The Adolescent Health Promotion Lab is overseen by Dr. Elizabeth Weybright, and includes undergraduate Human Development and graduate Prevention Science students. Recognizing adolescence as a critical period of biological, cognitive, and social development, we seek to promote health and prevent risk behavior within out of school time contexts. Using a prevention science framework we work to identify what contributes to healthy adolescent development and use this information to develop and/or refine preventive interventions that promote the health of adolescents and emerging adults.
Research Projects, Programs, and Opportunities
Recent News
November 2025
Dr. Weybright highlighted in media for work on boredom.
Recently, Dr. Weybright spoke with two media outlets about boredom. In the Swiss parenting magazine, Fritz+Fränzi, she shared advice for parents in dealing with their child’s boredom. Spoiler alert, she recommends letting children squirm a bit! For Newsweek, she shared her perspective on the benefits of the social media trends related to doing nothing.
October 2025
New study finds adolescent firearm deaths are increasing over time.
Dr. Weybright and colleagues have a new publication, Trends in firearm death among middle and high-school aged rural and urban adolescents from 2001 to 2022, available in the journal Injury Epidemiology. This publication looks at trends in overall injury death and specifically firearm injury death among middle and high school rural and urban adolescents. Research was highlighted in a related press release and in the media.
August 2025
New publication on the effectiveness of youth participatory action research for opioid prevention.
The new publication, “I never realized how hard recovery is.” A quasi-experimental evaluation of a youth participatory action research project for opioid prevention, is available as a free, open-access article on the American Journal of Community Psychology journal website. This project was conducted in partnership with WSU 4-H Youth Development.
If you’re interested in doing youth engagement, check out our related Youth Engagement Resource Guide.
May 2025
Lab members attend and present at the Society for Prevention Research annual meeting in Seattle, WA.
See below for presentation titles and co-authors.
- ECPN SESSION I: Using and Harmonizing Open/Public Data Sets – Dr. Weybright is a panelist for this early career session.
- Changes in Young Adult Handgun Carrying from 2019 to 2021 in a Longitudinal Community Sample – Dr. Weybright is a co-author on this presentation led by Dr. Max Halvorson.
- Pathways to Handgun Carrying Among Rural Adolescents: Findings from a Qualitative Comparative Analysis – Led by Dr. Weybright with co-authors Heather Terral, Ashley Hall, Gary Varrella, & Ali Rowhani-Rahbar.
- Understanding Firearm Carrying Perceptions and Behaviors Among Rural Adolescents – Led by Dr. Weybright with co-authors Ashley Hall, Gary Varrella, & Ali Rowhani-Rahbar.
- How Viable Is Virtual? a Non-Inferiority Analysis of in-Person and Online Delivery of Strengthening Families Program 10-14 – Led by Heather Terral with co-authors Elizabeth Weybright, Brittany Cooper, Ana-Maria Diaz Martinez, Jennifer Leach, & Gary Varrella.
- “I’ve Got Mixed Feelings”: A Qualitative Inquiry of Handgun Use and Perceptions Among Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender-Diverse Young Adults. – Led by Madeline Fodor
April 2025
Dr. Weybright speaks with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Dr. Weybright spoke with Washington State congressional staffers about the the positive impact of federally funded research on Washingtonians and beyond. She also represented WSU at The Science of Addiction event hosted by The Science Coalition. See more information from WSU government relations here and a video from the event here.
March 2025
New publication on adapting an evidence-based program for delivery in a virtual format.
Dr. Weybright and colleagues published a new article about adapting the evidence-based Strengthening Families for Parents and youth 10-14 years old for delivery in virtual format in the Global Implementation Research and Applications journal. This work was funded by a grant from USDA-NIFA. Find the open access article here.
January 2025
New publication on outdoor and land-based prevention programs for Indigenous youth.
Dr. Faith Price, a 2024 Prevention Science graduate, along with Dr. Weybright and colleagues published a new article titled Scoping Review of Outdoor and Land-Based Prevention Programs for Indigenous Youth in the United States and Canada in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Find the open access publication here. Dr. Price is now a Research Associate with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Indigenous Health.
