Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

MSc (Med) (Child Health Neurodevelopment), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / Background Disruptive behaviour is the most commonly reported mental health problem in individuals with learning disability. Pharmacotherapy is part of a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of disruptive behaviour. Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic drug, is the most commonly used treatment for symptom improvement. It is therefore important to establish the efficacy and safety of risperidone therapy in this dependent, vulnerable and young population, given the well documented adverse effects and the potential for long term treatment. Objectives To assess the effects of risperidone for disruptive behaviour in children and adolescents with learning disability. Search strategy The following electronic databases were searched: CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials); MEDLINE; PsycINFO; CINAHL; Clinicaltrials.gov; National Research Register (NRR). In addition, reference lists of relevant publications and narrative reviews were checked; handsearches were done; authors of published trials and pharmaceutical manufacturer of risperidone (Risperdal) were contacted. Selection criteria All randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials of risperidone versus placebo (or no treatment) for children and adolescents (age less than 18 years) with a diagnosis of learning disability and disruptive behaviour were considered. Data collection and analysis Trial eligibility and data quality were evaluated and analysed by the author and independently verified by an additional reviewer. Unpublished data were considered for inclusion and relevant authors were contacted in the case of incomplete data. Results Four randomised controlled trials involving 279 children and adolescents were identified. The majority of the children were living at home and not institutionalised. Meta-analyses of the primary outcome scales (Nisonger Child Behaviour Rating Form, Aberrant Behaviour Checklist, Behaviour Problem Inventory) measuring several core symptoms of disruptive behaviour, namely conduct problems, self-injury, irritability, aggressive / destructive behaviours and stereotypy suggest statistically significant improvement in disruptive type behaviours in children treated with risperidone compared to placebo. Adverse event data showed that the prevalence of adverse effects viz. weight gain, sedation / somnolence and raised prolactin levels were significantly higher in the children receiving risperidone. Conclusions In the studies included in this review, risperidone treatment for disruptive behaviour in learning disabled children and adolescents appears to have a beneficial effect on certain symptoms of disruptive behaviour. However, the applicability of these findings to wider clinical practice remains unclear, due to poor methodological quality, inadequate study sample size and short duration of treatment of the included studies. Long term safety has not been established and serious adverse effects, affecting growth, are of concern. Further research is required to establish the efficacy and safety of risperidone for disruptive behaviour in learning disabled children and adolescents in clinical practice.

Thesis advisor: William Stanwood / This research examines the history of gender representations in television programs designed for adolescents to discover how these portrayals have developed and changed over time in order to determine the perceived messages about stereotypical gender norms and roles for adolescents. These messages are important to decode as adolescent males and females can learn gender roles and behaviors from the teen programming that they watch on television. The study investigated the most popular teen television programs from each of the last three decades including Beverly Hills 90210, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars and Teen Wolf. The first part of the study completed was a textual analysis of the episodes. Secondly, a content analysis was performed on all of the examples from the episodes. The codes used for this study include Language, Sex Roles, Emotionality, and Traditional Roles. Although the majority of gender messages present were normative in that they reinforced gender roles and stereotypes, the findings also suggest that gender representations are becoming less normative as the genre continues to grow and develop. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Communication Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

