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PubMedDate not supplied

Measurement of affectionate behaviors adolescent mothers display toward their infants in neonatal intensive care.

This paper describes two studies that had three purposes: (a) to modify a parent-child interaction tool used previously in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); (b) to demonstrate interrater reliability, Chronbach's Alpha reliability, and construct validity of the tool with adolescent mothers, and (c) to determine the ability of nurses engaged in usual work duties to observe maternal behaviors. The first study tested interrater reliability. Two NICU nurses were trained, observed adolescent mothers (n = 20) for the same 15 min, and then separately completed the measure. The second study tested internal consistency reliability and construct validity with 107 adolescent mothers with infants in a NICU. Nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit completed the measure, and data on maternal visits were gathered for construct validity. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the first study was r = .83. Results of the second study demonstrated a Chronbach's Alpha of .85 and a significant correlation between ratings of maternal behavior and visits. The instrument obtained acceptably reliable and valid estimates of adolescent mothers' affectionate behaviors toward their infants. In addition, the studies demonstrated that nurses can observe maternal behaviors while performing their usual duties.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of sex education on adolescent behavior.

By age 18, according to the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, 68 percent of 15-19-year-old women have received formal instruction about pregnancy and contraceptive methods, 16 percent have had instruction about pregnancy only, and another 16 percent have received neither type of education. The age at which formal contraceptive education is first provided has been declining; among 15-year-olds, for example, 47 percent have had instruction by their 15th birthday, compared with 33 percent of 17-year-olds and 26 percent of 19-year-olds. Forty-six percent of adolescent women have had premarital intercourse. Exposure to formal sex education appears to have no consistent effect on the subsequent probability that a teenager will begin to have intercourse. Sex education does influence contraceptive knowledge and behavior, however. Sexually active teenagers who have had formal instruction report knowing how to use more methods than do adolescents who have had no instruction. The former group is also significantly more likely to have practiced contraception at some time. And among ever-users, those who have received pregnancy and contraceptive education before first coitus are significantly more likely to have used a method at first intercourse. Nearly one-third of premaritally sexually active adolescents have had at least one premarital pregnancy. The NSFG data reveal no significant relationship between exposure to sex education and the risk of premarital pregnancy among sexually active teenagers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Treatment techniques and outcomes in multidimensional family therapy for adolescent behavior problems.

The link between treatment techniques and long-term treatment outcome was examined in an empirically supported family-based treatment for adolescent drug abuse. Observational ratings of therapist interventions were used to predict outcomes at 6 and 12 months posttreatment for 63 families receiving multidimensional family therapy. Greater use of in-session family-focused techniques predicted reduction in internalizing symptoms and improvement in family cohesion. Greater use of family-focused techniques also predicted reduced externalizing symptoms and family conflict, but only when adolescent focus was also high. In addition, greater use of adolescent-focused techniques predicted improvement in family cohesion and family conflict. Results suggest that both individual and multiperson interventions can exert an influential role in family-based therapy for clinically referred adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Biology-environment interaction and evocative biology-environment correlation: contributions of harsh discipline and parental psychopathology to problem adolescent behaviors.

Using an adoption paradigm, the Bioecological Model of development proposed by Bronfenbrenner and Ceci in 1994 was tested by concurrently modeling for biology-environment interaction and evocative biology-environment correlation. A sample of 150 adult adoptees (ages, 18-45 years) provided retrospective reports of harsh adoptive parent discipline, which served as the environmental independent variables. Birth parent psychopathology served as the biological predictor. The dependent variables were retrospective adoptee and adoptive parent reports on adolescent aggressive and conduct-disordered behaviors. Finally, adoptees were classified as experiencing contextual environmental risk using the presence of two or more adverse factors in the adoptive home (e.g., adoptive parent psychopathology) as the cutoff. The contextual environment was found to moderate the biological process of evocative biology-environment correlation, providing empirical support for the Bronfenbrenner and Ceci (1994) Bioecological Model.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Mild closed-head injury in children and adolescents: behavior problems and academic outcomes.

The issue of whether mild head injuries (HIs) in children cause behavior problems and poor scholastic performance is controversial. This study included 119 children (range = 8-16 years old) with HI, 114 with other injuries, and 106 with no injury (NI). Behavioral functioning was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist; academic functioning, with school grades and standardized testing. Higher T scores were found for both injury groups versus NI participants on preinjury behavioral status. All 3 groups' behavioral scores decreased relative to baseline at 1 year. HI and NI groups did not differ in school grades or achievement testing either pre- or postinjury. These results are consistent with the conclusion that head injury of the mildest type does not increase the probability of new overt behavioral or academic problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Determinants of multiple informant agreement on child and adolescent behavior.

