Drawing from a national probability sample of middle and high school students who recently completed The National School Success Profile (SSP), this article focuses on students’reports of their exposure to neighborhood and school danger, and the effects of exposure on their attendance, school behavior, and grades. Males, African Americans, high school students, school lunch recipients, and urban students tended to report higher exposure to environmental danger. Measures of neighborhood and school danger both contributed significantly to the prediction of each school outcome, especially attendance and behavior. Measures of neighborhood danger were slightly more predictive of outcomes than measures of school danger. The findings contribute to the identification of adolescents most likely to live in a context of fear and danger, and provide support for an ecological approach to promoting students’school success.

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Many students in the United States, particularly those from lower income or racially/ethnically diverse families, are exposed to clusters of risk factors that have a negative impact on school success. This study examined the association between the number of supportive and caring adults in the home, school, and neighborhood and the school engagement of students in early adolescence. Results revealed that students who reported such supportive adults in their lives also reported higher levels of psychological and behavioral engagement with their schooling. Additionally, including measures of environmental risk factors in analytical models of the school engagement of middle school students reduced otherwise statistically significant race/ethnicity differences to nonsignificance. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

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This study used structural equation modeling to examine a strengths-based, community practice model to explore the relationship between formal and informal community-based social networks and family adaptation in military communities. ''Sense of community'' was examined as a critical mediating variable. Results provide support for the practice model. Several important insights were revealed about the strength and nature of pathways between components in the model. Results suggest that communities (including the workplace) can be important sources of tangible information and expressive support. Other important implications for community practice and research are discussed.