Thesis advisor: Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes / Dual-earner families are an increasing demographic in our society (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006a, 2006b). Employers, policymakers, and academics have focused their attention on how to best alleviate the negative consequences of work on families, and enhance the benefits that work and family can bring to one another. One aspect of the connection between work and family is the relationship between parental employment and adolescent well-being. This dissertation seeks to identify the relationships between parental perceptions of their job family-friendliness, satisfaction, stress and burnout, and spillover, and adolescent perceptions of parental mood after work, parental acceptance, and adolescent well-being. The current study uses data from a sample of 150 working families with adolescents from the Nurturing Families Study. This investigation examined parents' perceptions of their jobs and their middle school-aged children's assessments of parents' work and family processes as potential mediators or moderators. The relationships were analyzed using regression modeling techniques. Findings determine the extent to which parental employment experiences explain variance in adolescents' well-being. The most compelling findings from this dissertation suggest that parental assessments of their jobs and adolescent well-being are connected, though not directly. Connections between parent's jobs and adolescent well-being were seen only in relation to adolescent perceptions of mother's work and family contexts. Results indicate that adolescent perceptions of their mothers' level of acceptance moderated the relationship between mothers' reports of their job family-friendliness and their adolescents' reports of well-being. For mothers with low job family-friendliness, mother acceptance diminishes the negative association of this workplace characteristic on adolescent well-being. Additionally, when a mother's job satisfaction is low, adolescent perceptions of her mood after work diminishes the negative association of this workplace characteristic on their well-being more so than when job satisfaction is high. Family practitioners and clinical social workers will be able to use the findings to enhance their clinical work with families with adolescents. The results of the study are also relevant to employers and social workers within organizations. Finally, macro social workers interested in enhancing the well-being of working families and adolescents will be informed by the results of this study. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / The aim of the study was to explore preference for support and the different coping strategies that are employed by adolescents’ following suicide attempt in Limpopo Capricorn district. The sample comprised of 81 adolescents of both male and female who were admitted at public hospitals around the district and referred to psychology department for intervention. Using purposive sampling, data was collected through the use of a questionnaire which was divided into 1. Demographical information, 2. Multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS), 3. Ways of coping scale (WCS) which consisted of three subscales: active-cognitive, active-behavioural and avoidance strategies. Most participants reported not having support. Participants who expressed support from family, friends and significant others indicated that although family, friends and significant others were equally perceived to be an important source of support, family was more inclined to be the most preferred source of support. This preference differed according to gender as females perceived family to be the most important source followed by friends and lastly significant others, while males order of preference was friends followed by significant others and lastly family; indicating that males are more inclined to have their friends as the most preferred source of support than females. The findings of the study also indicated that suicidal adolescents used avoidance strategies followed by cognitive and lastly behavioural strategies. A significant relationship was established in the use cognitive strategies and coping by adolescents who viewed their support structures as supportive and also with active behavioural strategies. On avoidance strategies there was no significant relationship established highlighting the possibility that those adolescents who feel that they have no support use avoidance as a coping strategy. The recommendations made on the results from this study are that research in suicide should be a continuous process that keeps up with the changing family, political and cultural dynamics of our society. This is crucial since what is considered crucial support today for the adolescent, might not necessarily be viewed as relevant support for the adolescent in the

Adolescence marks a vulnerable developmental period for health behavior, and research demonstrates that social context and interpersonal relationships impact the health behavior choices of adolescents. In addition, theories of adolescent development suggest a bidirectional relationship between environmental factors, including social relationships, and health. Friendships are one of the most salient relationships during adolescence, and new methods from the field of social network analysis allow researchers to explicitly examine the mechanisms through which friends influence health behavior, and simultaneously, how health and health behavior impacts the formation of friendships. Importantly, social network methods (e.g., stochastic actor-based models, exponential random graph models) overcome statistical limitations of alternative methodology. For example, methods from social network analysis incorporate interdependencies between individuals in a social network (e.g., adolescents within a school) into the statistical modeling framework, and are capable of simultaneously estimating social and behavioral outcomes. Through a sequence of three distinct studies, this project applies rigorous methods from social network analysis to investigate: (1) the differential impact of adolescent friendships on health-risk (e.g., alcohol use) and health-protective (e.g., physical activity) behaviors; (2) the role of perceived social acceptability and peer influence in shaping adolescent cigarette use; and (3) the social consequences, including social withdrawal and social marginalization, of adolescents with chronic illness.

