Adolescents’ mental health concerns, reported with an idiographic assessment tool

Background Adolescents’ self-defined concerns about their mental health are understudied. Yet gaining insight into the individual concerns of this group could be helpful in providing better services to the adolescent population. In this study, an idiographic procedure called Assert was used to increase our knowledge of which concerns are reported by adolescents as the most salient, in a primary mental health care situation. Method 231 unique concerns were reported by 70 adolescents in a primary mental health context in Norway. These concerns were analysed qualitatively by a group of experts, to define categories. The distribution of these categories, and differences in gender and age, were analysed quantitatively. The alleviation experienced on the subjective concerns over the course of counselling was measured. Two linear multilevel models were analysed, to examine whether alleviation on self-defined concerns, as measured with Assert, differed-based on the main category of the concern or the number of times Assert was used. Results Three main categories of concerns emerged, related to (1) Self, (2) Relationships and (3) Life domains; as well as nine sub-categories: (1a) Autonomy, (1b) Mental health, (1c) Somatic health, (2a) Improving of relationships, (2b) Feeling safe from people around them, (2c) Taking responsibility for others, (3a) School, (3b) Work and (3c) Spare time. Girls reported fewer Life domain concerns than boys. Younger adolescents (12–16) more frequently reported no Self concerns, and older adolescents (17–23) more frequently reported no Relationship concerns. The adolescents felt less bothered by their subjective concerns after counselling, and there were some differences in alleviation depending on the category of concern. Conclusions The adolescents defined their own concerns at the start of counselling and were less troubled by these concerns after counselling. The content of the concerns might suggest that these adolescents experienced a need to improve across several arenas: personal, relational and academic. Research to extend the current study, to understand individual adolescent concerns, should include contextual and social factors and personal characteristics—and explore how counselling interventions can best help alleviate these personal concerns.

Introjective and anaclitic psychopathology in self-narratives: Idiographic assessment with Hermans’ Self-Confrontation Method

Within a hybrid framework of attachment and depression theory, we investigated whether introjective and anaclitic vulnerabilities can be detected in a person’s self-narrative as elicited with the Self-Confrontation Method (SCM). One hundred participants held a thorough self-investigation with one of five trainees, in which every person formulated ‘valuations’ (i.e., short sentences about personally relevant concerns) and, subsequently, rated to what degree certain feelings were evoked by every separate text. We extracted several measures from these idiographic data, including scales representing the prominence of certain themes according to the SCM typology (e.g., ‘unfulfilled longing and loss’, ‘anger and opposition’, and ‘powerlessness and isolation’). By analyzing the correlational patterns of the aggregated SCM-based measures and the questionnaire-based measures about attachment orientation and depressive personality vulnerability, we uncovered meaningful relationships. The results of a canonical correlational analysis indicated that an intensified sense of ‘powerlessness and isolation’ is a sign of a general psychopathological vulnerability (related to depression), ‘anger and opposition’ is associated with introjective features (distrust in others and need for control), and ‘unfulfilled longing and loss’ is associated with anaclitic features (pleasing and dependency). In an exploratory qualitative study, we used a cluster-based classification into attachment groups for the exhaustive screening of the content of negative valuations of (a selection of) insecurely attached persons (n = 15). This hermeneutic approach disclosed characteristic themes for each of the preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant and fearful-avoidant attachment styles which are discussed in great detail.

Assessing personality across 13 countries using the California Adult Q-set

The current project measures personality across cultures, for the first time using a forced-choice (or idiographic) assessment instrument - the California Adult Q-set (CAQ). Correlations among the average personality profiles across 13 countries (total N = 2,370) ranged from r = .69 to r = .98. The most similar averaged personality profiles were between USA/Canada; the least similar were South Korea/Russia/Poland and China/Russia. The Czech Republic had the most homogeneous personality descriptions and South Korea had the least. In further analyses, country differences in CAQ-derived Big Five scores were compared to results obtained from previous research using nomothetic Likert scales (i.e., the NEO; the BFI). The Big Five templates produced generally similar findings to previous research comparing the Big Five across countries using Likert-type methods.