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Health Reports Sep 2023Cybervictimization has emerged as a potentially serious form of victimization and has been associated with negative mental health outcomes, including depression,...
BACKGROUND
Cybervictimization has emerged as a potentially serious form of victimization and has been associated with negative mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and suicidality. However, very little research has examined the prevalence and correlates of cybervictimization among diverse subpopulations of youth.
DATA AND METHODS
Data from 13,602 adolescents aged 12 to 17 were drawn from the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth. Adolescents reported on their experiences of cybervictimization in the past 12 months, general mental health, and eating disorder symptoms; adolescents aged 15 to 17 reported on suicidal ideation and attempt; and parents reported on problems with depression and anxiety. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of experiencing cybervictimization according to characteristics, including gender identity, population group, same-gender attraction, low family income, and the presence of chronic conditions and digital media habits. Logistic regression models were also used to estimate the odds of experiencing each mental health difficulty by sociodemographic characteristics and experience of cybervictimization.
RESULTS
The odds of experiencing cybervictimization were higher among transgender and non-binary youth, females attracted to the same gender or unsure of their attraction, and adolescents living with chronic conditions (particularly females and those living in low-income households). Cybervictimization was consistently associated with a greater risk of poor general mental health, depression or anxiety, eating disorder symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt. These associations did not differ according to the sociodemographic characteristics assessed. In terms of digital media habits, lower frequencies of use were generally associated with a lower likelihood of experiencing cybervictimization.
INTERPRETATION
While certain population groups appear to be at a higher risk of experiencing cybervictimization, the experience of cybervictimization is associated with similar mental health indicators for all adolescents.
Topics: Child; Humans; Adolescent; Female; Male; Mental Health; Gender Identity; Internet; Canada; Anxiety
PubMed: 37729061
DOI: 10.25318/82-003-x202300900001-eng -
Journal of Adolescence Jun 2024
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior
PubMed: 38605514
DOI: 10.1002/jad.12327 -
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Dec 2023Adolescents are often portrayed as reckless risk-takers because of their immature brains. Recent research has cast doubt on this portrayal, identifying the environment... (Review)
Review
Adolescents are often portrayed as reckless risk-takers because of their immature brains. Recent research has cast doubt on this portrayal, identifying the environment as a moderator of risk-taking. However, the key features of environments that drive risk-taking behaviors are often underspecified. We call for greater attention to the environment by drawing on research showing that its statistical structure impacts future risk-taking as people learn from outcomes they experience after taking a risk. This opinion shows that adolescents are unlikely to experience harm from many risks because environmental statistics are skewed and favor safe experiences. Environmental statistics and experience suggest entry points for policy interventions by carefully timing risk warnings and leveraging peers' potential to shape the statistics of rewarding experiences.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Risk-Taking; Social Behavior; Brain; Peer Group; Attitude; Adolescent Behavior
PubMed: 37739921
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.08.020 -
International Journal of Environmental... Sep 2023Interpersonal violence is a pervasive experience affecting one billion children and adolescents annually, resulting in adverse health and well-being outcomes. Evidence...
Interpersonal violence is a pervasive experience affecting one billion children and adolescents annually, resulting in adverse health and well-being outcomes. Evidence suggests that polyvictimization, the experience of multiple forms of violence, is associated with more harmful consequences for adolescents than experiencing individual types of violence, although data from low-and middle-income countries are limited. This study analyzed data on over 4100 adolescents from the Gender and Adolescence, Global Evidence Study in Ethiopia to examine the association between polyvictimization and adolescent mental and physical health and the mediating role of resilience using linear regression and path analysis. We hypothesized that adolescents experiencing polyvictimization would experience worse mental and physical health than those experiencing no types or individual types of victimization, and that resilience would mediate these relationships. Half of sampled girls and over half of boys experienced polyvictimization. Among both sexes, polyvictimization was associated with worse mental but not worse physical health. Resilience mediated the association between polyvictimization and mental health among girls only. Strengthening resilience among girls may be an effective avenue for mitigating polyvictimization's negative mental health effects, but additional research and programming for preventing and identifying polyvictimized adolescents and linking them to care is needed.
