Art Therapy for Psychosocial Problems in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Narrative Review on Art Therapeutic Means and Forms of Expression, Therapist Behavior, and Supposed Mechanisms of Change.

Background: Art therapy (AT) is frequently offered to children and adolescents with psychosocial problems. AT is an experiential form of treatment in which the use of art materials, the process of creation in the presence and guidance of an art therapist, and the resulting artwork are assumed to contribute to the reduction of psychosocial problems. Although previous research reports positive effects, there is a lack of knowledge on which (combination of) art therapeutic components contribute to the reduction of psychosocial problems in children and adolescents. Method: A systematic narrative review was conducted to give an overview of AT interventions for children and adolescents with psychosocial problems. Fourteen databases and four electronic journals up to January 2020 were systematically searched. The applied means and forms of expression, therapist behavior, supposed mechanisms of change, and effects were extracted and coded. Results: Thirty-seven studies out of 1,299 studies met the inclusion criteria. This concerned 16 randomized controlled trials, eight controlled trials, and 13 single-group pre-post design studies. AT interventions for children and adolescents are characterized by a variety of materials/techniques, forms of structure such as giving topics or assignments, and the use of language. Three forms of therapist behavior were seen: non-directive, directive, and eclectic. All three forms of therapist behavior, in combination with a variety of means and forms of expression, showed significant effects on psychosocial problems. Conclusions: The results showed that the use of means and forms of expression and therapist behavior is applied flexibly. This suggests the responsiveness of AT, in which means and forms of expression and therapist behavior are applied to respond to the client's needs and circumstances, thereby giving positive results for psychosocial outcomes. For future studies, presenting detailed information on the potential beneficial effects of used therapeutic perspectives, means, art techniques, and therapist behavior is recommended to get a better insight into (un)successful art therapeutic elements.

Who helps whom? Investigating the development of adolescent prosocial relationships.

We investigated adolescent prosocial relations by examining social networks based on the question "Who helps you (e.g., with homework, with repairing a flat [bicycle] tire, or when you are feeling down?)." The effects of individual characteristics (academic achievement, symptoms of depressive mood, and peer status) on receiving help and giving help were examined, and we investigated the contribution of (dis)similarity between adolescents to the development of prosocial relations. Gender, structural network characteristics, and friendship relations were taken into account. Data were derived from the Social Network Analysis of Risk behavior in Early adolescence (SNARE) study, and contained information on students in 40 secondary school classes across 3 waves (N = 840, M age = 13.4, 49.7% boys). Results from longitudinal social network analyses (RSiena) revealed tendencies toward reciprocation of help and exchange of help within helping groups. Furthermore, boys were less often mentioned as helpers, particularly by girls. Depressed adolescents were less often mentioned as helpers, especially by low-depressed peers. Moreover, lower academic achievers indicated that they received help from their higher achieving peers. Rejected adolescents received help more often, but they less often helped low-rejected peers. Last, low- and high-popular adolescents less often helped each other, and also high-popular adolescents less often helped each other. These findings show that (dis)similarity in these characteristics is an important driving factor underlying the emergence and development of prosocial relations in the peer context, and that prosocial behavior should be defined in terms of benefitting particular others. (PsycINFO Database Record

Structure Matters: The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality.

Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8% boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls') cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys' and girls') cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality.