Gender role attitudes and well-being of German and refugee adolescents-same or different?

BACKGROUND: Assumed differences in gender role attitudes (GRAs) of German adolescents and refugee adolescents from the Middle East are often discussed, but rarely investigated. Presumed differences in GRAs across cultures and genders are assumed to be involved in emerging gender differences in well-being and mental health symptoms. Overall, appropriate measurements for investigating GRAs of adolescents with different cultural backgrounds are scarce. METHODS: Hence, the present study exemplarily investigates (1) the measurement invariance (MI) of a German translation of the Social Role Questionnaire (SRQ) for German (n = 114) and German-speaking Middle Eastern refugee adolescents from Syria, Afghanistan, or Iraq (n = 115), using a Multiple Indicator Multiple Cause (MIMIC) model to account for age and gender. Moreover, (2) differences between GRAs of both groups, (3) relationships of GRAs with different facets of affective well-being, as well as (4) differences in these relationships between German and refugee adolescents are examined by extending the MIMIC-model to a full structural equation model (SEM). RESULTS: Results indicate (1) that scalar MI for the SRQ can be assumed. Furthermore, (2) German adolescents show less traditional gender-linked GRAs than refugee adolescents, but no further differences in GRAs. Furthermore, no differences between the relationships of GRAs with well-being and mental health symptoms were found between the groups (4). Also, (3) GRAs showed no relation with any of the outcomes, but gender and age predicted mental health symptoms. CONCLUSION: The findings show that the SRQ is a useful measurement for investigating the GRAs of adolescents living in Germany and could be used in further cross-cultural research.

Process-Oriented Measurement of Emotion Regulation: General and Specific Associations With Psychosocial Adjustment and Well-Being in (Pre-)Adolescence.

The development of emotion regulation (ER) is associated with children's and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment and well-being. In this regard, previous studies have examined the role of different ER strategies, which can be characterized as being functional (e.g., reappraisal, problem solving) or dysfunctional (e.g., suppression, rumination). Based on the process model of emotion regulation, the strategies can also be classified according to their temporal position within the emotion generative process, with five families of ER strategies being proposed: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. This study aimed to examine the role of ER for adolescents' psychosocial adjustment (internalizing and externalizing problems, prosocial behavior) and well-being. First, associations were investigated on a more general level by distinguishing between functional and dysfunctional ER. Second, relations were examined on a more specific level by additionally distinguishing between the five families of ER strategies as suggested in the process model of ER. Questionnaire self-reports of N = 1,727 German children and adolescents (55% girls) aged 9-18 years (M = 13.03, SD = 1.75) collected in schools were analyzed. Path analyses showed that more functional and less dysfunctional ER in general is associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and higher well-being. Prosocial behavior was only positively related to functional but not dysfunctional ER. Analyses of associations on the level of specific categories of ER strategies generally showed a similar pattern, but in part indicated differential associations with the dependent variables: Internalizing problems were particularly associated with functional situation selection, dysfunctional cognitive change, and dysfunctional response modulation. Externalizing problems were associated with functional situation selection and response modulation, as well as numerous dysfunctional strategies, none of which were particularly salient. Similarly, numerous rather than single specific associations emerged between prosocial behavior and the five categories of functional ER strategies. Well-being was particularly associated with functional situation selection and dysfunctional cognitive change. Overall, a more precise assessment of ER, as implemented in this study, could not only advance research in this field, but can also be helpful in planning and evaluating prevention and intervention programs.

Polytraumatization in young male refugees from the Middle East and its association with internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Young Middle Eastern male refugees are currently among the most vulnerable groups in Europe. Most of them have experienced potentially traumatic events (PTEs) such as rape, torture, or violent assaults. Compared to their peers, young refugees suffer more from internalizing and externalizing symptoms, especially when unaccompanied. Little is known about the cumulative impact of experiencing different types of PTEs on mental health outcomes (polytraumatization) of young male refugees from the Middle East. We investigated (1) whether there is a dose-response relationship between multiple PTE types experienced and mental health outcomes, (2) whether individual types of PTEs are particularly important, and (3) to what extent these are differentially associated with mental health outcomes among unaccompanied or accompanied peers. METHODS: In total, 151 young Middle Eastern male refugees in Germany (Mage = 16.81 years, SDage = 2.01) answered questionnaires on PTEs, mental health, and post-migration stress. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed, while controlling for age, duration of stay, unaccompanied status, and post-migration stress, (1) a dose-effect between PTE types on both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Moreover, (2) regarding internalizing symptoms, violent family separation and experiencing life-threatening medical problems were particularly crucial. The latter was driven by unaccompanied refugees, who also reported higher levels of substance use. CONCLUSIONS: The results extend findings from the literature and suggest that not only may greater polytraumatization be related to greater depression among refugees, but also to a range of other mental health outcomes from the internalizing and externalizing symptom domains. Furthermore, the results highlight the mental health risks that unaccompanied and accompanied refugee adolescents face after exposure to PTEs, and provide information for practitioners as well as researchers about event types that may be particularly relevant.

The German Version of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents: Associations with Emotion Regulation and Psychosocial Adjustment.

Emotional awareness is an important variable for children's and adolescents' social and emotional development. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties (e.g., factor structure, internal consistencies) of scores on the German translation of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ; Rieffe, Oosterveld, Miers, Meerum Terwogt, & Ly, 2008 ). Furthermore, to examine the concurrent validity, associations of the six subscales (Differentiating Emotions, Verbal Sharing of Emotions, Not Hiding Emotions, Bodily Unawareness, Attending to Others' Emotions, Analyses of Emotions) with emotion regulation, internalizing and externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior were investigated. Questionnaire data of 1,018 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 were analyzed. The proposed six-factor structure was replicated and internal consistencies were satisfactory. Meaningful associations of the six EAQ subscales with emotion regulation and psychosocial adjustment were found, proving the concurrent validity of this questionnaire. In general, higher emotional awareness was associated with more functional emotion regulation and prosocial behavior, and less dysfunctional emotion regulation and internalizing and externalizing problems. Significant gender differences were detected and are discussed. Overall, the findings suggest that the German EAQ is a useful instrument to assess children's and adolescents' emotional awareness.

The observability of problem behavior and its relation to discrepancies between adolescents' self-report and parents' proxy report on problem behavior.

This study provides evidence regarding the relatedness of multi-informant agreement and perceived observability of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Based on 2 distinct but comparable samples of children/adolescents (Sample 1: 58.2% female and mean age of 12.51 years; Sample 2: 56.4% female and mean age of 12.35 years) and their mothers, cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analyses were conducted. Although often suggested in the literature, the results of the study do not indicate that-in general-internalizing behavior is less observable than externalizing behavior. Moreover, the results do not corroborate the suggestion that multi-informant agreement regarding internalizing behavior is lower than that of externalizing behavior. However, apart from the broad distinction of internalizing versus externalizing behavior, observability and multi-informant agreement are positively correlated with respect to reports on actual state (cross-sectional) as well as change (longitudinal) of problem behavior. The results are discussed in the context of research on multi-informant reports on problem behavior and with respect to practical implications for the assessment of problem behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record