Ambulatory Assessment of Adolescent Coping: It's a Complicated Process.

Scholars have long-called for researchers to treat coping as a process that is measured over an arc of time. Ambulatory assessment (AA) offers an appealing tool for capturing the dynamic process of adolescent coping. However, challenges in capturing the coping process are not altogether circumvented with AA designs. We conducted a scoping review of the AA literature on adolescent coping and draw from 60 studies to provide an overview of the field. We provide critiques of different AA approaches and highlight benefits and costs associated with various types of measurement within AA. We also speak to considerations of participant burden and compliance. We conclude with recommendations for developmental scholars seeking to deploy AA to capture this quintessential process among adolescents.

Capitalizing on Scientific Advances to Improve Access to and Quality of Children's Mental Health Care.

The majority of mental health problems begin in childhood or adolescence. The potential benefits of early identification and treatment of such problems are well established, and models of effective mental health interventions for children have proliferated in recent decades. However, barriers in access to care and challenges in assuring delivery of high-quality care significantly limit the public health impact of services for children and families. Specifically, the majority of children who need mental health care do not receive it, and when children are in care, many do not receive interventions that are most likely to have the greatest positive impact. A commitment to social justice requires significant improvement in access to care and quality of care to maximize human potential. The purpose of this manuscript is to highlight promising scientific advances in the development of effective mental health services for children and families, as well as the vexing challenges of actually delivering these services to those most in need. Key challenges to be discussed include disparities in access to care and quality of care, including race/ethnic disparities and complexities of navigating the multi-sector mental health service system for children, and difficulties in implementing effective intervention models more consistently in community care. The authors will propose practice and policy reform recommendations to address these challenges. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trends in non-drinking among Australian adolescents.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Recent evidence suggests that there has been a sharp increase in non-drinking among Australian adolescents. This study aimed to explore the socio-demographic patterns of this increase to identify the potential causal factors. DESIGN: Two waves (2001 and 2010) of cross-sectional data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, a large-scale population survey. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify significant changes over time, with interaction terms used to test whether trends varied by respondent characteristics. SETTING: Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Respondents aged 14-17 years (n = 1477 in 2001 and 1075 in 2010). MEASUREMENTS: The key outcome measure was 12-month abstention from alcohol. Socio-demographic variables including sex, age, income, socio-economic status, state and rurality were examined. FINDINGS: Rates of abstention increased overall from 32.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 30.0-35.7%) to 50.2% (95% CI = 46.7-53.6%) (P < 0.01). Abstention increased significantly across all population subgroups examined. CONCLUSIONS: A broad change in drinking behaviour has occurred among Australian adolescents in the last decade, with rates of abstention among 14-17-year-olds increasing markedly. Increases in abstention have occurred consistently across a wide range of population subgroups defined by demographic, socio-economic and regional factors.

Escrever nas coisas: a utopia contemporânea na linguagem dos adolescentes / To write on things: the contemporary utopia on adolescents language / Escribir en las cosas: la utopía contemporánea en el lenguaje de los adolescentes

The article deals with the practice of graffiti on streets, to examine the rules of these writings and refer them to the subversion of the ordinary language they operate. It is based on Walter Benjamin´s analysis of the language transformations that are on the base of modern social order. It argues that if science on the one hand reduces language to the point of turning it algorithmic, emptying its expressive potency, on the other hand, the youngsters these days rejoin the creative power of language. They exhibit on the city walls the incommensurability between what is shown on words and what can be read.

El artículo aborda la práctica de grafito de los adolescentes en las calles. Se basa en los análisis de W. Benjamin sobre las transformaciones del discurso que ordenan nuestro funcionamiento social para discutir los efectos subjetivos de estas transformaciones. Sitúa una discursividad propia de estos escritos, referida a la subversión del funcionamiento ordinario del lenguaje que promueven, y argumenta que si la ciencia depura el lenguaje hasta el punto del algoritmo, vaciando su potencia expresiva, los jóvenes de hoy retoman a la fuerza el poder creador del lenguaje, ostentando en los muros de la ciudad la inconmesurabilidad entre lo que se muestra como palabra y lo que se puede leer.

