Histories of sexual abuse in adolescent male runaways

In this study, data on sexual victimization in the histories of 89 Canadian male runaways as well as information on physical victimization, family structure, family financial stability, delinquent and criminal activities, and reasons for running away from home were evaluated. The population of male runaways evidenced dramatically higher rates of sexual and physical abuse than did randomly sampled populations. Sexually abused and nonsexually abused male runaways shared characteristics noted in the literature as common to runaways: problem families, high rates of delinquency, depression, tension, low self-image, and history of physical abuse. Sexually abused male runaways differed from nonsexually abused runaways in their reactions to their runaway event, with sexually abused male runaways responding in highly avoidant patterns coupled with extreme withdrawal from all types of interpersonal relationships. These differences are explained as consistent with known sequelae of sexual abuse, and the implications for treatment by runaway shelters and for further research are suggested.     

A large-scale comparison of perspectives on parenting between teenage runaways and nonrunaways

Teenage runaways were compared to teenage nonrunaways concerning their views on parenting behaviors. In ratings of reasons for running away, the runaways emphasized typical teenage issues such as differences in values from parents and rebellion. On the other hand, nonrunaways gave highest ratings to more dramatic issues such as parental abuse and drug use. Runaways were less likely to want to have children than nonrunaways and, if they did have children, runaways anticipated being very different with their children than their parents had been with them (e.g., more involved and open). Nonrunaways generally expected to be about the same as their parents had been. Suggestions for treatment, based on the findings, are offered.     

Patterns of runaway behavior within a larger systems context: the road to empowerment

Runaway behavior is a common problem in residential treatment settings for youth. This paper looked at Orten and Soll's runaway typology and Homer's conceptualization of runaways as "running from" or "running to" something and expanded the context to include interactions with family and professionals. A case study and a survey of nine adolescent runaways from a residential setting were used to explore several hypotheses. A discussion of the results and practical applications illustrated ways to empower therapists and other professionals to deal with runaways more effectively.     

Social adjustment and symptomatology in two types of homeless adolescents: runaways and throwaways

Previous research on homeless adolescents has largely ignored the distinction between those who have left home on their own volition (runaways), and those who have been forced to leave (throwaways). Fifty-two homeless adolescents in Brisbane, Australia, were assessed to compare male and female runaways and throwaways for social adjustment and symptomatology. Differences for social adjustment (antisocial tendencies and aggression) and symptomatology (social isolation and depression) were predicted. Results indicated that male runaways were significantly more hostile than male throwaways (p less than .001), and significantly more socially isolated than female runaways (p less than .025). Female throwaways, however, were significantly more hostile than male throwaways (p less than .025) and female runaways (p less than .025). Yet homeless males overall had a significantly stronger urge to act out hostility than homeless females (p less than .025). In addition, female throwaways were significantly more antisocial than male throwaways (p less than .001). There were no significant differences for depression. A theory of inner social control (Hirschi, 1969), postulating absence of bonding in earlier socialization, was supported.     

Strengthening Voices

SUMMARY

As a therapist I have chosen to work with adolescent girls whose voices are among the weakest in our society. They have been sexually, physically and/or emotionally abused as children. Many have seen their mothers beaten by their boyfriends or husbands. Many have body-perfection obsessions such as anorexia and bulimia. Almost all of them have run away from home, hung out downtown, stolen property, relied on drugs and alcohol, and purposefully hurt themselves to take away their feelings. Many have resorted to selling their bodies on the streets or within their peer groups. They all operate from a self-belief of worthlessness, a belief that has gender socialization and abuse at its core. It is at this core that the therapeutic relationship must begin. This article describes a therapy relationship with a 14-year-old girl. This work with adolescent girls is described as being guided by three main principles, that of relationship, justice and soul work.     

Presenting problems of sexually abused girls receiving psychiatric services

Twenty-three behaviors among those suggested in the literature to be associated with sexual abuse were studied in 195 girls, ages 2-18 years, who were consecutive admissions to three Midwestern mental health agencies. Results indicated that sexually inappropriate behaviors, sleep disturbance, depressed mood, and delinquent behavior occurred more frequently in young abuse victims than in clinic comparisons. Sexually inappropriate behaviors and running away appeared more often in older sexually abused girls, than they appeared in older clinic comparisons. These comparisons of the presenting problems of sexually abused and nonabused girls suggested there are few behavioral "markers" of sexual abuse in clinical samples and that sexual abuse may not be a unique contributing factor in the ontogeny of childhood psychopathology.     

