Little is known about the role social support may play in reducing the risk of adolescent dating violence perpetration and victimization. This study is a longitudinal analysis of the independent impact of social support from friends and parents on the risk of emotional and physical dating violence perpetration and victimization among a large sample of female youth (n = 346). Findings indicate that 22% of the sample indicated perpetrating physical dating violence against a partner, whereas almost 16% revealed being the victim of physical dating violence; 34% of the sample indicated perpetrating emotional dating violence against a partner, whereas almost 39% revealed being the victim of emotional dating violence. Negative binomial regression models indicated that increased levels of support from friends at Time 1 was associated with significantly less physical and emotional dating violence perpetration and emotional (but not physical) dating violence victimization at Time 2. Parental support was not significantly related to dating violence in any model. Implications for dating violence curriculum and future research are addressed.

Severity level and type of exposure to community violence were examined to determine their effect on emotional distress and problem behaviors among 234 low-income urban African American early adolescents. There were 4 violence exposure scales developed from a principal component analysis of the Richters and Martinez (1993) exposure to violence scale: moderate and severe witnessing and moderate and severe victimization. Regression analyses indicated that moderate victimization was the most consistent predictor of emotional distress and behavioral problems, whereas moderate witnessing did not relate to any of the dependent variables. Severe victimization predicted depression and delinquency, whereas severe witnessing predicted posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and delinquency. Witnessing and victimization scales based on severity of exposure better represented the experience than combining all data into a single exposure or simply witnessing and victimization scales.

Objective: Stimulant medications are considered an effective treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and their prescription is consistently on the rise. However, research showed a limited adherence to ADHD medication regimens. This study explores the experiences of using stimulant medication from the understudied perspective of adolescents. Method: Fourteen semistructured interviews were conducted with adolescents diagnosed as having ADHD, and the data was analyzed according to the principles of qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Participants were passive actors in the diagnostic process. Following the medical treatment, half of the interviewees described improvement in their concentration while studying and during exams. However, most of the interviewees discussed the difficulties of taking medication especially in terms of emotional side effects, identity loss, and interpersonal relationships. Those who reached high school stopped, fully or selectively, taking the medication on their own initiative. Conclusion: The results of this study points to the importance of considering the burden of treatment for children and adolescents who take stimulant medications.

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.

The rationale is synthesized for the urgency of empirical studies demonstrating the efficacy of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), symptoms of PTSD, or other trauma-related symptoms. This literature review examined 15 studies (including nine randomized clinical trials) that tested the efficacy of EMDR therapy for the treatment of children and adolescents with these symptoms. All studies found that EMDR therapy produced significant reductions in PTSD symptoms at posttreatment and also in other trauma-related symptoms, when measured. A methodological analysis identified limitations in most studies, reducing the value of these findings. Despite these shortcomings, the methodological strength of the identified studies has increased over time. The review also summarized three meta-analyses. The need for additional rigorous research is apparent, and in order to profit from experiences of the past, the article provides some guidelines for clinicians seeking to conduct future research in their agencies.

Inherent in adolescent pregnancy and parenthood are problems related to mother/baby health, societal norms, and economic well-being. Adolescent parenting programs are available; no specific approach is most effective in improving maternal/child health and decreasing subsequent adolescent pregnancies. This study explored what it means to be a pregnant adolescent living in a group home in the United States. One-on-one interviews, using semistructured questions, were conducted with eight participants. Ages were 13–17 years. Three themes emerged: (a) the environment, (b) balancing adolescent expectations, and (c) defining motherhood. Nurses caring for pregnant adolescents are uniquely positioned to influence their development as mothers.

There is growing support for the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a treatment for adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but no research has been published on the use of ACT for adolescent OCD. This preliminary study investigated ACT for youth with OCD using a multiple baseline across participants design. Three adolescents, ages 12 or 13 years, were treated with 8–10 sessions of ACT (without in-session exposure exercises). The primary dependent variable was daily self-monitoring of compulsions. Results showed a 40% mean reduction in self-reported compulsions from pretreatment to posttreatment, with results maintained at 3-month follow-up, for a reduction of 43.8%. Pretreatment to posttreament reductions in Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) ratings of OCD severity were 50.0%, 12.5%, and 22.0%; pretreatment to follow-up reductions were 54.0%, 12.5%, and 61.0%. Treatment procedures were rated by participants and parents as highly acceptable. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to outline the rationale and use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of pediatric chronic pain. The article begins by demonstrating the scope and impact of the problem of pediatric chronic pain. It then provides an overview of the framework of CBT for pediatric chronic pain and standard treatment components are outlined. A summary of the current state of research and its efficacy is provided. The article concludes by presenting outcome data from a specific example of a CBT group for pediatric recurrent abdominal pain. Future directions for research in this area are discussed.

