Peer sexual harassment, appearance esteem, and emotional problems: Testing a mediation model across early adolescence.

This study used a longitudinal sample of early adolescent boys and girls (ages 10-12; N = 1113) to test a theoretically and empirically informed model suggesting that exposure to peer sexual harassment (age 10) predicts more emotional problems (age 12), and that lower appearance esteem (age 11) mediates this relation. On the within-person level, which is the level on which the processes theoretically should play out, we found no support for the proposed mediation model for boys or for girls. Unexpectedly, we found that following times of more exposure to peer sexual harassment than usual, early adolescents instead experienced higher appearance esteem and fewer emotional problems than usual. More research is needed to replicate and understand these unexpected findings.

Study protocol for leaving care-A comparison study of implementation, change mechanisms and effectiveness of transition services for youth.

INTRODUCTION: Youth placed in out-of-home care is a large and highly vulnerable group at high risk of negative developmental outcomes. Given the size and extent of negative developmental outcomes for youth placed in out-of-home care, interventions to help this vulnerable group navigate successfully towards independent living and promote wellbeing across a spectrum of outcome areas are needed. To date, there is a lack of such interventions, particularly in Sweden. Importing interventions from other societies and cultures is associated with difficulties. The aim of the research project is to implement, test, and evaluate interventions that have been recently developed in Swedish practice to close this gap. METHODS: The project has an ambitious and complex data collection and analysis strategy using qualitative, quantitative, and multiple information methods (hybrid effectiveness-implementation study) over the course of two years. Both the implementation and effectiveness of the interventions will be evaluated. The recently developed My Choice-My Way! leaving care program for youth aged 15+ will be the primary focus of the project and will be compared to usual services. CONCLUSIONS: The project has the potential to offer novel insights into how society can promote wellbeing across a spectrum of outcome areas for the high-risk group of youth transitioning from out-of-home care to independent living. As such, the project will have important implications for both research and practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05813197.

Peer sexual harassment among 10-year-olds: Roles, genders, classroom occurrence, and associations with emotional problems.

This is the first study examining peer sexual harassment among 10-year-olds (N = 985), studying how being a victim, perpetrator, or witness relates to emotional problems, and how these associations are moderated by gender and class occurrence of sexual harassment. Results showed that 45% of the participants reported victimization, 17% perpetration, and 60% witnessing sexual harassment, with vast overlaps between roles. Victimization and witnessing were related to more emotional problems. Victimized girls reported more emotional problems than boys, but girls who perpetrated reported fewer emotional problems than boys. Associations between peer sexual harassment and emotional problems varied across classrooms. Our findings highlight the occurrence of peer sexual harassment in younger ages, emphasizing an ecological perspective when addressing it in school.

The interplay between parental behaviors and adolescents' sports-related values in understanding adolescents' dropout of organized sports activities.

Using short-term longitudinal data, the primary goal of the present study was to examine the interplay between adolescents' sports-related intrapersonal (e.g., sports values) and interpersonal factors (e.g., perceived parental involvement) in relation to sports dropout. A secondary goal was to explore the direction of effects in the association between intra- and interpersonal factors. A total of 420 adolescents (39% girls, Mage = 14.06; SDage = 0.33) responded to a set of survey questions over two consecutive years. Results from structural equation modeling suggested that parental involvement predicted adolescents' dropout one year later, via sports values. Further, the results suggested that the direction of influence is mainly from parents to adolescents. Overall, the findings indicate that adolescents whose parents attend their practices and games perceive sports activities as fun, important and useful; as a result, adolescents are less likely to dropout. The findings offer an improved understanding of how parents' behaviors may influence adolescents' dropout of organized sports.

Unexcused absence from physical education in elementary school. On the role of autonomous motivation and body image factors.

