Research often excludes youth participants, omitting their social and psychological realities, undermining their rights to participate and benefit from research, and weakening the validity of research. Researchers may be discouraged from including youth due to logistical (e.g. gaining access) or ethical (e.g. coercion risks based on developmental level) concerns. Increased discussion is needed around appropriate methods to use with child and youth participants that manage challenges related to developmental capacities, legal status, power differentials, and unpredictable aspects of qualitative research. This paper pools experiences of six researchers, describing solutions we have developed in studies employing varied qualitative methodologies with varied vulnerable youth subpopulations. We detail successful approaches to access, compensation, consent, assent, and confidentiality. Social work researchers are wellsuited to navigate the challenges, and we share our examples with the aim of facilitating increased youth participation in research.

Aggression in girls is a problem that is gaining increased attention. The indirect forms of relational aggression historically used by girls to harm their victims are increasingly escalating into physical altercations. An understanding of the interplay between the developmental and contextual factors that contribute to learned aggression in girls is needed to inform program development that truly responds to the unique gender socialization of girls. This article examines parental, environmental, and peer factors for their contributions to the development of girlsÕ aggression. Implications for program development that teaches girls and their families alternative ways of expressing their needs and protecting themselves from harm is discussed.

This study examined urban educators’ attitudes toward commonly recommended interventions for students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Participants included 358 pupil personnel services (PPS) professionals—school psychologists, social workers, and counselors—and 70 classroom teachers from urban elementary schools. On average, PPS professionals and classroom teachers expressed little confidence in the effectiveness of commonly used classroom, mental health, and pharmacological treatments for ADHD. For PPS professionals, a moderately positive correlation was found between self-confidence and effectiveness ratings for classroom interventions and mental health interventions, and a small positive association was found between knowledge of ADHD and effectiveness ratings for medication. Teacher self-confidence was positively associated with effectiveness ratings for classroom interventions. Knowledge of ADHD was negatively correlated with teacher perceptions of the effectiveness of classroom and mental health interventions. Neither child gender nor ADHD subtype influenced effectiveness ratings. Results are discussed in regard to the urgent need for urban educators to experience greater success in their efforts to implement interventions for students with ADHD and for research focused on the unique needs of children residing in urban, low-income communities.

No abstract