Adolescence is a period of vulnerability and profound change, during which the parental relationship remains integral to positive developmental outcomes. For adolescents in military families, parental deployment creates an additional stressor which may pose challenges to the relationship between parents and adolescents. This project was a preliminary qualitative study to develop a Theoretical model of how the parent-adolescent attachment relationship is affected by parental deployment over the deployment cycle. This researcher explored these adolescents' perception of their relationship with their parents through focus group interviews with military adolescents who have experienced parental deployment. An important explanatory and predictive factor in parent-child relationships and adjustment outcomes is Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982). Attachment Theory provides a framework for understanding the process that occurs between parents and children that leads to positive or negative outcomes and the mechanisms that underlie relational ties. Theoretical thematic analysis was employed using an attachment framework to explore the relationship between the parents and adolescents over the course of deployment. / Master of Science

Extant research on temperament shows that it may be related to certain developmental outcomes. However, according to the goodness-of-fit hypothesis (Chess and Thomas, 1999), developmental outcomes are the result of how well the biological tendencies of an individual (i.e. temperament) fit with the contextual demands of their environment. Thus, temperament should only affect developmental outcomes as a function of their environmental context. The current study proposes that parent temperament may serve as an environmental context that interacts with adolescent temperament to affect the development of the adolescent emotion regulatory system. Structural equation modeling results revealed parent temperament, specifically parent effortful control, to moderate the relationship between adolescent temperament and the adolescent emotion regulatory system. Several gender differences were also found for both main and interaction effects. Adolescent negative affect was negatively related to emotion regulation for girls only. Parent effortful control moderated the relationship between adolescent effortful control and suppression use also for girls only. Parent effortful control moderated the relationship between adolescent surgency and emotion lability for boys only, and parent effortful control moderated the relationship between adolescent surgency and suppression for both boys and girls, but in opposite directions. The interaction term was negatively related to suppression for girls, and it was positively related to suppression for boys. Results have several implications for potential parenting interventions and may inform programs that teach emotion regulation strategies. / Ph. D.

Participation in risky behaviors is a common threat to an adolescent's health. Youth engagement (YE), a youth's meaningful and sustained participation in an activity, is a way to help reduce that threat. The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), a public health emergency preparedness and response organization, has opportunities for engaging youth. However, few adolescents participate in MRC activities, signaling network-wide variations in working with youth. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature exploring YE in emergency preparedness organizations, including the MRC. The purpose of this dissertation was to better understand youth engagement and development within organizations like these. With the MRC as the example and youth development theories as the lens, YE was examined as well as challenges and benefits of YE, needs, and use of YE strategies within the MRC. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach was used to assess YE in the MRC: Phase I- key informant interviews of youth (ages 14-18) and adults in and out of MRC (N=17); and Phase II- a nationwide web-based survey of adult MRC unit leaders (N=215). Qualitative data was analyzed with Microsoft Word and Excel; quantitative data analyzed with Stata 12.0. Results revealed common challenges experienced by MRC units working with youth, including liability concerns. Benefits found include preparation of the youth for future careers and giving youth a focus beyond themselves. A Spearman's correlation found a statistically significant association (r=0.30, N=52, p=0.0288) between the use of the core YE principles and the level of youth participation among the MRC units with youth membership, meaning use of these principles may be helpful in better involving youth. Furthermore, "Building Youth and Adult Capacity" was the top YE principle used among the MRC units that allow youth membership to engage youth. Despite noted challenges, engaging adolescents in the MRC still has many benefits with long-term public health and maternal and child implications for youth in emergency preparedness organizations. These include development of a responsible youth that protects their peers, families, and local communities from public health challenges, positively impacting the community. Recommendations for building student MRC programs across the nation have been provided.

Peer and dating violence perpetration and victimization are common experiences placing adolescents at-risk for maladaptive outcomes, yet little research has focused on specific problematic situations associated with these types of violence and other related risk-taking behaviors. Further, prevention programs have typically focused on changing beliefs, attitudes, and skill-deficits, with little attention to adolescents’ motivations or perceptions of costs and benefits associated with risky situations, despite support for this type of research in other health-related fields (e.g., substance abuse, behavioral medicine). The current study assessed adolescents’ perceptions of potential positive and negative outcomes associated with risky dating and peer situations, many of which may increase youths’ risks for violence perpetration or victimization. Interviews were conducted with 82 predominantly African American adolescents living in an urban setting. At the conclusion of qualitative coding, 17 and 13 themes were identified for risky dating and peer situations, respectively. Content within these themes included potential positive and negative outcomes and associated processes and contextual factors identified by youth, across topics such as aggression, victimization, and other risks for physical or psychological harm; interpersonal and intrapersonal processes associated with dating and peer relationships (e.g., communication, emotion, respect, pressure); and more concrete costs and benefits for youth (e.g., gain or loss of financial or material goods, opportunities for fun things to do). This research has important implications for improving the ecological relevance and credibility of youth violence prevention programs, and the discussion of decisional balances of potential costs and benefits may represent important targets for prevention programs.

