The present mixed-methods study examined adolescents’ moral identity development and its relation to their awareness of problems of social justice. Fifty-eight inner-city adolescents in Grades 9 and 12 ranked personal values according to their self-relevance or importance and a sub-sample also provided responses to interview questions that were coded qualitatively for maturity of moral identity. A written questionnaire assessed the adolescents’ awareness of issues of racism, sexism, and classism. It was found that adolescents held moral values at significantly higher levels of importance than non-moral values, with no differences between grades. However, trends suggested that females placed somewhat greater emphasis on moral values in terms of centrality or importance to the self and also expressed slightly more mature explanatory responses than males. Adolescents’ moral identity and social justice awareness were not correlated. These findings highlight the need to foster the development of morally motivated, socially aware individuals.

The present mixed-methods study examined adolescents’ moral identity development and its relation to their awareness of problems of social justice. Fifty-eight inner-city adolescents in Grades 9 and 12 ranked personal values according to their self-relevance or importance and a sub-sample also provided responses to interview questions that were coded qualitatively for maturity of moral identity. A written questionnaire assessed the adolescents’ awareness of issues of racism, sexism, and classism. It was found that adolescents held moral values at significantly higher levels of importance than non-moral values, with no differences between grades. However, trends suggested that females placed somewhat greater emphasis on moral values in terms of centrality or importance to the self and also expressed slightly more mature explanatory responses than males. Adolescents’ moral identity and social justice awareness were not correlated. These findings highlight the need to foster the development of morally motivated, socially aware individuals.

Using a mixed methods approach, this dissertation included two studies exploring procrastination and academic motivation beliefs of adolescents from Canada and Thailand. Study 1 examined the relationships between procrastination, motivation beliefsself-efficacy, self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, self-esteem, and test anxietyand academic performance and explored significant predictors of adolescent procrastination across two cultures. In this study, 312 Canadian and 401 Thai adolescents from secondary schools in an urban area in western Canada and an urban area in North-Eastern Thailand completed a 47-item survey containing procrastination and four motivation measures. In Study 2, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Thai adolescents representing low and high achieving students, to provide additional information about the role of motivation on adolescent procrastination and investigate academic procrastination of Thai adolescents in more depth. The quantitative findings demonstrated that all motivation variables significantly predicted procrastination, with self-efficacy for self-regulated learning strongly influencing adolescents across cultures. Findings from the qualitative study revealed six themes pertaining to academic procrastination: a) definitions of procrastination, b) antecedents of procrastination, c) consequences of procrastination, d) overcoming procrastination, e) the role of motivation, and f) the role of cultures on motivation, achievement, and procrastination. Quantitative and qualitative findings were integrated and discussed in order to provide insights into adolescent procrastination. Theoretical and educational implications as well as suggestions for future research were also provided. / Psychological Studies in Education

Reprint from: Allergology International 54(4), 2005, p.589-599

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-71). / vii, 71 leaves, bound 29 cm

This qualitative study utilized the action-project theory and method to investigate the close, long-term friendships (two to ten years in duration) of female, early adolescent dyads. Ten early adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 13 were studied. The purpose of this study was twofold; first, to determine the characteristics of best friendship projects and how they manifested within early adolescent friendship conversations and; second, to investigate the nature of self-representations (descriptions of the self) made by the participants. The processes (cognitive, affective, and behavioural) and meaning (goals) of friendship jointly expressed within the conversations were identified. As well, self-representations were analyzed from the perspective of whether they functioned to advance friendship projects. In addition to the friendship conversations, collages explicating the girls’ meanings and processes around their close friendships were also explored through an individual interview with each participant. The participants engaged in five friendship projects within their friendship conversations. First, an overriding project to preserve and maintain the friendship was demonstrated. Other sub-projects demonstrated within the conversations were the desire to have fun, to provide support to each other, and to connect with each other. Simultaneously, while jointly enacting other friendship projects, the participants also demonstrated through action, the project of exploring and discovering aspects of their identities. Multiple functional steps (the means) to achieve these projects were utilized. Gossip, fictional and factual storytelling, teasing, joking, problem solving, asking for advice, and displaying physical affection are examples of these means. Self-representations from the conversations were not always consistent with those revealed during self-confrontation interviews, at times in the service of achieving friendship goals. Self-representations between the collage interviews and the friendship conversations were very consistent, suggesting the complementary nature of the data sources. Meanings and processes gleaned from the friendship conversations were also very consistent with those found within the friendship collages. Implications of these findings for parents, educators, and counsellors are discussed.

Depression in adolescents is a ubiquitous mental health problem presenting ambiguities, uncertainties, and diverse challenges in its conceptualization, presentation, detection, and treatment. Despite the plethora of research on adolescent depression, there exists a paucity of research in regards to obtaining information from the adolescents themselves. In a mixed method, cross-sectional study, adolescents (N= 332) in grades 8 and 11 provided their conceptions of depression. Adolescents' self-recognition of depression was examined in association with depressive symptomatology and reported pathways to talking to someone. Adolescents' social and emotional competence was also examined in association with severity of their depressive symptomatology. Developed categories and subcategories of adolescent depression were guided by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for Major Depressive Episode (MDE) (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000). Adolescents' definitions of depression were dominated by subjective, holistic interpretations and add new information and depth to the previous research on adolescent depression. Depressed Mood and Social Impairment were the core categories, both contained intricate subcategories. The frequencies of these constructs provide a map of the themes and subthemes that pervade adolescents' personal philosophies regarding adolescent depression. About half of the adolescents who self-recognized depression within two weeks (45%),qualify into screened depression (Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale -2" version [RADS-2];Reynolds, 2002) criteria based on the DSM-IV-TR for MDE (APA, 2000). However, this study's findings showed that the mean for screened Depression Total Score (RADS-2; Reynolds, 2002)was significantly higher in those adolescents who self-recognized versus those who did not self-recognize depression. The majority of lifetime self-recognizers of depression thought that they needed to talk to someone and reported that they talked to someone when feeling depressed. Poor Emotion Awareness was a strong contributor to increasing vulnerability to depressive symptomatology. This study provides new theoretical insights regarding the concept and detection of adolescent depression, and links between social and emotional competence and depressive symptomatology. These findings extend previous research (APA, 2000), provide new understanding to guide future research, and have direct implications for research, policy, and practice strategies aimed to better communicate with and help young people with and without depression.

