Facing Interpersonal Violence: Identifying the Coping Profile of Poly-Victimized Resilient Adolescents.

Coping strategies are factors that mediate the relationship between interpersonal victimizations and psychological maladjustment. The objectives are as follows: (a) to establish the coping profile of adolescents according to the number of reported interpersonal victimizations; (b) to identify the most victimized adolescents (poly-victims), detecting those with psychological symptoms (nonresilient poly-victims) and those without psychological symptoms (resilient poly-victims), and then to examine any differences in coping strategies between the two groups; (c) to determine the accumulative effect of victimizations on mental health; and (d) to test the mediating role of both approach and avoidance coping between lifetime interpersonal victimizations and symptoms. Participants were 918 community Spanish adolescents (62.7% girls) aged between 14 and 18 years. Measures used were Youth Self-Report, Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire, and Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences. The following results were reported: (a) The most victimized adolescents used to a greater degree avoidance coping strategies than nonvictimized adolescents. (b) Resilient poly-victimized adolescents were more likely to seek family support and tended to use more positive reappraisal than nonresilient poly-victimized adolescents. (c) A clear cumulative effect of victimizations on mental health was observed: 45% of the most victimized adolescents (poly-victims) reached clinical range on Youth Self-Report in front of 2% of nonvictimized adolescents. (d) Avoidance coping and more specifically Escaping and Venting feelings strategies played a mediating role between interpersonal victimizations and psychological symptoms. Approach coping had no mediating role, except for Positive reappraisal in girls. In conclusion, the possibility of identifying the coping profile of victimized adolescents may have clinical implications in terms of both prevention and intervention.

Adolescents' Daily Perception of Internalizing Emotional States by Means of Smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment.

This study uses ecological momentary assessment (EMA) with smartphone devices to examine community adolescents' perceptions regarding both the intensity of and variability in their daily sadness/depression, anxiety, and somatic problems over the period of one week. Participants were 90 high-school students (M age = 14.61, SD = 1.64; range 12-18). The sample was divided according to gender (61.1% girls), migratory status (68.5% Spanish nationals and 31.5% Latin American immigrants), and level of psychological symptoms (17% risk group). Sadness/depression, anxiety, and somatic problems were examined using a smartphone app, five times per day, semi-randomly, for seven days (35 possible moments). A high proportion of adolescents did not report feelings of sadness (80.0%) or worry (79.3%) or physical symptoms on a daily basis (84.9%). Girls and the risk group reported greater intensity levels for the three analyzed problems than did boys and the normal group, respectively (p .05 in all cases). Day-to-day fluctuations in mood during the week were statistically significant but not meaningful (b = 0.0004, 95% CI [0.0001, 0.0008], p = .001).

Adolescents' daily perception of internalizing emotional states by means of smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment

This study uses ecological momentary assessment (EMA) with smartphone devices to examine community adolescents’ perceptions regarding both the intensity of and variability in their daily sadness/depression, anxiety, and somatic problems over the period of one week. Participants were 90 high-school students (Mage = 14.61, SD = 1.64; range 12-18). The sample was divided according to gender (61.1% girls), migratory status (68.5% Spanish nationals and 31.5% Latin American immigrants), and level of psychological symptoms (17% risk group). Sadness/depression, anxiety, and somatic problems were examined using a smartphone app, five times per day, semi-randomly, for seven days (35 possible moments). A high proportion of adolescents did not report feelings of sadness (80.0%) or worry (79.3%) or physical symptoms on a daily basis (84.9%). Girls and the risk group reported greater intensity levels for the three analyzed problems than did boys and the normal group, respectively (p < .001 in all cases). Migratory status was not associated with any significant differences in the analyzed problems over the one-week period (p > .05 in all cases). Day-to-day fluctuations in mood during the week were statistically significant but not meaningful (b = 0.0004, 95% CI [0.0001, 0.0008], p = .001) (AU)

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Ecological Momentary Assessment with smartphones for measuring mental health problems in adolescents.

