American Peers Research Articles

Early adolescents' ethnic-racial discrimination and pubertal development: Parents' ethnic-racial identities promote adolescents' resilience.

Ethnically and racially underrepresented adolescents are experiencing pubertal development earlier in life than prior cohorts and their White American peers. This early onset of puberty is partly attributable to ethnic-racial discrimination. To contribute to adolescents' resilience and posttraumatic growth in the face of ethnic-racial discrimination, parents' ethnic-racial identities may spill over into their parenting beliefs and practices. Parents who have a sense of belonging with and commitment to their ethnic-racial identities may be aware of discrimination and actively and consistently engage in practices that build supportive home environments to support their children's development in the context of ethnic-racial discrimination. To assess whether parents' ethnic-racial identity commitment predicted adolescents' resilience against ethnic-racial discrimination, we used multiple waves of survey data from adolescent siblings and their parents participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (N-adolescents = 1,651; N-families = 805; 35% Black, 37% Latinx, 3% Asian, 25% other ethnically and racially underrepresented youth; 49% boys, 50% girls, 1% gender nonconforming youth; Mage = 11.49, SD = 0.51). Results indicated that adolescents who experienced more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination than their siblings showed more advanced pubertal development. Parental ethnic-racial identity commitment reduced the relation between discrimination and pubertal development within a family. Results suggest that ethnic-racial identity commitment in parents can protect children when they experience ethnic-racial discrimination. Building on extant propositions related to resilience (Infurna & Luthar, 2018), the present study amplifies the depiction of resilience, yields recommendations for analysis of future research, and provides implications regarding the role of ethnicity-race in familial practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Secular Trends in Physical Growth Among Peruvian Children and Adolescents Living at High Altitudes.

We aim (1) to examine secular trends in height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) among Peruvian children and adolescents living in the city of Junín and (2) to compare their growth status with the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reference data. The sample included 2874 Peruvians (n = 1681 in the 2009 cohort and n = 1193 in the 2019 cohort) aged 6-16 years from the district of Junín (4107 m of altitude). Height, weight, and WC were measured using standardized protocols. Within each sex, a two-way between-subjects analysis of variance-age, and cohort as main factors and age-by-cohort as the interaction-was used to test for differences in height, weight, and WC. STATA 17 software was used in all statistical analyses. Height revealed a positive secular trend among girls, aged 6-11 years, and among boys up to 14 years of age. Similar positive secular trends in weight and WC were found across all age groups in both boys and girls. Compared to North American peers, children in the 2009 cohort were shorter, lighter, and had a smaller WC. For weight and WC, the 2019 cohort overlapped the 50th percentile across all age groups (except for 16-year-old girls). Both boys' and girls' height, weight, and WC showed positive secular trends between 2009 and 2019, with statistically significant differences varying across age groups. Peruvian youth of both sexes were shorter and lighter than their North American peers.

Social and Cultural Barriers Reported by STEM International Graduate Students of Color

This article explores international students’ experiences in their graduate STEM programs at predominantly white US institutions through in-depth qualitative interviews and thematic analysis. International students reported encountering social and cultural barriers with American peers and sometimes even with other international students. These barriers include language, popular cultural, and social norms. Some students, who were less culturally represented in their cohorts, felt isolated but later found other people outside of their departments, often people from their same cultural background. The experiences of our participants varied by the representation of their culture in their departments, where students from less represented countries experienced more isolation. Connections to current acculturation theory will be discussed, as well as further implications and possible solutions for increasing intercultural exchanges.

Denise Levertov’s Mexican sojourn: poets of the north, materials of the south

In what ways might poets or poems of the North encounter the South? Are such encounters necessarily exploitative? These are broad questions, having to do with the nature of poetry’s material, and with modes of its appropriation. In this essay, I tackle them by looking at a two-year period in the life and career of the poet Denise Levertov, who moved from the USA to Mexico in 1956, before returning to New York in the winter of 1958. Whilst in Mexico, Levertov composed a number of poems in which she responded to the places and people she encountered, to the land and landscapes, and to local arts and other cultural artefacts. I look closely at three of these poems – considered in light of Levertov’s correspondence with William Carlos Williams and Robert Duncan, her relations with other of her American peers, including Allen Ginsberg, and her engagement with Spanish-language poets such as Pedro Salinas and Federico García Lorca – and track the ways in which Levertov’s practice was affected by her Mexican sojourn. In so doing, I test certain ideas and presumptions about the nature of literary materials and their portability and acquisition.

