Characteristics of seriously emotionally disturbed youth with and without substance abuse in intensive case management

Youth with emotional disturbance who have substance abuse problems are of particular concern to child-serving agencies. Approximately 22% of the youth served in New York State's Intensive Case Management Program for Children and Youth (CYICM) have identified substance abuse problems. We compared youths enrolled in CYICM who abuse substances with those who do not abuse substances. Adolescents with substance abuse problems differed from non-abusing adolescents. The abusing cohort was most likely to be emancipated minors, not enrolled in school, less likely to be members of a minority group, and more likely to have private health care coverage. They also evidenced a different constellation of symptoms than the non-abusing cohort, with abusers tending to display suicidal symptoms and behaviors and sexual acting out. Abusers were also more likely to have been admitted to private psychiatric hospitals and to have had crisis contacts in emergency rooms. Similar to non-abusers, however, abusers spent significantly fewer days as inpatients in state hospitals, and had fewer admissions to these hospitals following their enrollment in CYICM.     

FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF LIFE-THREATENING DRUG INGESTION IN A DUALLY DIAGNOSED YOUTH

Few data exist on operant mechanisms associated with drug overdose. In this investigation, a functional analysis indicated that life-threatening drug ingestion exhibited by a dually diagnosed youth was maintained by negative reinforcement. An operant intervention, derived from behavioral assessment data, reduced drug ingestion to near-zero levels.     

Children Who Murder: A Review

Despite considerable research on juvenile homicide, pre-adolescent homicide offenders have received less attention. This paper reviews the existing literature on preteen murderers in order to characterize the current state of research knowledge about this population, and draws on some of the work on adolescent homicide as well. The analysis of this literature considers historical context, methodological issues, previous attempts to classify youthful homicide offenders, and predictors of preteen homicidal behavior. While there is a high degree of heterogeneity within this population, several developmental similarities emerged across cases that were associated with the perpetration of homicide by preteens. A high percentage of preteen homicide offenders come from homes characterized by physical abuse, domestic violence, poor or absent parenting, and overall instability. Gun availability may have been a facilitating factor. Support for different etiologies of preteen versus adolescent homicide is weak. Recommendations for future research directions are offered.     

Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescents with Severe Emotional Disturbance

We investigated the sexual risk-taking behaviors of adolescents with severe emotional disturbance (SED). Subjects (N = 70) were clients of the South Carolina Continuum of Care. Information on sexual intercourse, sexual risk-taking, aggressive behaviors, substance use, and suicidal behavior was gathered using a modified version of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention self-report Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Forty-two percent of each race-gender group reported first intercourse before age 13, except for African American females at 63%. Seventy-five to 79% of all race-gender groups reported first sexual intercourse by age 18. Drinking alcohol before age 13 and carrying a weapon in the past 30 days were associated with first intercourse before age 13. Youth reporting first intercourse between ages 13 and 18 were about 12 times more likely to report suicide ideation than those youth who reported never having sexual intercourse. Youth with SED reporting first intercourse before age 13 appear to have an increased risk for unintended pregnancy and for contracting a sexually transmitted disease compared to youth with SED reporting first intercourse after age 13.     

Parental Incarceration Among Adolescents Receiving Mental Health Services

The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that approximately 1 in every 50 youth in the U.S. had a parent in State or Federal prison in 1999. Studies of children of incarcerated parents suggest that these youth are at risk for experiencing emotional and behavioral problems. Using a sample of 258 adolescents receiving routine mental health services, this study explored: (1) differences in demographic characteristics, lifetime exposure to risk factors, recent stressful life experiences, and clinical profiles of adolescents with and without a history of parental incarceration; and (2) the effect of parental incarceration relative to other risk factors on levels of emotional and behavioral problems and treatment outcomes. Nearly half (43%) of the youth studied had experienced the incarceration of one or both parents. Youth who experienced parental incarceration had been exposed to significantly more risk factors during their lifetimes including parental substance abuse, extreme poverty, and abuse or neglect. They were more likely than other treated youth to present with attention-deficit/hyperactivity and conduct disorders and less likely to have major depression. Findings provide preliminary evidence that parental incarceration may have a discrete negative effect on certain outcomes of treatment.     

