The Practicalities and Perils of Ambulatory Assessment's Promise: Introduction to a Special Section

Ambulatory assessment (AA) offers one of the most exciting approaches for opening the dynamic “black box” of adolescents’ daily lives. In this introduction, we spotlight AA's surprisingly restricted market share within adolescent scholarship. We describe thorny challenges these intense methods can pose when conducting adolescent research “in situ” and underscore that capturing quality AA data means placing adolescents’ developmental stage at the forefront. The novel research reported in this special section speaks to these challenges and underscores the promise of AA for conducting developmentally salient science. The nine articles included in the section span multiple disciplines (Sociology, Psychology, Public Health) and reflect diverse viewpoints, approaches, and theories. All provide multiple novel best‐practice strategies for conducting AA scholarship with adolescents.     

A Review of Current Ambulatory Assessment Studies in Adolescent Samples and Practical Recommendations

The use of ambulatory assessment (AA) and related methods (experience sampling, ecological momentary assessment) has greatly increased within the field of adolescent psychology. In this guide, we describe important practices for conducting AA studies in adolescent samples. To better understand how researchers have been implementing AA study designs, we present a review of 23 AA studies that were conducted in adolescent samples from 2017. Results suggest that there is heterogeneity in how AA studies in youth are conducted and reported. Based on these insights, we provide recommendations with regard to participant recruitment, sampling scheme, item selection, power analysis, and software choice. Further, we provide a checklist for reporting on AA studies in adolescent samples that can be used as a guideline for future studies.     

Coping with Family Conflict and Economic Strain: The Adolescent Perspective

This study tested two models of family economic problems and adolescent psychological adjustment. Using adolescents’ survey data and information regarding school lunch program enrollment, the associations among family SES, perceived economic strain, family conflict, and coping responses were examined in a sample of 364 adolescents from rural New England. Two theoretical models were tested using structural equation modeling — one tested coping as a mediator of the stress – psychopathology relation and the other tested coping as a moderator. Results revealed that family economic hardship was related to aggression and anxiety/depression primarily through two proximal stressors: perceived economic strain and conflict among family members. Family conflict partially mediated the relation between economic strain and adolescent adjustment, and coping further mediated the relation between family conflict and adjustment. These analyses identified two types of coping that were associated with fewer anxiety/depression and aggression problems in the face of these stressors — primary and secondary control coping. Although primary and secondary control coping were associated with fewer adjustment problems, youth who were experiencing higher amounts of stress tended to use less of these potentially helpful coping strategies and used more of the potentially detrimental disengagement coping. The models did not differ according to the age or gender of the adolescents, nor whether they lived with two parents or fewer. No support was found for coping as a moderator of stress. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research involving coping with economic stressors are reviewed.     

Behaviour Exchange Systems Training: The ‘BEST’ Approach for Parents Stressed by Adolescent Drug Problems

Parents are challenged in the adolescent years by attempts to increase adolescent responsibility while also managing separation issues. Adolescent drug use can exacerbate parental concerns. Parental fears and anxieties surrounding adolescent drug use can undermine opportunities to respond effectively. This paper describes the theoretical rationale for, and early experience of delivering, a brief intervention program designed to assist parents coping with adolescent drug problems. The program emerges out of a hybrid of systems and behaviour therapy principles and has been designed to address issues associated with parenting characterised by a high level of emotional involvement and/or ineffective parental control. Group work encouraging more adolescent responsibility-taking can assist parents disabled by feelings of guilt and failure. As parents develop emotional independence from adolescent behaviour, an appropriate expectation for adolescent control is established.     

The power of irony in an adolescent residential psychiatric program

This 1-year ethnographic study, conducted in an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit, was guided by the research question, "What is it like for patients, families, and staff to be participants in an adolescent psychiatric program?" Verbal irony was observed to be a prominent communicative behavior among the staff and patients, suggesting a general freedom of expression and flexible boundaries. This form of expression, using nonliteral language skills encompassing a variety of humor and sarcasm, was found to promote professional solidarity and adolescent self-esteem, accelerate adolescent social skills, and offer a means of coping with the stigma of emotional and behavioral disorders.     

Exploring Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to a number of adverse effects including hypersexuality (HYP), substance use (SUB), suicidality (SUI), and depression (DEP). Despite a plethora of research on CSA, little is known about how it affects adolescents and the cultural factors that influence their coping styles. This study was founded on social-cultural coping theory and the model of traumagenic dynamics of sexual abuse, suggesting that CSA consequences lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms influenced by sociocultural factors. Using archival data, loglinear analysis was conducted to examine gender differences within racial/ethnic groups in HYP, SUI, DEP, and SUB among adolescent survivors of CSA in a National sample of 13,583 male and female high school students. The purpose of the study was to identify differences in the effects of CSA as manifested by variations of maladaptive coping across racial/ethnic groups and gender. Boys were significantly more likely to use substances, while girls were more likely to experience depressive symptoms and suicidality. Notably, this study did not reveal any significant racial/ethnic differences in adolescent coping. These findings can inform treatment planning and interventions for adolescents who may present with DEP, SUI, SUB, or risky sexual behaviors, but may have underlying trauma from CSA. This study contributes to the knowledge base about the processes that take place within adolescent CSA survivors, shedding light on cultural nuances among adolescent coping and informing culturally competent practice.     

