Emotional and Behavioural Problems and Competencies among Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Adolescents

1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 658-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. Davies ◽  
Robert S. McKelvey

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare levels of emotional and behavioural problems and competencies among immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents, and to determine factors that may contribute to any differences reported. Method: Subjects were selected randomly from students aged 12-16 years attending a high school with a high proportion of immigrants in Perth, Western Australia. Parents completed the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), and students completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and a Personal History Questionnaire. Results: On univariate analyses, non-immigrant adolescents had significantly higher CBCL and YSR scores than immigrant adolescents. Multivariate analyses suggested that CBCL scores were predicted by a number of variables other than immigration, including family intactness, socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. Higher YSR scores were predicted by non-intact families, school setting and non-immigrant status, and higher competencies scores were predicted by higher SES and parents not being immigrants. Conclusions: In assessing the effects of immigration on adolescent mental health, it is important to control for factors associated with adolescent behavioural and emotional problems and to use multiple informants. Overall, immigrant adolescents report fewer total and externalising problems and fewer competencies than native-born adolescents. This finding may reflect strict immigration policies or cultural differences in definitions of psychopathology and the social expectations for adolescents' behaviour.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis-Joaquin Garcia-Lopez ◽  
Lourdes Espinosa-Fernandez ◽  
Jose-Antonio Muela-Martinez ◽  
Jose Antonio Piqueras

Despite the availability of efficacious treatment and screening protocols, social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents is considerably under-detected and undertreated. Our main study objective was to examine a brief, valid, and reliable social anxiety measure already tested to serve as self-report child measure but administered via Internet aimed at listening to the ability of his or her parent to identify social anxiety symptomatology in his or her child. This parent version could be used as a complementary measure to avoid his or her overestimation of children of social anxiety symptomatology using traditional self-reported measures. We examined the psychometric properties of brief and valid social anxiety measure in their parent format and administered via the Internet. The sample included 179 parents/legal guardians of adolescents (67% girls) with a clinical diagnosis of SAD (mean age: 14.27; SD = 1.33). Findings revealed good factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity. Data support a single, strength-based factor on the SPAIB-P, being structure largely invariant across age and gender. The limited number of adolescents with a performance-only specifier prevented examining the utility of scale to screen for this recently established specifier. It is crucial to evaluate if these results generalize to different cultures and community samples. The findings suggest that the SPAIB-P evidences performance comparable with child-reported measure. Parents can be reliable reports of the social anxiety symptomatology of the adolescent. The SPAIB-P may be useful for identifying clinically disturbed socially anxious adolescents.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1719-1733 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nath ◽  
G. Russell ◽  
W. Kuyken ◽  
L. Psychogiou ◽  
T. Ford

BackgroundPaternal depressive symptoms are associated with children's emotional and behavioural problems, which may be mediated by negative parenting. But there is no research on the influence of paternal depressive symptoms on children's emotion regulation and limited literature investigating fathers’ parenting as a mediator in the pathway between paternal depressive symptoms and children's externalizing and internalizing problems. We aimed to investigate the mediating role of father–child conflict (at 3 years) in the association between postnatal paternal depressive symptoms (at 9 months) and children's emotional and behavioural problems (at 7 years) (aim 1). We also examined whether mediation pathways were more pronounced for boys or for girls (aim 2).MethodSecondary data analysis was conducted on the Millennium Cohort Study, when children were 9 months, 3 years and 7 years old (n = 3520). Main study variables were measured by self-report questionnaires. Fathers completed the Rutter Scale (depressive symptoms) and the Parent–Child Relationship Questionnaire (father–child conflict), while mothers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Social Behaviour Questionnaire (child emotional and behavioural problems, emotion regulation). We used structural equation modelling to estimate direct, indirect and total effects of paternal depressive symptoms on child outcomes, mediated by father–child conflict whilst adjusting for relevant covariates (maternal depressive symptoms, child temperament, marital conflict, and socio-economic factors such as poverty indicator and fathers’ education level). Multi-group and interaction analysis was then conducted to determine the differential effect by gender of the association between paternal depressive symptoms on child outcomes via father–child conflict.ResultsFather–child conflict mediated the association between paternal depressive symptoms and emotion regulation problems [standardized indirect effect (SIE) 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.03 to −0.01, p < 0.001; standardized total effect (STE) 95% CI −0.05 to −0.01, p < 0.05] (aim 1). Father–child conflict mediated a larger proportion of the effect in boys (SIE 95% CI −0.03 to −0.01, p < 0.001; STE 95% CI −0.05 to 0.00, p = 0.063) than it did in girls (SIE 95% CI −0.02 to −0.01, p < 0.001; STE 95% CI −0.04 to 0.01, p = 0.216) (aim 2).ConclusionsFather–child conflict may mediate the association between postnatal paternal depressive symptoms and children's emotion regulation problems. Paternal depressive symptoms and father–child conflict resolution may be potential targets in preventative interventions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-91
Author(s):  
Tripti Bassi