This study examined whether characteristics of behavioral items reported by parent and child are related to parent-child agreement. Data were collected from 20 judges rating 59 child behaviors on 11 dimensions hypothesized to affect parent-child agreement. Data from 675 parent-child dyads (85% female caregivers, 62% male children, aged 7-17) reporting on 59 child behaviors were used to examine agreement. Behavior characteristics accounted for 43% of variability in parent-child agreement. Three components, saliency to the parent, saliency to the child, and observability/willingness to report, contributed uniquely to prediction of agreement.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Temperamental origins of child and adolescent behavior problems: from age three to age fifteen.

We assessed relations between early temperament and behavior problems across 12 years in an unselected sample of over 800 children. Temperament measures were drawn from behavior ratings made by examiners who observed children at ages 3, 5, 7, and 9. Factor analyses revealed 3 dimensions at each age: Lack of Control, Approach, and Sluggishness. Temperament dimensions at ages 3 and 5 were correlated in theoretically coherent ways with behavior problems that were independently evaluated by parents and teachers at ages 9 and 11, and by parents at ages 13 and 15. Lack of Control was more strongly associated with later externalizing behavior problems than with internalizing problems; Approach was associated with fewer internalizing problems among boys; and Sluggishness was weakly associated with both anxiety and inattention, especially among girls. Lack of Control and Sluggishness were also associated with fewer adolescent competencies. These results suggest that early temperament may have predictive specificity for the development of later psychopathology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 1. Phenotypic assessment in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development.

We introduce an overlapping cohort sequential longitudinal study of behavioral development and psychopathology in a representative sample of 1412 pairs of twins aged 8 through 16 years. Multiple phenotypic assessments involve a full psychiatric interview with each child and each parent, and supplementary parental, teacher, and child interview material and questionnaires. For the first wave of assessments, the numbers of reported DSM-III-R symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Overanxious Disorder (OAD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), assessed through interviews, confirm patterns of age and sex trends found in other epidemiological samples, but underscore their dependence on whether the child or the parent is the informant. Correlations across domains for symptoms reported by the same informant are often as large as correlations across informants for the same domain of symptoms. Factor analyses of these symptom counts, taking account of informant view and unreliability of assessment, show the high degree of correlation between SAD and OAD, between MDD and OAD, and between CD and ODD. ADHD symptoms are relatively independent of the other domains, but show moderate correlations with CD, ODD, and MDD. Factorially derived dimensional questionnaire scales, based on child, parental, and teacher reports, show patterns of relationship to symptom counts consistent with both convergent and discriminant validity as indices of liability to clinical symptoms. Across informants, questionnaire scales provide as good a prediction of symptoms as do clinical interviews. Multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis reveals the patterns of relationship between symptoms of psychiatric disorder in children taking due account of informant and unique sources of variance. Gender differences are consistent within the correlated clusters of ODD/CD and MDD/SAD/OAD, although there are disorder-specific age trends. There are large informant-specific influences on the reporting of symptoms in clinical interviews. Dimensional questionnaire scales provide a useful source of additional information. In subsequent analyses of genetic and environmental etiology of childhood psychopathology we must expect that results may differ by informant and method of assessment. Multivariate and developmental analyses that explore the sources of these differences will shed new light on the relationship between genetic and environmentally influenced vulnerability and the manifestation of psychopathology in specific circumstances.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Diazepam and caffeine administration during the first week of life: changes in neonatal and adolescent behavior.

The male offspring of hooded Lister rats were fostered at birth into 23 experimental litters. One pup in each litter was allocated to each of the following treatment groups: vehicle control; caffeine (15 or 30 mg/kg); diazepam (10 mg/kg, alone or plus caffeine 15 or 30 mg/kg). Pups were given daily injections on neonatal days 1-7 and were observed for 15 min following each injection. Diazepam significantly increased paddling and forward walking, particularly on days 5 and 7; caffeine also increased these behaviors, but less markedly. Diazepam increased the incidence of clonic jerks, particularly on day 7 and increased the spontaneous loss of righting reflex. The pups were then left undisturbed until weaning at day 21 and testing from days 35-42. There were no lasting effects of the neonatal treatments in two tests of anxiety, or in passive avoidance performance. Rats that had been treated neonatally with diazepam had significantly lower motor activity scores and reared less in the holeboard than did controls, and neonatal treatment with caffeine also resulted in lower motor activity scores. Neonatal treatment with caffeine made rats more aggressive (increased kicking and pushing) when they were intruding into another rat's territory. Neonatal treatment with diazepam increased aggression in resident rats, and this was counteracted by neonatal treatment with caffeine. Neonatal caffeine treatment enhanced rats' unconditioned preference for the black chamber in a black-white preference test and neonatal diazepam treatment reduced it.

Aggression↗
PubMed1989

Peer group influence as a factor in smoking behavior of adolescents.