"A new deal for the drug addict": the Addiction Research Center, Lexington, Kentucky

This article describes the social organization of knowledge production in the formative moments of the substance abuse research enterprise. It describes the institutional arrangements and material conditions of a U.S. Public Health Service laboratory that was housed in a facility run jointly with the federal Bureau of Prisons. The Addiction Research Center (ARC) in Lexington, Kentucky, was dedicated to elucidating the basic underlying mechanisms of drug addiction. The ARC was housed on the rural campus of a prison-hospital called "Narco," one of two "narcotics farms" in Lexington, Kentucky, and Fort Worth, Texas. For its studies on drug effects, the ARC had access to a pool of drug-experienced human subjects drawn from the ranks of convicted felons. Given their unparalleled access to human subjects, the scientists who worked at the ARC made conceptual contributions still acknowledged today. Based on archival work as well as dozens of oral history interviews with individuals who began their research careers at Lexington, the article presents an analytic, intellectual history of the early work of Abraham Wikler, whose lifelong pursuit of the underlying mechanisms of opiate addiction led him to hypothesize the role of conditioning in relapse, as an exemplar of the kind of scientific research that depended on closely listening to and observing "post-addicts," as subject participants were called.     

Stress, locus of control, and psychological status in black South African migrants

The aim of this study was to investigate the specific impact of a major migration-related stressor on the psychological functioning of Black South African migrants who had been coerced to migrate from their indigenous residence to an area designated by the South African government. Scales measuring stress, locus of control, and psychological status were administered to a sample of 50 involuntary farm migrants, 50 "voluntary" farm migrants, 50 "black spot" migrants, and 50 non-migrants. Subjects were male and female adults aged between 35 and 45 years. Results indicated that migrants perceived more stress and were more psychologically distressed than nonmigrants. This distress was particularly associated with the stressor lose home. Farm migrants perceived more external control than black spot and nonmigrant groups.     

An experimental study of the physical and psychological effects of aerobic exercise on schoolchildren

This study compared the physical and psychological effects of running to those of the normal physical education program of activities among 154 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders who were randomly assigned to conditions within a true experimental design. The running program consisted of three 30-min sessions per week for 12 weeks in lieu of attendance in regular physical education classes. Findings showed that although boys tended to run faster than girls overall and that older children run faster than younger children, running-program participants performed better on an 800-m run, had lower pulse rates, and performed better on a test of creativity than did regular physical education participants. Running boys had less body fat, and running girls had more creative involvement in class. No differences were found on 50-m dash performance or perceptual skill. On total behavior, girls were more self-controlled than boys, and self-concept tended to become less positive with increased grade level. Running performance for 800 m persisted for 5 months among boys in the treatment, but not among girls. Running was judged effective for enhancing the cardiorespiratory health and creativity of school children.     

Problems of maltreated runaway youth

Research has shown that physical and sexual maltreatment precipitate runaway behavior in adolescents. However, there have been few large-scale examinations of the family, school, and personal problems of maltreated adolescents. In the present paper, an 85-item Client Information Record was completed on 2,019 runaways by shelter staff from eight southeastern states. There were significant differences in the problems reported by physically abused and sexually abused runaways when compared to their nonabused runaway peers. Runaways who were both physically and sexually maltreated were significantly more vulnerable and much worse off than those who only experienced either physical or sexual abuse. Implications for the treatment of maltreated runaways are discussed.     

Gender and Mainline Protestant Pastors' Allocation of Time to Work Tasks

Some scholars argue that male and female members of the Protestant clergy have differing ministerial styles. They argue that women are more person-oriented and interested in direct interaction with their parishioners and that men are more focused on job status and interested in administration. Using data on 1,688 clergy in eight mainline denominations, this research note compares the proportion of time that male and female pastors spend on 10 work tasks. Women devote less time than men to staff administration and supervision, a difference that is empirically attributable to their underrepresentation as senior pastors. The expectation of differing ministerial styles is most strongly supported in women's greater allocation of time to pastoral counseling—a "personalized," one-on-one ministry. However, they also spend proportionately less time than men on home and hospital visitation. This seemingly anomalous difference can be explained empirically as a factor of differential childcare responsibilities, which appear to limit women's but not men's movement away from home and church.     

