NASP is pleased to present these virtual posters presentations. These posters have been selected for their quality and offer a new way to engage with the latest exciting School Psychological research.
Current Group: September 2026
Being in the Know? Parental Involvement in Adolescent Media Use
With 95% of U.S. adolescents having access to a smartphone and the growing rate of media use, youth are at increased risk of cyberbullying and other problematic online behavior. The aim of the current study is to answer the following question: (1) What is the relationship between parental involvement (parental knowledge, parental control, child disclosure, and parental solicitation) and cyberbullying (perpetration and victimization), problematic media use, youth digital citizenship skills, and family support? Two hundred and fifty-three adolescents (81.4% White, 53.5% female) participated in the study from a high school in the northeast region of the United States as part of a larger study on teen media and digital citizenship skills. Regression analyses found significant relationships between three of the parental involvement variables.
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School-Based Interventions for Youths Affected by Caregiver Substance Abuse
Parental/caregiver substance abuse is associated with detrimental academic and social-emotional outcomes for young people. Schools are one promising yet underutilized setting where these children could receive support for the distress that results from living with a caregiver who uses substances problematically. This systematic literature review identified 16 studies (17 reports) of school-based programs aimed at helping students affected by an adult/caregiver’s problematic substance use. This poster presents findings on the characteristics and efficacy of these interventions, along with directions for future research.
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Exploring the Impact of Racial Microinvalidations Perpetrated by School Personnel
Research suggests that racially marginalized adolescents experience racial microinvalidation (RMI), a type of racial microaggression, in high school (Aquino & Budescu, 2021). However, there is little information regarding the impact of these experiences on racially minoritized adolescent mental health. Thus, we investigated the relation between exposure to color- and power-evasive RMIs enacted by school personnel and adolescent mental health (i.e., depression and anxiety). We found that racial centrality weakens the relation between exposure to power-evasive RMIs and depression. We also discovered that exposure to power-evasive RMIs significantly predicts social support seeking.
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Trauma-Informed Considerations in Autism Evaluations: A Scoping Review
Trauma may be an overlooked factor in autism diagnostic evaluations despite autistic youth being at elevated risk for trauma exposure. This scoping review examines how trauma-related factors are considered within pediatric autism evaluations and identifies important gaps in current assessment practices. The findings underscore opportunities to strengthen trauma-informed diagnostic approaches, ultimately supporting more accurate diagnoses and more effective intervention planning. School psychologists, psychologists, and other professionals involved in autism evaluations may benefit from these recommendations.
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The Hidden Link Between Body Image and Academic Performance
Body image is a critical psychological factor influencing students’ academic performance. Growing research highlights that students' self-perceived appearance can directly affect their academic performance. For school psychologists, this connection is essential to recognize. As professionals responsible for supporting both the mental health and academic development of students, it is imperative that school psychologists are equipped to identify and address body image concerns. According to the NASP Practice Model (2020), Mental and Behavioral Health Services (Domain 4) details interventions aimed at addressing students’ emotional and behavioral needs. Further, the model also outlines Prevention and Responsive Services (Domain 7), which emphasizes the importance of school psychologists' involvement in designing and implementing prevention programs when mental health concerns arise. The relationship between body image and academic achievement stresses the importance for school psychologists to integrate body image awareness into school-based supports to promote student well-being and advance educational and mental health equity.
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Support Groups for Parents of Children with Special Needs: Evaluating the Impact on Stress and Anxiety
Support groups offer a space for connection, shared experience, and skill building. For parents of children with disabilities, these groups can serve as a valuable outlet for emotional support and personal growth. By learning wellness strategies and sharing coping mechanisms, participants may experience improvements in their overall quality of life and parenting confidence. This project aims to evaluate the impact of two types of support group interventions for parents of children with disabilities. A parent-to-parent wellness support group will focus on addressing parents’ emotional and psychosocial needs through facilitated discussion, stress reduction strategies, and peer support. A skills-based support group will focus on equipping parents with knowledge and tools related to their child’s disability, special education rights, behavioral strategies, and navigating school systems. The primary goal is to determine whether participation in either support group model leads to measurable reductions in parental stress and anxiety.