Online Collaboration Tools and International Students’ Sense of Belonging in Group Work

Group work has been widely used as a pedagogical practice in higher education institutions in the United States. Nevertheless, few studies have looked into the processes of collaboration for group work involving international students who speak English as a second language. This population of students, which is increasing at my university, is usually at a disadvantage linguistically and culturally compared to their American peers in group work, which might pose challenges in their communication and interactions with group mates and lead to a lack of a sense of belonging in the group and also in the class. Part of a larger research project on international students’ learning experience with group work, this study focuses on three international students’ experiences using online collaboration tools for group work. Pedagogical implications for using online collaboration tools in group work to enhance international students’ learning and sense of belonging are discussed.

Adaptation and validation of the European Portuguese Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile™ (CSBS DP™) Infant-Toddler Checklist.

As delays or disorders in early language and communication are the most prevalent symptom in children with disabilities, early screening is crucial to promote prevention, early diagnosis, and intervention. However, to the best of our knowledge, no screening tool is available for the joint assessment of early language and social communication skills in European Portuguese (EP)-learning children, which is critical for screening, monitoring and enrolment in appropriate early intervention services. (1) To adapt and validate the EP version of the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile™ (CSBS DP™) Infant-Toddler Checklist, a parental report for the screening of early language and social communication skills. (2) To conduct a cross-cultural comparison between the EP adaptation and the original US version. A total of 611 EP-learning children (ages 6-24 months) were assessed on the CSBS DP Infant-Toddler Checklist. Normative data, psychometric characteristics (i.e., internal consistency and test-retest reliability), and cross-cultural comparison between the EP and the original version were explored. Internal consistency ranged from good to excellent and the test-retest reliability was excellent. The performance of the EP and US samples matched on almost all scores. However, EP children performed significantly better than their American peers in the Social compositive at 22 months and in the Symbolic composite at 20 months. No further differences were found. These findings showed that the EP CSBS DP Infant-Toddler Checklist seems to be a reliable screening tool of communicative and symbolic behaviours for EP-learning children, which can be particularly relevant for decision-making in clinical practice. What is already known on the subject Early communication skills are known to be related to later language outcomes. Thus, screening tools for the early identification of children at risk for language and communication impairments, which may lead to monitoring and early intervention, have the potential to promote better outcomes. However, to the best of our knowledge, no screening tool is available for the assessment of early communication abilities in EP-learning children. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study adapted and validated the EP CSBS DP Infant-Toddler Checklist, the first published parental report checklist for the assessment of early communication skills in EP. It described the psychometric characteristics of the adapted checklist, summarized the newly available normative data for EP-learning infants and toddlers, and compared the performance of EP-learning children with the original standardization sample reported for American English. The results demonstrated that this tool is a reliable instrument for the early screening of language, communicative and symbolic behaviours for EP-learning children between 6 and 24 months of age. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Given that early screening is crucial to promote prevention, early diagnosis and intervention, the availability of this tool is particularly relevant for children monitoring and their enrolment in appropriate early intervention services, helping decision-making in clinical practice, in line with current guidelines regarding early monitoring and intervention to promote and support better outcomes. Thus, the tool and related normative data will be useful for paediatricians, family doctors, primary healthcare providers, developmental psychologists and speech-language therapists, among other professionals in the healthcare and educational fields, concerned with speech, language, and communication development and impairments.

Black Immigrant Literacies and the Promise of Unbroken Englishes: Five Things Every Teacher Should Know and Can Do