Physical education (PE) is an essential school subject due to its potential to promote well-being and health in all children. Yet, PE stands out among other subjects in terms of truancy. This study is one of the first to examine if unexcused absence from PE is associated with early adolescents' body image and autonomous motivation towards PE. A total of 526 Swedish 6th graders (Mage = 12.28, SD = 0.31) reported the frequency of unexcused absence from PE and answered questions about aesthetic and functional body image, social physique anxiety, and autonomous motivation. Findings showed that unexcused absence from PE was associated with less autonomous motivation and higher social physique anxiety. Participants who had never been absent reported higher functional body image investment and satisfaction. Analyses showed that whereas the aesthetic aspects of body image were associated with decreased autonomous motivation toward PE, functional aspects predicted higher autonomous motivation. The study sheds novel light on the links between absence from PE, body image, and autonomous motivation. As absence may have real-life practical effects for school achievement, health, and well-being, the findings demonstrate the importance of mitigating social physique anxiety and promoting an inclusive and body positive PE context early on.

Study protocol for a mixed-design evaluation of self-assured parents - A parenting support program for immigrant parents living in deprived areas in Sweden with teenage children.

Background: Immigrant parents of adolescents experience challenges in their role as parents in the new country and express a need for parental support. Still, they are underrepresented in existing parenting programs and when they do attend, their parenting practices improve less than what they do among native parents. Self-assured parents (SAP; Swe. Trygga Föräldrar) targets immigrant parents living in deprived areas in Sweden who worry about their adolescents' adjustment. This study's purposes are to examine if SAP is a feasible intervention in Swedish municipalities and if SAP is effective in reaching its aims, namely to promote parental self-efficacy and parent-adolescent communication and to reduce parents' worries in the target group. Methods: SAP will be evaluated when implemented by social workers in three Swedish municipalities using a culturally-informed mixed design procedure. Parents will be recruited to the program by local social workers. Groups leaders will be interviewed, observed, and they will fill out self-reports to measure implementation quality, including fidelity and acceptability. A group of parents will be interviewed to better understand their perceived challenges and needs in their parenting in Sweden and their experience of participating in SAP. An interrupted time series design with three measurements before, two measurements during, and two measurements after the intervention has ended will be employed using self-reports of parental self-efficacy, parent-child communication, and parents' worries. Informed consent will be collected from all study participants. Discussion: Immigrant parents living in deprived areas is an understudied and marginalized population. There is a lack of culturally-informed, evidence-based parenting programs aimed at this group in Sweden. The need for specifically developed programs for immigrant parents living in deprived areas with teenage children, has been voiced by both immigrant parents themselves and the Swedish government. Thus, this study will contribute not only to the scientific literature, but also to social service practice and potentially policy making.

Swedish middle school students' psychosocial well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study.

Child well-being concerns amidst the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported from countries with strict lockdowns and school closures. Sweden's middle school students attended school as normal during the pandemic, but it is still unknown how their well-being has changed during the pandemic. This study aimed to assess differences in Swedish students' psychosocial well-being from before to during the pandemic. Longitudinal data (N = 849) were collected via self-report surveys across two time-points separated by approximately one year. The second data collection took place 8-9 months after the start of the pandemic in Sweden. We measured psychological adjustment, relationships to significant others and school adjustment. Findings revealed significant mean-level decreases in students' school adjustment during the pandemic. There were no meaningful mean-level decreases in students' relationships to significant others. Students' psychological adjustment showed significant but mostly negligible mean-level decreases, and no differences in emotional problems during the pandemic. The findings are explained based on students' developmental stage and the handling of the pandemic in the Swedish school context. Based on this first longitudinal study on students' wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conclude that Swedish middle school students who continued formal schooling show mainly positive adaptations, and thus appear to be resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of noninstitutional psychosocial interventions to prevent juvenile criminal recidivism.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of noninstitutional psychosocial interventions in preventing recidivism among criminal adolescents. METHOD: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials assessing the impact on recidivism among juveniles aged 12-17. The included studies had a low to medium risk of bias and were published between 2000 and 2019. Standardized mean differences or risk differences were calculated. RESULTS: We included 35 (20 randomized, 15 nonrandomized) studies evaluating 17 unique, noninstitutional psychosocial interventions. A meta-analysis found no significant reductions in recidivism for studied interventions compared to control conditions. Although single studies suggested some positive effects, the evidence provided by these studies was found to have very low certainty. Post hoc analyses indicated that studies including a low-intensity control condition might have stronger relative intervention effects compared to studies with medium or high-intensity control conditions. CONCLUSION: This systematic review did not find any one noninstitutional psychosocial intervention to be more effective than control treatments in reducing future criminality among juvenile offenders aged 12-17. We discuss the implications of the present findings for social work and child and adolescent psychiatry practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Does the Delivery System Matter? The Scaling-Out of a School-Based Resilience Curriculum to the Social Services Sector.