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.

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.

Attention to emotional stimuli has been associated with psychological health among adults and youth. In this study, we examined 2 putative functional psychophysiological correlates of attention to emotional information in a community sample of 135 youth (M_age=12 years, 7 months; SD_age=1 year, 1 month; 50% girls). After measuring resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), participants completed a 1,500 ms emotional faces dot probe task with eye tracking. We examined pupil dilation during angry, sad, and happy trials and predicted that lower resting RSA and greater pupil dilation would be associated with relatively greater attention to negative stimuli. Results partially confirmed our hypothesis. Lower resting RSA was associated with relatively greater attention to sad faces. Lower resting RSA was also associated with relatively greater attention to angry faces when pupil dilation was lower. RSA may be an important functional correlate of attention that should be explored further in future research.

Evidence suggests that Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is less responsive to cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) compared to other anxiety disorders. Therefore, exploring what might facilitate clinical benefit is essential. Social threat cognitions, characterized by exaggerated perceptions of negative evaluation by others, may be one important avenue to examine. The current study investigated whether youths' social threat cognitions decreased with Skills for Academic and Social Success (SASS), a group, school-based CBT designed for SAD, and whether decreases predicted SAD severity and treatment response. Participants included 138 high school students with SAD randomly assigned to SASS, or a nonspecific school counseling intervention. SASS participants showed significantly decreased social threat cognitions at 5-month follow-up. Treatment responders had significantly greater reductions in social threat cognitions compared to nonresponders at post-intervention and follow-up. These findings suggest that social threat cognitions may be important to assess and monitor when treating youth with SAD.

This special issue focuses on new developments in research on information-processing biases in children and adolescents. Prior research suggests that attention and interpretation biases in response to emotional stimuli may be associated with the etiology and maintenance of anxiety and depression in youth. Although our understanding of youth biases has burgeoned over the past decade, questions remain regarding mixed findings across studies, heterogeneity of biases across individuals, specific factors that contribute to and maintain biases, and how best to maximize the efficacy of interventions designed to modify biases. Through the use of innovative methods and technology, the articles in this special issue illustrate progress being made toward filling these gaps in our knowledge and showcase some of the exciting new developments in this area of research.

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.

Parental responses to youth negative affect have been associated with social and emotional outcomes in youth. However, the association between such parenting behaviors and essential components of youth emotion regulation is not well studied, especially in youth with anxiety and depressive disorders. This investigation examined the influence of parents’ emotion regulation strategies and their responses to youth negative affect on adolescent-reported emotional awareness and emotional expression in a clinical sample of youth with anxiety disorders. In addition, this study examined the relationship between parent-reported use of emotion regulation strategies and parental reactions to youth negative affect. Questionnaires were completed by 67 adolescents (ages 12–18 years) and by one of their parents during an intake assessment at a university-based clinic. Adolescents had a primary anxiety or depressive disorder diagnosis. Results indicated a positive relationship between parent-reported use of suppression and youth report of poor emotional understanding in adolescents with a primary anxiety or depressive disorder. A positive relationship between parent-reported use of reappraisal and emotion-coaching responses to youth negative affect was also found. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed in the context of parental socialization of youth emotion regulation and in terms of prevention and intervention efforts.

Cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) posit that particular beliefs transform normal intrusions into disturbing obsessions. A wealth of data shows that such beliefs and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms are related in adults. However, there is markedly less information regarding OCD-related beliefs in youth. The purpose of this study was to assess the relation between OCD-related beliefs and OC symptoms in unselected adolescents (ages 13–18 years; N = 159). Findings from questionnaires completed on the Internet were consistent with previous findings in adults. Increased levels of OCD-related beliefs were related to increased levels of OC symptoms. Perfectionism and certainty beliefs had a specific relation with symmetry and ordering symptoms. Contrary to expectation, levels of OCD-related beliefs in this unselected sample were similar to those found in prior studies of youth diagnosed with OCD. Implications, limitations, and future directions for the study of OCD-related beliefs in youth are discussed.

Grassroots movements during the 1970s established several types of emergency services for battered women seeking to find refuge from or leave an abusive relationship. As time went by, the range of services offered by these agencies grew to include counseling, legal services, outreach, and other services, and battered women can now access over 2,000 domestic violence (DV) agencies throughout the United States for assistance. At the same time, these services have come under increasing scrutiny for their inability or unwillingness to provide their existing services to some populations of intimate partner violence (IPV) victims. In this article, we focus on DV agencies’ ability to provide their services to various populations that have documented evidence of being underserved due to their age, gender, and/or sexual orientation. We present information on the percentage of agencies that report being able to provide victim-related services to each of these groups. We also consider various regional, state, and agency characteristics that may predict the availability of services to these underserved groups. Overall, agencies report that adolescents and men are the least likely groups to which they are able to provide their victim services. Results are discussed utilizing a human rights perspective that stresses that all IPV victims, regardless of age, sexual orientation, or gender, should have access to services provided by DV agencies.

