Adolescent Research Review最新文献

The increasing prevalence of problematic internet use has heightened concerns about its adverse impact on internet users’ mental health. Despite reviews investigating the associations between problematic internet use and mental health outcomes, there is a lack of understanding of various aspects of students’ mental health. This study aimed to bridge this gap by providing a more comprehensive overall picture of this issue through a quantitative synthesis based on three-level random-effects meta-analytic models. In total, 223 studies with a cumulative total of 498,167 participants and 512 effect sizes were included in this synthesis. The results showed that problematic internet use was moderately and positively associated with depressive symptoms, anxiety, loneliness, and other mental health outcomes, and negatively related to subjective well-being. Moderator analyses revealed that several study features (i.e., school grade, region, measure of problematic internet use, publication year, and gender) could explain the variations in the findings across individual studies. These research results provide solid evidence for the link between problematic internet use and different mental health outcomes and have implications for future research and interventions on students’ problematic internet use.

Dramatic changes in sleep duration, schedules, and quality put adolescents at higher risk of negative outcomes, such as poorer physical and psychosocial adjustment. While significant attention has been paid to the role of proximal contexts (e.g., family), less is known about the longitudinal interplay between exo- (e.g., neighborhood characteristics) and macro-contextual (e.g., ethnic/racial discrimination) influences and adolescents’ sleep quality. Therefore, this review aimed to summarize findings from available longitudinal research to understand the role of structural factors and experiences in the distal contexts of development in influencing sleep quality in adolescence. A total of 10 studies were included in this systematic review. The results highlighted the detrimental consequences of structural factors and experiences at the exo- and macro-systems for adolescents’ sleep duration, quality, and disturbances. Specifically, neighborhood economic deprivation, ethnic/racial minority status, community violence and victimization, and ethnic/racial discrimination were all linked to significantly lower sleep quality. Overall, this review highlighted the need for more longitudinal and multi-method studies addressing sleep quality as embedded in contexts and the reciprocal influences among the multiple layers of adolescents’ development.

Causal attributions and help-seeking is not well explored among adolescents, despite evidence of perceived causes for difficulties influencing how adults engage with treatment and seek help. This study reviewed extant literature to understand what adolescents at increased risk of developing mental health difficulties and those with clinically significant symptoms perceive to be the cause of emotional distress; to determine the extent to which perceived cause influences help-seeking; and to identify potential differences/commonalities between these groups. A systematic review and qualitative thematic synthesis were conducted. 3,691 articles were identified, 18 were eligible to be included and were synthesized using thematic synthesis. Six main themes related to perceived cause are reported. Three of those themes were shared between the clinical and at-risk groups: (1) challenging social factors and perceived difference, (2) problematic family dynamics, and (3) cause is complex and multifaceted. Three themes were not: (4) unfairness and perceived lack of agency and (5) concern for self and others, were exclusive to the at-risk group, and (6) coping with a mental health difficulty was exclusive to the clinical group. Four main themes related to causal attributions and help-seeking were found, including: (1) cause and implications for self-preservation; (2) the degree of personal and wider knowledge and understanding of cause; (3) perceived extent of control in managing cause; and (4) cause having potential to affect others. The findings of this review demonstrate that perceived cause for emotional distress plays a role in help-seeking among adolescent groups and highlights likely differences in how adolescents at-risk of mental health difficulties and those with clinically significant symptoms attribute cause for their difficulties and subsequently seek help. This has important implications for how to support young people experiencing or at risk of mental health difficulties and presents a strong case for pursuing more research in this area.

Typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports, which reflects the response to national curriculum, resource base and ethos of schools, may impact adolescent physical activity behaviors. This impact has not been considered in systematic literature reviews to date. The Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, PsychINFO, ERIC and MEDLINE databases were searched for relevant literature (2000–2022) on adolescents aged 12–18 years in secondary schools. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria, including eight cross-sectional, three longitudinal and two cluster randomized control trials. Included studies contributed 84 reported effects. Physical activity behavior was the most frequently reported outcome (n = 52), 48% of which were non-significant, 29% significantly positive, 10% significantly negative and 13% demonstrated a positive or negative trend but with no test of significance. Evidence was also found to support an impact on meeting physical activity guidelines (62.5% significantly positive effects) and in reducing sedentary behavior, particularly in girls.Notwithstanding considerable heterogeneity in the data paralleled with methodological limitations, presented evidence supports the positive impact of typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports on adolescent physical activity behaviors.

A structured protocol for this systematic literature review was registered on the International Prospective register of Systematic Reviews (ID number CRD42021200767).

Mentalhealth literacy is an essential part of preventing mental illnesses. However,the quality of mental health literacy measures remain unknown, as does itsuniversality across various settings and populations. Few studies focus onmeasures aimed at assessing mental health literacy of children and adolescentsthat covers knowledge about mental health and mental disorders, strategies todecrease stigma, and enhancement of help-seeking efficacy. The present study aimedto conduct a systematic search to find available measures of mental healthliteracy of children and adolescents under the age of 19 years. The followingdatabases were searched: Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC andCINAHL Plus. COSMIN checklist was applied to assess the methodological qualityof each study. Twenty-one mental health literacy measures were identified in 18studies. The quality of the studies ranged between very good and inadequate.Sixteen measures were universal, implying that they were not diagnosticspecific. Two measures scored a full score of four on mental health literacycomprehensiveness. This review revealed that the overall quality of themeasurement properties was mixed, that there are limited measures available toevaluate non-diagnostic-specific mental health literacy in universalpopulations of children and adolescents, and that measures fail to cover keymental health literacy components of knowledge of mental health, illness,stigma, and help-seeking. New measures should be developed to cover this gap inthe field of child and adolescent mental health.