Topics: Adolescent; Female; Male; Child; Humans; Adolescent Health; Ethiopia; Bullying; Linear Models; Mental Health
PubMed: 37754614
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20186755 -
Developmental Psychology Nov 2023Empathy and executive functions (EFs) are multimodal constructs that enable individuals to cope with their environment. Both abilities develop throughout childhood and...
Empathy and executive functions (EFs) are multimodal constructs that enable individuals to cope with their environment. Both abilities develop throughout childhood and are known to contribute to social behavior and academic performance in young adolescents. Notably, mentalizing and EF activate shared frontotemporal brain areas, which in previous studies of adults led researchers to suggest that at least some aspects of empathy depend on intact EF mechanisms. Despite the substantial development that empathy and EF undergo during adolescence, no study to date has systematically examined the associations between components of empathy and EF in this age group. Here, we explore these associations using data from an online battery of tasks, collected as part of a longitudinal twin study ( = 593; 11.09 ± 0.2; 53.46% female, Israeli adolescents from Jewish decent). Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we quantified the associations between the main components of empathy (mentalizing and interpersonal concern) and of EF (working memory [WM], inhibition and shifting [IaS]). We found that WM was related to both mentalizing and interpersonal concern, whereas IaS were related to mentalizing but not to interpersonal concern. We also discuss the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in each factor. Our findings show both similarities and differences from previous findings in adults, suggesting that the ongoing brain maturation processes and environmental age-dependent experiences in adolescence may affect the developing relation between cognitive and emotional development. These results have implications for better understanding and treating clinical populations demonstrating executive or emotional deficits, specifically during adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adolescent; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Brain; Emotions; Empathy; Executive Function; Memory, Short-Term
PubMed: 37796563
DOI: 10.1037/dev0001639 -
Autism : the International Journal of... Aug 2023Autistic-like features and functional somatic symptoms (FSS) frequently co-occur. It remains unknown how autistic-like features and FSS affect each other and develop...
Autistic-like features and functional somatic symptoms (FSS) frequently co-occur. It remains unknown how autistic-like features and FSS affect each other and develop throughout adolescence. This study examined reciprocal relations between autistic-like features and FSS in adolescence. Participants were 2772 adolescents (52.5% male) from the Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey population and clinical cohort. Data from four waves were included, covering the ages between 11 and 19 years. Autistic-like features were measured using the Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire. FSS were assessed using the Youth Self Report and Adult Self Report, respectively. Using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model, a stable positive, moderately strong between-persons association was found between autistic-like features and FSS. No within-persons reciprocal effects from wave to wave were observed. Secondary analyses revealed a consistent relation with FSS for three different domains of autistic-like features (social and communication behaviors, repetitive behaviors, and self-regulatory behaviors), and highly similar interrelations in a subsample of adolescents with a clinical autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. In conclusion, the co-occurrence between autistic-like features and FSS is stable throughout adolescence. Clinicians working with adolescents with autistic-like features should be alert to the presence FSS, and vice versa.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Child; Young Adult; Adult; Autistic Disorder; Medically Unexplained Symptoms; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Abdominal Pain; Parents
PubMed: 36588286
DOI: 10.1177/13623613221143874 -
Development and Psychopathology Aug 2023Substance use increases throughout adolescence, and earlier substance use may increase risk for poorer health. However, limited research has examined whether stress...
Substance use increases throughout adolescence, and earlier substance use may increase risk for poorer health. However, limited research has examined whether stress responses relate to adolescent substance use, especially among adolescents from ethnic minority and high-adversity backgrounds. The present study assessed whether blunted emotional and cortisol responses to stress at age 14 related to substance use by ages 14 and 16, and whether associations varied by poverty status and sex. A sample of 277 Mexican-origin youth (53.19% female; 68.35% below the poverty line) completed a social-evaluative stress task, which was culturally adapted for this population, and provided saliva samples and rated their anger, sadness, and happiness throughout the task. They also reported whether they had ever used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, and vaping of nicotine at age 14 and again at age 16. Multilevel models suggested that blunted cortisol reactivity to stress was associated with alcohol use by age 14 and vaping nicotine by age 16 among youth above the poverty line. Also, blunted sadness and happiness reactivity to stress was associated with use of marijuana and alcohol among female adolescents. Blunted stress responses may be a risk factor for substance use among youth above the poverty line and female adolescents.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Female; Male; Ethnicity; Nicotine; Hydrocortisone; Minority Groups; Substance-Related Disorders; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 35758286
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579422000244 -
Journal of Speech, Language, and... Sep 2023Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is the process of engaging in negatively valenced and habitual thought patterns. RNT is strongly associated with mental health...