The study investigated the prevalence of female-to-male dating violence, mental health symptoms, and violent attitudes among 727 female high school students. Participants completed surveys asking about experiences of dating violence victimization/perpetration, mental health symptoms, and justification of violence. Correlations among female victims of dating violence revealed moderate positive associations between sexual, physical, and psychological violence, and female’s acceptance of male violence toward girls. Multiple regressions found significant predictors of negative mental health consequences, which consisted of experiencing psychological violence and justification of violence. Further analysis revealed that female participants who experienced three types of dating violence (physical, sexual, and psychological) were significantly more likely to perpetrate three types of dating violence (physical, psychological, and sexual). These findings suggest that among teenage girls justification of violence and experiencing dating violence are significant predictors of future negative mental health and violence perpetration.

This study investigates the prevalence of adolescent intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, IPV victimization, and controlling behaviors among 486 heterosexual high school students. Participants completed surveys that measured three types of IPV victimization (sexual, physical, and psychological) and two types of controlling behaviors (intimidation and threats). Results reveal high prevalence of dating violence in youth: 46% emotional violence, 34% physical violence, and 16% sexual violence. Participants had a mean age of 15.7 years, 51% of the sample was male, and all participants were in a current relationship. Structural equation modeling explored the relationship between “violent attitudes” and “controlling behaviors” predicting IPV perpetration. The study found no gender differences between IPV perpetration and IPV victimization. However, gender differences were found regarding females’ IPV victimization being reduced when controlling behaviors are not present. Interestingly, IPV victimization is reduced by not having controlling behaviors and only having violent attitudes. The study posits that gender socialization may attribute to females reducing their IPV victimization when controlling behaviors are not present.

The purpose of this study that focused on African American high school girls was threefold. First, the relationship of sports participation and victimization was explored. Second, the impact of sports participation on self-esteem was assessed. Third, the role of self-esteem and its disaggregated components (social acceptance, competence, and self-confidence) as mediators of the relationship between sports participation and victimization was examined. In accordance with the sport protection hypothesis, it was hypothesized that sports participation would be related to enhanced self-esteem and reduce victimization. Results suggest that sports participation appears to have some relationship to lower rates of victimization. There was also support for our assertion that sports participation was related to enhanced self-esteem. Finally, overall self-esteem and, specifically, the individual component competence mediated the relationship between sports participation and victimization.

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.

This study investigated the prevalence of female-to-male intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health symptoms among 589 male high school students. Participants completed questionnaires asking if they had experienced dating violence victimization, mental health symptoms, and violent attitudes. Correlations revealed strong positive associations between sexual, physical, and psychological IPV among male victims. Multiple regression found significant predictors of negative mental health consequences were experiencing psychological violence, experiencing physical violence, and having attitudes that accept violence. Further analysis revealed that participants who experience three types of dating violence (physical, sexual, and psychological) were significantly more likely to perpetrate physical and sexual violence. These findings suggest that violent attitudes and experiencing dating violence are significantly predictive of future negative mental health and perpetration among adolescent boys.

The aim of this study was to identify the role of exposure to family violence and parental discipline in the development of child-to-parent violence (CPV). A qualitative in-depth interview design was used. Fifteen adolescents (10 boys) who have perpetrated CPV (M_age = 16 years; SD_age = 1.33 years) and their parents or foster parents took part in the study. Individually, they answered questions about exposure to violence and parenting practices. Results suggest that adolescents were frequently direct victims and also witnesses of violence. Furthermore, emotional neglect in the parent–child relationship was frequent and families were characterized by rules that are not consistently implemented. Different forms of violence seem to coexist in these families, and CPV should also be a target in the interventions.

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.

Using a national sample of 7,533 U.S. adolescents in grades 6–10, this study compares the social-ecological correlates of face-to-face and cyberbullying victimization. Results indicate that younger age, male sex, hours spent on social media, family socioeconomic status (SES; individual context), parental monitoring (family context), positive feelings about school, and perceived peer support in school (school context) were negatively associated with both forms of victimization. European American race, Hispanic/Latino race (individual), and family satisfaction (family context) were all significantly associated with less face-to-face victimization only, and school pressure (school context) was significantly associated with more face-to-face bullying. Peer groups accepted by parents (family context) were related to less cyberbullying victimization, and calling/texting friends were related to more cyberbullying victimization. Research and practice implications are discussed.

