Adolescent Research Review最新文献

Youth have experienced an increase in mental health concerns and can be challenging to work with using traditional talk-based prevention and treatment options. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize existing studies on the effectiveness of equine-assisted interventions with youth for psychosocial outcomes, such as internalizing and externalizing problems, adaptive efficacy, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Search and selection procedures involved screening 3525 records to yield 16 controlled studies published between 2009 and 2021 with 1009 participants. The results showed a statistically significant, homogenous, and medium effect for the overall effectiveness of equine interventions for improving overall psychosocial outcomes for youth (n = 16, d = .535, 95% CI [.345, .726], p < .001, I² = 0.39). The results also showed similar statistically significant effects for externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and adaptive efficacy. However, the effectiveness of equine-assisted interventions for the self-esteem and depressive symptoms (when measured separately from internalizing problems) of youth was statistically non-significant. For self-esteem, the effects were heterogeneous, suggesting the studies may not be measuring the same effect. Future research on equine-assisted interventions for the mental health of youth should utilize designs with larger sample sizes, randomization and/or clear equivalence of comparison groups, a credible comparison treatment, complete and analyzable follow-up measurements, and adequate statistical analyses and reporting.

Youth sociopolitical action, which encompasses a broad range of behaviors to dismantle systems of oppression, is increasingly taking place on social media and digital platforms. This study presents the development and validation of a 15-item Sociopolitical Action Scale for Social Media (SASSM) through three sequential studies: in Study I, a scale was developed based on interviews with 20 young digital activists (M_age=19, 35% cis-gender women, 90% youth of color). In Study II, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified a unidimensional scale using a sample of 809 youth (M_age=17, 55.7% cis-gender women, 60.1% youth of color). In Study III, an EFA and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used to confirm the factor structure of a slightly modified set of items with a new sample of 820 youth (M_age=17, 45.9% cis-gender women, 53.9% youth of color). Measurement invariance testing was conducted by age, gender, racial and ethnic background, and immigrant identity, confirming full configural and metric invariance, and full or partial scalar invariance. The SASSM can further research on youths’ efforts to challenge oppression and injustice online.

Relational aggression is defined as harming peers’ relationships through exclusion, rumors, and manipulation. Seminal work on adolescent relational aggression has documented its prevalence across diverse cultural settings. However, efforts to investigate the impact of cultural norms on relational aggression are limited. The purpose of the present review is to present the existing research on relational aggression across cultures during adolescence, a developmental period where the importance of peer relations peaks. Emphasis was placed on gender differences in relational aggression cross-culturally. A systematic literature search between 2010 and 2022 yielded 76 published studies, classified according to studies’ characteristics (participants, information source, study’s design), gender differences and relational aggression’s prevalence. Adolescents in European and American countries reported low scores on relational aggression, while the majority of the studies that were conducted in Asia indicated higher engagement in relational aggression. In Africa and Australia, the findings were inconclusive regarding the prevalence of relational aggression. One third of the studies found non-significant gender differences in adolescent relational aggression. The majority of the studies in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe showed that males scored higher on relational aggression, while in America most of the research demonstrated higher scores for females. Future comparative research on relational aggression during adolescence across cultures is suggested.

Cyberbullying and psychoactive substance use are two common risky behaviors among adolescents, and a growing body of documents observe associations between these two phenomena. The present systematic review aims to clarify this association, analyzing the use of both legal and illegal psychoactive substances and all cyberbullying roles. To this purpose, a systematic search on PubMed, Scopus and PsycInfo databases was conducted, focusing on adolescents aged between 10 and 20 years old. The review was carried out following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and it includes a total of fifty original articles. The majority of them observed a positive association between cyberbullying involvement and the use of psychoactive substances, especially tobacco and alcohol. Regarding moderator factors, some studies observed the aforementioned association only among girls. Moreover, controlling for gender, delinquent friends and low parental support, this association became not significant. Nevertheless, there was a lack of information about the role of those who witnessed cyberbullying, and the included articles showed mixed results regarding illegal substance use. The findings highlighted the need for further research in order to better clarify the association between cyberbullying and substance use, and equally explore all cyberbullying roles and substance types.

While discussion of religiosity and delinquency has garnered attention in the past few decades, few studies have focused on how religiosity influences rates of delinquency among Muslim adolescents. In this systematic review, keywords were used to cull pertinent articles from two major databases (Scopus and EBSCOhost). In total, 14 articles were identified based on several inclusion criteria. In general, the studies selected showed that Muslim adolescents have a lower rate of delinquency compared to non-Muslim adolescents. However, when questions related to the measurement of delinquency (such as including violence) and the cultural context (such as including individuals who are first-generation immigrants of a non-Muslim-majority country) are taken into consideration, more complex trends are observed. Furthermore, many identified articles did not capture the essence of Muslim religiosity as conceptualized by some Muslim researchers, which has specific and unique properties that must be considered. This study demonstrates how Muslim religiosity protects against delinquency and has a potential use for intervention with Muslim adolescents.