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Vladislav Ruchkin

Publications and source records attributed to Vladislav Ruchkin.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Suicidal behaviour in adolescents: associations with parental marital status and perceived parent-adolescent relationship.

BACKGROUND: Because equivocal findings exist with regard to the relationship between adolescents' suicidal behaviour and parental marital status, the aim of this study was to investigate this relationship and in particular the effect of the perceived parent-adolescent relationship on this association, taking into account the role of gender. METHOD: For this purpose, self-report surveys were administered to a representative school-based sample of 2707 adolescents in Antwerp (Belgium). RESULTS: 1) Boys living in a single parent family reported more suicidal ideations and self-harming behaviour than boys living in an intact family or in a remarried family; 2) Girls living in a remarried family reported more suicidal ideations and self-harming behaviour than girls living in an intact or in a single parent family; 3) Even after controlling for the levels of perceived parent-adolescent relationship, these associations remained significant. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design, the retrospective assessment of suicidality and changes in family structure, the lack of external information and the assessment of the parent-adolescent relationship for both parents together, may have influenced the findings. CONCLUSIONS: When assessing risk factors for adolescent suicidality, marital status of the parents may bear clinical importance. In contrast to other studies, the perceived parent-adolescent relationship did not alter this association, a finding that needs further study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Early to bed: a study of adaptation among sexually active urban adolescent girls younger than age sixteen.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between sexual activity among urban adolescent girls and four global measures of psychosocial adaptation (academic motivation, school achievement, depressive symptoms, and expectations about the future). METHOD: Data derived from the Social and Health Assessment, a self-report survey administered in 1998 to students in the public school system in New Haven, CT (149 classes at 17 middle and high schools). RESULTS: Of 1,413 respondents (57% black, 28% Hispanic; mean age 13.4 +/- 1.7 years), 414 (29%) acknowledged prior sexual intercourse; the proportions of sexually active girls in 6th, 8th, and 10th grades were 14%, 30%, and 50%, respectively. In multivariate analyses of covariance, sexual activity was significantly associated with all four measures of psychosocial adaptation (p < .001). Other correlates of at least one measure of maladaptation included socioeconomic status, sensation seeking, and lower school grade (p < .001 for each), peer pressure (p < .01), and black ethnicity, and the interaction of sexual activity by lower school grade (p < .05 for each). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with their sexually naive peers, sexually active adolescent girls had lower scores on global measures of psychosocial adaptation. These findings have clinical, policy, and research relevance to a vulnerable population at high risk of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Is posttraumatic stress in youth a culture-bound phenomenon? A comparison of symptom trends in selected U.S. and Russian communities.

OBJECTIVE: The cross-cultural applicability of the concept of posttraumatic stress was investigated by assessing symptom frequency and levels of comorbid psychopathology in adolescents from the United States and Russia. METHOD: A self-report survey was conducted in representative samples of 2,157 adolescents 14 to 17 years old from urban communities of the United States (N=1,212) and Russia (N=945). RESULTS: In both countries, the levels of all three major clusters of posttraumatic symptoms (reexperiencing, avoidance, and arousal), as well as of internalizing psychopathology, increased along with the level of posttraumatic stress. Expectations about the future had a tendency to decrease with increasing posttraumatic stress. No differences between countries in significant interaction effects for symptom levels were found. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that posttraumatic symptoms and their associations with other adolescent mental health problems are not culture bound and that the psychological consequences of trauma follow similar dynamics cross-culturally.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The psychosocial aspects of children exposed to war: practice and policy initiatives.

The atrocities of war have detrimental effects on the development and mental health of children that have been documented since World War II. To date, a considerable amount of knowledge about various aspects of this problem has been accumulated, including the ways in which trauma impacts child mental health and development, as well as intervention techniques, and prevention methods. Considering the large populations of civilians that experience the trauma of war, it is timely to review existing literature, summarize approaches for helping war-affected children, and suggest future directions for research and policy.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Subtypes of self-esteem and self-concept in adolescent violent and property offenders.

AIM: To investigate the relationship between subtypes of self-esteem/self-concept (familial, academic, social, and personal security) and antisocial behavior in adolescents (violent and property offending). METHOD: A self-report survey was administered in a representative group of 1466 students aged 12 to 18. RESULTS: Both low family acceptance and low academic competence were found to predict property and violent offending, while high peer popularity was found to predict mainly violent offending. CONCLUSION: The finding that subtypes of self-esteem/self-concept present differently in antisocial adolescents may have clinical and scientific consequences, and such differentiation should be considered in future research. It should also be investigated whether this finding has therapeutic consequences.

Achievement↗
PubMed2004

Juvenile arrest: a cross-cultural comparison.