Youth Suicide Intervention Using the Satir Model

Youth suicide is a social issue that needs serious consideration among families, therapists and helping professionals. This article presents an actual case of a youth who completed suicide, and discussion of the hypothetical Satir model treatment of this youth while alive. The Satir model has numerous interventions that have current applications toward dealing with suicidal youth in a humanist and hopeful way, fostering youths' desire to live and to become more positively involved in their lives. In the past, Satir focused on coping stances in communication, and now the coping stances give a deeper understanding into the internal world.     

The Freedom of a Teenager: Vocation and Service Learning as the Future of Youth Ministry

Abstract : This article asserts the value of service learning as integral to youth ministry's future. However, service learning often lacks an appropriate philosophical foundation and an effectual process. Therefore, we offer Luther's doctrine of vocation as a framework for engaging youth in service experiences, which in return becomes a concrete way to experience the doctrine of vocation and, more importantly, the freedom of a Christian. Framed and interpreted through a vocational lens, service experiences aid youth in recognizing the urgency of a life of faith,     

Interrogatory Theology

Abstract : Theological engagement with young people—and indeed with people of all ages—benefits when it attends to the practice of asking questions. The understanding of theological statements requires an appreciation of the questions behind them. In addition, questions are not merely instruments for getting to the answers. Good questions themselves generate insight. Questioning works best in an atmosphere of trust and freedom. This article develops these points by narrating experiences of theological engagement with young people.     

The importance of values in predicting Turkish youth's opinions about the European Union in light of the Copenhagen Political Criteria

The enlargement process of the European Union may be regarded as one of the most important social projects of human history in that it is trying to unite several nation-states under a "European identity." As a historically and culturally "distant" candidate, Turkey has been asked to meet a set of expectations referred to as the "Copenhagen Criteria," requiring a series of large-scale reforms to the infrastructure and superstructure of the country. Taking advantage of the unique opportunity to relate Turkish people's opinions on the criteria to their values, hypotheses based on Schwartz's model of values were tested. Schwartz's Personal Values Questionnaire and a questionnaire measuring opinions on the criteria and the Union were completed by 368 Turkish university students. Factor analysis of the opinion items yielded five factors: reduction of military influence in civil life, scepticism towards Europe and the European Union, improvement of human rights and liberties, improvement of minority rights, and lack of transparency in public institutions. Regression analyses showed that values and nationalism were powerful predictors of opinions whereas the effect of religiosity was limited only to the prediction of a preference for the reduction of military influence in civil life. Preference for openness to change values were successful in predicting variance in three of the five criteria: The more the participants favoured these values, the more they supported the improvement of human rights and liberties, the improvement of minority rights, and regretted the lack of transparency. Self-transcendence values were also positively related to support for the same three criteria together with a preference for reduction of military influence. As for nationalism, the results showed that this variable was related negatively to reduction of the military influence, improvement of human rights and liberties, improvement of minority rights; and positively to scepticism.     

Mentoring Relationships and Programs for Youth

ABSTRACT— Mentoring is one of the most popular social interventions in American society, with an estimated three million youth in formal one-to-one relationships. Studies have revealed significant associations between youth involvement in mentoring relationships and positive developmental outcomes. These associations are modest, however, and depend on several intervening processes. Centrally important is the formation of close, enduring connections between mentors and youth that foster positive developmental change. Effects of mentoring programs likewise typically have been small in magnitude, but they increase systematically with the use of program practices likely to support relationship development. Gaps between research and practice are evident both in the indiscriminate use of the term mentoring in the prevention field and in a focus on the growth and efficiency of mentoring programs at the expense of quality. Continued expansion of effective mentoring will require a better alignment of research and practice.