Shari Kessel Schneider has more than 20 years’ experience in public health, survey research, evaluation, intervention development, and training and technical assistance, with a focus on adolescent populations and risk behaviors. She directs EDC’s MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey, which is administered biennially to more than 40,000 students in grades 6–12 to monitor trends in health and risk behaviors including opioid and other substance misuse and to examine emerging adolescent health issues. She also provides technical assistance to school districts in using student survey data to inform educational efforts, prevention programming, and policymaking.
Schneider’s research, presentations, and publications focus on public health challenges affecting youth, including opioid and other prescription drug misuse, social media and cyberbullying, smoking initiation and policies affecting youth smoking, and underage drinking and distracted driving. She is consulted by the media for her insights into adolescent behavior and related public health trends and how data can drive more effective programs and practices to improve adolescent physical and mental health.
Schneider holds an MSPH from the Harvard University School of Public Health.
"Protecting children online isn’t just about learning an app or monitoring your child’s cell phone, it’s about communication—expressing your concerns, establishing rules, and talking with your child about how to be a good digital citizen."
Projects
Speaking Highlights
Social Media and Cyberbullying: Implementation of School-Based Prevention Efforts and Implications for Social Media Approaches
Bystander Intervention Behaviors Related to Cyberbullying in a Regional Census of High School Students
Perceptions of Risk and Driving under the Influence of Marijuana and Alcohol among a Regional Census of High School Students
Media
Articles
“New Study: To Reduce Smoking, Raise Sales Age”
EDC, July 13, 2015
“What Happened When a Town Raised the Smoking Age”
Huffington Post, June 23, 2015
“To Cut Teen Smoking, Raise Tobacco Sales Age”
New York Times, June 17, 2015
“Smoking among Needham High Schoolers Plunged after Legal Age Rose to 21”
Boston Globe, June 17, 2015
“Parents, Don’t Sit on the Cyber-Sidelines”
Huffington Post, October 15, 2013
“Bullying in 2012: Fighting Fear with Facts”
Huffington Post, February 16, 2012
“Study: Cyberbullying Associated with Greater Psychological Distress than Bullying at High School”
Boston Globe, November 18, 2011
“Teen ‘Sexting’ Common and Linked to Psychological Woes”
U.S. News and World Report, November 2, 2011
Radio
Selected Publications
Kessel Schneider, S., Buka, S. L., Dash, K., Winickoff, J. P., & O’Donnell, L. (2016). Community reductions in youth smoking after raising the minimum tobacco sales age to 21. Tobacco Control, 25(3): 355-359.
Kessel Schneider, S., O’Donnell, L., & Smith, E. (2015). Trends in cyberbullying and school bullying victimization in a regional census of high school students, 2006-2012. Journal of School Health, 85(9): 611–620.
Donham, R. & Kessel Schneider, S. (2014). Drugs, depression, and dating violence: Partnering with schools to collect and use data on adolescent risky behaviors. The Foundation Review, 6(4): 18-2 .
Kessel Schneider S., Smith E, O’Donnell L. (2014). Social media and cyberbullying: Implementation of school-based prevention efforts and implications for social media approaches.
Kessel Schneider, S., O’Donnell, L., Stueve, A., & Coulter, R. (2012). Cyberbullying, school bullying, and psychological distress: A regional census of high school students. American Journal of Public Health, 102(1), 171–177.
Selected Resources
This report presents highlights and findings from EDC’s administration of the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey to 24,355 high school students in 26 Massachusetts communities in 2014.
This resource library contains reports, analyses, surveys, and fact sheets developed as part of EDC’s administration of the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey from 2006 to 2014.