Parents are primary “supporters” for helping their children cope with feelings of anxiety, a significant concern for many young children. The current study examined parents’ perceptions of an anxiety management manual. Parents reviewed an anxiety coping manual for elementary school-aged children. This manual explained how anxiety influences the body and emotions, as well as presenting cognitive-behavioral anxiety management strategies. The strategies included breathing, imagery (superhero to fight worries and imagine your favorite place), relaxation, talking to supportive others, and using distraction. Convenience samples of 15 parents completed virtual interviews and 6 completed in-person interviews to determine their perceptions of the manual and of worry for today’s children. Qualitative analyses were performed to determine themes in the data. Results indicated that parents would use the manual and key themes, which were (1) learning new strategies for helping their child, (2) discussing children’s worries, and (3) sharing why the worry strategies would be useful (e.g., for emotion regulation). Parents felt that today’s children are worrying more about serious things like school performance and family stressors. Future research needs to examine parent implementation of the strategies over time to determine if the use of anxiety management strategies is related to lower levels of worry for young children, if the strategies reduce anxiety-related stress, and if prevention minimizes the impact of anxiety on emotional functioning.

Background: College students’ well-being is a critical determinant of academic success, and for Native American students, cultural strengths, resilience, and community support are key in fostering persistence in higher education. Alongside these assets, health behaviors are key contributors to psychological well-being (PWB) and academic performance. This study examined how modifiable health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA) and sleep duration, relate to PWB and academic performance among Native American college students. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted using a nationally representative sample of Native Americans (N = 1914) from the Spring 2023 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) survey. Independent variables include meeting PA guidelines (≥150 min moderate or ≥75 min vigorous/week) and sleep duration (categorized as poor or good). The Diener Flourishing Scale measured PWB. Academic performance was measured based on self-reported cumulative grade averages. Findings: Biological sex and PA were significantly associated, χ² = 40.60, p < 0.001, with a higher proportion of males meeting PA guidelines. Students with good sleep reported higher PWB than others, F(1, 1817) = 62.08, p < 0.001. Similarly, students who met PA guidelines reported higher PWB, F(1, 1817) = 35.71, p < 0.001. Poor sleep was associated with lower odds of higher academic performance (B = −0.33, p < 0.001). Contrarily, PA was not significant (p = 0.350). PWB was positively associated with academic performance (B = 0.031, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Sleep and PWB are key factors associated with both PWB and academic performance, while PA is associated with PWB. These findings highlight the importance of relevant interventions that promote these factors to support overall well-being, academic success, and retention among Native American college students.

Parents are primary “supporters” for helping their children cope with feelings of anxiety, a significant concern for many young children. The current study examined parents’ perceptions of an anxiety management manual. Parents reviewed an anxiety coping manual for elementary school-aged children. This manual explained how anxiety influences the body and emotions as well as presenting cognitive-behavioral anxiety management strategies. The strategies included breathing, imagery (superhero to fight worries and imagine your favorite place), relaxation, talking to supportive others, and using distraction. Twenty-one parents were interviewed to determine their perceptions of the manual and of worry for today’s children. Qualitative analyses were performed to determine themes in the data. Results indicated that parents would use the manual and learned new strategies for helping their child with worry. Parents felt that today’s children are worrying more about serious things like school performance and family stressors. Future research needs to examine parent implementation of the strategies over time to determine if the use of anxiety management strategies is related to lower levels of worry for young children, if the strategies reduce anxiety-related stress, and if prevention minimizes the impact of anxiety on emotional functioning.