Background: The context is highly relevant to the implementation of new health-related programs and is an implicit or explicit part of the major implementation models in the literature. The Resilience Curriculum (RESCUR) program was developed to foster the psychosocial development of children in early and primary education. RESCUR seeks specifically to decrease children's vulnerability. It aims to promote the emotional and social learning of children who may be at risk of leaving school pre-maturely, social exclusion and mental-health problems. The program is taught using a teachers' manual to support consistency of delivery, a parents' guide, and a resource package. This study aimed to examine the scaling-out of RESCUR to social services, and specifically to test if implementation differs between the school and social services sectors. Methods: RESCUR was implemented in schools and social services in Sweden 2017-2019. Data were collected via group leaders' self-reports and observation protocols for 3 months after implementation started. There were 34 self-reports from schools, and 12 from the social services sector; 30 observation protocols were collected from schools, and 10 from social services. We examined whether there were differences in implementation outcomes (in, for example, dosage, duration, fidelity, adaptation, quality of delivery) between the two delivery systems. Descriptive statistics were prepared and non-parametric tests of significance conducted to compare implementation-related factors across the two settings. Results: Analyses of both the observation protocols and group leaders' self-reports revealed that RESCUR was well-implemented in both schools and social services. The results showed a few significant differences in the outcomes of implementation between the sectors. First, regarding observations, school staff more often adapted the pace of RESCUR lessons to ensure that the children could understand than did social services staff (p < 0.01). Second, social services staff demonstrated greater interest in students and sensitivity to the needs of individual students than did school staff (p = 0.02). Regarding self-reports, social services staff reported having delivered more (p = 0.4) and longer (p < 0.01) lessons than did school staff. Second, school staff reported greater fidelity to (p = 0.02) and less adaptation of (p < 0.01) the intervention than did social services staff. Both observations and self-reports, however, indicated a high fidelity of implementation. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that the resilience program, designed for delivery in schools, can be scaled-out to social services with its implementation outcomes retained. Further research is needed to test the effectiveness of the program regarding child health-related outcomes. Clinical Trial Registration: National Institute of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03655418. Registered August 31, 2018.

Immigrant and Swedish adolescents' involvement in organized sports activities: an expectancy-value approach.

BACKGROUND: Drawing on Eccles' expectancy-value model, we investigated the associations between parents' sports-related socialization behaviors in the family context, youth's sports' values, and youth's involvement in organized sports activities in the Nordic countries. More specifically, we tested the mediating effect of youth's sports' values on the link between socialization of sports in the family setting and youth's sports participation. Further, we examined whether any associations were moderated by youth's immigrant background or gender. METHODS: Immigrant and Nordic adolescents (N = 678), in 7th-8th grade, were followed over two consecutive years and responded to surveys during regular class hours. RESULTS: Supporting Eccles' model, we found that sports-related family co-activities significantly predicted youth's prospective sports-related behaviors through youth's sports' values. The mediation process was robust across both Nordic and immigrant youth and adolescent girls and boys. Further, our results revealed that parents' role modeling of sports activities was linked to both the amount of time youth currently spend on sports and their continuation in sports through youth's sports' values, although these associations were only significant for immigrant youth. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings offer insights into how participation in organized sports activities can be promoted among both immigrant and Nordic youth and among boys and girls. Most importantly, the findings may have valuable implications for researchers, policymakers and practitioners interested in promoting youth's involvement in organized sports activities. This especially applies to immigrant youth, given that the literature consistently reports lower sports involvement among immigrant youth than their native counterparts.

