Monica Christina Esqueda

University of California, Davis | UCD · Undergraduate Education

Nearly three decades of research have examined the experiences of LGBTQ students in schools. These include numerous studies documenting elevated rates of school victimization, as well as how an LGBTQ affirming school climate may enhance safety among LGBTQ students. Of the studies conducted, research has focused mostly on LGBTQ students in urban and...

Objectives. We explored the associations of disadvantaged intersectional groups and substance use outcomes among adolescents California middle and high schools. Intersectional groups were formed by youth reports of sex assigned at birth, race/ethnicity, and Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual orientation (LGB). Methods. We analyzed cross-sectional data from t...

While researchers acknowledge the importance of parents feeling welcomed and engaged in their child’s school, the school’s welcoming practices to engage parents have been rarely explored. Parents’ qualitative responses provide insight into what impacts their initial and ongoing experience of being welcomed into their child’s new school. In total, 1...

Military-connected youth often experience daily stressors that affect their academic success and social and emotional development. Stressors such as multiple deployments and frequent school transitions may weaken the social ties that military-connected youth have with school communities, placing them at risk of social alienation and victimization....

Purpose: The majority of studies examining substance use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth have focused on a wide array of risk factors (e.g., victimization). Few studies have explored the protective role of schools. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature and inform programs aimed at reducing substance use among LGB youth. M...

Background: Transgender adolescents face tremendous social stress in families and schools, which often leads to behavioral health disparities. This study assessed whether rates of substance use were higher among transgender adolescents when compared to nontransgender adolescents. Methods: This study is a secondary data analysis of the 2013-2015...

Approximately 4.2% of undergraduates, or 872,000 students, reported that they had served or were currently serving in the U.S. military during the 2007–08 academic year. Of these students, 13% identified as Hispanic/Latino. Despite a history of college participation, only a handful of studies have examined the postsecondary experiences of students...

Background/Context The children of military service members experience numerous military-related stressors (e.g., deployment of a parent), resulting in negative psychological outcomes. About 90% of military-connected students are educated in civilian public schools. A few recent studies in disciplines outside education research suggest that civilia...

Studies have found that, when compared with civilian children, military children have more negative social, emotional, and psychological outcomes. The social and emotional climate of public schools could potentially protect military children and adolescents from negative outcomes. Recent studies have found that civilian-operated public schools are...

Studies have found that, when compared with civilian children, military children have more negative social, emotional, and psychological outcomes. The social and emotional climate of public schools could potentially protect military children and adolescents from negative outcomes. Recent studies have found that civilian-operated public schools are...

Field education is a vital part of learning and training for students pursuing an MSW degree. Guided by competencies created by the Council on Social Work Education, MSW programs are continuously evaluating the effectiveness of field experiences. U.S.-based public schools lack the training and capacity to provide adequate support to military-connec...

Military children experience a variety of military-specific stressors. Stressors include repeated geographic relocation and parental separation, both of which can negatively affect social, emotional, psychological, and academic outcomes. Educational reform research, however, has found that caring and responsive schools can moderate the effects of p...

Despite research suggesting that supportive school communities can shield students from depression, alienation, and school failure, civilian schools have struggled to address the unique needs of military-connected (MC) children. In response to this, a consortium between eight MC school districts and a school of social work was established. As part...

Despite research suggesting that supportive school communities can shield students from depression, alienation, and school failure, civilian schools have struggled to address the unique needs of military-connected (MC) children. In response to this, a consortium between eight MC school districts and a school of social work was established. As part...

The mental health of children is a primary public health concern; adolescents of military personnel may be at increased risk of experiencing poorer well-being overall and depressive symptoms specifically. These adolescents experience individual and intrafamilial stressors of parental deployment and reintegration, which are directly and indirectly a...

This article examines how supportive public school environments can serve as a promotional context for the development of children and adolescents from military families. The authors integrate theory and research from multiple research strands (e.g., human development, studies of at-risk youth, educational reform, goodness of fit theory, and school...

Purpose: Family conflict and unexpected life altering events can be disorienting and stressful to youth. Deployments are associated with behavior problems in general, and externalizing and internalizing behaviors, including stress disorders, conduct problems, and symptoms of ambiguous loss. Most studies emphasize that younger children with a deploy...

Purpose: The mental health of military connected youth is a primary public health concern, particularly given the association of multiple deployments with internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescents. As such, the present sought to better understand the influence of military connectedness and deployment on adolescent mental health. Me...

More than 90% of the nation’s 1.2 million military children attend civilian-operated public schools. Education researchers, however, often overlook the educational experiences and needs of military children attending civilian-operated public schools (i.e., schools that are administered by and under the purview of local education agencies). This art...

Background and Purpose: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to concerning psychological, behavioral, and academic outcomes for children in military families. Of the 1.2 million school-aged children of military service members, 90% attend civilian operated schools. Civilian teachers, principals, and school support personnel, however, have neve...

Background and Purpose: Civilian teachers, principals, and school support personnel have never been systematically trained to understand and appropriately respond to the intense experiences of children from military families. The USC Military Social Work Program (Military SW) is the first program in the United States to train and deploy a cadre of...

Background and Purpose: The current deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in major stressors for the almost 1.3 million military children currently enrolled in civilian schools. These include the stress of left-behind parents (Chandra, Lara-Cinisomo, Jaycox, Tanielan, Burns, Ruder, & Han, 2010; Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009),...

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to concerning psychological, behavioral, and academic outcomes for children in military families. Of the 1.2 million school-aged children of military service members, only 86,000 actually attend schools administered by the Department of Defense on military installations throughout the world. The remaining m...