The School Attachment Monitor—A novel computational tool for assessment of attachment in middle childhood

Background Attachment research has been limited by the lack of quick and easy measures. We report development and validation of the School Attachment Monitor (SAM), a novel measure for largescale assessment of attachment in children aged 5–9, in the general population. SAM offers automatic presentation, on computer, of story-stems based on the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST), without the need for trained administrators. SAM is delivered by novel software which interacts with child participants, starting with warm-up activities to familiarise them with the task. Children’s story completion is video recorded and augmented by ‘smart dolls’ that the child can hold and manipulate, with movement sensors for data collection. The design of SAM was informed by children of users’ age range to establish their task understanding and incorporate their innovative ideas for improving SAM software. Methods 130 5–9 year old children were recruited from mainstream primary schools. In Phase 1, sixty-one children completed both SAM and MCAST. Inter-rater reliability and rating concordance was compared between SAM and MCAST. In Phase 2, a further 44 children completed SAM complete and, including those children completing SAM in Phase 1 (total n = 105), a machine learning algorithm was developed using a “majority vote” procedure where, for each child, 500 non-overlapping video frames contribute to the decision. Results Using manual rating, SAM-MCAST concordance was excellent (89% secure versus insecure; 97% organised versus disorganised; 86% four-way). Comparison of human ratings of SAM versus the machine learning algorithm showed over 80% concordance. Conclusions We have developed a new tool for measuring attachment at the population level, which has good reliability compared to a validated attachment measure and has the potential for automatic rating–opening the door to measurement of attachment in large populations.

Teacher abuse, school burnout and school attachment as predictors of adolescents’ risky behaviors

The aim of this study is to determine the predictive level of teacher abuse, school burnout and school attachment for risky behaviors in adolescents, and to examine risky behaviors according to some demographic variables. Relational survey model was employed in the study. The study group consisted of 446 adolescents with an average age of 15.49 years studying in secondary schools. Personal information form, Risky Behaviors Scale, Teacher Emotional Abuse Scale, School Burnout Scale and School Attachment Scale for Adolescents were used to obtain demographic information about students. As for data analysis, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Analysis, Multiple Linear Regression Analysis, Independent Samples t-Test and One-Way Variance Analysis were employed. As a result, it was found that teacher abuse and school burnout predicted adolescents’ risky behaviors in a positively significant direction whereas school attachment predicted adolescents’ risky behaviors in a negatively significant direction. It was revealed that the score averages taken from the total and sub-dimensions of risky behaviors differed significantly according to gender, grade level, academic average, perceived socioeconomic level and family structure variables. In addition, it was determined that suicidal tendencies did not differ based on gender, academic average and class level; antisocial behaviors and school dropout did not significantly differ according to the grade level.

Positive Youth Development in Croatia: School and Family Factors Associated With Mental Health of Croatian Adolescents

IntroductionA framework for understanding the interrelationship of individual and environmental factors that influence adolescent health and well-being, as well as opportunities for policy-level interventions, is known as Positive Youth Development (PYD). The current study represents one of the largest studies of Croatian adolescents to date, and aimed to examine associations between school and family factors linked to PYD, and mental health outcomes experienced by Croatian youth.MethodsA multi-site survey study was conducted among adolescents (N = 9,655) residing in the five most populous cities in Croatia, with the aim of examining cross-sectional associations of family and school factors with adolescent mental health. The mean age of participants was 16.3 years (SD = 1.2), and 52.5% of participants were female. School and family factors included school attachment, school commitment, family communication, and family satisfaction. Depression, anxiety, and stress were assessed as outcomes. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine relations of interest among female and male adolescents.ResultsAmong school factors, increased school attachment was found to be significantly associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress for female adolescents, and with decreased depression and stress for male adolescents. Increased school commitment was significantly associated with decreased depression and anxiety for female adolescents; conversely, an increase in school commitment was associated with an increase in anxiety and stress for male adolescents. Increases in family communication were significantly associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress only for male adolescents, while increased family satisfaction was significantly associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress for female adolescents and with decreased depression and stress for male adolescents.ConclusionFindings suggest that interventions for mental health promotion and prevention of internalizing problems should address both school and family contexts, and may be more effective when accounting for differing developmental experiences of female and male adolescents.