Adolescents, as the fastest growing group of smokers, have been a focus and concern of health educators and researchers. Adolescent smoking is of particular interest because initiation and early habits are known to have important implications for lifetime smoking or cessation. Despite the well-known centrality of the peer group in adolescent behavior, smoking cessation programs have been largely directed toward individuals rather than groups, with emphasis on encouraging the individual to say "no." In this paper, smoking behavior and peer group patterns among a sample of 1,689 Grade 8 students from southern Ontario were analyzed to ascertain possible patterns of indirect influence by friends and acquaintances. Gender differences also were assessed. It was found that peer groups are crucially important in the initiation of smoking among young adolescents, particularly females. The patterns of indirect peer influence on girls is such that girls are less likely to stop smoking once they have begun than are boys.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Psychotherapy in the treatment of alcohol and substance abusing adolescents with suicidal behavior.

Adolescence is a unique time period in an individual's life, one in which suicide and substance abuse become substantial health risks. Currently, suicide accounts for approximately 14% of all deaths among 15-24 year olds in the U.S.A. Drug, alcohol abuse and dependence are the most prevalent causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality in the USA. Numerous studies have demonstrated the link between adolescent alcohol, substance abuse and suicide. When compared to community controls, the rate of a substance abuse disorder was 8.5 times higher in a sample of adolescent suicide completers and the rate of alcohol abuse was 7.5 times higher. Genetic and biological variables may also be responsible for either alcohol and substance abuse or suicide or both alcohol and substance abuse and suicide. There is little empirical research evaluating the effectiveness of alcohol and substance abuse treatments for adolescents. Therapies such as multisystemic therapy, functional family therapy, motivational interviewing, community reinforcement, the 12-step approach and contingency management reinforcement seem to be effective treatments. Despite the strong association between adolescent alcohol and substance use and suicidal behaviors, few studies have investigated the combined treatment of these two issues. Cognitive behavioral therapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy, seems to be a promising psychotherapy treatment for suicidality in alcohol and substance abusing adolescents. Further research is needed to determine the efficacy of various treatments of alcohol and substance abusing adolescents with suicidal behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Long-term consequences of adolescent health behaviors: implications for adolescent health services.

The authors discuss the evidence supporting the effectiveness of adolescent preventive services to influence health outcomes, the magnitude of the long-term consequences of adolescent health-compromising behaviors, and their implications for health policies. Particular attention is given to the contribution that behaviors participated in or begun during adolescence have on long-term health, including cancer and heart disease. They postulate the health benefits that might accrue from the widespread implementation of comprehensive adolescent preventive services, assuming a conservative estimate of effectiveness, could be significant.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Regulation of adolescent sleep: implications for behavior.

Adolescent development is accompanied by profound changes in the timing and amounts of sleep and wakefulness. Many aspects of these changes result from altered psychosocial and life-style circumstances that accompany adolescence. The maturation of biological processes regulating sleep/wake systems, however, may be strongly related to the sleep timing and amount during adolescence-either as "compelling" or "permissive" factors. The two-process model of sleep regulation posits a fundamental sleep-wake homeostatic process (process S) working in concert with the circadian biological timing system (process C) as the primary intrinsic regulatory factors. How do these systems change during adolescence? We present data from adolescent participants examining EEG markers of sleep homeostasis to evaluate whether process S shows maturational changes permissive of altered sleep patterns across puberty. Our data indicate that certain aspects of the homeostatic system are unchanged from late childhood to young adulthood, while other features change in a manner that is permissive of later bedtimes in older adolescents. We also show alterations of the circadian timing system indicating a possible circadian substrate for later adolescent sleep timing. The circadian parameters we have assessed include phase, period, melatonin secretory pattern, light sensitivity, and phase relationships, all of which show evidence of changes during pubertal development with potential to alter sleep patterns substantially. However the changes are mediated-whether through process S, process C, or by a combination-many adolescents have too little sleep at the wrong circadian phase. This pattern is associated with increased risks for excessive sleepiness, difficulty with mood regulation, impaired academic performance, learning difficulties, school tardiness and absenteeism, and accidents and injuries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

An intervention program for adolescents with behavior problems.

Adolescents with behavior problems (aged 12 to 14) attending a regular public high school were in need of an intervention program. The purpose was to enhance their personal and interpersonal functioning as well as to structure a stimulating learning environment. In order to improve their social, educational, and psychological functioning, program objectives were established to help students develop the ability to listen to one another, respect others as well as their opinions, become aware of their own emotions and those of their peers, and recognize and minimize derogatory remarks toward one another. To attain these objectives, relaxation sessions, magic circle activities, art sessions, future planning groups, and decision-making groups were used. Meetings with teachers enabled them to examine and improve their attitudes and relationship with students. Upon completion of the program, the adolescents manifested less disruptive classroom behavior, increased their class participation, and displayed a more positive attitude toward school. The achievement of these behavioral changes indicates that a psychologically oriented intervention program is a feasible addition to a conventional curriculum. Teachers learned the basic skills of program formation, implementation, and evaluation, and most importantly, revitalized their attitude toward troubled students and their profession.

Adolescent↗