‘Listen to them’: Adolescents' views on helping young people who self-injure

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents is a significant problem, yet the majority do not seek professional help. Parents and teachers are arguably most in contact with young people, and are critical in identifying and referring adolescent self-injurers. This study explored what adolescents believe parents and teachers can do to help young people who self-injure. A school-based sample of 2637 students (aged 12–18 years) completed a self-report questionnaire. Adolescents believe having non-judgemental parents and teachers to talk to, improved parent–child relationships, referral to professionals, reduced school pressures, and student education, are pivotal to helping young self-injurers. However, many adolescents, particularly those exposed to NSSI, were unsure about whether parents and teachers could do anything to help. These finding have important implications for educational programs that prepare parents and teachers to address adolescent NSSI.     

The 10-item Remembered Relationship with Parents (RRP10) scale: two-factor model and association with adult depressive symptoms

BACKGROUND: Dysfunctional parenting styles are associated with poor mental and physical health. The 10-item Remembered Relationship with Parents (RRP(10)) scale retrospectively assesses Alienation (dysfunctional communication and intimacy) and Control (overprotection by parents), with an emphasis on deficiencies in empathic parenting. We examined the 2-factor structure of the RRP(10) and its relationship with adult depression. METHODS: 664 respondents from the general population (48% men, mean age 54.6+/-14.2 years) completed the RRP(10), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS: The Alienation and Control dimensions of the RRP(10) displayed a sound factor structure, good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.83-0.86), and convergent validity against the PBI scales. No significant gender differences were found on the RRP(10) scales. Stratifying by RRP(10) dimensions showed that respondents high in Alienation and Control, for both father (33.3% vs. 14.5%, p<0.0001) and mother (42% vs. 12.9%, p<0.0001) items, experienced the highest levels of depressive symptoms compared with respondents low in Alienation and Control. While scoring high on Alienation or Control alone was also significantly and independently associated with depressive symptoms, scoring high on both Alienation and Control was most strongly connected with depressive symptoms for both father (OR=2.48, p<0.004) and mother (OR=5.34, p<0.0001) items. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional study design. CONCLUSIONS: The RRP(10) is a reliable and valid measure of remembered parental Alienation and Control. High Alienation and Control were independently related to increased risk of depressive symptoms. Given the brevity of the RRP(10), it can easily be used in epidemiological/clinical research on the link between the remembered relationship with parents and mental/physical health.     

Mediating Variables in a Parent Based Intervention to Reduce Skin Cancer Risk in Children

The present study examined theoretical mediators of a parent-based intervention on sunbathing tendencies and sunburn frequencies based on the work of Turrisi et al. [Turrisi, R., Hillhouse, J., Heavin, S., Robinson, J., Adams, M., & Berry, J. (2004). Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 27, 393–412.]. Three hundred and forty parents in two regions of the United States were educated about the dangers of risky sun behavior and how to convey information about skin cancer prevention to their children. Attitudes toward sunbathing, health beliefs, appearance beliefs, and social normative beliefs were examined and found to be significant mediators of program effects on sunbathing tendencies and sunburn frequencies. The findings are discussed with respect to maximizing the effectiveness of future skin cancer interventions with children.     

Parent support programmes and policies in the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

The authors, through a consultancy with the Caribbean Child Development Centre, the University of the West Indies Open Campus, sought to identify comprehensive parent support programmes and policies in the healthcare sector in non-Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. As mapping researchers, the authors were contracted to map policies and programmes in the healthcare sector whose aims were to support both family wellbeing and children’s healthy development. A review of the existing literature about parenting practices and parenting support programming in the Caribbean was conducted. A catalogue of existing programmes and policies in non-Spanish speaking Caribbean countries was compiled using relevant documents and interviews from primary sources involved in the programmes and the development and implementation of policies. This article outlines the trends identified during the interviews and mapping exercise.     

早期教育对父母亲心理健康的影响

目的 调查坚持参加早教学习班的父母亲的心理健康状况.方法 采用90项症状清单（SCL-90）对常规参加早教学习训练的父母亲在婴儿4个月、6个月时进行心理健康评估,与未坚持参加早教训练的父母亲的心理健康状况作对照.结果 在婴儿4个月和6个月时,两组在躯体化、强迫症状、抑郁、焦虑4个因子为筛选阳性的例数有差异,实验组4个月和6个月时例数分别为40例和20例;对照组分别是119例和81例,两组比较差异有统计学意义,P＜0.05.结论 坚持参加早期教育训练班对父母亲心理健康有积极的正面影响,能有效地减轻躯体化、强迫、焦虑、抑郁的症状.     

Role of parental occupation in autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and severity

Some have suggested that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may present with less recognizable autistic-like phenotypic characteristics, leading them to highly systemizing occupations. Using secondary analysis of data from two previous studies of children with ASD, we tested associations between parental occupations and ASD diagnosis and the association of parental occupational characteristics on ASD severity. We found that fathers in healthcare (P < 0.01) and finance (P = 0.03) were more likely to have children with ASD. Additionally, joint effects of parental technical occupations were associated with communication (P < 0.01) and social impairment (P = 0.04). These results support that a “broader phenotype” and possible assortative mating in adults with autistic-like characteristics might contribute to intergenerational transmission and having offspring with greater ASD severity.     

Parental health and child schooling

This paper provides new empirical evidence on the impact of parental health shocks on investments in children's education using detailed longitudinal data from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our study controls for individual unobserved heterogeneity by using child fixed effects, and it accounts for potential misreporting of self-reported health by employing several, more precise, health indicators. Results show that co-living children of ill mothers, but not of ill fathers, are significantly less likely to be enrolled in education at ages 15–24. Moreover, there is some evidence that mother's negative health shocks are likely to raise the employment probability of children due to the need to cover higher health expenditures.