Adolescents' First Choice for Help: Distinguishing Characteristics of Youth Who Select a Friend, a Parent, or No One.

When adolescents encounter problems, many prefer to seek help from a friend or a parent and some are reluctant to seek help from anyone. Yet information is sparse about how youth who choose each of these options differ from one another, including the proportions who select each help option consistently across personal and interpersonal problems or the extent to which they endorse characteristics related to help seeking. To address this gap, the proportions of adolescents who selected a friend, a parent, or no one as their first choice for help with one personal problem (feeling depressed) and three interpersonal problems (problems with a parent, a good friend, and a boyfriend/girlfriend) and the proportions who selected each help option consistently across these problems were examined. Youth in the three groups for each problem were also compared on characteristics linked to help seeking (gender, self-concealment, self-disclosure, perceived support, and school community). Participants were 488 Canadian adolescents (56% girls; Grades 9-12) who completed a survey at school. A majority of youth chose a friend for help with each problem and a substantial minority chose one help option consistently across problems. For each problem, adolescents in the Friend group and those in the Parent group differed on composites of specific characteristics, and adolescents in the No One group differed from those in the other groups on multiple characteristics. The results highlight the complexity associated with adolescents choosing a help option and draw attention to specific groups of youth who merit further examination.

Young adolescents' responsiveness to sexual communication with their mother: Distinguishing diverse intentions.

INTRODUCTION: It is unlikely that parents can have effective sexuality discussions with their adolescent if the adolescent is not responsive to their efforts. We evaluated young adolescents' intentions of being responsive to sexual communication with their mother and whether youths who were likely, ambivalent, or unlikely to be responsive differed on their characteristics, features of previous sexual communication, and features of the mother-adolescent relationship. METHODS: Participants were 259 Canadian adolescents (12-14 years; 53% girls) who received and returned a survey by mail. They completed measures of responsiveness intentions, expected outcomes of sexual communication, extent of past sexual communication, the frequency with which mothers encouraged questions and provided information about sexuality topics, open communication, and mothers' provision of warmth, structure, and autonomy support. RESULTS: We found that 37% of adolescents were likely to be responsive to sexual communication with their mother, 34% were ambivalent, and 29% were unlikely to be responsive. Youths' responsiveness intentions were general rather than topic-specific. A discriminant analysis showed that only features of previous sexual communication separated all three groups whereas specific mother-adolescent relationship features (open communication and structure) and one adolescent characteristic (expected outcomes) separated the unlikely group from the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Young adolescents' intentions of being responsive to sexual communication from their mother are diverse yet general in nature. Mothers' engagement in sexual communication appears essential for youths' openness to these discussions. Enhancing specific mother-adolescent relationship features and youths' outcome expectations may shift adolescents who are resistant to sexuality discussions to being more sure.

The co-occurrence of adolescent boys' and girls' use of psychologically, physically, and sexually abusive behaviours in their dating relationships.

We examined the co-occurrence of and risk factors for adolescent boys' and girls' self-reported use of psychologically, physically, and sexually abusive behaviours in their dating relationships. The participants were 324 boys and 309 girls in grades 7, 9, or 11 who completed surveys at school. Descriptive analyses showed that 19% of boys and 26% of girls reported having used two or more forms of dating violence. One third of students in grade 7 had already used at least one form of aggressive behaviour in this context. Canonical correlation analyses indicated that boys' and girls' use of multiple forms of dating violence were predicted by their attitudes toward and experiences with violence. After controlling for general abusiveness, boys' use of sexually abusive behaviour and girls' use of psychologically abusive behaviour were linked to specific risk factors that suggest an enactment of social scripts associated with their respective gender roles.

"If it hurts you, then it is not a joke": adolescents' ideas about girls' and boys' use and experience of abusive behavior in dating relationships.

This study examined adolescents' ideas about girls' and boys' use and experience of physical and psychological abuse in heterosexual dating relationships. Canadian high school students who were enrolled in Grades 9 and 11 took part in single-gender focus groups. Eight themes emerged from the analysis. The themes highlight the importance teenagers place on context for defining specific behaviors as abusive. They also underscore gender differences in the criteria adolescents use to make these judgments, in the forms of abusive behavior teenagers typically use in a dating relationship, and in the reasons for youths' declining use of physical abuse and increasing use of psychological abuse. These views have important implications for future research and for programs targeting adolescent dating violence.

"I just wanted to be the kid": adolescent girls' experiences of having a parent with cancer.

This pilot study explored the experiences of three young women who were adolescents when a parent was diagnosed with cancer. Semi-structured, individual interviews with these youths were used to discuss ways that they and their families were affected by cancer, as well as changes that may have made their experience more manageable. A thematic analysis revealed that, as adolescents, the girls responded to the cancer diagnosis by making their family a primary focus, and that this focus had positive and negative consequences for their development. They also highlighted several ways that parents and others can assist adolescents as they cope with this situation.

Adolescents in rural communities seeking help: who reports problems and who sees professionals?

BACKGROUND: This study examined whether adolescents who were at various stages of the help-seeking process differed on demographic characteristics, use of informal helpers, and markers of emotional and behavioral adjustment. METHOD: Youths (N = 644; Grades 7-12) living in three rural communities completed a survey at school. Three comparisons were made: teenagers who reported having serious problems versus few or no problems in the past year; teenagers who felt that they did or did not need professional help with these problems; and teenagers who had or had not sought professional help. RESULTS: Rural youths with serious problems were more likely to be girls and to be living with someone other than a parent, were less likely to talk to family members about problems, and reported more negative emotional and behavioral adjustment. Teenagers who perceived a need for professional help also reported poorer emotional and behavioral adjustment. Adolescents who sought professional help were more likely to be in senior high, were less likely to talk to others about problems, and were lower on anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Rural adolescents' demographic characteristics, use of informal helpers, and markers of emotional and behavioral adjustment each contribute to our understanding of their help-seeking behavior. Future studies must examine how these and other variables combine to discern who reports problems, who perceives a need for help, and who sees professionals.