The Role of the Family's Emotional Climate in the Links between Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning.

The current study was designed to extend the parenting literature by testing the moderating role of the family's emotional climate, operationalized with parent-adolescent emotional closeness and adolescent feelings of being overly controlled by parents on the longitudinal associations between parent-driven communication efforts (i.e. parental behavioral control and solicitation of information from their adolescent), adolescent-driven communication efforts (i.e. adolescent disclosure and secrecy) and adolescent psychosocial functioning (i.e. emotional problems, conduct problems, delinquency, and wellbeing). We conducted a series of cross-lagged models controlling for adolescent gender and ethnicity using a two-wave Swedish longitudinal set of self-report data (N = 1515, 51% girls, M age = 13.0 and 14.3 years at T1 and T2, respectively). Multi-group analyses revealed that the negative links between T1 parental control and T2 adolescent delinquency, T1 parental solicitation and T2 adolescent conduct problems and delinquency, and T1 emotional problems and T2 adolescent disclosure were moderated by the family's emotional climate. When the family's emotional climate was positive, the parenting strategies had a more positive effect on adolescent psychosocial functioning, and adolescents with emotional problems communicated more openly with their parents. These findings suggest that the relational context in the family is an important protective factor and add specificity to the previously established role of parent-adolescent communication in adolescent psychosocial development. In terms of preventive interventions, strategies to enhance the family's emotional climate should be considered prior to teaching specific parenting strategies.

The role of relational support in the longitudinal links between adolescent sexual harassment victimization and psychological health.

The links between sexual harassment victimization and aspects of psychopathology are well-established in adolescent research, but whether sexual harassment victimization undermines positive aspects of psychological health and the moderating role of relational support in the link between sexual harassment victimization and psychological ill-health remains unknown. Using a cross-lagged model, we examined (a) the bidirectional and longitudinal links between sexual harassment victimization and adolescent psychological health (emotional problems and well-being) and (b) the moderating role of relational support from parents, teachers, and peers (best friends and classmates) in the link between sexual harassment victimization and adolescent psychological health. We used two waves of self-reported data (separated by 1 year) from 676 Swedish adolescents (50% female; mean age = 13.85 years at the point of first data collection). Controlling for the effects of gender and subjective socioeconomic status, the cross-lagged model revealed that sexual harassment predicted emotional problems positively and well-being negatively. Moreover, well-being predicted sexual harassment negatively. Relational support from classmates moderated the link in the direction from sexual harassment victimization to emotional problems. Relational support did not moderate the link to well-being. The findings provide new and important insights into the role of sexual harassment victimization in adolescent psychological adjustment and potential approaches to intervention.

Does one Size Fit All?-Linking Parenting With Adolescent Substance Use and Adolescent Temperament.

Using longitudinal Swedish data from 1,373 early-adolescent youths, this study aims to answer the question of whether the previously established protective function of parental knowledge and its sources-adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control-on substance use among early-adolescents is moderated by the adolescent's temperament. Adolescent temperament moderated several links between parental knowledge and its sources and adolescent substance use. The most pronounced moderating results were found for those adolescents with fearless, socially detached and thrill-seeking tendencies. For these "detached thrill-seekers", bidirectional links between adolescent disclosure and substance use, and negative links between parental solicitation and substance use were found. We recommend, therefore, that adolescent temperament is considered when designing parenting programs.

