The Internet is an integral part of many adolescents' lives. While it is widely recognized that Internet use has benefits, adolescent online interpersonal communications are arousing great public concern. The literature review summarizes research on adolescent online risk-taking. Risks are considered and research into the predictors and motives of online risk-taking is explored. Online risks, such as posting personal information and communicating with strangers lead to an increased chance of receiving online sexual solicitation and harassment. Three conceptualizations (Social Compensation, The Rich Get Richer, The Type-T Personality) are considered to frame adolescent online risk behaviors. There is limited research into the predictors of adolescent online risk-taking, especially in the United States. The present study explored adolescent online risk-taking using a survey of 934 American teens from the Pew Internet Survey & Life Project. The present study filled gaps in the current research on adolescent online risk-taking. Specifically the findings from this study indicate that some online behaviors that were previously thought to be risky (i.e. posting photographs online) are commonplace. Boys and older teens are most likely to engage in online risk-taking. Specialized educational messages should be targeted at those most at risk. Involvement in extracurricular activities in time spent socializing with friends offline seem to have protective value. Those behaviors should be encouraged. Further research should expand upon the results of this study. / Educational Psychology

Background: Since 2011, there has been ongoing conflict in Syria, resulting in the displacement of over 11 million people. Over 40,000 Syrian refugees resettled to Canada and of that, 52% were under the age of 19, falling into the adolescent age group. Adolescence (ages 10-19) is a critical stage for physical, psychosocial and cognitive development. As a result, mental health challenges often first emerge during adolescence. Refugee adolescents are a particularly vulnerable group, as normal adolescent stress is compounded with resettlement stress. Further research is needed to understand how Syrian refugee adolescents conceptualize mental health so that their needs can be better addressed. Methods: Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with older Syrian refugee adolescents (n=7) and service providers (n=8) in the Greater Toronto Area. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was guided by grounded theory. Results: The findings indicate that conceptualizations of mental health are highly dependent on how the concept is framed. The term mental health was poorly understood amongst Syrian adolescents. However, when different terms were used to describe mental health, including stress, pressure and comfort, it was clear that adolescents had a much deeper understanding of the concept. Once appropriate mental health framing was employed, adolescents were able to identify factors that they believed influence mental health status. Factors identified by adolescents and service providers included individual, social and system-level factors. Conclusions: Syrian adolescent perspectives are crucial in fully understanding their conceptualizations of mental health. The comparison of adolescent and service provider perspectives allowed for a comprehensive understanding of adolescent mental health, while identifying differences in perspectives between the two groups. This study recommends future strategies for policy makers, service providers and researchers to effectively address Syrian adolescents’ mental health. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

BACKGROUND: Low rates of physical activity and high rates of cannabis use among adolescents are concerning given the health outcomes associated with these health behaviours. Although individual-level characteristics are strongly associated with physical activity and cannabis use, research also suggests that the school setting may influence these health behaviours. PURPOSE: To: 1) Determine the extent to which students’ cannabis use and physical activity vary across school and classroom settings, 2) Identify characteristics of the school setting that are associated with cannabis use and physical activity among students in grades 6-12 in Ontario. METHODS: This study used data from the School Mental Health Surveys, a cross-sectional school-based survey of 31,124 students, 3,373 teachers, and 206 principals from 248 schools across Ontario. Multilevel modelling was used to explore school and class effects while controlling for student compositional effects. RESULTS: About 5% of the variability in student physical activity and 14% of the variability in student cannabis use was attributable to between school and classroom differences. Students’ perception of school climate was positively associated with physical activity, and negatively associated with cannabis use. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the potential influence of the school and classroom environment on students’ physical activity and cannabis use. School and classroom contexts may be important environments for targeted interventions, policies and programs. / Thesis / Master of Public Health (MPH) / Despite the known benefits of physical activity and harms associated with cannabis use, physical activity rates are low while cannabis use is high among Canadian youth. Previous research has highlighted the potential for the school environment to influence students’ health behaviours. The current study examined the extent to which physical activity and cannabis use varied across school and classroom settings and identified characteristics of the school environment that were associated with these health behaviours. There was significant between school and classroom variability in levels of physical activity and cannabis use. School climate was positively associated with physical activity, and negatively associated with cannabis use. Identifying modifiable characteristics of the school environment that are associated with students’ health behaviours can inform development of interventions, policies, and programs to increase physical activity and reduce cannabis use.