AIM: To analyze the viability of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) for measuring the mental states associated with psychopathological problems in adolescents. METHODS: In a sample of 110 adolescents, a sociodemographic data survey and an EMA Smartphone application over a one-week period (five times each day), was developed to explore symptom profiles, everyday problems, coping strategies, and the contexts in which the events take place. RESULTS: The positive response was 68.6%. Over 2250 prompts about mental states were recorded. In 53% of situations the smartphone was answered at home, 25.5% of cases they were with their parents or with peers (20.3%). Associations were found with attention, affective and anxiety problems (P < 0.001) in the participants who took longer to respond to the EMA app. Anxious and depressive states were highly interrelated (rho = 0.51, P < 0.001), as well as oppositional defiant problems and conduct problems (rho = 0.56, P < 0.001). Only in 6.2% of the situations the subjects perceived they had problems, mainly associated with inter-relational aspects with family, peers, boyfriends or girlfriends (31.2%). We also found moderate-high reliability on scales of satisfaction level on the context, on positive emotionality, and on the discomfort index associated with mental health problems. CONCLUSION: EMA methodology using smartphones is a useful tool for understanding adolescents' daily dynamics. It achieved moderate-high reliability and accurately identified psychopathological manifestations experienced by community adolescents in their natural context.

Post-traumatic stress problems among poly-victimized Spanish youth: time effect of past vs. recent interpersonal victimizations.

The cumulative effect of lifetime interpersonal victimization experiences (e.g., child maltreatment, sexual victimizations, conventional crime, witnessing indirect victimization, peer and sibling victimizations) on posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms is an important topic in the scientific literature. The objectives of the present study were: (a) to analyze the relationship between lifetime interpersonal victimizations and PTS symptoms, (b) to determine the most prevalent specific PTS symptoms among poly-victimized adolescents, and (c) to establish the time-based effect of interpersonal victimization experiences that occurred in the last year versus those that occurred years before on current level of PTS symptoms. Gender differences were taken into account for each of these objectives. Participants were 823 Spanish adolescents (63% girls and 37% boys) between 14 and 18 years of age recruited from May 2010 to November 2011 from schools in Barcelona, Spain. The majority (87.6%) was of Spanish nationality. The results highlighted the cumulative effect of interpersonal victimizations on PTS symptoms. Among poly-victims adolescents, the most prevalent PTS symptom was intrusive thoughts, but some differences were observed according to gender. The time-based effect of interpersonal victimizations showed a different pattern for girls and boys. For girls, the victimizing events occurring in past years had more explanatory power of the current PTS symptoms than those that occurred more recently. In boys, the interpersonal victimizing events occurring in the last year had the greater explanatory power. These results may have clinical and therapeutic value.

Predicción de conducta autodestructiva en adolescentes mediante tipologías de afrontamiento / Predicting Self-Destructive Behavior in Adolescents by Means of Coping Typologies

La conducta autodestructiva es un fenómeno prevalente en la adolescencia. El propósito principal del estudio es establecer la asociación entre conducta autodestructiva y tipologías de afrontamiento en adolescentes, detectando los perfiles de mayor riesgo. Un propósito previo y adicional es determinar la presencia de conducta autodestructiva en un rango subclínico/clínico, según género. A partir de una muestra total de 1.400 alumnos de Enseñanza General Básica con edades entre 12 y 16 años y utilizando un diseño transversal, los resultados indican que un 15% de los adolescentes refiere conductas autodestructivas dentro de un rango subclínico y/o clínico, no existiendo diferencias de género. Los adolescentes con mayor probabilidad de referir conducta autodestructiva son los pertenecientes a la tipología evitadora, caracterizada por sobreutilizar las estrategias de evitación en detrimento de las de aproximación. Las tipologías de afrontamiento se han mostrado más útiles en la predicción de conductas autodestructivas que la clásica dicotomía aproximación/evitación. Los resultados de este estudio pueden tener implicaciones a nivel de prevención y de tratamiento.

Self-destructive behavior is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly prevalent among adolescents. The main objective of this study is to establish in Spanish communitarian adolescents the association between self-destructive behavior and coping typologies, detecting higher risk profiles. A previous and additional objective is to determine the presence of self-destructive behavior in a subclinical/clinical range according to gender. From a sample of 1400 high school students between 12 and 16 years the results of this cross-sectional study indicate that 15% of adolescents reports self-destructive behavior in a subclinical or clinical level. No gender differences were observed. The adolescents with higher risk of self-destructive behavior are those belonging to the avoidance typology, characterized by the overuse of avoidance coping responses at the expense of those of approach. Coping typologies are more useful in predicting the risk of self-destructive behavior than the typical approach/avoidance dichotomy. The results of this study may have important implications for the prevention and treatment of self-destructive behaviors in adolescents at risk.