Family support: A review of the literature on families of adolescents with disabilities

ABSTRACT

For all youth, adolescence is a time of great change, marked by multiple transitions. For those with disabilities, these transitions can be especially challenging for the youth and their families. Although families of adolescents with disabilities often require support, it is unclear what types of assistance are most helpful. To understand the responsibilities of and, correspondingly, supports needed for parents and siblings, the authors conducted a comprehensive literature review. Specifically, the authors examined the literature to identify the supports that families provide to their adolescent relatives with disabilities, the impacts of caring for an adolescent relative with a disability, and the assistance that families receive. The authors conclude by discussing implications for future research about family support.     

Using social support levels to predict sexual identity development among college students who identify as a sexual minority

This study examined the impact of five domains of social support (a campus group for individuals who identify as a sexual minority, family, friends, significant others, and faith communities) on eight aspects of sexual minority identity development (identity uncertainty, internalized homonegativity, identity affirmation, acceptance concerns, identity superiority, concealment motivation, identity centrality, and difficulty in the identity development process). Support from a sexuality-specific campus group was the strongest predictor, followed by support from family members. Supports from friends and significant others had no significant impact on any aspect of sexual minority identity development, while faith community support was not correlated with identity development. Identifying as lesbian, bisexual, or as another sexual minority compared to identifying as gay also impacted sexual minority identity development.     

The Relationship Between Problem Gambling and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Recent studies indicate that treatment-seeking problem gamblers display elevated rates of ADHD and that adolescents who screen positive for ADHD are more likely to engage in gambling, develop gambling problems, and experience a greater severity in gambling problems. This study aimed to (a) compare the prevalence of ADHD in treatment-seeking problem gamblers to the general population; (b) investigate the relationships between ADHD and problem gambling severity, cluster B personality disorders, motor impulsivity, alcohol use, substance use, gender, and age; and (c) investigate the degree to which these factors moderate the relationship between ADHD and problem gambling severity. Participants included 214 adults (154 males, 58 females, 2 unspecified) who sought treatment for their gambling problems at a specialist gambling agency in Melbourne, Australia. Almost one-quarter (24.9 %) of treatment-seeking problem gamblers screened positively for ADHD, which was significantly higher than the 14 % prevalence in a community sample. ADHD was significantly positively correlated with problem gambling severity, motor impulsivity, and cluster B personality disorders, but was not associated with alcohol and substance use, gender or age. None of the factors significantly moderated the relationship between ADHD and problem gambling severity. These findings suggest that a considerable proportion of treatment-seeking problem gamblers report ADHD and that their clinical profile is complicated by the presence of high impulsivity and cluster B personality disorders. They highlight the need for specialist gambling agencies to develop screening, assessment, and management protocols for co-occurring ADHD to enhance the effectiveness of treatment.     

Large body size for metamorphic wood frogs in urban stormwater wetlands

Constructed wetlands in urban environments may be used by urban amphibian populations for breeding. Yet, few studies have examined the performance of young-of-the-year from created wetlands even though the success of terrestrial life stages is directly linked to the performance of individuals at the egg and larval stage. We assessed how early-stage amphibians developing within constructed stormwater wetlands compared in body size (one metric of performance) to those in nearby natural wetlands. We conducted surveys for wood frog, Lithobates sylvaticus, larvae and young-of-the-year metamorphs at 13 wetlands located in the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and compared metamorph size (a useful metric for fitness and reproductive success) between constructed stormwater and two types of natural wetlands. We related body size to within-wetland parameters (reflecting water chemistry, thermal regimes and physical characteristics) and used an information-theoretic approach to identify predictors of metamorph body size. Abundances of egg masses, larvae and metamorphs were generally lower at stormwater than natural wetlands. Metamorphs exhibited larger body size in stormwater wetlands compared to natural wetlands. Low metamorph abundances and cool, stable water temperatures best explained large body size in stormwater metamorphs. We propose that with increasing urbanization and associated construction of artificial wetlands, size benefits in early developmental stages may help individuals cope with reduced habitat suitability in the terrestrial environment.     

Mangrove forests store high densities of carbon across the tropical urban landscape of Singapore

Tropical forested ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services to rural and urban landscapes, with carbon storage gaining particular attention. Deforestation due to rural-urban transitions may lead to a reduction in carbon storage ability. Coastal mangrove forests are particularly at risk from deforestation due to their location in the rapidly urbanizing coastal zone, and the city state of Singapore is an extreme example, losing as much as 90 % of its original mangrove cover due to land reclamation and reservoir construction. Knowledge of mangrove ecosystem services may allow better conservation, restoration and incorporation of remaining mangrove patches into the urban landscape. Focusing on the regulating ecosystem service of carbon storage, mangrove carbon stocks have been estimated for Singapore using a combination of field and remote sensing techniques. Biomass carbon showed substantial spatial variation, with old, contiguous mangrove patches containing a higher density of biomass carbon than fragmented, river-fringing or restored mangroves. In total, national biomass carbon equated to 116,117.1 megagrams of carbon (Mg C), and a coarse estimate of the total carbon stock (including soil carbon) suggests that Singapore’s mangroves may store 450,571.7 Mg C. While lower than other regional estimates focused on natural, oceanic mangroves, this is a significant carbon stock for a disturbed, urban mangrove system, and may be equivalent to the average annual carbon emissions of 621,000 residents. This analysis, alongside a review of other urban forest studies, highlights the importance of forested ecosystems such as mangroves in providing a carbon storage ecosystem service to urban areas.     