Abstract“Black immigrant literacies” is an intersectional framework that draws from diaspora literacy, racial literacy, and transnational literacy to center race and present teachers with a lens that can support Black immigrant students and their peers' literacies in classrooms. Black immigrant youth can be described as first‐, second‐, or third‐generation immigrants to the United States who identify as Black and who migrate to the United States from Africa, the Caribbean, or elsewhere. Many students from the Black immigrant population, though largely “invisible,” tend to be regarded as a new model minority and as designer immigrants. New model minority perceptions of Black immigrants persist because of claims of immigrant superiority and because Black immigrants have long been perceived as having socioeconomic advantages over their Black American peers. Given that Black immigrants originate primarily from the Caribbean or Africa, accounting for over half of all Black foreign‐born people in the United States, and considering that the Caribbean remains the most common region of birth for the over 4 million Black immigrants in the United States, accounting for almost half of the total, I paint a selective portrait of the intersectionalities surrounding Black immigrant literacies as a basis for teachers to better understand Black immigrant students' needs in classrooms. I also draw specifically from Black Caribbean immigrant literacies to identify and describe five things that every teacher should know and can do when encountering Black Caribbean in English language arts and literacy instruction. Through provisions such as legitimizing “unbroken Englishes,” supporting “translanguaging with Englishes,” cultivating “holistic literacies,” and fostering “local–global connections,” it is anticipated that teachers of Black immigrants in the United States, Caribbean, and beyond will begin to unmask invisibility of this population in their classrooms. Through the use of this framework, it is also expected that teachers will be able to better support all students who engage with the literacies of Black immigrants in United States schools.

Comparison of violence and aggressions suffered by health personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina and the rest of Latin America.

Motivation for the study. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound repercussions at different socio-environmental levels. Its impact on violence against healthcare team workers in Argentina has not been well documented. Main findings. The present study evidenced high rates of aggression, particularly verbal aggression. In addition, almost half of the participants reported having suffered these events on a weekly basis. All participants who experienced violence reported having experienced post-event symptoms, and up to one-third reported having considered changing their profession after these acts. Implications. It is imperative to take action to prevent acts of violence against health personnel, or to mitigate its impact on the victims. . To explore the frequency and impact of violence against healthcare workers in Argentina and to compare it with the rest of their Latin American peers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted by applying an electronic survey on Latin American medical and non-medical personnel who carried out health care tasks since March 2020. We used Poisson regression to estimate crude (PR) and adjusted (aPR) Prevalence Ratios with their respective 95% confidence intervals. A total of 3544 participants from 19 countries answered the survey; 1992 (56.0%) resided in Argentina. Of these, 62.9% experienced at least one act of violence; 97.7% reported verbal violence and 11.8% physical violence. Of those who were assaulted, 41.5% experienced violence at least once a week. Health personnel from Argentina experienced violence more frequently than those from other countries (62.9% vs. 54.6%, p<0.001), and these events were more frequent and stressful (p<0.05). In addition, Argentinean health personnel reported having considered changing their healthcare tasks and/or desired to leave their profession more frequently (p<0.001). In the Poisson regression, we found that participants from Argentina had a higher prevalence of violence than health workers from the region (14.6%; p<0.001). There was a high prevalence of violence against health personnel in Argentina during the COVID-19 pandemic. These events had a strong negative impact on those who suffered them. Our data suggest that violence against health personnel may have been more frequent in Argentina than in other regions of the continent.

Stereotypes in the classroom's air: Classroom racial stereotype endorsement, classroom engagement, and STEM achievement among Black and White American adolescents.

Initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in predominantly White contexts, including STEM fields, have primarily relied on approaches to increase the representation of minoritized individuals. However, an increase in the representation of minoritized individuals is only one step of the process, as the present study suggests that explicit beliefs about particular racial groups' abilities also matter. The present article examined whether classroom racial stereotype endorsement about science and math disadvantaged Black American adolescents relative to their White American peers. Across two longitudinal studies with 533 and 1,189 adolescents (N-adolescents=1722; N-classrooms=86; 45% Black American, 55% White American; 51% females; M-age=13-14), classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement in the fall term predicted better science and math achievement scores for White American adolescents and lower science and math achievement scores for Black American adolescents at the end of the academic year. Student- and teacher-reported student engagement in science and math classrooms mediated the longitudinal relations between classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement and students' achievement scores. Results suggest that classrooms may be important conduits for communicating racial stereotypes that create racially hostile STEM learning environments. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Using a longitudinal sample of 1722 adolescents enrolled in 86 classrooms, thepresent study examined the consequences of classroom racial stereotype endorsement during adolescence. White American adolescents demonstrated favorable achievement scores in science and math when their classmates endorsed traditional, or pro-White/anti-Black, stereotypes. Black American adolescents showed worse achievement scores in science and math when their classmates endorsed pro-White/anti-Black stereotypes. Classroom engagement mediated the longitudinal relations between classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement and achievement scores for both Black and White American adolescents.

International undergraduates’ perceptions of social engagement in online and face-to-face learning environments: a photo-elicitation approach to thematic analysis

This mixed-methods study explores international undergraduates’ perceptions of social engagement with American peers at a US university comparing online to face-to-face environments. It addresses gaps in research on the social engagement of international undergraduates and on employing participant-generated visual approaches to investigation. Descriptive statistics from survey data showed that, while international students reported greater satisfaction, frequency, and comfort in engaging with American peers in face-to-face versus online contexts, they did not rate their overall of face-to-face interaction as highly as Americans did nor as lowly for online environments. Thematically analyzed qualitative data from photo-elicitation interviews prompted seven themes (disconnectedness, loneliness/homesickness, discourse expectations, building friendships, diversity and intercultural issues, anxieties, conflict) illuminating the nuances in attitudes among international undergraduates toward social engagement. Results suggest possible distinctions between international students based on region as a potential area of future study.

Skills formation and (un)employment in Latin America: Evidence from Chile

SummaryMotivationSkills formation and training have been singled out as key policies to adapt to contemporary labour‐market challenges such as automation and skill‐biased technological change particularly in middle‐income countries such as those in Latin America. However, limited knowledge about the effects of training policies in Latin America hinders adaptation to these transformations.PurposeThis article contributes to the limited knowledge to date about the impact of skills formation in Latin America, with reference to Chile, a country usually considered a successful case of educational achievement and employment but sharing many of the development problems of its Latin American peers. By doing this, it provides empirical evidence to substantiate existing theories explaining these problems.Methods and approachUsing available longitudinal data from Chile (Encuesta de Protección Social, EPS), we analyse the causal effects of training on the transitions from unemployment to employment through a difference‐in‐difference (DiD) strategy.FindingsResults suggest that there is a small but significantly positive effect of training in reducing post‐training unemployment, as yearly unemployment among individuals attending training while unemployed is reduced, on average, by two weeks.Policy implicationsResults confirm the low and highly segmented incidence of training in the region, highlighting the need to discuss the design of training programmes to improve their effects, including the creation of differentiated programmes for unemployed and employed workers. For the former, it is important to strengthen labour intermediation to overcome problems of social capital; for the latter, it is key to achieve the stronger incorporation of employers in the discussion on training and industry standards. In both cases, it is crucial to create institutions promoting stronger co‐ordination between the interested actors.

“We Wanna Feel Like We Are America”: Examining the Inclusive and Exclusionary High School Experiences of New Americans in a Small City

This transcendental phenomenology centers on the perceptions and experiences of New Americans from Africa and Asia who attended high schools in a smaller urban area located in North Dakota. Using Anderson et al.’s (2014) ecology of inclusive education (EIE), we identify environmental factors that promoted or undermined inclusive education experiences for the New Americans in our study. Themes include: collaborative and welcoming EL teachers, differences between mainstream and EL classes and teachers, problematic experiences with school administrators, valued connections with American peers, and balancing family responsibilities with school. Implications for policy and practice that support the inclusion of New Americans in all schools are provided, including ways to disrupt bias in schools and approaches to providing supports for New Americans and their families.

White college students’ ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in racist acts against Asians and Asian Americans. Given this troubling reality, it is important to identify how non-Asians, such as White individuals, can better understand the racialized experiences of their Asian and Asian American peers during this time. As such, we set out to examine White college students' ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans during the pandemic. Specifically, based on theorizing on normative influence, we examined how peer support might be associated with increased ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans. Additionally, leadership support and gender were included as covariates. Participants were recruited from a predominantly White institution located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Results based on hierarchical regression analyses indicated that ethnocultural empathy was predicted by gender and peer support. We also explored the moderating role of gender in the association between peer support and ethnocultural empathy, and we found that the positive association between peer support and ethnocultural empathy was greater for men compared to women. The findings of the present study have implications for advancing the research and practice around helping non-Asian students better understand and support their fellow Asian and Asian American students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement This study found that White students' empathy toward Asian and Asian American experiences of racism during COVID-19 was related to how their peers spoke about and responded to this issue, and this was especially true for White men compared to White women. The findings suggest some practical ways to help non-Asian individuals to better understand the experiences of racism among Asians and Asian Americans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Linguistic Acculturation Preferences of Autochthonous Students Toward Their Latin American Peers in Western Catalonia

ABSTRACT Located in the province of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain), this study aims to identify and analyze the predictors of linguistic acculturation preferences of autochthonous high-school students toward their peers of Latin American descent. Autochthonous high-school students (N = 349) filled a questionnaire measuring linguistic acculturation and a series of linguistic and social-psychological variables (i.e. multicultural ideology, ethnic tolerance, attitudes toward minority languages, identification with Catalan culture and identification with Spanish culture). A k-means cluster analysis identified that autochthonous students endorse two linguistic acculturation preferences toward their Latin American peers: assimilation and multilingual preferences. Meanwhile, a logistic regression model found that participants with higher scores on attitudes toward minority languages have more likelihood to endorse a multilingual preference. The results highlight the importance and need to further work for a genuine intercultural educational model that allows the integration of Latin American students as well as of other minority groups. Particularly, this study found the importance of boosting the use of minority languages through educational approaches such as translanguaging and language architecture.

Islamic equity funds and stock market: dynamic relation and market timing during the COVID-19 outbreak

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market timing skills of Islamic equity funds in Asia, Europe and North America.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed a two-step process. First, a Granger causality test is applied to test the bivariate relationship between Islamic fund indices and stock market ones by highlighting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the methodology of Treynor and Mazuy (1966) is deployed to account for the market timing abilities skills of Islamic fund managers during the pandemic period.FindingsThe investigation revealed mixed results. The European Islamic funds were positively impacted by the stock market as well as by the COVID-19 pandemic context. Additionally, compared to their Asian and North American peers, only European Islamic fund managers have the ability to time the market during the health crisis period.Research limitations/implicationsDespite its contribution to the Islamic finance literature, this study has some flaws. Indeed, the selected sample of three regions, namely Asia, Europe and North America, precludes extrapolating these conclusions. Other regions should be investigated to further our understanding of Islamic equity funds. Furthermore, due to data availability and accessibility, the study period was limited to a specific time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This shortcoming can be addressed through a multiwave investigation, especially since each region was exposed differently to the pandemic.Practical implicationsThe paper provides scholars, portfolio managers and investors with insights regarding the investment dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic period, especially for those wishing to hedge their pandemic risk exposure and/or diversify their portfolios. Equally, the depiction of potential market timing abilities of Islamic fund managers across the three regions would serve as a guide to identifying the most suitable internationally focused investment strategy.Social implicationsThe paper provides scholars, portfolio managers and investors with insights regarding the investment dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic period, especially for those wishing to hedge their pandemic risk exposure and/or diversify their portfolios. Equally, the depiction of potential market timing abilities of Islamic funds managers across the three regions would serve as a guide to identify the most suitable internationally focused investment strategy.Originality/valueThe originality of this investigation is that it is the first to examine Islamic equity fund managers and their skills to time the stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Asia, Europe and North America. The current paper extends the Islamic finance literature.

Cover Girls

Existing studies show that exposure to appearance-based western media has a robust negative effect on women’s body esteem, eating practices, and self-image. This effect is mediated further by women’s individual characteristics, especially women’s pre-existing low body esteem, exposure to social comparison, and reliance on others’ approval for self-worth. A literature review reveals that (compared to white American women) South Asian American women have above-average exposure to objectification, social comparison, appearance-based commentary, and cultural conflict. Research suggests that all of these factors contribute to high body dissatisfaction and maladaptive eating in South Asian American women. Furthermore, American appearance-based media presents Asian women more infrequently and with more restrictions on physical features, compared to representation of white women. Therefore, appearance-based media may have a more salient (yet understudied) effect on the self-image and body esteem of South Asian American women than it does on white American women. This is but one example of a social phenomenon that has a more harmful effect on South Asian American women than their white American peers. The consequences of high vulnerability to body dissatisfaction include psychological distress and maladaptive eating.

Universal Screening of Hunger, Tiredness, and Sickness: Implications for Kindergarten Readiness and Racial/Ethnic Disparities

ABSTRACT This study investigated associations of three teacher-reported health indicators—hunger, tiredness, and sickness—with kindergarten readiness skills in San Francisco Unified School District (N = 12,423; female = 48%; Mage = 5.47, SDage = 0.30, rangeage = 4.67–7.00; Asian American = 26%, Black = 5%, Latinx = 20%, Multiracial/Other = 23%, White = 18%). Research Findings: Accounting for demographic characteristics, each teacher-reported health indicator was negatively associated with measures of students’ academic and social-emotional readiness. These relations did not differ by student race/ethnicity despite a disproportionately high prevalence of health concerns among Black and Latinx students relative to White students. Moreover, teacher-reported hunger, tiredness, and sickness partially explained racial/ethnic disparities in kindergarten readiness skills, especially among Black students compared to their White, Latinx, and Asian American peers. Practice or Policy: Results demonstrate the feasibility and utility of universal teacher-administered basic health screening and underscore the importance of early childhood health for efforts to redress educational inequality.

Understanding suicide risk for youth who are both Black and Native American: The role of intersectionality and multiple marginalization.

Native American and multiracial youth experience elevated risk for suicide ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA); however, intersectional identities are often unexamined in suicide research. We examined the prevalence of SI and SA, and the impact of intersectional identities (sex, sexual minority identity, and economic insecurity) on these rates, in 496 biracial Black-Native American, 2,804 Native American, 14,220 Black, 5,569 biracial Native American-White, 4,076 biracial Black-White, and 118,816 White youth who participated in the Minnesota Student Survey. Black-Native American youth reports of SI and SA resembled other Native American youth and were significantly higher than those reported by Black, White, and Black-White (SA only) youth. While sexual minority youth reported higher rates of SI and SA than heterosexual youth, this difference between sexual minority and heterosexual Black-Native American youth was smaller as compared to their peers. Though they largely resemble their mono/biracial Native American peers, Black-Native American youth show some distinct patterns of SA when accounting for their intersectional identities. Despite presumed similarities in systemic risk factors, Black and Black-Native American youth differ considerably in reported suicidality. The experiences of Black-Native American teens warrant further examination.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness of Police Recruits: Normative Reference Values and Temporal Trend.

Poirier, S, Houle, J, Lajoie, C, and Trudeau, F. Cardiorespiratory fitness of police recruits: normative reference values and temporal trend. J Strength Cond Res 37(1): 207-212, 2023-Several studies have highlighted the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among police officers. Given the longitudinal association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in early adulthood and later appearance of CVD, the identification of police recruits exhibiting lower CRF could allow the implementation of targeted CVD prevention strategies. Unfortunately, norm-referenced values for the CRF of Canadian police recruits are not yet available. Thus, this research aimed to provide norm-referenced values for the CRF of police recruits in the province of Quebec (Canada) and to evaluate the temporal trend in the CRF of police recruits over a 14-year period. First, a model was developed to estimate maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O2max) based on the results of the physical ability test (PAT) used for the recruitment of police officers in Quebec. Based on the previously developed model, the CRF of police recruits who completed the PAT from 2004 to 2017 was retrospectively assessed using administrative records. The analysis of 7,234 PAT results including 2,150 females (29.7%) and 5,084 males (70.3%) suggests that police recruits generally present high levels of CRF with an average estimated V̇O2max of 53.3 ml·min-1·kg-1 for males and 43.8 ml·min-1·kg-1 for females. Furthermore, our analyses showed significant but small positive correlations between estimated V̇O2max and time periods of PAT performance for male (rs = 0.105, p < 0.001) and female recruits (rs = 0.125, p < 0.001). Overall, our results suggest that the CRF of police recruits in Quebec is considerably higher than that of their North American peers.

Asian American adolescents' mental health literacy and beliefs about helpful strategies to address mental health challenges at school

AbstractAsian Americans are the fastest‐growing racial group in the United States. Contrary to the model minority myth, many Asian American youth experience mental health challenges. However, they are less likely to utilize school‐based mental health services than their non‐Asian American peers. A paucity of research addresses Asian American adolescents' understanding of mental health disorders and beliefs about helpful strategies for addressing psychological challenges within the school context. The present study utilized vignettes and semi‐structured interviews with 24 Asian American adolescents (M = 16.92, SD = 2.45, 79.17% females) to explore their understanding of eating disorders and depression and what they perceive as helpful strategies to address mental health challenges at school. Participants shared culture‐specific risk factors for these mental health disorders, such as high academic pressure, sociocultural pressures for thinness, and internalized model minority stereotype. Participants also proposed strategies to support youth mental health, including providing support, encouraging professional help‐seeking, reducing stigma, addressing confidentiality concerns, implementing school‐wide programs to promote mental health awareness, promoting positive coping strategies, and establishing strong connections between mental health providers and Asian American students. We discuss practical implications for school‐based mental health programs, practices, and providers.