A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Factors Affecting Successful Transition to Adulthood for Youth with Severe Emotional Disturbances.

This study elicited the perspectives of youth, caregivers, service providers and researchers to explore how communities can best support the transition to adulthood for youth ages 16-21 with mental health and functional impairments, who are at risk of disconnecting from health and human services. Framed by Relational Systems Evaluation (RSE) and Positive Youth Development (PYD), our study demonstrates the importance of engagement with youth experts. Group Concept Mapping (GCM), a collaborative multiphase mixed-methods approach, was used as a systematic process for participants to make meaning of qualitative data using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis (Kane and Trochim in Concept mapping for planning and evaluation, Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, 2007). Across all participant groups, Life Skills were perceived as highly important and highly feasible for a successful transition to adulthood. However, Positive Social Support & Connectedness were viewed as less important and less feasible by all groups. When examined closely, youth perspectives differed from caregiver and provider perspectives in the factors they prioritized and deemed feasible. Our findings have implications for community mental health services and positive youth development program practitioners.

Multiple-Family Group Intervention for Incarcerated Male Adolescents Who Sexually Offend and Their Families: Change in Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Predicts Adaptive Change in Adolescent Behaviors.

The multiple-family group intervention is an effective, yet affordable, 8-week treatment that is conducted in a juvenile correctional institution in Alabama with adolescents who sexually offend and their families. Data from 115 incarcerated male adolescents and their male and female caregivers collected at pre-, post-, and 1-year follow-up were used to determine that problem behaviors (internalizing, externalizing) decreased over pre- and posttest and the significant decreases in maladaptive emotion regulation predicted those changes. Adolescent-reported anxiety over abandonment and attachment dependence on parents increased significantly; these changes were predicted by decreases in maladaptive emotion regulation. Linear growth models were also fit over the 3 time points and indicate decreases in adolescent problem behavior and maladaptive emotion regulation.