Schools are truly ‘microcosms of society’ since they reflect the larger dynamics of society. Women’s position in society also got replicated in their low participation in education among other fields. This article contextualises women’s education in the nineteenth-century Punjab. It briefly discusses approaches followed by various stakeholders like the Christian missionaries, the British and the social reformers in addressing this issue. Somehow, religious education remained intertwined with women’s education. The article seeks to demonstrate how religious socialisation happens through certain school processes and practices generating religious identities mediated by notions of gender. Established during the late nineteenth century, the Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya in Ferozepur started in a local Gurdwara but later emerged as a significant institution of girls’ education in Punjab. It nurtured ‘obedient’ and ‘religiously-oriented’ Sikh girls who then transmitted those values to the family and larger society. That is how it also cultivated a favourable environment for the schooling of girls. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the article seeks to explore the dynamics of Sikh identities that not only get constructed but also get established within a school setting. Factors like religion and gender intersect to create a complex web influencing the realm of education.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahari Ishak ◽  
Suet Fin Low ◽  
Wan Abdul Hakim Wan Ibrahim ◽  
Abqariyah Yahya ◽  
Fuziah Md. Zain ◽  
...  

<p>This study aimed to assess the association between the frequency of fast food consumption in the past week with emotional and behavioural problems of 624 overweight and obese adolescents (mean age = 14.6). Frequency of fast food consumption was assessed through a pre-tested nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire. Meanwhile, the Youth Self-Report questionnaire was used to measure emotional and behavioural problems. Spearman’s rank-order correlation was used to measure the strength of relationships. Positive associations that are statistically significant were found between frequency of fast food consumption and syndromes of anxious/depressed (rs=0.082, p<0.05), somatic complaints (rs=0.139, p<0.01), social problems (rs=0.115, p <0.01), thought problems (rs=0.118, p<0.01), attention problems (rs=0.125, p<0.01), rule-breaking behaviour (rs=0.144, p<0.001), and aggressive behaviour (rs=0.168, p<0.001). There were also differences found in the associations based on gender, locality of schools and ethnicity. Therefore, adolescents should be discouraged from consuming fast food as much as possible.</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Graña Gómez ◽  
Jose Manuel Andreu ◽  
Heather Lynn Rogers ◽  
Juan Carlos Arango Lasprilla

The principal aim of this study was to analyze the structural dimensions of social representation of aggression through the Expressive Representations of Aggression Scale – EXPAGG (Campbell, Muncer, & Coyle, 1992). This scale is used in many studies of aggressive behavior among youth and in adolescent populations. Moreover, the EXPAGG is one of the self-report techniques most commonly used in the field of aggression research to measure expressive and instrumental attributions. This study uses various statistical procedures to analyze the data from a representative sample of adolescents in the community of Madrid to conclude that the EXPAGG is a reliable and valid test to measure different attribution styles of aggression in youth and adolescents. In addition, a tridimensional structure of social representation of aggression and a significant effect of age and gender were found.