Persistence and survival of the spider <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nephila plumipes</Emphasis> in cities: do increased prey resources drive the success of an urban exploiter?

Species that successfully inhabit urban ecosystems are rare, and urbanisation often drives localised extinctions of native species. Nonetheless, some species take advantage of the novel conditions available in cities and increase in abundance. Trends in the abundance and distribution of species in urban areas have received much attention, but the precise elements of urban ecosystems that affect the survival of urban-dwelling species are largely unknown. Animals that successfully exploit urban environments may do so because of increases in the availability of resources or habitats. Here we assess the effects of anthropogenic landscapes and prey abundance on the persistence of an orb-weaving spider, Nephila plumipes. We assessed spider persistence for six months in situ along an urban gradient in Sydney. We then transplanted spiders from a common garden into sites along the gradient, monitored their persistence in the new environment and measured a suite of environmental variables at local and landscape scales. The abundance of prey was closely linked with spider persistence, in both the survey and the transplant experiment, and was positively associated with anthropogenic habitats. The surveyed spiders survived longer when located closer to the coast and transplanted spiders persisted longer in smaller sites with more impervious surfaces and reduced vegetation cover. Our study shows that urbanisation has a strong effect on potential prey abundance and can lead to increased persistence of N. plumipes, demonstrating the broad impacts that habitat disturbance can have on the life history and trophic interactions of city-dwelling animals.     

Differential predictors of academic achievement: individual and familial factor interactions with community poverty

We present an analysis of the contexts within which adolescents graduate from high school and enroll in college. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health show that adolescents’ school engagement, maternal academic monitoring, and community poverty significantly interact to explain differences in high school graduation and college enrollment rates (n?=?7100). To examine this association, we performed weighted logistic regression analyses, controlling for gender, race, block level unemployment, and block level median income. Findings suggest that protective factors can help youth overcome the challenges associated with community poverty and achieve academically in low and medium levels of poverty, but that youth in high-poverty contexts may need more resources to reach higher levels of academic attainment.     

Demography of a ground nesting bird in an urban system: are populations self-sustaining?

Urbanization poses threats to earth’s biota, and retention of remnant native habitat in protected areas within expanding urban boundaries may help alleviate threats to wildlife. However, it is unclear for nearly all nonsynanthropic (i.e., not benefiting from an association with humans) species whether vital rates in urban habitats can sustain populations or if populations persist only through immigration from outside the urban boundary. We conducted a three-year study of spotted towhees (Aves: Pipilo maculatus) breeding in four undeveloped parks in Portland, OR, USA, to measure park-specific seasonal reproductive output (F) and annual adult survival (S_A). We developed a stochastic model that combined F and S_A with an estimate of first-year survival to measure population growth rate (λ) in all parks assumed to be closed to immigration. F differed among parks but S_A did not. Relatively high F was possible because many pairs raised >1 brood/season. When combined with empirical estimates of survival through the 30-day period of post-fledging parental care (S_D = 0.645), only 2 of 4 parks were self-sustaining (i.e., λ > 1.0). However, S_D reflected substantial loss of fledglings to domestic cats (Felis catus). Assuming no loss to cats and either partial compensatory or additive mortality of fledglings substantially improved prospects of population persistence for declining (sink) populations. Moreover, allowing low levels of immigration to sinks reversed population declines in most parks even when vital rates were insufficient to maintain populations. Our results suggest that nonsynanthropic bird species can persist in urban landscapes, but also that offspring mortality in the post-fledging period may be a critical determinant of population viability.     

Sense of School Membership and Associated Academic and Psychological Outcomes in Post-Institutionalized Adopted High School Students

Research highlights lasting cognitive and academic challenges in youth internationally adopted from institutional care. However, there is a lack of research examining internationally adopted students' sense of membership at school and associated academic and psychological outcomes. The current study measured sense of school membership and academic and psychological outcomes in post-institutionalized internationally adopted high school students (n = 29) compared to adolescents internationally adopted from foster care (n = 28) and non-adopted adolescents (n = 32). Post-institutionalized males had a lower sense of school membership than males adopted from foster care or non-adopted males. Group differences in school membership were mediated by academic achievement and psychological well-being.