secondary students with EBD. Results from this analysis indicate that SST produces improvements in two thirds of secondary students with EBD, compared to only one third of controls. The results from this analysis are interpreted in light of opposing opinions regarding the efficacy of SST for secondary students with EBD.

This study reports on the initial development and validation of the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire (SSWQ) with a sample of 1,002 students in Grades 6-8. The SSWQ is a 16-item self-report instrument for assessing youths' subjective wellbeing at school, which is operationalized via 4 subscales measuring school connectedness, academic efficacy, joy of learning, and educational purpose. The conceptualization and development of the SSWQ's subscales and items are described, and results from a series of preliminary psychometric analyses are reported. Findings indicated that the SSWQ was characterized by 4 conceptually sound latent factors, that these 4 first-order factors were robust indicators of a single second-order factor (i.e., student subjective wellbeing), that all subscales and the composite scale demonstrated at least adequate construct reliability and internal consistency, and that the estimated latent-means for all first-order and second-order factors were invariant across gender. Moreover, results from bivariate correlations and a latent-variable path analysis provided evidence in support of the construct validity of the SSWQ's scales and latent factors, showing strong associations with other student wellbeing indicators (i.e., school prosociality and academic perseverance), while findings from binary logistic regressions demonstrated that overall student subjective wellbeing levels, based on composite scores from the SSWQ, were mildly to-strongly associated with a variety of self-endorsed risk factors (e.g., aggression and self-harm) and protective factors (e.g., social support and physical exercise). Implications for theory, research, and the practice of school psychology are discussed.

This study reports on the initial development and validation of the Teacher Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire (TSWQ) with 2 samples of educators-a general sample of 185 elementary and middle school teachers, and a target sample of 21 elementary school teachers experiencing classroom management challenges. The TSWQ is an 8-item self-report instrument for assessing teachers' subjective wellbeing, which is operationalized via subscales measuring school connectedness and teaching efficacy. The conceptualization and development processes underlying the TSWQ are described, and results from a series of preliminary psychometric and exploratory analyses are reported to establish initial construct validity. Findings indicated that the TSWQ was characterized by 2 conceptually sound latent factors, that both subscales and the composite scale demonstrated strong internal consistency, and that all scales demonstrated convergent validity with self-reported school supports and divergent validity with self-reported stress and emotional burnout. Furthermore, results indicated that TSWQ scores did not differ according to teachers' school level (i.e., elementary vs. middle), but that they did differ according to unique school environment (e.g., 1 middle school vs. another middle school) and teacher stressors (i.e., general teachers vs. teachers experiencing classroom management challenges). Results also indicated that, for teachers experiencing classroom challenges, the TSWQ had strong short-term predictive validity for psychological distress, accounting for approximately half of the variance in teacher stress and emotional burnout. Implications for theory, research, and the practice of school psychology are discussed.

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