Sexting is considered a practice of sending, receiving, and forwarding sexually explicit content through electronic devices. Given a lack of research distinguishing the characteristics of different forms of sexting, this systematic review aimed to analyze studies of the characteristics that might influence individuals’ engagement in consensual and non-consensual sexting behavior. This systematic review was conducted using three online databases (EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Web of Science). The search resulted in the extraction of 709 articles, of which 39 were considered eligible for inclusion. One study also was identified by a manual search, which resulted in a final sample of 40 articles published between 2012 and 2021. The results show that male adolescents are more likely to engage in both forms of sexting. Adolescents with some Big Five Personality traits (i.e., who score higher on conscientiousness, extroversion, and openness), spend more time online and are in a stable relationship were positively associated with consensual sexting. Adolescents who lack control and are more aggressive were more likely to engage in non-consensual sexting. This systematic review also revealed that there is insufficient research on the subject, mainly regarding non-consensual sexting and characteristics of who perpetrates this behavior.

Peers, particularly in-school peers, shape adolescent health behaviors. Yet little is known about in-school peers and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. This systematic review examined studies of sociometric school-based adolescent peer-friendship networks and associations with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. A search across five databases identified fifteen eligible studies. Studies were mainly longitudinal (n=13), from two countries (USA and China), of adolescents aged 11-19 at baseline, mostly balanced in gender (46%-56% girls), and from middle/high schools ranging in size (n=348-13482). Studies assessed 1) network structure and 2) exposure to friends’ self-injury and suicidality. Friends’ self-injurious thoughts and behaviors were associated with adolescents’ own similar behaviors, but there was limited evidence for socialization and selection. Sociality and network density were negatively associated with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, whereas isolation and intransitivity were positively associated. While study heterogeneity made it difficult to draw further conclusions about specific network metrics (e.g., centrality, reciprocity), studies indicate overall that peers matter for these behaviors across adolescent development (e.g., early to late adolescence). Like other adolescent behaviors, the structure of how youth are connected to peers also relates to self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. Future work should examine these processes over the course of adolescent development.

Adolescents in aftercare services who are transitioning from out-of-home care, also called care leavers, face more challenges in their lives, and engage in more risk behaviors, than their peers. However, no previous reviews have comprehensively addressed this issue to identify future research needs. The aim of this systematic review was to gather, assess, and synthesize previous studies concerning care leavers’ high-risk behavior. The search was conducted in six databases, with sixteen articles included in the final review. The selected research highlighted five forms of high-risk behavior: substance abuse, delinquency, sexual behavior, irresponsible use of money, and self-destructive behavior. The incidence of high-risk behavior among care leavers varied noticeably between the studies. Some of the studies reported significant connections between high-risk behavior and gender, race, reason(s) for placement, and the form and number of placements. The synthesized findings revealed a fragmented, limited view of care leavers’ high-risk behavior that highlighted substance abuse and delinquency. The development of adolescents, particularly care leavers, includes multiple factors that have either a conducive or protecting effect for high-risk behavior. Comprehensive research regarding care leavers’ high-risk behavior, including the associated factors, is needed to better support healthy development and success in transitioning to independent living.

Children’s peer relationships are crucial for their social-emotional development, mental and physical health. To identify effective strategies to facilitate peer relationships among 8–14-year-olds, a systematic review of intervention programs was conducted. Electronic databases ERIC, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Collection Library and grey literature sources were searched for intervention studies with general or clinical populations published between 2000 and 2020. Interventions had to assess quantity or quality of peer relationships as an outcome measure, thus focusing on helping children to establish more positive relationships or improving their self-reported relationship quality. Sixty-five papers were identified and grouped into universal prevention programs, selective interventions for typically developing children and indicated interventions for children with clinical diagnosis. Prevention programs and interventions for typically developing children facilitated peer relationships by targeting mental wellbeing and self-concepts. Clinical interventions focused on social-emotional skills, symptoms and peer behaviors. Successful programs showed a close alignment of methods and targeted program effects. Practitioners should also be aware of realistic goals for each population. Programs for a general population showed potential to decrease loneliness, whereas clinical populations achieved high increases in play dates, peer acceptance and sociometric status.

A resurgent climate of nationalism, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia in many parts of the world has drawn attention to the risk of bullying victimization among racial, ethnic and/or religious minority youth. However, no attempt has yet been made to synthesize the literature on this topic to derive better understanding and guide future prevention and intervention efforts. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature on individual, school, family, and community -level factors and outcomes associated with racist bullying victimization. Systematic searches of EBSCOhost, Scopus, ASSIA and Web of Science databases identified 73 articles that included quantitative and qualitative analyses on this topic. Overall, this review found that negative stereotypes and discrimination operating in school and community contexts put racial/ethnic minority, immigrant, and refugee youth at an increased risk of racist bullying victimization. The review also found that racist bullying victimization is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes including poor mental health, lower academic engagement, and an increased risk of involvement in delinquent behaviours, especially among older pupils. The review identified several gaps in the research, including the lack of adequate theorization and the infrequent consideration of potential mediators and moderators. Finally, the review outlined future directions, such as the need to study how intergroup processes influence racist bullying victimization.