Objective: This study investigated the roles of adherence and usage activity in adolescents’ (n = 161) gains during a 5-week web intervention program based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

Method: Program adherence was calculated as adherence percentage in relation to intended usage, whereas completion percentage, usage time, and usage weeks were used as indicators for usage activity. Subjective well-being was measured by self-reported life satisfaction and stress before and after the intervention.

Results: First, regression analysis results showed that higher adherence predicted an increase in life satisfaction during intervention. Second, three subgroups of adolescents were identified using K-means cluster analysis in regard to adherence, usage activity and intervention gains: (1) “Adhered, committed users with relatively large intervention gains” (35%), (2) “Less committed users with no intervention gains” (42%), and (3) “Non-committed users with no intervention gains” (23%). The results showed that the highest gains from the Youth Compass intervention program are most likely obtained when the program is used as intended in its design. In addition, time investment and engagement in doing exercises seem as important as filling the minimum adherence criterion.

Conclusions: The results support the feasibility of ACT-based web intervention programs in promoting adolescent well-being, although more attention should be paid to motivating adolescents to commit to them and invest enough time in them.

In the study of child-to-parent violence (CPV), the perspective of the victimized aggressor has not been analyzed in depth, and the impact of different contexts of victimization even less so. The aim of this study was to examine the unique and additive effects of family victimization (direct and vicarious) and school victimization (bullying and cyberbullying) on predicting CPV toward fathers and mothers. The sample included 3,142 adolescents aged 12–18 years (M_age = 14.32) from schools in southern Spain. The participants completed the Child-to-Parent Violence Questionnaire adolescent version, the Violence Exposure Scale, and the European Bullying/Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaires. The findings showed that independently, both family and school victimization predicted CPV, with direct family victimization being the best predictor, and that jointly, contributed to a significant improvement in prediction, explaining approximately 20% of CPV. Furthermore, a correspondence was found between the type of violence experienced and the type of violence perpetrated. It is necessary to study the profile of the victimized aggressor in CPV in order to design interventions adapted to the specific needs of this profile.

A coordinated response by a trained multidisciplinary team (MDT) can help support child sex trafficking (CST) victims, but little is known about factors that influence the development and sustainability of MDTs in this work. An online survey was conducted with 171 professionals who attended a Multidisciplinary Team Child Sex Trafficking (MDT-CST) training to identify factors related to team growth. Increased MDT success was related to: (1) the presence of a CST-specific advocacy organization in the community; (2) other community agencies active in supporting CST victims (e.g., SANE nurses, faith-based organizations, and runaway shelters); (3) a greater breadth of professional representation on the MDT; and (4) agency leadership support for the CST action plan. Most of the MDTs sustained and increased their coordination with other community agencies over time, but the study identified that growth is improved when administrators support team efforts and there are resources and supports for CST victims elsewhere in the community.

The goal of the study was to examine disclosure of physical and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization across abusive relationships within a sociodemographically diverse sample of young women. We recruited 283 participants, ages 18 to 24, from a university, a 2-year college, and community sites serving low-income young women, and assessed physical and sexual IPV victimization, and related disclosure, across each of their abusive relationships (415 total). We used multilevel modeling to examine the effects of social location and situational factors on the odds of any disclosure of abuse during first relationships and across relationships. The rate of physical IPV disclosure was 50%, vs. 29% for sexual IPV. Multilevel model results indicated setting, IPV type, high frequency sexual IPV, and fear were significantly related to any disclosure.

Persuasive design, the use of behavioral psychology in digital devices and applications to alter human behavior, is employed in entertainment and educational technologies that occupy a great proportion of the lives of children and adolescents. A primary purpose of persuasive design is to increase the time spent using social media, video game, and other entertainment technologies in order to increase business revenue. This adds to children's and adolescents' health risks, as excessive recreational screen time has been associated with both physical (sleep, weight) and mental health (depression, anxiety, compulsive use, and inattention) issues for children and adolescents. Given the potential for negative health outcomes, it is necessary for the field of psychology to acknowledge, educate, and take action against the use of persuasive design in platforms typically used by children and adolescents.

Emotional disorders, including anxiety, depressive, and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders are prevalent and impairing for youth. Dissemination efforts have been implemented to address these disorders in youth, but these are limited by cost and barriers to accessing mental health services. Stepped care is a method of treatment delivery meant to be cost-effective and less time intensive than administering a full treatment manual. Much, if not all of the research, assessing the efficacy of stepped care delivery has utilized disorder-specific treatment manuals. However, transdiagnostic stepped care approaches may prove more efficacious given that youth commonly present to treatment with more than one disorder and that such problems are not always comprehensively assessed at intake. This manuscript provides details regarding the implementation of a transdiagnostic stepped-care delivery (UPA-SC) using three case examples. Youth evidenced significant improvement in anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Future work to investigate the efficacy of UPA-SC in a larger, more heterogeneous sample of youth may be warranted.

The mismatch between financial objective and subjective knowledge that occurs in youth and adolescents has been understudied in the literature. Based on objective and subjective financial literacy scores, this study categorizes financial literacy into four types: financial literacy overconfidence, underconfidence, competence, and naïvete in a sample of adolescents. Data were collected from 330 students aged around 15 years old in six middle schools in Hong Kong. The results indicate that adolescents who are overconfident about their financial literacy are more likely to engage in risky financial behavior and report higher levels of financial autonomy. A randomized experimental trial was conducted to assess whether financial education could change the mismatch between financial objective and subjective knowledge. The results show a significant increase in underconfidence after the financial education intervention, but no significant change in the other three categories. The findings highlight the same type of financial literacy overconfidence in both adolescents and adults and has implications for financial counselors and educators who would improve the financial engagement of adolescents.

In the last two decades, the problem of violence in the family sphere in particular and in intimate relationships in general has been on the agenda for Portuguese governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Several initiatives and campaigns have been launched, which are aimed at reducing occurrence of this violence, particularly among teenagers. This present study aims to assess the evolution in adolescents' attitudes and behaviors concerning intimate partner violence. We collected data from a sample of adolescents (n = 913) to compare with corresponding data collected 7 years ago by Neves and Nogueira (2010) in a sample that had identical sociodemographic characteristics (n = 899). Both cohorts resided in the same areas in the northeastern region of Portugal. The instruments used were the Scale of Beliefs about Marital Violence (ECVC) and the Marital Violence Inventory (IVC; Neves & Nogueira, 2010). The results indicate that although respondents tend to reject traditional beliefs on marital violence more now than in the past, especially male and older respondents, the percentage of dating violence reports has not decreased. Among girls, there was even an increase in perpetration of emotional and mild physical violence. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy between the evolution of attitudes and behaviors and make suggestions for improvement in the actions implemented among teenagers to increase their effectiveness.

Most teen dating violence (TDV) victims do not seek help after their victimization experience. While research has identified that victims are more likely to turn to informal versus formal sources, there is a lack of knowledge about what factors are predictive of help-seeking from formal sources. The current study explored the impact of incident and victim characteristics on help-seeking from formal sources among middle and high school TDV victims (N = 2,174). Findings indicate that the severity and location of the victimization significantly increase the likelihood of help-seeking from formal sources.