Comparing the mental health needs of female and male incarcerated juvenile delinquents

The present study was undertaken to survey the prevalence of mental disorder in juvenile justice facilities and to compare the mental health needs for females and males. Girls displayed significantly more mental health needs than boys. The estimated prevalence of mental disorder for boys was 27%, compared with 84% for girls. The difference is highly significant and is discussed in terms of service system issues in juvenile justice that affect males and females differently. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time for change: using implementation intentions to promote physical activity in a randomised pilot trial

Objective: A common barrier to exercise is a perceived lack of time. The current pilot study examined the effects of an implementation intention intervention to enhance exercise self-efficacy, increase confidence to exercise when facing time constraints, and increase physical activity in middle-aged adults (n?=?63, aged 35–69). Design: Participants received a pedometer (Fitbit) to objectively measure activity and were randomly assigned to either a control or intervention condition. After a 1-week baseline, the intervention condition received instructions to plan how, where, and when they would add steps to their daily routine to meet their step goal, using personalised schedules and maps. Both groups were contacted nightly via email. Main Outcome Measures: Physical activity (steps and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous activity), goal achievement, exercise self-efficacy, time-relevant exercise self-efficacy and affect. Results: Compared to the control, the intervention condition significantly increased in steps, time spent in moderate-to-vigorous activity, and time-relevant exercise self-efficacy. Goal achievement was related to greater time-relevant exercise self-efficacy and more positive affect at the daily level. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the personalised planning intervention increased physical activity and confidence in achieving physical activity goals under time constraints. Avenues for future directions, especially for producing more sustained effects, are discussed.     

Using Expressive Arts in Online Education to Identify Feelings

The authors of this article present two creative teaching activities to illustrate how online counselor education can use expressive arts to promote awareness of how one feels. Included is a discussion of this awareness of feelings, the downside of expressing feelings, creative arts in counselor education, and how counselor education can promote feeling experiences. Two examples of expressive arts are offered with a brief discussion.     

The Management of Disclosure in Children’s Accounts of Domestic Violence: Practices of Telling and Not Telling

Children and young people who experience domestic violence are often represented as passive witnesses, too vulnerable to tell the stories of their own lives. This article reports on findings from a 2 year European research project (Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies, UNARS) with children and young people in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK, who had experienced domestic violence. It explores children and young people’s understandings of their own capacity to reflect on and disclose their experiences Extracts from individual interviews with 107 children and young people (age 8–18) were analysed. Three themes are presented, that illustrate children and young people’s strategies for managing disclosure: (1) “Being silenced or choosing silence?”, explores children and young people’s practices of self-silencing; (2) “Managing disclosures: Finding ways to tell” outlines how children and young people value self-expression, and the strategies they use to disclose safely; and in (3) “Speaking with many voices” considers how children and young people’s accounts of their experiences are constituted relationally, and are often polyvocal. The article concludes that children and young people can be articulate, strategic and reflexive communicators, and that good support for families struggling with domestic violence must enable space for children and young people’s voice to be heard. This is possible only in an integrated framework able to encompass multiple layers and perspectives, rather than privileging the adult point of view. Practitioners who work with families affected by domestic violence need to recognize that children and young people are able to reflect on and speak about their experiences. This requires that attention is paid to the complexity of children and young people’s communication practices, and the relational context of those communications.     

Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Brazilian Ages & Stages Questionnaires-Social-Emotional: Use in Public Child Daycare Centers in Brazil

A mental health evaluation project was conducted in the City of Rio de Janeiro for the entire population of young children who received services in public child daycare centers and preschools. The Brazilian Portuguese version of the Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE-BR) served as an outcome measure for social-emotional development. Four age intervals of the ASQ:SE-BR were investigated by time period, 2011 and 2012. A total of 76,806 children from 21 to 66?months were evaluated. Three thousand children were randomly selected from each age interval and year for the analyses. The analyses used unidimensional Rasch Partial Credit Model and multidimensional Rasch Partial Credit Model to evaluate the psychometric properties of the ASQ:SE-BR. The model comparisons indicated support for the one-construct model and the two-construct model, indicating adequate evidence for the internal structure for the ASQ:SE-BR. Only one item was found to have misfit. Sound psychometric properties were supported by the results including internal structure, weighted item fit, reliability, and invariance across years. Item difficulty presented an appropriate coverage across intervals. This study provides supportive evidence for the use and interpretation of ASQ:SE scores with urban low-income Brazilian population.     

Finding Motivation to Learn: Exploring Achievement Goals in California Community College CalWORKs Students

This study investigated the achievement goals and motivations of California Community College CalWORKs students in an effort to better support student success and persistence. This study was guided by three research questions: (1) What type of achievement goals do CalWORKs students enter with? (2) What are their rationales for these types of achievement goals? (3) How malleable are these achievement goals? Interviews with 48 participants focused on better understanding the relationship between achievement goal type and motivation changes while in college. Findings indicate that CalWORKs students enter college with a range of goal types, but formany changes in goal type led to more intrinsic motivation and ultimately persistence toward graduation and career goals. Findings from this study also reveal thatexperiences highlighting students' ability to be competent as learners while balancing other roles helped catalyze change in achievement goal type and/or rationale. The results of this study emphasize that CalWORKs students' achievement goals are malleable, and particular college experiences can facilitate students' movement toward more academically focused goals. More specifically, placing more focus on additional student support programs that can foster peer networking, faculty interactions, and additional career exploration opportunities can lead to change in academic persistence.     

First-Year Maternal Employment and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

Associations between first-year maternal employment and mother—and youth-reported externalizing behavior at age 15 were examined paying attention to potential mediating roles of home and child care environments by 36?months, effortful control at 54?months, and externalizing behavior at 54?months and middle childhood. We used data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n?=?922 non-Hispanic White children) which is a prospective birth cohort study that followed children from birth to age 15. Full-time first-year maternal employment was associated with higher levels of externalizing behavior at age 15 through higher maternal depressive symptoms by 36?months, lower effortful control at 54?months, and higher externalizing behavior at 54?months and middle childhood. Part-time first-year maternal employment was not associated with higher externalizing behavior at age 15.     

Maternal and infant affect at 4 months predicts performance and verbal IQ at 4 and 7 years in a diverse population

Using existing longitudinal data from 570 infants in the Maternal Lifestyle Study, we explored the predictive value of maternal and infant affect and maternal vocalizations during 2 minutes of face‐to‐face interactions at 4 months on IQ scores at 4.5 and 7 years. After controlling for demographic factors, maternal depression, and prenatal drug exposure, maternal positive affect and maternal positive vocalizations emerged as predictors of both verbal and performance IQ at 4.5 and 7 years. Although infant positive affect during the interaction with the mother was not predictive of these outcome measures, infant positive affect towards an examiner predicted verbal but not performance IQ at 4.5 years. These results suggest that maternal positive affect may index emotional engagement in interaction that facilitates both verbal and nonverbal cognitive development, while infant social positive affect is specifically related to the acquisition of verbal reasoning abilities. These findings are significant because they are based on a discrete snapshot of observable behavior in infancy (just 2 minutes of interaction), because they extend the range of maternal behaviors and characteristics known to support positive developmental outcomes, and because they are derived from high‐risk infants where prevention efforts may be beneficial. Potential mechanisms for these associations are discussed, as are the clinical implications for identifying dyads most in need of targeted interventions.