BACKGROUND: Cross-national studies describing the psychopathological characteristics of arrested adolescents are virtually non-existent. Such studies are important because they have implications for national policy on arrest, case-management, and future research. METHOD: To address this issue, self-report surveys administered to representative groups of 12- to 16-year-old adolescents in New Haven, USA (N = 1138) and Antwerp, Belgium (N = 627) were compared. A number of internalizing and deviant behavior variables were compared between controls (C), non-arrested antisocial (NA), and arrested antisocial (AR) participants. RESULTS: Similar cross-national arrest rates and levels of antisocial behavior were found. NA and AR youths in both countries reported more internalizing problems, except for anxiety, and more deviant characteristics. Contrary to expectations, the level of depression was not higher in AR compared to NA youth when differences in antisocial behavior between NA and AR were controlled. Also unexpected, arrest showed an independent association with a number of deviant behavior variables. CONCLUSIONS: Further research should investigate the underlying mechanisms of these associations, as this insight would be useful for developing future intervention and prevention programs, as well as for developing future national policies regarding juvenile antisocial behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Violence exposure and substance use in adolescents: findings from three countries.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate relationships between exposure to community violence (witnessing and victimization) and reported substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs) in a cross-national sample of adolescents, after controlling for the level of the adolescents' own violent behavior. METHOD: A self-report survey was conducted in 3380 14- to 17-year-old adolescents in urban communities of 3 different countries: Antwerp, Belgium (N = 958); Arkangelsk, Russia (N = 1036); and New Haven, Connecticut (N = 1386). RESULTS: In all 3 countries, levels of reported smoking, alcohol use, marijuana use, and hard drug use showed increases with adolescent exposure to violence. Although positively related, substance use was increased less markedly in US adolescents who witnessed violence. CONCLUSION: Current findings further emphasize the association between violence exposure and potential severe physical and psychosocial health problems in adolescents. In addition, the findings suggest that violence exposure and its consequences are a worldwide urban phenomenon. Cross-national differences were found, however, that warrant additional research, and prospective studies are needed to investigate the pathways from violence exposure to substance abuse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Psychopathology and age at onset of conduct problems in juvenile delinquents.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess psychopathology among incarcerated Russian juvenile delinquents in relation to the onset of conduct problems. METHOD: 358 male juvenile delinquents were interviewed from January to September 1999, using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version. Early behavior problems, current antisocial behavior, and psychopathology were also assessed through self-reports. The presence of conduct disorder (CD) and other diagnoses was determined according to DSM-IV criteria. RESULTS: 73.2% of the incarcerated youths met criteria for CD. 23.5% of the total sample reported at least 1 criterion for CD being present before the age of 10 years. All participants from this early-onset group fulfilled the criteria for CD. This group also had significantly higher rates of psychopathology, and particularly of externalizing behaviors, as compared with youths whose conduct problems began at or after the age of 10 years. CONCLUSION: Poor psychosocial adaptation and future prognosis in juvenile delinquents with early-onset conduct problems may be related to their greater degree of psychiatric disturbance compared with later-onset delinquent youths. Need for psychiatric treatment should be carefully considered in prevention and rehabilitation efforts for troubled youths.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Exposure to violence and suicide risk in adolescents: a community study.

The prevalence of violence exposure is relatively unexplored in adolescents in European communities, and reports on the association between exposure to community violence and suicidal behavior are rare. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) the prevalence of community violence in a European urban adolescent sample, (2) the relationship between exposure to community violence and suicidal ideation/deliberate self-harm, and (3) the influence of depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior on this relationship. Self-report surveys were administered to a representative school-based sample of 1509 adolescents in Antwerp (Belgium). The prevalence rate of violence exposure was still high but lower than that reported in U.S. communities. Suicidal ideation and deliberate self-harm were both related to violence exposure. The gender-specific influence of depressive symptomatology and aggressive behavior on the association between exposure to violence and suicidal behavior suggests the need for further research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Neuropsychological characteristics of three subgroups of Flemish delinquent adolescents.

Sixty-three adjudicated adolescents, aged 14-17 years, were followed for 2 years to examine the neuropsychological characteristics of subgroups of delinquents. Nonrecidivistic subjects (n = 29) and late recidivistic subjects (n = 22) differed from early recidivistic subjects (n = 12) on intelligence, self-control functioning, and memory. Late recidivistic subjects, compared with not recidivistic subjects, showed a lower verbal IQ. The differences remained when controlling for the level of substance abuse. This study suggests that neuropsychological assessment may help in differentiating delinquent adolescents, although more research is needed to unravel the mediating influences of substance abuse and early neuropsychological and academic problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The protective effects of religiousness and parent involvement on the development of conduct problems among youth exposed to violence.

This study examined the protective effects of religiousness and parent involvement for the development of conduct problems beyond the effects of risk factors. Measures of violence exposure, conduct problems, parent involvement, and religiousness, from the longitudinal Social and Health Assessment survey, were completed by 1,703 high-risk urban adolescents (12.5 +/- 1.7 years; 53% female). Witnessing of and victimization by community violence appeared to be significant risk factors for an increase in conduct problems over a 1-year period. Religiousness and parental involvement were each uniquely associated with a decrease in conduct problems. Moreover, several dimensions of religiousness moderated the relationship between violence exposure and conduct problems, buffering the negative effects of violence exposure. Implications of these findings for prevention efforts are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Predicting recidivism in delinquent adolescents from psychological and psychiatric assessment.

An important but sparse body of research focuses on psychiatric disorders and/or psychological characteristics as predictors of recidivism in delinquent adolescents. Through detailed psychiatric and psychological assessment in 64 adjudicated male juvenile delinquents, the current study investigated the long-term relationships between psychopathology, intellectual functioning, and recidivism. Psychiatric diagnosis was based on the results of a semistructured interview conducted both with delinquents and their parents. After 2 years, information on recidivism was retrieved from the official records for the 64 subjects who underwent an initial assessment and the 36 who did not but who were adjudicated during the same period. The statistical model of future offending was able to explain 44.0% of the variance through the combination of (1) diagnosis of conduct disorder, (2) absence of major depression, and (3) low verbal IQ as scored on a standard intelligence test. It is concluded that specific aspects of psychiatric and psychological assessment can help to predict recidivist offending in delinquent adolescents. Future research should focus on the possibilities of implementing these findings in the development of prevention and rehabilitation programs.

Adolescent↗