This study investigated the potential regulatory effects of various coping strategies on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It first divided PTSD symptoms and selected coping strategies into cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional types. The study then conceptualized each of the preceding types of coping strategies as being controlled stress responses and the PTSD symptoms as being semiautomatic stress responses. It lastly proposed that coping strategies be further divided into activating controlled stress response and deactivating controlled stress response. Controlled stress responses are coping strategies that are consciously initiated and implemented. Semiautomatic stress responses are PTSD symptoms that spontaneously emerge without conscious intent. Activating controlled stress responses consisted of the following coping strategies: seeking understanding, avoidant actions, and expressing feelings. Deactivating controlled stress responses encompassed: positive cognitive restructuring, emotion-focused support, and physical release of emotions. Semiautomatic stress responses entailed: reexperiencing, numbing, and arousal symptoms. It was proposed that cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional activating controlled stress responses would increase corresponding cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional semiautomatic stress responses. In the same vein, it was expected that cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional deactivating controlled stress responses would decrease respective semiautomatic stress responses. To illustrate, it was predicted that with regard to the cognitive regulatory system, its activating cognitive controlled stress response (seeking understanding) would exacerbate the frequency of associated cognitive semiautomatic stress responses (reexperiencing PTSD symptoms) whereas its deactivating cognitive controlled stress response (positive cognitive restructuring) would ameliorate it. Path analyses were conducted on correlation matrices whose elements represented two coping strategies (e.g., an activating controlled stress response: seeking understanding, and a deactivating controlled stress response: positive cognitive restructuring) and one PTSD symptom cluster of the same nature (e.g., the semiautomatic stress response: reexperiencing). Data were obtained from a sample of sixty-four children and adolescents ages 8-18. The coping strategies were assessed via ratings on items included in the How I Cope Under Pressure (HICUPS) instrument and the PTSD clusters through the use of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA). Only one hypothesis was partially supported. It was found that the social/motivational activating controlled stress response (avoidant actions) indeed increased social/motivational semiautomatic stress responses (numbing symptoms). / Ph. D.

Section 504 "prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities by school districts receiving federal financial assistance" (First & Curcio, 1993, p.33). In public schools, eligible students receive an Individualized Accommodation Plan (IAP), guaranteeing a free appropriate public education (FAPE) and equitable access to educational opportunities (Bateman, 1996). Interest in Section 504 has grown among school personnel, especially in the use of this mandate for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Additionally, the number of students with IAPs has increased nationally, in Virginia, and in the school district studied (Elementary and Secondary Schools Compliance Reports, 1994 & 1997). It has been hypothesized that these increases are attributable to ADHD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore who these adolescents are and how they are served under Section 504 policy in two middle schools in southeastern Virginia. A comparative case study design was used to explore Section 504 policy implementation through within and cross-case comparisons of data from documents and interviews with administrators and teachers about the number and content of IAPs, and decision-making pertaining to the Section 504 process. Grounded theory was used to generate propositions relative to how demographic profiles and IAP content are affected by the implementation process. Results identified relevant themes and factors as awareness of procedures, time, costs, and school profiles. The findings of this study are intended to raise stakeholder awareness about Section 504 decision-making practices and their influence on services for students, and to inform Section 504 staff developers of training needs. / Ed. D.

Recent advancements in the general child disaster literature underscore the important role of coping in children's postdisaster adjustment. Religious coping in children, a potentially important category of coping strategies, has received little attention until recent years. Moreover, its role in the context of post fire adjustment has not been studied. The present study examined the psychometric soundness of the Religious Coping Activities Scale (RCAS; Pargament et al., 1990) in children and adolescents and explored its utility in predicting children's religious coping over time: moreover, the study evaluated its role in predicting PTSD symptomatology over an extended period of time. This investigation included 140 children and adolescents (ages 8-18). Factor analyses of the RCAS revealed a 6-factor solution very similar to the factor structure in the original study. This finding suggests that the RCAS is a promising instrument to measure children's religious coping efforts. Hypotheses concerning the prediction of children's religious coping were only partially supported. Regression analyses indicated mixed findings in terms of the contributions of selected variables to the prediction of children's Spiritually Based Coping and Religious Discontent. Overall, the regression model predicted Religious Discontent better than Spiritually Based Coping. A mixed-effects regression model and hierarchical regression analyses were both employed to examine the role of children's religious coping in predicting short-term and long-term PTSD symptomatology following the residential fires. Results from the mixed-effects regression indicated that loss, time since the fire, child's age, race, and race by age interaction significantly predicted children's PTSD symptoms over time. However, time specific regression analyses revealed different predictive power of the variables across the three assessment waves. Specifically, analyses with Time 1 data revealed the same findings as did the mixed-effects model, except that time since the fire was not a significant predictor in this analysis. General coping strategies appeared to be the only salient predictors for PTSD at Time 2. Finally, Religious Discontent appeared to be negatively related to PTSD at a later time. / Ph. D.