Anorexia nervosa is recognised as a complex and chronic disorder that is often associated with poor prognosis and severe psychological and physiological consequences. Previous research has identified an array of factors associated with anorexia nervosa of which self-esteem, self-concept and body image are amongst the most commonly cited factors involved in the development and maintenance of the disorder. Capitalising on recent advances that have been made in other realms of psychology, the current study attempts to address current limitations regarding self-esteem, self-concept, body image and experiences of adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa. More specifically, a series of three studies were designed to address : a/ self-esteem and self-concept ; b/ body image and the association between body image and self-concept; and c/ the experiences and support needs of young people with eating disorders.The current findings have demonstrated that whilst quantitative methods can be effectively utilised to elucidate various relations between predictor and outcome variables, qualitative methods can offer important insight into the patient with the eating disorder On a more general level, the current results obtained from the current series of studies may be able to inform current conceptualisations of anorexia nervosa and the future development of aetiology and treatment programs. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The association between cardiovascular reactivity and the metabolic syndrome, as well as individual metabolic syndrome criterion variables, was investigated in adolescents. Cardiovascular reactivity has been examined as a risk marker or factor in the pathogenesis of hypertension or cardiovascular disease, but few studies have looked at its relationship with the metabolic syndrome. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) cardiovascular reactivity to three tasks, evaluated speaking, mirror star tracing, and cold pressor, were assessed in 148 adolescents. Using the American Heart Association (AHA) adult definitional criteria, individuals were classified into metabolic syndrome groups (presence vs. absence of metabolic syndrome), and 16% of individuals met criteria for the metabolic syndrome. In logistic regression analyses, the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome was negatively associated with HR reactivity to the cold pressor (OR = 0.920, 95% CI = 0.873, 0.969), and positively associated with diastolic blood pressure (DBP) reactivity to the star tracing task (OR = 1.089, 95% CI = 1.008, 1.177). Results of multiple regression analyses that included individual metabolic syndrome risk variables indicated that cold pressor reactivity explained 7% of the variance in casual BP, while star tracing reactivity accounted for 7% of the variance waist circumference and 6% of the variance triglycerides (ps < .05). The findings indicate that cardiovascular reactivity to physical or behavioral challenge is associated with the metabolic syndrome in a sample of adolescents. Cardiovascular reactivity may be an important clinical tool for identifying individuals at risk of the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.

<p>This study ultimately aimed to explore children&rsquo / s and adolescents&rsquo / perceptions of exposure to community violence. More specifically, the study investigated the meanings that adolescents assign to personal safety and security and the extent to which these assignations explain child and adolescent well-being. At a methodological level, the study followed a qualitative methodological framework and collected data from 14 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 15. Two focus groups were used to collect the data which consisted of seven participants each. Participants were purposively selected from a high school located in a low income community in Cape Town. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and interpret the findings and the study was framed using Bronfenbrenner&rsquo / s ecological framework and the theoretical perspectives of Bulhan&rsquo / s theory of violence, social identity theory, psychological theories, social learning theory, and social disorganization theory. Key findings indicated that the participants were exposed to violence, both through witnessing and being subjected to it within their school, home, and community. Some children perceived a lack of safety within the environments with which they interacted. Data further indicated that exposure to violence created feelings of insecurity, such as fear and anxiety. Similarly, exposure to violence was perceived to have various detrimental effects on the well-being of a child and adolescent. These effects included injury, poor academic performance, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, fear, hopelessness, and many others. In addition to this, and based on these results, this study is significant because it taps into the realities faced by many children so that an awareness can be created and a safe space provided for these children to be children.</p>

The present study explored the experiences of victimization and immigration among immigrant youth in the Peel region in Ontario, Canada. Victimization included the experiences of bullying and ethnic discrimination in the school environment. The study utilized a phenomenological approach to investigate how immigrant youth interpreted their experiences and whether they identified victimization as bullying, ethnic discrimination or both. The effects of victimization on adaptation and acculturation were also explored. Results from individual interviews of six youth (ages 16 or 17) indicated that immigrant youth viewed bullying and discrimination as separate constructs. Themes that emerged from the interviews included the importance of language proficiency; the role of peer affiliations; and factors associated with resiliency. It was evident through their descriptions that immigrant youth face unique challenges, which include adjusting to a new culture and country of residence, establishing a new social circle, and gaining comfort in utilizing the English language.