The goal of """"""""Healthy Teens"""""""" is to examine protective factors that influence the developmental trajectories (i.e., patterns of continuity or patterns of change over time) that children and adolescents follow from 6th to 11th grade, in relation to single and combined violence-related behaviors. This study proposes to follow into high school a cohort of approximately 800 middle school students who have been evaluated in 6th, 7th and 8th grade as part of a CDC funded project, the GREAT Schools and Families Program. The specific objectives are to examine developmental trajectories; identify meaningful transitions and turning points; examine protective factors related to individual cognitions and environmental influences from the family, peers, and school that influence the developmental trajectories; evaluate whether and how changes in violence-related behaviors are interrelated; understand the meaning of different forms of violence-related behaviors from the perspectives of the participants themselves; and explore the perceptions of participants and the environmental circumstances related to desistance from or movement toward aggression, in regard to specific protective factors. To achieve these objectives, Healthy Teens will: 1) administer a laptop student survey every spring; 2) request that teachers complete annually a standardized and nationally normed student behavioral rating on participating students (BASC); 3) collect archival data (attendance, standardized test scores, and discipline records); 4) survey and conduct semi-structured interviews with students who drop out of school; and 5) conduct interviews and focus groups with students to understand the meaning of violence-related behaviors and of the factors that protect them from aggression. This mixed method approach will provide a comprehensive and in-depth description of the most significant factors that protect students from violence and their impact on trajectories and turning points. ? ? ?
