Resistance and Work in Adolescent Groups

This paper examines the nature and function of resistance in adolescent groups and suggests that resistance can be better understood in the context of (a) stages of group development, and (b) work/resistance cycles which are the central mechanism of tension regulation in the group.     

Emotion Socialization in the Context of Risk and Psychopathology: Mother and Father Socialization of Anger and Sadness in Adolescents with Depressive Disorder

This study examined parental emotion socialization processes associated with adolescent unipolar depressive disorder. Adolescent participants (N = 107; 42 boys) were selected either to meet criteria for current unipolar depressive disorder or to be psychologically healthy as defined by no lifetime history of psychopathology or mental health treatment and low levels of current depressive symptomatology. A multi‐source/method measurement strategy was used to assess mothers’ and fathers’ responses to adolescent sad and angry emotion. Each parent and adolescent completed questionnaire measures of parental emotion socialization behavior, and participated in meta‐emotion interviews and parent‐adolescent interactions. As hypothesized, parents of adolescents with depressive disorder engaged in fewer supportive responses and more unsupportive responses overall relative to parents of non‐depressed adolescents. Between group differences were more pronounced for families of boys, and for fathers relative to mothers. The findings indicate that parent emotion socialization is associated with adolescent depression and highlight the importance of including fathers in studies of emotion socialization, especially as it relates to depression.     

The consequences of adolescent parenthood on men's depression,parental satisfaction,and fertility in adulthood

This study examines some social and emotional consequences of fathering a child during adolescence in the US. Data are obtained from the 1987/88 US National Survey of Families and Households among 13,017 individuals aged 19 years and older and under age 19 if currently married. This study's sample included only men who reported fathering a child before their 30th birthday and were aged 18-40 years at the time of the interview. There were 227 men who fathered a child before the age of 20 years (Fathered as Teen--FAT) and 1032 men who fathered a child between their 20th and 30th birthday (Fathered as Adult--FAA). Outcome measures include depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) and parental satisfaction. Control variables are race, age, number of children, and socioeconomic status. Fertility is a control and a dependent variable. The FAT group had a smaller percentage of marriages, a greater percentage of never married, and a greater percentage of second and third marriages. 32% of the FAT group and only 17% of the FAA group were Blacks. 57% of the FAT group and 72% of the FAA were Whites. The evidence from multiple regression analysis using ordinary least squares techniques supports the hypothesis that adolescent fathers, like adolescent mothers, experience similar long-term outcomes of greater depression and fertility compared to men who become parents "on-time" during their 20s. Limitations to the study are the lack of control for the degree of contact with first-born children, educational status, and standardized measures with group norms. The authors furthermore caution that the study sample may not be representative of men who fathered as adolescents and does not consider mediating factors such as social supports during adulthood. However, the finding that adolescent men and women are more subject to depression regardless of socioeconomic status, race, fertility, or age warrants appropriate intervention strategies.     

The effect of mothers’ emotion‐related responses to adolescent disclosures and adolescent perspective taking on the timing of future disclosures

Adolescent disclosure to parents is an important feature of high‐quality parent–adolescent relationships and is associated with positive adolescent adjustment. However, no studies have examined parental emotion‐related responses (ERRs) to disclosures and adolescent dispositional characteristics that may facilitate or inhibit adolescent disclosures during real‐time conversations. The present study tested (a) which maternal ERRs to adolescent disclosures predicted quicker subsequent disclosures during mother–adolescent conversations, and (b) whether adolescent perspective taking moderated these associations. Adolescent disclosures and maternal ERRs were coded moment‐to‐moment during a problem‐solving discussion and adolescents reported on their perspective taking. Multilevel Generalized Linear Mixed‐Effects Models revealed that maternal interest and validation predicted the shortest lag times compared with other maternal ERRs, controlling for adolescent age, gender, total durations of maternal ERRs, and total frequency and duration of adolescent disclosures. Adolescent perspective taking moderated associations between maternal ERRs to adolescent disclosures and lag times. Specifically, adolescents high in perspective taking were most likely to make quicker subsequent disclosures when mothers responded to disclosures with interest. This is the first study to examine how contingent parental responses to adolescent disclosures in real time affect the timing of subsequent disclosures during parent–adolescent conversations.     

RAP Therapy: A Group Work Intervention Method for Urban Adolescents

ABSTRACT

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) places a premium on the development of cultural competence among practitioners. To this end, the present study highlights how social work practitioners, specifically group work leaders, can utilize elements of the culture of urban adolescents to develop effective group work intervention strategies. The article compares adolescent participants' perceptions of usefulness of traditional group therapy and similar group work sessions using RAP music as a conduit to support prosocial skills development. A nomenclature of three adolescent groups was tested: violent offenders, status offenders, and a control condition of high school students with no criminal history. Findings were unequivocally in favor of the RAP therapy as a tool for advancing prosocial behavior.     