Author(s):  
Michaela Kosticova ◽  
Daniela Husarova ◽  
Zuzana Dankulincova

Sleep problems are common in adolescence with a negative impact on the mental health and functioning of adolescents. However, the roles of different sleep problems in relation to emotional and behavioural problems (EBPs), classified according to the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases as emotional, conduct, hyperactivity and social functioning disorders, are not clear. The first aim of the study was to investigate the association between difficulties in getting to sleep and EBPs in adolescents. The second aim was to explore the role of sleep duration in this association. We used data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted in 2018 in Slovakia. Presented are results for specific age groups of 13-year-old (N = 1909) and 15-year-old (N = 1293) adolescents. Subjective measures of sleep variables were used. Binary logistic regression models adjusted for age and gender were used to assess associations between difficulties in getting to sleep, sleep duration and EBPs measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Modification of the association between difficulties in getting to sleep and EBPs by sleep duration was also explored. We found that difficulties in getting to sleep at least once a week as well as insufficient sleep (less than 8 h) increased the probability of EBPs. Interactions of sleep duration with difficulties in getting to sleep on EBPs were found to be non-significant. The results suggest that caregivers and clinicians should screen and intervene for both sleep quality and quantity problems in adolescents as they might indicate and promote EBPs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Inguglia ◽  
Pasquale Musso

Few studies examine relationships between intercultural strategies and adaptation among adolescents using a person-oriented approach. Framed from an intercultural psychology perspective, this study used such an approach in order to examine the influence of intercultural profiles, patterns of relationships among variables related to intercultural strategies, on the adaptation of adolescents of both non-dominant and dominant groups. Two hundred and fifty-six adolescents living in Italy and aged from 14 to 18 participated to the study: 127 immigrants from Tunisia (males = 49.61%) and 129 autochthonous (males = 44.19%). Data were collected through self-report questionnaires. Using cluster analytic methods to identify profiles, the results showed that immigrant adolescents were divided in two acculturation profiles, ethnic and integrated-national, with adolescents belonging to the latter showing higher self-esteem, life satisfaction and sociocultural competence than the former. Also among autochthonous adolescents two acculturation expectation profiles were identified, not-multicultural and multicultural, with adolescents belonging to the latter showing higher self-esteem and life satisfaction than the former. Findings highlight the importance of using multiple indicators in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the acculturation process as well as suggesting implications for the social policies in this field.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahari Ishak ◽  
Suet Fin Low ◽  
Wan Abdul Hakim Wan Ibrahim ◽  
Abqariyah Yahya ◽  
Fuziah Md. Zain ◽  
...  

This study aimed to investigate the relationship of snacking with emotional and behavioural problems among 620 overweight and obese adolescents with a mean age(SD) of 14.6(13) years old. Snacking frequencies in the past week were assessed using a pre-tested nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire while the emotional and behavioural problems were measured using the Youth Self-Report questionnaire. The study found a significant positive association between snacking and all symptoms of emotional and behavioural problems. There were also differences in the association based on gender, school location and ethnicity. The findings suggested that there are significant positive associations between snacking and emotional and behavioural problems among overweight and obese adolescents. History of snacking may be used to identify overweight and obese adolescents with these problems and various initiatives may be implemented to overcome them.


2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah James ◽  
Maria Lawlor

AbstractObjectives: To establish the prevalence of psychological problems in early school leavers, who attend training schemes.Method: The Youth self report inventory was completed by teenagers as part of a group setting. Percentages of those scoring above clinical threshold were calculated and gender differences examined.Results: 78 teenagers participated in the study, 40 males and 38 females. 24% were classified as being in the clinical range of total problem score. Girls reported more total, internalising and externalising problems than boys. 13% of girls frequently thought of suicide and 7% had frequent thoughts of self harm, this contrasts with none of the boys admitting suicidal ideation and 2.5% reporting thoughts of self harm.Conclusions: 24% of this group experienced problems which placed them within the clinical range. Girls experienced greater problems than boys and appear to be at greater risk of self harm. This group appear to be representative of those who attend training programmes, however it is not possible to determine whether they are representative of all early school leavers. This highlights the vulnerability of older adolescents, and in particular those who leave school early. More detailed examination of issues facing this group are needed and should be a priority along with greater service provision from the educational and health sectors.


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