Background: Self-harm usually begins during adolescence and adolescents that self-harm most commonly confide in friends, yet to date, there is little research from the friend's perspective. Objective: This qualitative study explores adolescents' experiences of what it is like to have a friend who self-harms by cutting and what this experience…

Background: Adolescence is associated with a rise in the incidence of mental health issues. Thus, the factors, processes, and contexts that protect and promote positive mental health in adolescence are of key interest to policymakers. Objective: Our aim was twofold: First, to explore the coping strategies and sources of support that adolescents…

Disaster response and recovery researchers and policy makers are increasingly attempting to represent the views of children and adolescents alongside those of adults and other community members following disasters. Children's and adolescents' perspectives regarding the impacts and complications of the 2014 Hazelwood coal mine fire and ongoing…

Psychological inflexibility has been associated with several mental health indicators. The Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) has been the most used measure to assess psychological inflexibility in adolescents, having been adapted to several different languages, including Portuguese. However, the short 8-item version of this…

Background: Research has demonstrated that parent-child attachment security and school connectedness (SC) are protective factors against substance use, depression, and suicidality during adolescence. However, past research has examined these factors independently, and little is known about how attachment security and SC work in conjunction to…

Background: Service-learning provides opportunities for adolescents to foster leadership skills, learn about those in different social circumstances, and enhance civic engagement. Objectives: This pilot study described the implementation and evaluation of a service-learning project to train adolescents as coaches to teach social and emotional…

Background: Academic emotions (e.g., enjoyment of learning or anxiety) play a significant role in academic performance and educational choices. An important factor explaining academic emotions can be students' temperament and the goodness-of-fit between their temperament and their social environment, including parents. Objective: This study…

Background: The transition to adult life for those leaving foster care is a multidimensional phase of their personal development. Care leavers' life outcomes are poorer in education, employment, income, housing and parenthood compared with their peers from the general population. They suffer more than other youngsters from mental health and…

Background: Despite Latino youth being at increased risk of developing mental health problems, they are less likely to receive adequate treatment (Gonzales et al. in "Handbook of U.S. Latino psychology: developmental and community-based perspectives." Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 115-134, 2009; Romero et al. in "Ethn Health"…

Background: While some recent research has addressed homeless youth from a strengths-based approach, comparative studies of homeless and non-homeless youth from a strengths perspective are few; research that includes youth's views on positive youth development are also limited. Objective: Addressing these gaps and using an inductive approach,…

Background: Considering the sensitive ethical issues related to involuntary treatment of adolescents, research investigating youth transport practices and treatment outcomes is clearly needed. Youth transport is common practice in many private pay programs, including wilderness therapy programs. Objective: This study of 350 adolescents in…

Background: Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) is associated with psychosocial impairment, but few studies have examined peer relationship functioning and PBD. Adolescence is a crucial developmental period when peers become increasingly salient. Objective: This study compared perceived friendship quality and peer victimization in adolescents with…

Background: Little is known about the level of social bond elements and their effects on delinquency among nonadjudicated (traditional low and at-risk school-aged) and adjudicated Chinese male adolescents. Objective: Using a large adolescent sample (N = 1,177) from Hong Kong and Macau, this study aims to distinguish the level of social bond…

Background: Several studies have shown that substance use levels among adolescents living in residential youth care are high. However, it is not clear to what extent adolescents initiate (heavy) substance during their stay and to what extent these rates are higher than would be expected based on their risk profile. Objective: The aim of the…