Research

Trevor Project 2024 National Youth Survey

July 15, 2025

The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People amplifies the experiences of more than 18,000 LGBTQ+ young people ages 13 to 24 across the United States.

For the sixth year, the U.S. National Survey uncovers the reality that there is a significant association between anti-LGBTQ+ victimization and disproportionately high rates of suicide risk — and that far too many young people struggle to access the mental health care they need.

The survey critically provides data-driven ways we can all show support and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ young people in our lives, based on their own responses — as well as the potentially life-saving benefits of creating affirming spaces and communities.

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Social and emotional learning is hegemonic miseducation: students deserve humanization instead

June 30, 2025

This article examines the pedagogy and psychology of humanization as a viable framework to confront systemically imposed self-hate, divide and conquer, and sub oppression if it teaches students knowledge (and love) of self, solidarity, and self-determination. The ahistorical objectives of social and emotional learning fall short of repairing the cultural contempt of hegemonic miseducation and does not address the primary social forces negatively impacting the health and wellness of communities of color – their colonial relationship with inequitable social systems. In this article, it is posited that humanization be put in place of social and emotional learning because SEL’s inadequate analysis of intersecting oppressions justifies existing power relations in communities and schools.

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School Climate and Social and Emotional Learning: and Integration of Two Approaches

June 30, 2025

This brief reviews research on how positive school climates support SEL and how improved SEL contributes to improved school climate in elementary and secondary schools. The brief discusses school climate, SEL, and blended models that have effects on school climate and social and emotional competence.

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Developing Teacher Resilience & Resilient School Cultures

June 27, 2025

Teacher resilience in a pandemic is a timely topic for America’s superintendents. This literature review focuses on teacher resilience and retention, with relevance for building resilient school cultures. The question guiding analysis of studies was, “What factors and processes contribute to teacher resilience and the ability to overcome adversity?” Findings were that individual and contextual factors of resilience impact teachers’ ability to persevere, as well as schools’ capacity to retain novice teachers. Resilience is associated with retention, job satisfaction, and other positive outcomes. Actions for developing teacher resilience and resilient school cultures are identified. K–12 teachers who attend to factors of resilience can better adapt and overcome adversity. School district leaders who encourage teacher resilience can foster resilient school cultures

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Widening the Lens on ACEs: The Role of Community in Trauma, Resilience, and Thriving

August 5, 2024

Report explores how the lens of community resilience can support community building initiatives and systems-level change that can prevent trauma, mitigate its impact, and interrupt its transmission from one generation to the next.

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What does the Research Say? Hundreds of Independent Studies Confirm: SEL Benefits Students

August 5, 2024

The benefits of social and emotional learning (SEL) are well-researched, with evidence demonstrating that an education that promotes SEL yields positive outcomes for students, adults, and school communities. The findings in this paper come from hundreds of independent studies across multiple fields and sources that show SEL leads to beneficial outcomes related to: social and emotional skills, academic performance, mental wellness, healthy behaviors, school climate and safety, and lifetime outcomes.

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Trauma Experiences of LGBTQ+ Victims: Victimization, Discrimination, and Other Stressful Experiences

August 5, 2024

A recent study (2021)of victimization and help-seeking among Illinois residents found individuals who identified as LGBTQ+ were more likely to report having been victimized at some point in their lifetime than non-LGBTQ+ individuals. This report includes recommendations for how systems and employers can support LGBTQ+ victims and/or prevent additional trauma are provided and future research directions are discussed.

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Levels of Racism: a theoretical framwork and a gardner’s tale

August 5, 2024

Article presents a theoretic framework for understanding racism on 3 levels: institutionalized, personally mediated, and internalized. This framework is useful for raising new hypotheses about the basis of race-associated differences in health outcomes, as well as for designing effective interventions to eliminate those differences, and provides allegories to help illustrate the impacts of the different levels of racism.

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Ke ala i ka Mauliola: Native Hawaiian Youth Experiences with Historical Trauma

August 5, 2024

This qualitative study used Indigenous talk story interviews with 34 NH ʻōpio (youth) and ka lawelawe (service providers) to explore how NH ʻōpio understand and experience historical trauma. Eight themes and 35 sub-themes were identified covering individual, community, and systemic domains representing the first step in addressing NH historical trauma.

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Fostering Belonging, Transforming Schools: The Impact of Restorative Practices

August 5, 2024

Learn how exclusionary discipline practices like suspensions and expulsions can increase misbehavior and negatively impact school climate, particularly among Black students, who face disproportionate rates of these punishments. Discover how restorative practices, which focus on conflict resolution and community building, can address the root causes of misbehavior, reduce racial disparities, and improve overall school climate and academic engagement.

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Research

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