This thesis is an investigation of the needs and experiences of transition-aged youth with emotional and/or behavioural problems who accessed mental health services at a local child and adolescent clinic. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that youth with mental health problems tend to have poor outcomes in adulthood. Moreover, many young adults do not make the transition from child- to adult-focused care even when they acknowledge their need for support. This study used a mixed methods approach, consisting of a survey design and phenomenological inquiry. In general, participants did not appear ready for an institutional transition, reporting only moderate levels of mental health self-efficacy. Youth disclosed their fears, underscoring the importance of supportive relationships, and stated the negative expectations they had concerning adult-focused care. The implementation of clinical supports to increase transition-aged youths’ mental health self-efficacy, by actively involving them in service-related decision-making processes, are likely to promote successful service transitions.

Few studies currently exist which examine expressed emotion in depressed fathers, despite considerable evidence linking expressed emotion and depression in mothers. These findings are important as they indicate that mothers’ depressed mood is associated with an increase in child-directed critical comments and a decrease in positive comments, which have been linked to poorer child emotional and behavioural outcomes. There are limited findings exploring how depressed mood may impact fathers’ expressed emotion, and how this is in turn may impact upon the child. This paper reports findings from part of a longitudinal study examining fathers with depression in the postnatal period. The aim of this study was to determine whether child emotional and behavioural problems at age 2 years were associated with increased critical comments and decreased positive comments made by fathers (N = 143). It was predicted that fathers who were depressed when their child was 3 months or 12 months old would make more critical comments and fewer positive comments about their children at age 24 months, and that fathers’ critical comments would predict child emotional and behavioural problems at 24 months. Fathers’ depression at 12 months was found to be significantly related to child emotional and behavioural problems at 24 months. The children of fathers who made more positive comments had fewer reported emotional and behavioural difficulties at 24 months. Fathers’ positive comments were found to remain stable from 12 months to 24 months. There were no significant relationships found between fathers’ depression and the frequency of positive or critical comments. This study has implications for increasing fathers’ child-directed positive comments in order to prevent the development of child emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in secondary school adolescents is regarded as widely spread globally. Their effects/pitfalls are also a concern that cannot be ignored. Thus, this study dealt with this issue among adolescents, as well as with pitfalls and practices of secondary schools in Ethiopia, with particular focus on East Showa Administrative Zone of Oromiya National Regional state. Consequently, the study intended to:  examine what social competence problems (activity problems, social activities problems and academic performance problems) are experienced by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  determine the relationship between sex groups and social competence problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  examine the trends of emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems among secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  determine the relationship displayed between sex groups and emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  examine the relationship display between age groups and emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. To address the objectives of the study, a descriptive survey and correlational study were employed. To achieve this target, the Amharic and the Afan-Oromo versions of Achenbach’s (2001) youth self-report (YSR) were used to collect data from 714 research participants of secondary school adolescents out of 27,643 in the East Showa Administrative Zone of Oromiya Regional State-Ethiopia, from 8 secondary schools. In analysing the data, basic descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, percentiles and T-scores as well as ANOVA were employed. In general, the results of the study demonstrated that the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems of Ethiopian secondary school adolescents was relatively lower (about 9%) in comparison to many other countries. Moreover, girls showed more internalising problems (11.58%) than boys (9.63%) and vice versa in externalising problems. Consequently, girls accounted for 8.6% who fell into a clinical category whereas amongst boys, 14.83% were classified into such as category. In contrary to the other findings males were scored higher than females in withdrawal/depressed subscales (4.23% and 2.74% respectively). Furthermore, statistically significant relationships between academic competences with activities, social activities, somatic complaints, social problems and externalising problems were discovered. Fulfilling and rendering appropriate guidance and counselling services in the schools comprised the first dimension of the recommendations of this work. Furthermore, establishing school based mental health services to alleviate the problems is another key point of the recommendation to assist adolescents with emotional and behavioural problems in secondary schools of Ethiopia. / Psychology / Ph.D. (Psychology)

The prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in secondary school adolescents is regarded as widely spread globally. Their effects/pitfalls are also a concern that cannot be ignored. Thus, this study dealt with this issue among adolescents, as well as with pitfalls and practices of secondary schools in Ethiopia, with particular focus on East Showa Administrative Zone of Oromiya National Regional state. Consequently, the study intended to: -examine what social competence problems (activity problems, social activities problems and academic performance problems) are experienced by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. -determine the relationship between sex groups and social competence problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. -examine the trends of emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems among secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. -determine the relationship displayed between sex groups and emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. -examine the relationship display between age groups and emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. -comprehend the relationship among social competence problems and syndrome problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. To address the objectives of the study, a descriptive survey and correlational study were employed. To achieve this target, the Amharic and the Afan-Oromo versions of Achenbach’s (2001) youth self-report (YSR) were used to collect data from 714 research participants of secondary school adolescents out of 27,643 in the East Showa Administrative Zone of Oromiya Regional State-Ethiopia, from 8 secondary schools. In analysing the data, basic descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, percentiles and T-scores as well as ANOVA were employed. In general, the results of the study demonstrated that the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems of Ethiopian secondary school adolescents was relatively lower (about 9%) in comparison to many other countries. Moreover, girls showed more internalising problems (11.58%) than boys (9.63%) and vice versa in externalising problems. Consequently, girls accounted for 8.6% who fell into a clinical category whereas amongst boys, 14.83% were classified into such as category. In contrary to the other findings males were scored higher than females in withdrawal/depressed subscales (4.23% and 2.74% respectively). Furthermore, statistically significant relationships between academic competences with activities, social activities, somatic complaints, social problems and externalising problems were discovered. Fulfilling and rendering appropriate guidance and counselling services in the schools comprised the first dimension of the recommendations of this work. Furthermore, establishing school based mental health services to alleviate the problems is another key point of the recommendation to assist adolescents with emotional and behavioural problems in secondary schools of Ethiopia. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)