October 2024
New publication on firearm experiences of rural youth.
Dr. Weybright and colleagues published a new article titled Firearm Experiences, Behaviors, and Norms Among Rural Adolescents in JAMA Network Open. Find the article here. A related research brief is here and a press release here.
August 2024
New publication on how rural adolescents define common firearm-related terms.
Weybright, E., Hall, A., Willoughby, J., Dalve, K., *Schleimer, J., Ellyson, A., Watters, C., Gause, E., Kuklinski, M., Varrella, G., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2024). Conceptualization of firearm-related terms among rural adolescents: Definitions matter [Special Issue]. Youth & Society, 56(8), 1445-1467. DOI: 10.1177/0044118X241263968
June 2024
New publication out evaluating a training and technical assistance center to support rural opioid providers.
This publication is part of a special issue focused on evaluating training and technical assistance centers. See full special journal issue in Evaluation & the Health Professions.
Weybright, E., Phibbs, S., Watters, C., Myers, A., Peavy, M., & Martin, A. (2024). The role of Cooperative Extension in delivering training and technical assistance to support evidence-based behavioral health practices in rural communities [Special Issue]. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 47(2), 192-203. DOI: 10.1177/01632787241237515
May 2024
Lab members attend and present at the Society for Prevention Research annual meeting in Washington, DC.
See below for presentation titles and co-authors.
- Weybright, E., & Price, F. (2024, May). Community-engaged research in prevention science: What does it look like and where are we going? Special interest group meeting at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC.
- Weybright, E., Watters, C., Pascoe, K., Hampilos, K., Martinez, A. D., Cooper, B., Leach, J., & Varrella, G. (2024, May). For communities and with communities: Engaging local partners in an adaptation of an evidence-based substance use prevention program. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC.
- Weybright, E., Watters, C., Phibbs, S., Myers, A., Peavy, M., & Martin, A. (2024, May). Evaluating the role of a training and technical assistance center to support evidence-based practices among rural-serving opioid providers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC.
- Price, F., Cory, A., & Weybright, E. (2024, May). Perceptions of core components of land-based interventions for urban Indigenous youth. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC.
- Price, F., Price, T., & Weybright, E. (2024, May). Scoping review of outdoor and land-based prevention interventions for Indigenous youth in the United States and Canada. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC.
Congratulations to Dr. Faith Price who graduated with her PhD in Prevention Science!
Faith successfully defended her dissertation titled “Connecting to the good life: A scoping review, multiple site case study, and qualitative inquiry of outdoor and land-based prevention programs for Indigenous youth.” She is now working as a Research Associate for the John Hopkins University Center for Indigenous Health.
January 2024
New publications out on rural behavioral health partners and needs as well as approaches to recruiting rural adolescents! See brief descriptions and article links below.
The first publication advocates for a Health Extension approach, in partnership with Cooperative Extension, to more effectively address behavioral health in rural communities.
- Weybright, E., Doering, E. L., Hampilos, K., Roll, J., Barbosa-Leiker, C., & McDonell, M. (2024). Cooperative Extension as a key partner to behavioral health in rural communities [Special Issue]. Journal of Rural Mental Health. Advance online publication.
- View a brief report outlining the proposed Health Extension approach (pdf)
The second publication provides strategies for researchers to thoughtfully recruit rural adolescents in research on sensitive topics, such as firearm-related research. You can find more information on our Youth Firearm Injury Prevention project page.
- Weybright, E. H., Hall, A., Ellyson, A., Varrella, G., Kuklinski, M., Gause, E., Schleimer, J., Dalve, K., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2024). Strategies for recruiting adolescents in firearm injury research. Injury Prevention. Advance online publication.
Led by Dr. Liat Kriegel, the next publication focuses on needs of rural-serving opioid prevention, treatment, and recovery providers. This work was published in the Community Mental Health Journal.
- Kriegel, L., Hampilos, K., Weybright, E., Weeks, D., Jett, J., Hill, L., Roll, J., & McDonell, M. (2024). Addressing the spectrum of opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery in rural Washington communities: Provider identified barriers and needs. Community Mental Health Journal.