Study protocol for PRISE: a longitudinal study of sexual harassment during the transition from childhood to adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Sexual harassment is a widespread problem with serious consequences for individuals and societies. It is likely that sexual harassment among peers has its main onset during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence, when young people enter puberty. However, there is a lack of systematic research on sexual harassment during this developmental period. Thus, there is very little information about the prevalence of sexual harassment during this important transition, its consequences, and how to effectively intervene against and prevent the problem. The primary objective of the described project, entitled Peer Relations In School from an Ecological perspective (PRISE), is to examine sexual harassment and its developmental correlates during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence. METHODS: The PRISE study has a longitudinal design over 3 years, in which a cohort of children (N = 1000) and their main teachers (N = 40) fill out questionnaires in grades 4, 5, and 6. The questionnaires assess aspects of peer sexual harassment and potential correlates including biological (e.g., pubertal development), psychosocial (e.g., self-assertiveness, self-image, peer relations), and contextual (e.g., classroom climate, norms) factors. In addition, we will examine school readiness and policies in relation to sexual harassment and collect register data to assess the number of reports of sexual harassment from the participating schools. DISCUSSION: The PRISE study will enable the researchers to answer fundamental, unresolved questions about the development of sexual harassment and thus advance the very limited understanding of sexual harassment during the transition from childhood to adolescence - a central period for physical, sexual, and social development. Due to the sensitive nature of the main research concepts, and the age of the participants, the ethical aspects of the research need particular attention. Ultimately, the hope is that the PRISE study will help researchers, policy makers, and practitioners develop, and implement, knowledge that may help in combating a major, current societal challenge and adverse aspect of young people's developmental ecologies.

Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Delinquency: Unraveling Within-Family Processes from Between-Family Differences.

Understanding the factors that predict adolescent delinquency is a key topic in parenting research. An open question is whether prior results indicating relative differences between families reflect the dynamic processes occurring within families. Therefore, this study investigated concurrent and lagged associations among parental behavioral control, parental solicitation, adolescent disclosure, and adolescent delinquency by separating between-family and within-family effects in three-wave annual data (N = 1515; Mage = 13.01 years at T1; 50.6% girls). At the within-family level, parental behavioral control negatively predicted adolescent delinquency. Adolescent disclosure and delinquency, and adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation, reciprocally predicted each other. Parental solicitation negatively predicted parental behavioral control. The findings indicate a prominent role of adolescent disclosure in within-family processes concerning parental-adolescent communication and adolescent delinquency.

Aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship and associations with adolescent risk behaviors over time.

Parents' actions and knowledge of adolescents' whereabouts play key roles in preventing risk behaviors in early adolescence, but what enables parents to know about their adolescents' activities and what links there are to adolescent risk behaviors, such as substance use and delinquent behavior, remain unclear. In this study, we investigated whether different aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship predict parental knowledge, and we examined the direct and indirect longitudinal associations between these aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents' self-reported delinquent behavior and substance use. The participants were 550 parents and their adolescent children from two small and two midsized municipalities in Sweden. Parental data were collected when the adolescents were 13 years old (mean), and adolescent data on risk behaviors were collected on two occasions, when they were 13 and 14 years of age (mean). Structural path analyses revealed that adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control predicted parental knowledge, with adolescent disclosure being the strongest source of parental knowledge and the strongest negative predictor of adolescent risk behaviors. Parenting competence and adolescents' connectedness to parents were indirectly, through adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation and parental control, associated with substance use and delinquent behavior. Some paths differed for boys and girls. In conclusion, confident parenting and a close parent-adolescent relationship in which adolescent disclosure is promoted, seem protective of adolescent engagement in risk behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Design and implementation of RESCUR in Sweden for promoting resilience in children: a study protocol.

BACKGROUND: This research program aims to investigate the implementation and effects of a theoretically promising prevention method. It is being developed in a European research collaboration within a Comenius project (2012-2015) between 6 European universities (in Malta, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Portugal and Sweden) with the purpose of enhancing European children's resilience. METHODS/DESIGN: RESCUR in Sweden consists in a RCT study of the Resilience Curriculum (RESCUR) that is taking place in Sweden 2017-2019. The study is being performed by Junis, IOGT-NTO's Junior Association, part of IOGT International, in conjunction with researchers at Göteborg, Umeå and Stockholm universities, and is being funded by the Public Health Agency of Sweden. Around 1000 children of the ages 7-12 will, through their schools and associations, or via groups in social services, be acquainted with the material. Children will learn and practice mindfulness, storytelling, group discussions and much more, all designed to strengthen protective factors and increase their resilience. The program also involves parents, who are taking part in the work to reinforce children's protective factors. Based on the work with groups of children, an effectiveness study including children aged 7-12 in school classes, with randomized and controlled pre- and post-measurements, self-rating questionnaires and group observations is being performed. The program will also be implemented in a non-governmental organization and in groups in social services. The study also investigates forms of implementation. DISCUSSION: The design of the study will enable the researchers to answer five research questions by using a mixed-methods approach. Implementation will be studied, which is a necessary prerequisite for an effect study. Moreover, the research procedure has been tailored to the target group, with age-appropriate measures as well as multiple informants, which will produce high-quality data for analysis. A special ethical challenge is the study of young children, and efforts to give children a voice have been included in the program. This project is regarded as having good potential to benefit children in general, and particularly children in vulnerable positions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: National Institute of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03655418. Registered August 31, 2018.

