Child and adolescent mental health

Solar disinfection of drinking water contained in transparent plastic bottles : characterizing the bacterial inactivation process

by Michael Elmore-Meegan

Effect on neonatal tetanus mortality after a culturally-based health promotion programme

by Michael Elmore-Meegan

A qualitative study of subjective male identities among South African adolescents in rural and urban settings using a photo-narrative method

by David Blackbeard

The Image in the Mirror and the Number on the Scale: Weight, Weight Perceptions, and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

by Jason Houle

The first two authors (Michelle Frisco and Jason Houle) were equal contributors to this manuscript.

Double jeopardy and health congruency theories suggest that adolescents’ joint experience of their weight and weight... more Double jeopardy and health congruency theories suggest that adolescents’ joint experience of their weight and weight perceptions are associated with depressive symptoms, but each theory offers a different prediction about which adolescents are at greatest risk. This study investigates the proposed associations and the applicability of both theoretical perspectives using data from 6,557 male and 6,126 female National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Wave II participants. Empirically, results indicate that focusing on the intersection of weight and weight perceptions better shows which adolescents are at risk of depressive symptoms than an approach that treats both predictors as independent, unrelated constructs. Weight pessimists are at greatest risk of depressive symptoms. Thus, results support the health congruency framework, its extension to subpopulations outside of older adults, and its extension to optimism and pessimism about specific health conditions.

Adolescent Weight and Depressive Symptoms: For Whom is Weight a Burden?

by Jason Houle

Co-authored with Michelle Frisco and Molly Martin

Objective. Adolescent weight and depressive symptoms are serious population health concerns in their own right and as... more Objective. Adolescent weight and depressive symptoms are serious population health concerns in their own right and as they relate to each other. This study asks whether relationships between weight and depressive symptoms vary by sex and race/ethnicity because both shape experiences of weight and psychological distress.

Methods. Results are based on multivariate analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data.

Results. There are no associations between adolescent girls' weight and depressive symptoms, but these associations vary considerably among boys. Underweight is associated with depressive symptoms among all boys and subpopulations of white and Hispanic boys. Among Hispanic boys, those who are overweight (vs. normal weight) have a lower probability of reporting depressive symptoms. Finally, among normal weight boys, Hispanics and blacks are more likely to report depressive symptoms than whites.

Conclusions. Findings are a reminder that understanding population health issues sometimes requires a focus on subpopulations, not simply the population as a whole.

Multiple Forms of Perceived Discrimination and Health among Adolescents and Young Adults

by Eric Anthony Grollman

Published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, June 2012: http://hsb.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/05/14/0022146512444289.abstract

Research on perceived discrimination has overwhelmingly focused on one form of discrimination, especially race... more Research on perceived discrimination has overwhelmingly focused on one form of discrimination, especially race discrimination, in isolation from other forms. The present article uses data from the Black Youth Culture Survey, a nationally representative, racially and ethnically diverse sample of 1,052 adolescents and young adults to investigate the prevalence, distribution, and mental and physical health consequences of multiple forms of perceived discrimination. The findings suggest that disadvantaged groups, especially multiply disadvantaged youth, face greater exposure to multiple forms of discrimination than their more privileged counterparts. The experience of multiple forms of discrimination is associated with worse mental and physical health above the effect of only one form and contributes to the relationship between multiple disadvantaged statuses and health. These findings suggest that past research may misspecify the discrimination-health relationship and fails to account for the disproportionate exposure to discrimination faced by multiply disadvantaged individuals.

How do social fears in adolescence develop? Fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues.

by Anneke Haddad

Haddad, A. D. M., Lissek, S., Pine, D. S., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2011). How do social fears in adolescence develop? fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues. Cognition and Emotion, 25(6), 1139-1147.

Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which... more Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which these risks occur are unknown. One possibility is that associative learning results in fears to previously neutral social stimuli. Such conditioned responses may alter subsequent processing of social stimuli. We used a novel conditioning task to examine how associative processes influence social fear and attention orienting in adolescents. Neutral photographs were paired with socially rewarding or aversive stimuli during conditioning; a dot-probe task then assessed biases in attention orienting. The social conditioning task modified subjective ratings of the neutral stimuli. Moreover, for the neutral stimulus that was paired with the aversive stimulus, the strength of conditioning showed a relationship with subsequent attentional vigilance. The findings elucidate mechanisms by which negative peer experiences during adolescence may affect emotional processing.