The current study was designed to examine the relationship between childhood anxiety and depression and children's rate of medical care utilization. Additionally, the model examined considered family and parental factors (family conflict, parental anxiety, parental depression, and parental somatization) as well as children's level of negative affectivity and demographic variables (age and sex). A hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the effects of each of these variables on rate of physician utilization and to control for the effects of demographic factors, parent/family variables and negative affectivity while examining childhood anxiety and depression. Results revealed that parental anxiety and depression and family conflict contribute significantly to the explanation of children's health care utilization. Additionally, child anxiety also explained number of physician visits but only when considered in the absence of child depression. / Master of Science

Parents with adolescents often find themselves caught in the stress and strain that normally accompanies this stage of life. It is when parents cannot meet the demands of troubled adolescents that they find themselves seeking family therapy. Most of what is reported about the process of therapy continues to be from the therapist's or reseacher's perspective. There has been an increased interest in what clients have to say about their experiences. The purpose of this study was to develop a detailed description of how parents of adolescents who attended family therapy in private practice settings viewed their experiences. Fifteen parents who had been to therapy with their adolescent were recruited by their therapist to be interviewed for this study. A multicase qualitative design and constructivist theoretical framework guided the investigation. The constant comparative analysis was used to develop four core categories that described the subtitles of parents' therapeutic experience. Five case stories illustrated the core categories and parents' quotes were used to further embellish the findings. The findings included parents' experiences prior to beginning therapy, during therapy as well as reflections in retrospect. The pre-therapy presentation, based on expectations and past experiences in treatment, affected the way parents initially approached therapy. A supportive therapeutic climate was necessary for parents to trust and become open to possibilities and do the hard work required to make changes. The story of their current experience was part of the family therapy process. Parents recognized changes and what they valued about their experiences in family therapy. / Master of Science

Several assumptions of the indirect reflective model of the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) were tested to assess its validity as a measure of adolescents’ satisfaction with life generally and with five important life domains (family, friends, living environment, school, and self perception). We also examined whether adolescents’ perceived mental and physical health status significantly explained their global quality of life (QOL) and whether these relationships were mediated by their satisfaction with the five life domains. The data were taken from a cross-sectional health survey of 8,225 adolescents in 49 schools in British Columbia, Canada. Global QOL was measured using Cantril’s ladder and a single-item rating of the adolescents’ satisfaction with their QOL. Confirmatory factor and factor mixture analyses were used to examine the measurement assumptions of the MSLSS, and structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypothesized mediation model. The Pratt index (d) was used to evaluate variable importance. The adolescents did not respond to all MSLSS items in a consistent manner. An abridged 18-item version of the MSLSS was therefore developed by selecting items that were most invariant in the sample. Good model fit was obtained when the abridged MSLSS was used to test the hypothesized mediation model, which explained 76% of the variance in global QOL. Relatively poorer mental health and physical health were significantly associated with lower satisfaction in each of the life domains. Global QOL was predominantly explained by the adolescents’ mental health status (d = 30%) and by their satisfaction with self (d = 42%) and family (d = 20%). Self and family satisfactionwere the predominant mediating variables of the relationships between mental health (45% total mediation) and physical health (68% total mediation) and global QOL.Satisfaction with life domains and perceived physical and mental health can be viewed as conditions that potentially contribute to adolescents’ global QOL. Questions about adolescents’ experiences with important life domains require more attention in population health research so as to target appropriate supportive services for adolescents, particularly those with mental or physical health challenges. / Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research / Canadian Nurses Foundation / Trinity Western University

Research shows that adolescents use places in the natural environment much differently from the general population. Research also shows that, when asked, adolescents express environmental preferences that reflect these differences. These differences in use and preference reflect new design challenges. This paper and design project explores how to begin designing places that address the unique needs and preferences of adolescents. / Master of Landscape Architecture