Purpose: A majority of childhood and adolescent cancer survivors face life-long cancer- and treatment-related sequelae. Long-term follow-up is necessary to facilitate timely diagnosis and management of these health conditions. As part of strategic long-term follow-up, provider continuity of care (PCOC) may improve outcomes through appropriate use of surveillance, screening, and coordination of services. The purpose of this thesis was to assess physician services utilization and PCOC among survivors of childhood cancer compared with general population subjects, and to examine factors associated with survivors' use of physician services and PCOC scores. Methods: Physician services utilization and PCOC were assessed in a population-based cohort of 1322 five-year cancer survivors diagnosed between 1981 and 1995 under age 20 in British Columbia, and a group of 13,220 age- and gender-frequency matched, randomly selected population-based subjects, whose records were linked to individual-level administrative healthcare datasets. Effects of clinical and sociodemographic modifiers on utilization and PCOC were examined using generalized linear modeling. Changes in utilization and PCOC by age were estimated using a longitudinal, repeated measures modeling approach. Results: Survivors incurred an average of 8.94 medical visits per year: 4.82 to primary care physicians, 2.69 to specialists, and 1.43 to non-physician providers. Survivors had more visits than comparators in all visit categories (p<0.0001 for all). As they age, survivors' use of primary care services increases significantly, while their use of specialist services declines, trends that are not mirrored by the comparison population. The average PCOC score for survivors was 0.54 ± 0.22, indicating survivors saw the same primary care provider for only 50% of their primary care visits. Mean score did not differ between survivors and comparators; however, in the population sample scores improved with age (p=0.02), while among survivors, scores worsened (p=0.05). Conclusions: The dramatic age-related increase in primary care visits observed in the survivor group suggests that primary care physicians play a key role in ensuring quality long-term follow-up care. Survivors are at heightened risk for poor PCOC as they age and transition into adult-oriented community care, raising concerns about whether they are receiving the appropriate follow-up care encompassing screening, surveillance and psychosocial support.

Despite wider community appeal, there has been restricted interest within the psychological discipline to understand and utilise the 'rites of passage' paradigm. In response, this paper systematically reviews the anthropological, sociological, psychological and developmental (Eriksonian) literature to examine the utility of this paradigm within a contemporary context, and in relation to both normal and at-risk adolescent identity development. The utility of this paradigm within the context of group and individual interventions is also reviewed. Strong support is provided that the 'rites of passage' paradigm can augment and complement current psychological theorising and interventions. Future research and methodological directions are tabled. / Thesis (MPsy(Clinical))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Health promotion and public health research increasingly recognise that a range of community organisation and attitudinal factors are important to a community’s level of readiness, or capacity, to undertake effective prevention activity required to reduce population rates of adolescent substance abuse. Although the importance of tailoring community capacity building to readiness levels is acknowledged, little research has been done to date, to develop a systematic framework for measuring readiness in Australia. / Equally in Australia where national and state government drive public health drug policy and programme development, their interaction and support of community level interventions and efforts has not been widely examined. / This methodological study of 100 telephone interviews with 60 community practitioners (15 in each community) was conducted to identify and assess the specific attitudinal, systemic and resource characteristics of four regional communities in order to extend their capacity or readiness to address adolescent substance abuse within their community. The study provided the opportunity to assess the feasibility, reliability and validity and utility of two North American questionnaires that had been developed to provide quantitative measurement of community readiness. Additional questions were included to try and gauge to what extent state government engaged with, and responded to, the four regional communities in the planning and initiation of prevention activity. Examination of this domain would also contribute to the understanding of state and community engagement with community empowerment. / Each of the readiness questionnaires appeared comprehensible within the Australian context, requiring only minor modifications to wording and format to obtain reliable responses from community practitioners. Community readiness ratings for the four communities were consistent across the two instruments with each questionnaire assessing some overlapping and some distinct domains. / The comparison of results from the two community readiness survey instruments suggested some advantages for the TECPR instrument in its slightly higher face validity to key informants and its ability to significantly discriminate the total readiness scores for the four communities. Analysis revealed some associations between the two readiness assessment methods; supporting the view that they were assessing some common underlying dimensions but also that they each provided some unique information. Analysis of the additional questions related to community empowerment suggested that the two assessment methods each contributed unique information in predicting local perceptions of community empowerment. / It is concluded that each questionnaire has the potential to elicit detailed and reliable data concerning community-readiness, which can be quantitatively analysed; and is not unduly time-consuming or burdensome to the researcher or the respondents. One of the questionnaires holds particular merit for communities where research expertise in not available. Measurement of community readiness appears feasible in the Australian context opening opportunities for improved planning and evaluating of community development initiatives aimed at preventing adolescent substance abuse.