“I Hear You”: Using Focus Groups to Give Voice to Adolescent Girls' Experiences with Violence

Focus groups are used in social science to understand social problems. This article presents focus groups for adolescent girls in a school setting, by two social work researchers, on the subjects of girl fighting and dating violence. The article discusses planning (agency collaboration and decisions about the structure of the group and recruitment of participants), using group work skills to create a safe environment that encourages discussion of diverse opinions, and disseminating relevant findings to school personnel that will prevent or intervene in the problem.     

Parental socialization of positive affect,adolescent positive affect regulation,and adolescent girls’ depression in India

An emerging body of research shows that parental socialization of positive affect (PA) is implicated in youth functioning, although most evidence comes from Western countries. In this study, focusing on adolescent girls in India, we examined associations among reports of parents’ responses to adolescent PA, adolescent PA regulation, and adolescent depression. A total of 238 adolescent girls (13–18 years) and one of their parents (54% mothers) were recruited. Participants completed questionnaires at the beginning of the school year (time 1) and five months later (time 2). At the bivariate level, parents’ dampening and adolescent girls’ dampening responses were each associated concurrently with adolescent depression at time 1. However, there were no significant direct associations between time 1 parents’ dampening or enhancing responses and time 2 adolescent girls’ depression (after controlling for time 1 depression). Using half‐longitudinal models, a significant indirect effect was found from parental dampening of PA to increased adolescent depression via adolescent girls’ own increased dampening. No indirect effect was found from parental enhancing to adolescent depression via adolescent girls’ increased positive rumination. These findings are the first to demonstrate the relevance of PA socialization for girls in a non‐Western culture.     

The functional patterns of adolescent mothers leaving foster care: Results from a cluster analysis

Few studies have explored the outcomes of adolescent mothers leaving foster care, especially using person‐oriented methods. The current study employed a cluster analysis to identify unique patterns of functioning among adolescent mothers aged 19 (n = 777). Data from the National Youth in Transition Database and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System were utilized. Findings revealed five subpopulations characterized by distinct constellations of outcomes at age 19. The largest group (43%) exhibited competent functioning across all the domains studied—its members were connected to school and/or employment and did not experience homelessness, substance abuse referrals, or incarceration during the past 2 years (i.e., “resilient”). A relatively small group (12%) exhibited challenges across all the above‐referenced domains, whereas the remaining groups presented challenges in some domains, but not in others. Follow‐up analyses revealed that adolescent mothers classified as resilient at age 19 had the lowest rates of congregate care placements and the highest rates of nonrelative foster care placements at age 17. Moreover, they had lower placement instability and higher rates of extended foster care as compared with members of the other clusters. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

PRIMARY PREVENTION OF ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY

The scope and problems of adolescent pregnancy are far reaching. Social workers need strategies to help teenagers avoid early, unwanted pregnancy. This paper gives a promising approach to such primary prevention. Delivered in small groups, the cognitive-behavioral prevention strategy taps theory and empirical data on adolescent sexuality, contraception, and social work group methods. Prevention training incorporates facts about human reproduction and birth control, problem solving, decision making, and interpersonal skills. Results from two field studies describe short-term and longitudinal benefits of the prevention strategy. The paper discusses its benefits and how other social workers can advance cognitive-behavioral prevention.     

The Stability of Social Groups in Childhood and Adolescence: The Role of the Classroom Social Environment.

This study provides a developmental analysis of childhood and adolescent social relationships within the school context. The social groups of 220 fourth graders and 475 seventh graders were tracked over a one year interval. The initial results indicated that approximately 30% of the social groups were identified as stable in that they maintained at least 50% of their membership over the one year interval. However, the stability in group affiliations was a function of the stability of the composition of the classroom. When schools did not promote classrooms as a unit, only 6.8% of social groups were stable, as compared to 55% of groups being stable when the school did promote classrooms as a unit. This school effect in group stability was demonstrated by a high correlation (rs = .97) between classroom stability and group stability. Even in unstable classrooms, individuals were more likely to maintain affiliations when group members were assigned to the same classroom. This work suggests that stable environments promote stable relationships, which in turn, may promote greater continuity in the organization of behavioral patterns.     

交友之道：青少年同伴关系的影响因素研究

同伴关系对青少年的健康成长至关重要。青少年同伴关系的形成以及家庭社会经济地位在这一过程中所起的作用,对于理解教育不平等和代际流动都有重要意义,但既有的研究发现并不一致。本文从社会分层视角出发,检验了家庭社会经济地位对青少年同伴接纳度的影响,并尝试探究其中介机制。研究发现,家庭社会经济地位和个人层面的积极特性(如较高的学业成绩、自我效能感、有体育爱好)分别对青少年的同伴接纳度产生独立的正向影响。其中,非认知能力和文体爱好并非家庭社会经济地位影响青少年同伴接纳度的中介机制,只有认知能力起到微弱的中介作用,即家庭社会经济地位的部分效应通过认知能力作用于同伴接纳度。     

Deprived Adolescents: A Use for Groupwork

Summary This article describes a group for deprived adolescent boysreferred to a child guidance unit for violent, anti-social andwithdrawn behaviour in school. The referred behaviour is relatedto its aetiology in environmental and fragmented family conditionsand the suitability of group work as providing a containingor 'holding' situation is discussed in relation to other formsof treatment available. The behaviour and role of the therapistis considered, as are the limitations of what can be achievedin provision of this kind     

Child maltreatment types and adolescent substance use: The role of deviant peer affiliation

This is the first study to examine the mediating effects of deviant peer affiliation on the association between different types of child maltreatment and adolescent substance use that includes alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Peer deviance is a well‐established correlate of adolescent substance use, but most studies exploring the relationship between child maltreatment and adolescent substance use have failed to include peer deviance. Structural equation modelling was conducted to examine the direct effects of each type of child maltreatment (i.e., physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and neglect) on adolescent substance use, as well as indirect effects via deviant peer affiliation, using Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect. The results indicated that deviant peer affiliation fully mediated the individuals who had been emotionally abused showed increased deviant peer affiliation, which in turn was associated with higher levels of adolescent substance use. None of the four types of child maltreatment was directly associated with adolescent substance use. The study's findings underscore the importance of early assessment and intervention for the peer relationships of youth who have been emotionally abused.     

I'm Gone When You're Gone: How a Group Can Survive When Its Leader Takes a Leave of Absence

SUMMARY

As the roles and demands on social workers increase in their agencies and their personal lives, there is a greater chance that they will need to take a leave of absence. This is also true for social workers who lead groups. This article presents a process to allow the primary worker to take a leave of absence while the group continues with an interim worker. The author's personal experience of a leave of absence from a HIV+ adolescent support group will be used to illustrate this transfer process. In providing ample time and a thoughtful process of transfer, this leave of absence was successful in maintaining group attendance and participation.     

Group Work: Theories and Practices by Siddiqui,H. Y.

This paper describes the use of structured board games as the sole program activity for a small group of maladap- tive Israeli adolescent boys in attendance at a socio-educational community center. The extensive use of groups by non-social work center staff necessitated intensive pre-group planning which included consideration of the setting, the social worker's role, the abilities of otential group members and the classifica- tion and selection orgames. The group met for ten weeks with the social worker actively participating in the games. Positive changes were reported and both emotional growth and behavior change were vistble to the boys and the staff.     

Butterflies

This essay illustrates group work with adolescent girls struggling with emotional dysregulation and maladaptive coping. Mutual aid and female empowerment are advanced through the development of interpersonal relationships and interaction related to stress management, adaptive coping strategies, diversity, healthy relationships, self-esteem, self-harm and emotional regulation.     

Conflict Styles and Outcomes in Families with Adolescent Children

The role of conflict in parent–adolescent relationships is a topic of considerable theoretical debate and empirical investigation; however, limited attention has been devoted to the strategies used by family members to deal with disagreements and their outcomes and how they differ from early to late adolescence. This study explored conflict styles and outcomes in a sample of 302 families with adolescent children (total N = 906), of two age groups (13‐year‐olds and 15‐year‐olds). One hundred sixty‐four adolescents (45.7%) are female. Participants completed the ‘when we disagree’ scales. Results from both adolescents and parents confirmed the intensification of conflict from early to middle adolescence, in terms of conflict style (higher aggression, lower compromise) and outcome (lower intimacy). Age trends differ according to gender; in particular, there is evidence of a more difficult position of older girls, and of the worsening of mother–adolescent relationship from early to middle adolescence.     

The impact of peer death on adolescent girls: a task-oriented group intervention

Adolescents' exposure to death is high, with approximately 40% of adolescents reporting past year death of a peer. Each of the estimated annual 14,000 deaths of adolescents has an impact on friends, classmates, and peers, with adolescent girls experiencing more peer deaths within a one year time frame than boys. Much of the literature focuses on parent or sibling death but little on the death of a peer. The sudden and unexpected nature of adolescent deaths appears to be a common experience that deeply affects adolescent girls and puts them at risk for a wide range of negative physical, emotional, social, and cognitive outcomes. The author outlines a task-oriented group intervention that meets the developmental, emotional, cognitive, and gender-specific needs of adolescent girls grieving the death of a peer.