Correlates of adolescent pregnancy in La Paz,Bolivia: findings from a quantitative-qualitative study

Recent data indicate that nearly one in three Bolivian adolescent females becomes pregnant prior to reaching age twenty. This article presents the results of a study undertaken to address the question of why some female adolescents in La Paz, Bolivia, become pregnant while others in similar circumstances avoid early pregnancy. The study utilized mixed qualitative-quantitative methods based on a case-control design. Among the potential explanatory factors considered were family structure, parental relationships, partner relationships, knowledge of pregnancy risks, self-esteem, and locus of control. Significant differences between girls experiencing a pregnancy and those who had not were observed on two of the six factors considered-relationships with parents and self-esteem. Girls who had experienced a pregnancy were less likely to have reported affectionate and supportive parents, more likely to have reported fighting in their home, and exhibited lower levels of self-esteem than those who had never been pregnant. Focus-group discussions suggested that adolescent females in La Paz lack trustworthy support networks that would empower them to seek information regarding sex and contraception and to act upon such information.     

Transnationalism as a motif in family stories

Family stories have long been recognized as a vehicle for assessing components of a family's emotional and social life, including the degree to which an immigrant family has been willing to assimilate. Transnationalism, defined as living in one or more cultures and maintaining connections to both, is now increasingly common. A qualitative study of family stories in the family of those who appear completely "American" suggests that an affiliation with one's home country is nevertheless detectable in the stories via motifs such as (1) positively connotated home remedies, (2) continuing denigration of home country "enemies," (3) extensive knowledge of the home country history and politics, (4) praise of endogamy and negative assessment of exogamy, (5) superiority of home country to America, and (6) beauty of home country. Furthermore, an awareness of which model--assimilationist or transnational--governs a family's experience may help clarify a clinician's understanding of a family's strengths, vulnerabilities, and mode of framing their cultural experiences.     

Cross‐cultural validation of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) in Iran

Jowkar, B., Friborg, O. & Hjemdal, O. (2010). Cross‐cultural validation of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) in Iran. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 418–425. Resilience, as an ability to withstand and rebound from crisis and adversity, is becoming an increasingly popular concept in research on intervention and prevention of mental health. The present study examined psychometric properties of a Persian version of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), a scale intended to measure protective factors presumed to enhance resilience. The participants were 373 university undergraduate students, as well as 30 pairs of run‐away girls and a matched control group. A confirmatory factor analysis verified the Norwegian five‐factor structure. All subscale scores, personal competence, social competence, family cohesion, social resources and structured style, had good reliability. The convergent validity of the RSA was supported by showing positive associations with another resilience scale, i.e., a Persian version of the Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale (CD‐RISC). Predictive validity of the RSA was supported, as well, by significantly differentiating between girls who had run away from home and a matched control group. The results indicate that the RSA may be a valid and reliable scale for the assessment of resilience protective resources in an Iranian population.     

Adolescent Internet use: What we expect, what teens report

As adolescent Internet use grew exponentially in the last decade, with it emerged a number of correspondent expectations. Among them were the following: (1) that gender predicts usage, i.e., that boys spend more time online, surfing the web and playing violent games, while girls chat or shop online; (2) that Internet use causes social isolation and depression, especially for teens; and (3) that adolescents use the Internet for anonymous identity experimentation. These expectations were based on research with earlier technologies when the Internet was less diffused in the adolescent population. By means of highly detailed daily reports of adolescents' home Internet usage and peer-related adjustment, the present research sought to compare these expectations with the actual experiences of early and mid-adolescents in 2000 and 2001. Participants were 261 7th and 10th graders from suburban California public schools who completed four consecutive end-of-day reports on their school-based adjustment and Internet activity (including detailed logs of instant messages). Results challenge prevailing expectations regarding gender, well-being, and identity play. For the most part, adolescent boys' and girls' online activities have become more similar than different. On average, boys and girls alike described their online social interaction as (1) occurring in private settings such as e-mail and instant messages, (2) with friends who are also part of their daily, offline lives, and (3) devoted to fairly ordinary yet intimate topics (e.g., friends, gossip). No associations were found between Internet usage and well-being. Online pretending was reported to be motivated by a desire to play a joke on friends more often than to explore a desired or future identity, but participants reported a range of pretending content, contexts, and motives.     