PURPOSE
Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is the process of engaging in negatively valenced and habitual thought patterns. RNT is strongly associated with mental health conditions and often affects quality of life. This study explored RNT in older school-age children and adolescents who stutter to quantify the relationship between RNT and self-reported anxiety characteristics. An additional aim was to describe how individual differences in an adolescent's goal when speaking influences the frequency they engage in RNT.
METHOD
Ninety-nine children and adolescents who stutter aged 9-18 years completed a measurement of the frequency/severity of RNT, a screener of anxiety characteristics, and a measure of adverse impact related to stuttering. Children aged 10 years and above also answered questions about their goal when speaking.
RESULTS
Individual differences in RNT significantly predicted Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES) Total Scores more so than a child or adolescent's age. Higher generalized or social anxiety scores were significantly correlated with more frequent RNT and higher OASES Total Scores. Individual differences in goal when speaking (i.e., whether or not to stutter openly) were found to predict RNT. Finally, 22 children and adolescents (22.2%) also screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder and 32 (32.3%) screened positive for social anxiety disorder.
DISCUSSION
These data provide strong evidence that (a) many children and adolescents who stutter engage in RNT; (b) children and adolescents who engage more frequently in RNT or who have higher OASES Total Scores may be at increased risk for more characteristics of generalized or social anxiety; and (c) individual differences in goal when speaking can predict the degree to which an adolescent engages in RNT.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23713296.
Topics: Child; Humans; Adolescent; Aged; Stuttering; Pessimism; Quality of Life; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 37494925
DOI: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00147 -
Soins. Pediatrie, Puericulture 2023The transition from pediatrics to adult services represents one of the many changes experienced by adolescents with chronic illnesses between childhood and adulthood. It...
The transition from pediatrics to adult services represents one of the many changes experienced by adolescents with chronic illnesses between childhood and adulthood. It needs to be structured and personalized to support the young person's development and empowerment, as well as the construction of his or her overall life project. With this in mind, AD'venir offers transition preparation consultations, the details and benefits of which are described in this article.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Humans; Chronic Disease; Transition to Adult Care
PubMed: 37980156
DOI: 10.1016/j.spp.2023.10.005 -
European Review For Medical and... Nov 2023Depression affects adolescents worldwide and often predicts more serious disease manifestations in later lifetimes. Peer victimization or bullying, another form of child...
OBJECTIVE
Depression affects adolescents worldwide and often predicts more serious disease manifestations in later lifetimes. Peer victimization or bullying, another form of child abuse, increases symptoms of depression. In this paper, the relationship between peer bullying and depression in adolescence was investigated.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Each adolescent who was admitted to the adolescent unit completed forms referred to as the 'Depression Scale For Children' and the 'Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale'. Sociodemographic features and results of the scales' evaluation were studied. SPSS 16.0 program was used for statistical analysis. The p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS
239 adolescents, 120 of whom were male, were investigated. A positive relationship was determined among total and sub-scale scores of peer victimization-determining scale and depression scale scores. A negative relationship was determined between height, weight, age of the child, and sub-scale score of threat/intimidation. Both the total score of the peer victimization-determining scale and sub-scale scores of ridicule, open attack, and relational attack pertaining to patients with depression proved to be significantly higher than in those without depression.
CONCLUSIONS
The awareness of educators and parents, notably adolescents, must be raised in regard to peer victimization, and activities for increasing the communicative skills of adolescents and for allowing them to be able to express their emotions should also be performed. Identifying and preventing peer victimization, one of the causes of depression, and launching the treatment process for this are the first steps to be taken in terms of a healthy adulthood.
Topics: Child; Humans; Male; Adolescent; Adult; Female; Depression; Emotions; Peer Group; Bullying; Crime Victims
PubMed: 38039024
DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202311_34462