by Cola S.L. Lo. / Includes questionarires in Chinese. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-79). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / LIST OF APPENDICES --- p.vii / Chapter CHAPTER I - --- LITERATURE REVIEW AND RATIONALE / The relation between self-report anxiety and depression --- p.1 / Mood Dimensions: Negative and Positive Affectivity Model --- p.5 / Personality Dimensions: Neuroticism and Extraversion --- p.11 / Structural convergence of Affective and Personality Dimensions --- p.13 / Rationale and hypotheses of the present study --- p.16 / Chapter CHAPTER II - --- METHOD / Subjects --- p.19 / Instruments --- p.19 / Procedure --- p.25 / Chapter CHAPTER III - --- RESULTS / Instrument reliabilities --- p.26 / "Mean and standard deviation of the symptoms, emotionality and personality measures" --- p.28 / "Correlations of the symptoms, emotionality and personality measures" --- p.30 / Canonical Correlation Analyses --- p.35 / Hierarchical Regression Analyses --- p.41 / Chapter CHAPTER IV - --- DISCUSSION --- p.51 / REFERENCES --- p.62 / APPENDICES --- p.80

The research is a qualitative exploration of perceptions of adolescent mental health and collaborative working concerning this. There are rising numbers of young people with difficulties relating to mental health and a need to develop closer links between services and schools has been identified (Department for Education, 2015b). However, there is not enough known about how agencies work together, despite their differences, in order to effectively support adolescent mental health. Part one utilised semi structured interviews to explore, in depth, how, educational psychologists (EPs), Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) professionals and secondary school staff view adolescent mental health with regards to issues, practices, collaboration and how they view their own and other’s roles in supporting young people with mental health difficulties. Part two consisted of discussion groups guided by the use of vignettes, in order to explore the ways in which, EPs, CAMHS professionals and secondary school staff problem solve both in their own professional group and in a multi-agency group to explore the commonalities and differences in this. Findings from part one indicate that there are differences in perceptions of adolescent mental health across these three groups, with particular regards to their own and each other’s roles. Further to this findings indicate a lack of a shared understanding, characterised by a level of departmentalism. Findings from part two indicate that there are significant differences between the way in which schools, EPs and CAMHS professionals make sense of cases and in the way in which they work in their own professional group compared to how they work in multiagency groups. There were also indications that the differences that were found between groups in both part one and two, actually worked to increase the effectiveness of the approach in the multiagency groups, creating an enhanced and richer understanding of the problem given. Overall findings indicate that although on the surface thinking appears similar there are significant differences in thinking across EPs, CAMHS and schools in this area. Implications and recommendations for practice include; developing clarity and transparency regarding roles and fostering closer links by developing a shared understanding through opportunities for joint training.

Thesis--University of Oklahoma. / Bibliography: leaves 74-76.

Background: The number of childbearing adolescents in Vietnam is relatively low but they are more prone to experience adverse outcome than adult women. Reports of increasing rates of abortion and prevalence of STIs including HIV among youth indicate a need to improve services and counselling for these groups. Midwives are key persons in the promotion of young people’s sexual and reproductive health in Vietnam. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis is to describe the prevalence and outcome of adolescent pregnancies in Vietnam (I), to explore the social context and health care seeking behavior of pregnant adolescents (II), as well as to explore the perspectives of health care providers and midwifery students regarding adolescent sexuality and reproductive health service needs (III, IV). Methods: The studies were conducted from 2002 to 2005, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. A population based prospective survey was used to estimate rates and outcomes of adolescent pregnancies (I). Pregnant and newly delivered adolescents’ experiences of childbearing and their encounters with health care providers were studied using qualitative interviews (II). Health care providers’ perspective on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) and views on how to improve the quality of abortion care was explored in focus group discussions (FGD). The values and attitudes of midwifery students about ASRH were investigated using questionnaires and interviews (IV). Descriptive statistics was used to analyse quantitative data (I, IV) and content analysis were applied for qualitative data (II, III, and IV). Findings: Adolescent birth rate was similar to previously reported in Vietnam but lower when compared to other Asian countries. The incidence of stillborn among adolescents was higher than for women in higher reproductive ages. The proportion of preterm deliveries was 20 % of all births, higher than previous findings from Vietnam. About 2 % of the deliveries were home deliveries, more common among women with low education, belonging to ethnic minority and/or living in mountainous areas (I). Ambivalence facing motherhood, pride and happiness but also worries and lack of self-confidence emerged as themes from the interviews; and experience of ‘being in the hands of others’ in a positive, caring sense but also in a sense of subordination in relation to husband, family and health care providers (II). Health care providers at abortion clinics and midwifery students generally disapproved of pre-marital sex, but had a pragmatic view on the need for contraceptive services and counselling to reduce the burden of unwanted pregnancies and abortions for young women. Providers and midwifery students expressed a need for training on ASRH issues (III, IV). Conclusion: Cultural norms and gender inequity make pregnant adolescent women in Vietnam vulnerable to sexual and reproductive health risks. Health care providers experience ethical dilemmas while counselling unmarried adolescents who come for abortion and this has a negative impact on the quality of care. Integrated ASRH in education and training programmes for health care providers, including midwives, as well as continued in-service training on these issues are suggested to improve reproductive health care services in Vietnam.

Thesis (Dr. P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 1991. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-128).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1992.