O artigo aborda a praticados adolescentes nas pichacoes de rua. Baseia-se nas analises de W. Benjamin sobre as transformacoes do discurso que ordenam nosso funcionamento social para discutir os efeitos subjetivos destas transformacoes. Situa uma discursividade propria destes escritos, referida a subversao do funcionamento ordinario da linguagem que promovem. Alem disso, argumenta que, se a ciencia depura a linguagem ate o ponto do algoritmo, esvaziando sua potencia expressiva, os jovens de hoje retomam a forca o poder criador da linguagem, ostentando nos muros da cidade a incomensurabilidade entre o que se mostra como palavra e o que se pode ler.

Suicidal ideation and attempts in North American school-based surveys: are bisexual youth at increasing risk?

This study explored the prevalence, disparity, and cohort trends in suicidality among bisexual teens vs. heterosexual and gay/lesbian peers in 9 population-based high school surveys in Canada and the U.S. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to calculate age-adjusted odds ratios separately by gender; 95% confidence intervals tested cohort trends where surveys were repeated over multiple years. Results showed remarkable consistency: bisexual youth reported higher odds of recent suicidal ideation and attempts vs. heterosexual peers, with increasing odds in most surveys over the past decade. Results compared to gay and lesbian peers were mixed, with varying gender differences in prevalence and disparity trends in the different regions.

Psychometric Assessment of the Burgess-Partner Abuse Scale for Teens (B-PAST)

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Burgess-Partner Abuse Scale for Teens (B-PAST) by examining internal consistency and construct validity.Methods. A convenience sample of 239 teen girls ages 13 to 19 years old that were seen in three private primary health care practices agreed to participate. Subjects were administered two measures of interpersonal violence, two measures of psychosocial well-being, and a demographic questionnaire. Construct validity was assessed by 1) conducting exploratory factor analysis with a priori decision to retain two factors, and 2) measuring differential correlates of interpersonal violence and psychosocial well-being using Pearson correlation. In order to determine the instrument’s ability to discriminate between teen girls who reported partner abuse and those who did not report partner abuse, differences in contrasted group means (abused vs. non-abused) were examined. One-way ANOVA was used to determine differences in interpersonal violence and psychosocial wellbeing. The internal consistency of the B-PAST was examined by setting a criterion for the alpha coefficient above .70.Results. The results showed that 70.9 percent of the variance was explained by the B-PAST. Factor analysis demonstrated a 22-item scale with two distinct subscales. The B-PAST correlated with one measure of interpersonal peer violence (r = .39) and two measures of poor psychosocial well-being, low level of hope and increased depression (r = -.42, r = .46). Differences in contrasted means showed that teen girls who were abused by a partner reported higher scores for interpersonal violence. One-way ANOVA showed that abused teen girls scored higher for interpersonal violence and depression but lower in hope. The internal consistency for the final total scale was .97 and .95 for physical/sexual abuse and .91 for the social/emotional abuse subscales.Conclusions. Results provide support for reliability and validit...

Assessing quality of life for adolescents in Taiwan.

This study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Taiwanese quality of life questionnaire for adolescents and the factors affecting the quality of life of Taiwanese adolescents. The survey involved 5538 junior high school students, aged 13-15 years. An initial 90-item questionnaire was shortened to 38 items by means of principal component analyses. Quality of life assessment involved seven factors: family, residential environment, personal competence, social relationships, physical appearance, psychological well-being, and pain. The rate of missing data was low. The Cronbach alpha coefficient remained above the 0.75 threshold criterion for the global scale and seven subdomain scales. A lower quality of life score was evident for female adolescents in higher grades in school, those living with a single parent or other relatives, and those living in rural areas. This 38-item questionnaire should serve as a reliable tool for future studies.

The interface between publicly funded and industry-funded research in pediatric psychopharmacology: opportunities for integration and collaboration.

