ABSTRACT
This paper describes a short-term, supportive intervention group, the "Neighborhood Club," designed to assist children with the psychological impact of exposure to urban violence. It addresses the void of therapeutic work attending to poor children's chronic exposure to community violence. Theoretical and clinical rationales for this intervention are discussed, and illustrations from ten school-based groups are offered.
Subject(s)
Psychotherapy, Group , Social Support , Urban Population , Violence/psychology , Adaptation, Psychological , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Poverty/psychology , Psychotherapy, BriefABSTRACT
Para conocer la prevalencia del hábito tabáquico en adolescentes, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana, se tomó una muestra de 200 estudiantes de ambos sexos. El 63// pertenecía al sexo femenino; el 51// de ellos tenía 18 años o más. El 33.5// de los estudiantes consume tabaco habitualmente; con un consumo diario de 1-2 cigarrillos (52.2//). El 71.6// inició el consumo entre los 15 y 19 años de edad; un 6// antes de los 10 años. Todos tenían algún padre fumador; en el 79.1// de los casos, era la madre. El el 76.1// de los casos no se refirió consumo simultáneo de alcohol
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adolescent , Smoking/epidemiology , StudentsABSTRACT
Relationships among psychological adjustment, levels of perceived and actual social support, and perceptions of childhood familial adversity were examined among 52 low-income single mothers of preschoolers. Women showing high levels of psychological adjustment tended to perceive their supports more positively, but often reported lower levels of support than their more distressed counterparts. However, perceptions of childhood familial adversity were found to be the most powerful predictors of psychological adjustment.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Individuality , Mothers/psychology , Poverty/psychology , Single Parent/psychology , Social Environment , Adult , Child of Impaired Parents/psychology , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Mother-Child Relations , Parenting/psychology , Personality Development , Personality Inventory , Social SupportABSTRACT
Using interview data from a sample of 241 single African American mothers and their seventh- and eighth-grade children, this study tests a model of how 2 economic stressors, maternal unemployment and work interruption, influence adolescent socioemotional functioning. In general, these economic stressors affected adolescent socioemotional functioning indirectly, rather than directly, through their impact on mothers' psychological functioning and, in turn, parenting behavior and mother-child relations. Current unemployment, but not past work interruption, had a direct effect on depressive symptomatology in mothers. As expected, depressive symptomatology in mothers predicted more frequent maternal punishment of adolescents, and this relation was fully mediated by mothers' negative perceptions of the maternal role. More frequent maternal punishment was associated with increased cognitive distress and depressive symptoms in adolescents, and consistent with predictions, these relations were partially mediated by adolescents' perceptions of the quality of relations with their mothers. Increased availability of instrumental support, as perceived by mothers, predicted fewer depressive symptoms in mothers, less punishment of adolescents, and less negativity about the maternal role. Both economic stressors were associated with higher levels of perceived financial strain in mothers, which in turn predicted adolescents' perceptions of economic hardship. Adolescents who perceived their families as experiencing more severe economic hardship reported higher anxiety, more cognitive distress, and lower self-esteem.