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Exploring the Relationship Between Student-Perceived School Climate and Mental Health
School climate is linked to several important student outcomes, including academic achievement, behavior, and psychosocial functioning (Aldridge & McChesney, 2018; Wang & Degol, 2016). This study examined: (1) the relation between student perceptions of multidimensional school climate (Romero & O'Malley, 2020) and indicators of student well-being and distress; (2) the relation between student perceptions of school climate, the mental health climate at their school, and their openness to seeking mental health supports; and (3) whether individual characteristics such as race and gender affected the observed relations. Findings indicated that all school climate dimensions positively predicted perceptions of dual-factor mental health, and mental health climate was the strongest predictor of openness to seeking support. Significant differences were observed across some racial and ethnic groups. These findings highlight the need to strengthen overall school climate and the important role school psychologists have in promoting student well-being.
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Universal SEL Intervention Effects: What Happens the Following Year
Little is known about whether social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention effects transfer to new classrooms and students after formal implementation ends. Using follow-up data from the 4Rs+MyTeachingPartner (MTP) intervention, this study examined whether intervention and control teachers differed in classroom composition at the start of a follow-up year and the extent to which intervention effects carried over to a new cohort of third-graders. No significant differences emerged in classroom composition or end-of-year student outcomes. Findings suggest that single-year SEL interventions may be insufficient to promote lasting, transferable teaching practices, highlighting the need for ongoing professional development and implementation supports.
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Examining School Reintegration Following Psychiatric Hospitalization
The process of children returning to school after psychiatric hospitalization is a challenging transition that is marked by academic and social vulnerability and risk for rehospitalization. This process requires collaboration among school professionals, hospital staff, and families to formulate a reintegration plan and provide support. Tougas and colleagues (2023) created a nine-step best-practice framework for school reintegration, which includes assessing needs, active communication, and support during and after hospitalization. To evaluate this framework or enhance reintegration services, it is important to start by understanding what schools currently do for student reintegration. This study investigated reintegration practices among 131 educational professionals across the United States (82 school counselors, 37 school social workers, and 12 school psychologists). Participants responded to items about the presence, structure, perceived effectiveness, and best-practice adherence of reintegration procedures in their schools. Just over half (52%) of respondents indicated that their schools had a process or typical practice in place for students returning from psychiatric hospitals with 69% reporting written, more effective procedures and 31% reporting having an informal, less effective process. The presence of problem solving teams and collaboration between school mental health professionals and teachers was associated with a higher prevalence of a reintegration procedure. Some best-practice procedures have strong adherence like supporting students on the first day back to school and leadership, but key aspects like communication between schools and hospitals are not consistently adhered to. These results stress the need for standardized, evidence-based reintegration procedures to improve student outcomes and reduce rehospitalization.
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Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap in Supporting High-Masking Autistic Individuals
Autistic masking, also known as as camouflaging, is more prevalent among Autistic individuals whose identities differ from cisgender male stereotypes, including girls/women, transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people. These high-masking presentations are frequently under-identified in educational settings due to reliance on diagnostic and eligibility criteria that prioritize overt, observable behaviors and reinforce binary conceptions of Autism. This poster presents a comprehensive review of current research examining the prevalence and impact of Autistic masking, including its associations with delayed diagnosis, educational ineligibility, and mental health challenges. We evaluate commonly used school-based assessment tools and highlight emerging, more inclusive practices that better capture subtle and nonstereotypical Autistic presentations. Drawing from academic and grey literature, including first-person accounts, this work aims to bridge research and practice in the field of school psychology. We emphasize neurodiversity-affirming assessment, advocacy within IDEA constraints, and inclusive professional development to better identify and support high-masking and under-recognized Autistic students across the gender spectrum.
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