Working with parents of spinal cord injured adolescents: A family systems perspective

Concepts from family systems theory are used to facilitate understanding of the needs of families coping with the spinal cord injury of an adolescent. Five assumptions derived from systemic principles are discussed as related to assessment and family functioning. Related suggestions are given for assisting parents in dealing with this non-normative stressor and its long-range effects on the adolescent and family.     

Adolescent Perceptions of Interparental Conflict, Stressors, and Coping as Predictors of Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction

Using family stress theory, this study examined the relationship between adolescent reports of selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, resolution), stress due to the pileup of stressors, coping strategies (social support, detrimental coping), and adolescent family life satisfaction. The sample was comprised of 155 adolescents ranging from 14 to 18 years of age who completed self-report questionnaires at one of three rural Oklahoma high schools. Four dimensions of interparental conflict (overt conflict style, conflict about childrearing, conflict about family roles/finances, conflict resolution), stress due to pileup, social support coping, and detrimental coping were significantly related to family life satisfaction. Adolescent age was positively related to family life satisfaction. Within the scope of family stress theory, scholars have addressed how the combination of stressors and coping strategies relates to the adaptation of individuals within family systems (McCubbin and Patterson 1983). Further, investigations of the relationship of parental divorce to well-being in children and adolescents suggest that interaction patterns within various family forms may be more fruitful in explaining the adaptation of youth than parental marital status (Demo 1992). The perception by youth of conflict between their parents (i.e., interparental conflict) has emerged as a key family stressor that has the potential to explain variation in adolescent adaptation in a variety of family forms (Buehler, Krishnakumar, Anthony, Tittsworth, and Stone 1994). Stressor events for adolescents such as interparental conflict generally do not occur in isolation. Rather, they exist within the context of other stressors such as economic stress, difficulties at school, or normative developmental tasks for families with adolescents (e.g., changing family roles to allow greater adolescent autonomy; McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Further, considerable variation exists in the coping strategies (e.g., social support, avoidance) that adolescents use in response to stress (McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Finally, previous research shows variation between certain demographic variables and adolescent adaptation. Thus, the current study was developed to examine how selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, degree of resolution), stress based on the pileup of stressor events, and coping strategies relate to adolescent satisfaction with family life (one indicator of adaptation).     

“They Always Ask What I'm Doing and Who I'm Talking to”: Parental Mediation of Adolescent Interactive Technology Use

Burgeoning technology provides instant access to information and communication. Responsible adults are concerned about the material accessed by adolescent technology users. From an ecological system's lens, using a mixed-methods design, the current study identified adolescent and parent perceptions of parental mediation of adolescent interactive technology use (i.e., cell phones, Internet). Eighty adolescents (16–18 years of age) and their parents (n = 113) participated in the study that identified generational differences in perceptions of parental mediation, techniques for mediating interactive technology (i.e., monitoring data and usage, active mediation, rules, restriction), and adolescent perceptions of the process of parental mediation. We used the results to propose principles for parental mediation of adolescent interactive technology use and provide directions for future research.     

Effectiveness of an empowerment program for adolescent second generation migrants: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Dutch adolescent second generation migrants are at increased risk of becoming marginalized and developing problem behavior. We tested the effectiveness of the Dutch multi-component empowerment program POWER that aims to prevent such problems. We hypothesized a positive intervention effect on participants' sense of mastery, coping skills, activities, conduct problems, and prosocial behavior. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial including a pretest and posttest with an intervention condition (n = 132) and a waitlist control condition (n = 116). Analyses showed that POWER was only effective in influencing the youngsters' participation in activities like sport, hobbies, and casual work. When implemented with high fidelity, POWER also influenced the level of conduct problems as well as their coping style. However, a more accurate registration of the implementation process would have been helpful and the program can potentially be further improved by clearly specifying which components of the program can be adapted and which must be delivered as intended.     

Towards a ‘virtual’ world: Social isolation and struggles during the COVID‐19 pandemic as single women living alone

This article is a personal reflection of how the current COVID‐19 pandemic affects our working lives and wellbeing, as single female academics who live alone in the UK. We offer a dialogue of our daily lives of being confined at home with lockdown measures extended. In particular, we focus on the experience of, and coping with, isolation and loneliness. Is isolation making us more socially connected? Through ‘virtual’ working and changing learning environments for us as teachers and learners, we explore changes in our working life and subsequent changes in the domestic environment. By capturing our lived experiences, we create an intellectual and safe space to voice our emotional struggles — as ‘invisible’ isolated individuals containing and consuming loneliness on our own. We foster alternative conversations as to how we might engender new perspectives from single female academics to combat social isolation in the workplace.     

Adolescent Immigrants in Search of Identity: Clingers, Eradicators, Vacillators and Integrators

This conceptual article explores mechanisms used by adolescent immigrants from the former Soviet Union to cope with issues of identity. Based on her experience in the Russian Adolescents Project of the Jewish Board of Services for Families and Children in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn New York, the writer identifies four patterns of coping with identity issues among immigrant adolescents and discusses individual and social factors that impact on the choice of a coping pattern.     