Locus of control and home mortgage loan behaviour

The present study investigated the impact of locus of control on home mortgage loan behaviours. The results showed that participants with stronger external control were more likely to purchase a lower priced home, have a lower ratio of mortgage loan amount to the total home value, and have a shorter term of mortgage loan. Moreover, among participants who have owned a home, those not using mortgage loans showed more external control than those using mortgage loans; among participants who have not owned a home but want to buy a home, those not planning to use mortgage loans showed more external control than those planning to use mortgage loans.     

Mothers, daughters, and disordered eating

We examined features of 77 mothers' attitudes and behavior that relate to disordered eating among their adolescent daughters. Mothers whose daughters reported a level of disordered eating comparable with clinical samples of bulimic patients were compared with mothers whose daughters reported a low level of eating disturbances. As hypothesized, mothers of daughters with disordered eating were more dissatisfied with the general functioning of the family system. Also, mothers whose daughters were eating disordered were themselves more eating disordered and differed in their dieting history compared with mothers of the girls who were not eating disordered. Furthermore, mothers of girls with disordered eating thought their daughters should lose more weight than mothers of girls who were not eating disordered. They also thought that their daughters were less attractive than the girls judged themselves.     

Identity in the asphalt jungle

We present a study of 40 youngsters who live and work in the streets of Mexico City and who have abandoned their homes for significant periods of time. They seek out their own means of survival from a very young age. In many cases they have children of their own already as teenagers. The Seminario de Sociopsicoanálisis was invited to take part in a project aimed at facilitating the access of these children to graphic arts, artistic creation and therapeutic listening. This article presents our principal findings of the children's everyday life conditions, their work and their dreams, based on data obtained from social character questionnaires – with which therapeutic intervention in this project began. Vignettes of two case studies are also presented. The interviews were complemented by data gathered in weekly sessions attended by the youngsters on a voluntary bases. The sessions attested to both the narcissistic, aggressive impulsiveness of these youngsters and the vital effort they make toward their own recovery and toward establishing affective emotional ties with instructors and therapists. We found that socio‐psychoanalytic methods could be used successfully to expand the scope of psychoanalytic theoretic postulates about character to a non‐clinical, disadvantaged population. By analyzing the content of the psychoanalytically guided interviews we were able to recognize the central, distinctive motive, which leads these youngsters to run away from home and forge their own sense of identity.     

Sexuality education groups in juvenile detention

Several major studies have described the magnitude and character of adolescent sexual activity and sexual knowledge related to contraception and sexually transmitted diseases (Diepold & Young, 1979; Hass, 1979; Sorenson, 1973; Zelnick & Kantner, 1980). Few systematic studies have been conducted, however, which analyze the attitudes toward sexuality and contraception of delinquent adolescents who are generally school dropouts and who may engage in socially unacceptable behaviors such as running away, drug abuse, and prostitution. Delinquent youths, especially delinquent girls, have been characterized as being more sexually active and less sexually knowledgeable than their nondelinquent peers (Gibbon, 1981; Mannarino & Marsh, 1978). Despite the assumed high-risk nature of this delinquent population, few juvenile detention facilities have offered systematically evaluated coeducational sex education programs. One barrier to implementation of such programs in juvenile detention centers is the lack of a treatment or program orientation of most staff, and/or staff denial of adolescent sexuality in general, an attitude which suppresses the development of healthier sexual values and often promotes pathologic sexual interaction within institutions (Shore & Gochros, 1981). A recent survey of adolescent sexuality (Diepold, 1979) points out that teenagers' feelings about their "sexual selves" impacts greatly upon their general self-image. Low self-esteem is more frequently found among delinquents than nondelinquents (Jones & Swain, 1977; Lund & Salury, 1980), and treatment for delinquent girls often focuses on increasing self-esteem and developing assertiveness skills based on feelings of self-worth (DeLange, Lanahan, & Barton, 1981; NiCarthy, 1981). Two studies carried out with juvenile detainees from a large urban center confirmed that sexual activity among delinquent adolescents is significantly greater than that of the general adolescent population, and that the delinquents have little or no knowledge of birth control methods or venereal disease (Deisher, 1980; Schroeder, 1981). Further, these adolescents appear to endorse constricted and conventional values related to sexual activity, abortion, and relationship issues and frequently have a background of sexual abuse and prostitution. These findings form the basis of the current study which attempts to develop an effective coeducational sex education program for this population within a detention facility. This program is specifically designed for a sexually active adolescent group aged 14 to 17.