Contemporary Youth Violence Prevention: Interpersonal-Cognitive Problem-Solving

ABSTRACT

Considerable progress has been made in the past decade in identifying which factors contribute to youth violence. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the issues and group factors that underlie youth violence, assessment and profiling, and prevention programs. Guidelines for predicting youth violence are presented and critiqued. School violence prevention programs, the role of SAMHSA, and interpersonal-cognitive problem-solving are presented.     

To make and keep friends: The role of health status in adolescent network tie formation and persistence

Health status may shape network structure through network dynamics (tie formation and persistence) and direction (sent and received ties), net of typical network processes. We apply Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Models (STERGMs) to National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health survey data (n = 1779) to differentiate how health status shapes network sent and received tie formation and persistence. Results indicate that networks are shaped by withdrawal of adolescents experiencing poor health, highlighting the importance of separating distinct and directed processes of friendship formation and persistence when considering how health relates to adolescent social life.     

近十年来我国青少年艾滋病相关研究综述

通过对近十年来我国青少年艾滋病相关研究的全面回顾,归纳了当前我国青少年艾滋病的流行态势,梳理了青少年艾滋病的相关认知、态度、行为及其需求,并分析了当前我国青少年艾滋病的防治对策。在此基础上,就目前研究存在的问题及其未来研究方向提出了具体的建议。     

试析美国成长小说的嬗变

成长问题作为一个文学主题，在美国文学史上占有相当重要的地位和悠久的创作传统。青少年时期是一个人思想、道德、心里成长的关键阶段，研究成长小说对于青少年的培养以及社会的稳定和谐等具有很大的指导作用和现实意义。．基于当前文学呈现大繁荣多元化的态势，研究成长小说就显得尤为必要。文章从成长小说的界定入手，分析了成长小说在美国文学中的地位，着重从文学史的角度追述了美国成长小说的嬗变轨迹，勾画出美国成长小说的整体面貌和发展脉络。     

成长小说：概念厘定与类型辨析

成长小说，在西方是源远流长的文学传统，在中国则因复杂的社会历史原因与其它类型纠缠不清。要想真正将它与教育小说、传记（自传）小说、青春小说等类型小说区分开来，必须认识到其精神实质是讲述个体在”内心自我”与”外部规约”的激烈争夺中最终做出重大的人生选择，形成自己的世界观和人生观。     

Individual differences in referral for help for severe emotional difficulties in adolescence

Adolescents with emotional distress may find help-seeking an extremely daunting endeavor. However, different adolescent population sectors relate differently to help-seeking for severe emotional difficulties. Gender and ethnic group are among the central factors influencing attitudes towards seeking emotional help. One of the possible mechanisms explaining these cross-group differences is self-esteem. The psychological price of seeking help could be admission of incompetence and feelings of failure, emotions that can be threatening, particularly to adolescents' self-esteem. In the present study, the psychological price of seeking help was manipulated by comparing the ease with which adolescents would self-refer for a severe emotional problem as opposed to referring another for the same problem, and the influence of gender, ethnic group differences and level of self esteem in both situations. The first hypothesis predicting greater ease of referral in the other-referral condition compared to self-referral was confirmed. The second hypothesis predicting general preference of informal help agents than the formal help agents was confirmed. The third hypothesis predicting gender differences such that girls would show higher ease of referral than boys from the different help agents was confirmed. The fourth hypothesis predicting that Jewish-Israeli adolescents would show greater ease of referral than Arab-Israeli adolescents was confirmed. An additional exploratory question examined the interaction between self-esteem and self versus other-referral on ease of referral for help. A significant interaction emerged only for help from the family. Adolescents with low self-esteem showed no differences in self versus other-referral, but adolescents with high self-esteem were more willing to refer others than themselves to seek help. These findings emphasize the importance of a sensitive needs assessment approach in designing mental health service delivery for youth.     

Efficacy of a brief intervention on attitudes to reduce school violence: A randomized clinical trial

There is growing interest in the phenomenon of school violence, which has been associated in diverse works with youth's attitudes towards violence, and it has been the focus of many intervention programs. However, the high human and economic cost entailed can impede its administration in some school centers. Therefore, the goal of the present study is to assess the efficacy of a brief intervention aimed at modifying attitudes towards violence to reduce the phenomenon of school bullying. The sample was obtained from a Secondary Education Institute during the 2010–2011 school term, and was made up of 252 students aged between 12 and 15 years. A controlled and randomized design was used in order to assess the effects of the program “Count on Me.” Ten classrooms were randomly assigned either to the intervention or to a waiting-list. Results show a significant reduction of playground violence perceived by the students, especially among the girls. Implications for the development of future brief programs for the prevention of school violence are discussed.     

Internalizing and externalizing symptoms among unaccompanied refugee and Italian adolescents

This study investigated the prevalence of emotional and behavioral symptoms in unaccompanied refugee adolescents living in Italy; an area which remains under-researched despite the relatively high number of asylum seekers registered in Italy compared to other industrialized countries. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) for 6–18 year-olds was completed by a social worker or parent for each of the 120 participating adolescents; sixty male unaccompanied refugee adolescents and sixty male native Italian adolescents. The paper presents findings that illustrate high levels of emotional and behavioral problems in unaccompanied refugee youth living in Italy. On all components of the CBCL, unaccompanied refugee adolescents were found to present with significantly more problems, as reported by social workers, compared to the Italian group of adolescents. In the light of these results, the importance of interventions and culturally sensitive therapeutic programs for refugee youth is discussed.     

Pathways to Adolescent Political Participation across Race and Ethnicity

This study assesses impacts of racial/ethnic identification on adolescent civic development to inform interventions to counter civic disconnect on the part of ethnic minority youths. Analyses of 4 years of national Monitoring the Future data find that Black and Latino adolescents hold negative political attitudes and low rates of political behavior. Structural equation models find dissimilarities in paths between political attitudes and behaviors for White, Black, Latino, and Asian adolescents. Findings suggest that political attitudes may operate as precursors to political behavior in different ways across races/ethnicities. Implications for civic interventions and future minority youth civic development research are discussed.     

Borderline Personality Disorder and Adolescence

SUMMARY

This chapter addresses many of the potential challenges clinicians face when working with adolescents with BPD. First, we present the diagnostic issues related to an adolescent population. Second, we review issues related to the families, peers, and larger systems (e.g., schools) that reciprocally influence the adolescent and the treatment. Third, we discuss specific treatment concerns and propose solutions, including how to effectively manage therapists' own reactions to working with this population. Many of the clinical vignettes and suggested interventions in this chapter derive from our experience working in an outpatient adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program. As described later in this book, DBT is an evidence-based treatment effective for suicidal multi-problem individuals with promising data published with suicidal adolescents diagnosed with borderline features (Rathus & Miller, 2002).