Pediatric psychopharmacology research is undergoing a major expansion consequent to increasing use of psychotropic medications in children and recent legislative incentives to industry. In this rapidly changing context, the interface between publicly and privately funded research needs to be reconsidered to integrate activities and avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts. Once, by default, the almost exclusive domain of public research, child research is now increasingly funded by industry. There are, however, important issues unlikely to be addressed through private funding for which public support is needed, such as direct comparisons between active medications, between pharmacological and psychosocial interventions, or between combined and single treatment modalities; development of effective treatment strategies for patients unresponsive to first-line treatments; development of better research methods to assess efficacy and safety; identification of moderators and mechanisms of treatment response; and impact of treatment on illness course and prognosis. Industry-sponsored research is limited by the restricted access to proprietary databases, which impedes independent analyses and meta-analyses. Translation of basic neuroscience discoveries into treatment applications for children with mental illness is a critical area of inquiry that can benefit from integration of efforts and collaborations among academia, government, and industry.

Status incongruity in Samoan youth: a biocultural analysis of culture change, stress, and immune function.

In Samoa, the presence of a matai title in the family has historically been a valued source of social status. However, as the process of Westernization continues, new sources of social status are emerging. This study explores the degree to which new and old markers of social status agree--or disagree--and the consequences they have for the experience of stress in 329 Samoan adolescents. The study integrates cultural and biological methods and data, and measures an aspect of immune function (antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus) as a biomarker of psychosocial stress. Results indicate that status "incongruent" adolescents experience significantly more stress (indicated by reduced immune function), and that emerging markers of social status are becoming inextricably linked to "traditional" markers in such a way that discordance between them is a significant source of stress. This study proposes new conceptual models for future studies of culture change and suggests that biomarkers may represent ethnographic tools that can provide insight into hidden cultural dynamics and the experience of stress.

Trends in adolescent males' abortion attitudes, 1988-1995: differences by race and ethnicity.

CONTEXT: Studying how adolescent males view abortion and how their attitudes toward abortion have changed over time can improve our understanding of the sexual, contraceptive and abortion behavior of these males and their partners. METHODS: Data from the 1988 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males are used to describe changes in young males' attitudes toward abortion over time, as well as differences in abortion attitudes by race and ethnicity. Multivariate models are used to examine the relationship between religiosity and abortion attitudes. RESULTS: Between 1988 and 1995, young males' approval of abortion decreased significantly. In 1995, 24% of U.S. males aged 15-19 agreed that it was all right for a woman to have an abortion "for any reason," down from 37% in 1988. This decrease was driven almost entirely by non-Hispanic white males; there was little change in the abortion attitudes of non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics. The decrease in white males' approval of abortion coincides with a significant increase in the self-reported importance of religion and in the proportion of whites who identified themselves as born-again Christians. The proportion of non-Hispanic white males indicating that religion was very important increased from 28% in 1988 to 34% in 1995, while the proportion identifying themselves as born-again increased from 18% to 24%. Multivariate analyses indicate that religiosity was more strongly related to the abortion attitudes of non-Hispanic whites than to those of Hispanics or non-Hispanic blacks. CONCLUSIONS: The large decrease in approval of abortion among white teenage males has closed the racial and ethnic gap in attitudes toward abortion that was evident in 1988, when such youth held significantly more liberal attitudes toward abortion than did either Hispanics or blacks. This trend toward more conservative abortion-related attitudes among whites coincides with increasingly conservative attitudes regarding premarital sex and greater religiosity among white male adolescents.

The choice between Chinese medicine and Western medicine practitioners by Hong Kong adolescents.

A survey of 3,355 Hong Kong adolescent students showed that the prevalence of TCM clinic consultation in a three-month period was 8.6%. Among students who sought doctor consultation in a three-month period, 17.8% consulted a TCM doctor. Students who sought doctor consultation for fall-related injuries were more likely to have consulted TCM doctors only, while those for skin disease were more likely to have consulted both TCM and western doctors. Perceived cost, efficacy, trust of western doctors and socioeconomic factors were not associated with choice of doctor type. Our findings are different from those on Hong Kong adults' use of health care services as reported in other studies.