Advantages of Group Therapy for Adolescent Participants in the Same Gang Rape

This paper deals with the issue of including in the same therapeutic group in a prison setting two (or more) young people who participated in the same gang rape. We provide a background for group therapy with adolescent sex offenders and point out the characteristics of group rape. In addition, we describe the uniqueness of working in a prison as opposed to working in the community or other settings outside the home. Characteristics of adolescent sex offenders and the group process provide a rationale against the inclusion in the same therapeutic group of two youths who committed a rape together. However, our observations during eight years of clinical experience and research in the prison clarify why it can and should be done.     

Into the Wilderness—A Case Study: The Psychodynamics of Adolescent Depression and the Need for a Holistic Intervention

Adolescent depression has become epidemic in the United States, with statistics showing that one in five adolescents may suffer from depression (Brent and Birmaher in N Engl J Med 347(9), 2002). This article examines adolescent depression from a psychodynamic perspective, and identifies the psychodynamics of adolescent depression as the affective correlates that stem from unresolved developmental conflicts, issues of separation/individuation, the search for identity and the development of the true self. This article presents wilderness therapy as a holistic intervention which can be used to address the intrapsychic, developmental and relational factors that give rise to adolescent depression. Wilderness therapy is a modality of mental health treatment that takes place outdoors and utilizes challenge and adventure, group work and other structured clinical interventions. A clinical case study presents wilderness therapy as an effective intervention for adolescent depression that can promote positive self-image and enhanced coping skills, and discusses limitations and implications for social work practice.     

Trauma Related Critical Incident Debriefing for Adolescents

Events like the tragedy at Columbine High School and the terrorists attacks on New York City in 2001 have highlighted the need for mental health practitioners to become familiar with interventions that are designed to assist young people who have survived extremely stressful events. Mental health professionals often see people who have experienced car accidents, severe abuse, rape, or other victimization, as well as survivors of natural and man-made disasters during the first critical stages of the recovery period. This article describes the process of critical incident de-briefing and provides a step-by-step primer for its application. The process is short-term (four sessions or less) and provides an intervention designed to reduce the frequency and severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Adolescents are particularly at risk because of issues surrounding identity formation, self- esteem, and developmental differences in coping mechanisms. Therefore, those who work with an adolescent cohort should be familiar with debriefing methods and how to apply them to the teenager.     

Data-Mining Client Concerns in Adolescent Mental Health Services

Summary

Via a practice-based research collaboration, clinicians, supervisors, and managers in an urban adolescent mental health program studied previously collected intake information concerning adolescent risk exposures, behaviors, worries, and self-assessed coping. In addition, desire to talk with a mental health counselor about specific risks and worries was systematically analyzed with the aim of generating practice insights into the clinical challenge of engaging urban adolescents in mental health services. Though provided with research consultation, practitioners were full participants in all aspects of the researchprocess. This organizational development process placed strains on the participants and organization, but many benefits were derived from it. One significant benefit was that mining the expressed concerns of clients gave participants a powerful vehicle for reshaping services. The organization came to see its clients as more than mere service recipients, resulting in a recommitment to Youth Development principles and a renewed effort to increase direct client participation in organizational life.     

The needs of adolescent girls who self-harm

People who self-harm are typically intelligent, adolescent or young adult, middle to upper class girls, who do so to feel something or, paradoxically, to stop feeling and calm down. Girls who self-harm need to feel understood, listened to non-judgmentally, and responded to in relation to the unspoken suffering behind the self-harm behavior. The aim of treatment of girls who self-harm is to facilitate understanding of the act and provide alternative, healthier coping strategies.     

Adolescent experiences with online racial discrimination: Implications for prevention and coping

Online aggression represents a wide range of negative experiences, including online discrimination targeting individuals based on race, but adolescent perspectives are not well-represented. We interviewed 15 adolescents regarding their experiences with online racial discrimination. After a phenomenological analysis, four main themes emerged: types of online racial aggression, processes supporting online racism, personal coping, and strategies to prevent online racial aggression. These themes provided insights into adolescent experiences, including feelings about targeted online racial discrimination, intersectionality with sexual harassment, and comfort through processing with friends. This study highlights adolescents' thoughts regarding advocacy, education, and social media reform to prevent online racial aggression. Future research should ensure that youth voices from minoritized racial backgrounds are integrated into efforts to address these critical social issues.     

Great Expectations Unmet: The Impact of Adolescent Educational Expectations on Deviant Coping During the Transition to Adulthood

Previous research has shown that during adolescence, holding high expectations of college education serves as a protective factor for delinquency and substance use. Little is known whether the protective factor of college expectations extends into young adulthood, especially among ambitious youth who do not earn a degree. Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this research focuses on the longer term effects of adolescent educational expectations on deviant coping. This study finds that failing to realize realistically high expectations of college education during the transition to adulthood increases an individual's likelihood of deviant coping during the transition to adulthood.