When youth mental health care stops: Therapeutic relationship problems and other reasons for ending youth outpatient treatment

by Joe Albert Garcia

Feminists Be Silent! Making a Stand in Solidarity with our LGBT Friends Against Bullying and Harassment By Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project

“A Day of Silence” occurs tomorrow, April 20th.  Created in 1996, University of Virginia students wanted to raise... more “A Day of Silence” occurs tomorrow, April 20th.  Created in 1996, University of Virginia students wanted to raise awareness of the bullying and harassment of issues that LGBT students faced on campus.  Since then, A Day of Silence makes a statement against those who have tried to silence LGBT teens and young adults in school through harassment, bias, abuse, and bullying. Participating students, led by GLSEN, will hand out cards that read the following:

“Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?”

CUDDLE AND READ

by Nigel Mellor

Visit website
https://sites.google.com/site/nigelsbitsandbobs/Home/cuddle-and-read

This approach tackles reading problems by addressing difficulties in the parent-child interaction. The material was origianlly for psychologists, but could be easily adapted for teachers. Colleagues are invited to adapt the materials and run their own small scale research projects on this approach.

Attention seeking behaviour problems : a time-limited service (this paper describes a structured approach to working with parents in a time-limited way)

by Nigel Mellor

chaos and attention seeking behaviour problems (this paper explores some ideas from chaos theory and attention seeking behaviour problems)

by Nigel Mellor

The paediatrician’s role in safeguarding children and young people exposed to domestic violence

by Lorraine Radford

‘Recognising and responding to child maltreatment’

by Lorraine Radford

co-authored with Gilbert, R. Kemp, A. Thoburn, J. Sidebotham, P.  Glaser, D. Macmillan, H.

ADHD and attention seeking behaviour problems (this paper explains how to distingush the two)

by Nigel Mellor

Attention seeking behaviour problems: paradoxes (this is the first paper on attention seeking behaviour in children - it covers the curious paradoxes surrounding the topic)

by Nigel Mellor

Tratamiento psicológico de un problema de alimentación en la infancia

by Pablo Romero Sanchiz

Treatment of Early Onset Schizophrenia: Recent Trends, Challenges and Future Considerations

by Nora S Vyas

Nora S. Vyas, Nitin Gogtay (2012)

Frontiers Psychiatry, Vol 3 (Article 29), 1-5
doi:10.3389/fpsyt2012.00029

Early onset schizophrenia (onset before adulthood) is a rare, severe and chronic form of schizophrenia. The clinical... more Early onset schizophrenia (onset before adulthood) is a rare, severe and chronic form of schizophrenia. The clinical presentation of schizophrenia at this unusually early age of onset has been associated with premorbid developmental abnormalities, poor response to neuroleptic treatment, greater admission rates, and poor prognosis. This is a brief, condensed review of current treatment strategies for the early onset population highlighting the need for novel treatment strategies for these generally treatment refractory cses. Based on the current literature, second generation antipsychotics remain the mainstay of treatment, although current medications provide suboptimal response at best. Based on the adult literature, combining antipsychotic treatment with psychotherapeutic intervention may be a more comprehensive treatment strategy. Indeed, early detection, identification of relevant biomarkers, coupled with advancing knowledge of the neurochemical and neuroanatomic pathways may help design informed and novel treatment strategies.

Molcho, M., Kelly, C., Gavin, A. & Nic Gabhainn, S. (2008). Inequalities in health among school-aged children in Ireland. Dublin: Department of Health and Children.

by Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

Examining the Adolescents’ Smoking According to Their Peer Pressure Levels and Gender

by Halil Eksi

Binnaz KIRAN-ESEN
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
3 (1) •  / May 2003 • 179-188

In this research the difference in the students’ smoking according to their peer
pressure levels and gender is... more In this research the difference in the students’ smoking according to their peer
pressure levels and gender is examined. This study is executed in 2001-2002
academic year on 718 2nd grade high school students (311 girls and 407 boys)
between ages 15-17 who are impartially selected by cluster sampling and
random sampling techniques. A Peer Pressure Scale, developed by the author, is used to
determine the peer pressure. Information about the frequency of
students’ smoking is calculated according to the answers of students. The
relations between variables and the difference between scores are analyzed by
chi-square test. The results show that, there is a significant relation (p< 0.05)
between peer pressure levels and smoking. It is, however, determined that
gender does not bring about a meaningful differentiation on adolescents’
smoking. Existence of a relation between smoking and peer pressure among
adolescents makes it necessary for the schools’ psychological counseling and
guidance services to cover studies about decreasing peer pressure.