Resistance training is linked to heightened positive motivational state and lower negative affect among healthy women aged 65-70.

Resistance training (RT) improves overall health, but the psychological effects of RT in healthy old adults have not been tested. The aim of this study was to investigate a sample of 65-70-year-old healthy and physically active women to assess their sense of coherence, health-related quality of life, hope, and affect, before and after taking part in a 24-week RT intervention (N = 14), compared to controls (N = 18). Findings showed a significant increase in hope (p = 0.013) and a significant decrease in negative affect (p = 0.002). Starting RT after age 65 does not appear to negatively impact on women's psychological health but seems to be associated with important psychological health benefits.

Enabling relationship formation, development, and closure in a one-year female mentoring program at a non-governmental organization: a mixed-method study.

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems among young women aged 16-24 have increased significantly in recent decades, and interventions are called for. Mentoring is a well-established preventative/promotive intervention for developing adolescents, but we have yet to fully understand how the relationship between the mentor and the protégé forms, develops, and closes. In this study, we focused on a female mentoring program implemented by a Swedish non-governmental organization, The Girls Zone. First, we examined the psychological and social characteristics of the young women who chose to take part in the program as protégés. Second, we investigated adolescent female protégés' own experiences of the relationship process based on a relational-cultural theory perspective. METHODS: The mixed-method study included 52 questionnaires and five semi-structured interviews with young women aged 15-26 who had contacted The Girls Zone between 2010 and 2012 in order to find a mentor. Their experience of the mentoring relationships varied in duration. Data were analysed statistically and with inductive qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The group of protégés was heterogeneous in that some had poor mental health and some had good mental health. On the other hand, the group was homogenous in that all its members had shown pro-active self-care by actively seeking out the program due to experiences of loneliness and a need to meet and talk with a person who could listen to them. The relationships were initially characterized by feelings of nervousness and ambivalence. However, after some time, these developed into authentic, undemanding, non-hierarchical relationships on the protégés' terms. The closure of relationships aroused feelings of both abandonment and developing strength. CONCLUSIONS: Mentorships that are in line with perspectives of the relational-cultural theory meet the relationship needs expressed by the female protégés. Mentor training should focus on promoting skills such as active listening and respect for the protégé based on an engaged, empathic, and authentic approach in a non-hierarchical relationship. These insights have the potential to inform interventions in several arenas where young women create authentic relationships with older persons, such as in school, in traditional health care contexts, and in youth recreation centres.

Understanding the Link Between Pubertal Timing in Girls and the Development of Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Sexual Harassment.

The link between sexual maturation, or pubertal timing, in girls and adolescent depressive symptoms is well-documented, but the underlying processes remain unclear. We examined whether sexual harassment, which has previously been linked to both pubertal timing and depressive symptoms, mediates this link, using a two-wave longitudinal study including 454 girls in 7th (M age  = 13.42, SD = .53) and 8th grade (M age  = 14.42, SD = .55). Pubertal timing was linked to depressive symptoms in both age groups, and predicted an increase in depressive symptoms among the 7th graders. Sexual harassment significantly mediated the link between pubertal timing and depressive symptoms among the 7th, but not the 8th grade girls. Together, our findings suggest that one way to prevent depressive symptoms among early-maturing girls could be to address sexual harassment in preventive intervention in early adolescence.