This study examined the relationship between multiple types of victimization experiences, psychological and social resources, and co-occurring mental health problems among substance-using adolescents. Data for this cross-sectional study were obtained from a multisite research project in which adolescents ages 11–18 years participated in a comprehensive screening program for substance misuse. Multiple types of victimization, low self-efficacy beliefs, lack of support for victimization issues, and available sources of emotional support were positively related to co-occurring mental health problems. These findings suggest that treatment planning and interventions may focus on helping adolescents cope effectively with their victimization experiences and addressing their mental health needs. Particular emphasis may be placed on enhancing self-efficacy and social skills so that adolescents may benefit from their available sources of social support.

Few studies have examined the impacts of past, current, and chronic physical bullying and cyberbullying on youth, especially in rural settings. This study augments this scant literature by exploring the school experiences, social support, and mental health outcomes for rural, middle school youth. The participants for this 2-year longitudinal study were 3,127 youth from 28 middle schools. Participants were classified as nonvictims, past victims (i.e., victimized during Year 1 but not Year 2), current victims (i.e., victimized during Year 2 but not Year 1), and chronic victims (i.e., victimized during both Year 1 and Year 2). Findings illustrated that chronic victimization resulted in the lowest levels of school satisfaction, social support, future optimism, and self-esteem. Chronic victims also reported the highest levels of school hassles, perceived discrimination, peer rejection, anxiety, depression, and externalizing behaviors. In terms of episodic victimization, current year victimization was associated with worse outcomes than past year victimization. Implications and limitations were discussed.

Context: Cyberbullying is considered a public health problem with serious consequences on adolescents’ health and well-being. Objective: To analyze the relationships between emotional symptoms and risk behaviors with cyberbullying and understand the role of these factors as predictors of well-being. Design: This is a cross-sectional study based on the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children of the World Health Organization (HBSC/WHO) study. Results: More girls reported being involved in cyberbullying as cybervictims, whereas more boys reported being involved in cyberbullying as cyberbullies and cyberbully victims. Girls reported more emotional symptoms, especially fear and sadness; boys reported more risk behaviors, specifically drug use and involvement in fights, but a higher well-being when compared to girls. Cyberbullies and cyberbully victims reported higher alcohol consumption than cybervictims; cyberbullies also reported higher drugs consumption compared to cybervictims and cyberbully victims. Well-being was predicted by emotional symptoms and age, independently of gender; for girls, involvement in fights also predicted well-being. Conclusions: If boys and girls, as well as cybervictims, cyberbullies, and cyberbully victims, present different levels of well-being, emotional symptoms, and risk behaviors vary in function of cyberbullying, it is crucial to develop individual interventions focused on the specific needs of each group.

Attitude change approaches are common in the prevention of intimate partner violence (IPV) among adolescents. This study examined associations between perpetration or victimization and attitudes toward IPV with data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an HIV prevention intervention among school students in three sites in South Africa and Tanzania. Data analyses were confined to students from the control group only, and to those with experience with romantic relationships. Boys and those more involved with violence reported more violence-supportive attitudes. For Cape Town (and to some extent Mankweng), the results of prospective prediction are consistent with the notion of a bidirectional attitudes–behavior interrelationship. For Dar es Salaam attitudes predicted behavior prospectively; however, prediction in the opposite direction was not confirmed. These results indicate that attitude change strategies may be useful complementary to structural approaches also in global South settings, although their effectiveness may vary.

This study followed 125 7th-grade students in Taiwan for the entire school year and analyzed the individual and social network factors predicting their involvement in physical bullying over 5 waves of data. Using self-reports of bullying experiences, 20 classroom-level networks of bullying and friendship were constructed for 4 classrooms and 5 temporal points, from which 4 individual-level network measures were calculated. They included bully and victim centrality, popularity, and embeddedness in friendship networks. A series of mixed models for repeated measures were constructed to predict students’ bully and victim centrality in bullying network at time t + 1. Compared to girls, boys were more likely to be both the bullies and victims. Lower self-esteem and higher family economic status contributed to victim centrality. Having parents married and living together predicted lower bully centrality. Higher educational level of parents predicted lower victim and bully centrality. Regarding the social network factors, students’ bully centrality at t positively predicted their bully centrality at t + 1, whereas victim centrality predicted their subsequent victim centrality. Interaction effects between friendship network and bullying network were observed. Embeddedness in friendship network reduced victim centrality at t + 1 except for those students with low victim centrality at t. For those with high victim centrality at t, popularity increased their risk of physical victimization over time. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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.

Although adolescent dating violence (ADV) is recognized as a significant public health problem, little is known about how parents respond to it. This article analyzes exploratory, qualitative data from a public opinion survey of 529 Midwestern, U.S. parents’ ideas about how they would respond to a daughter victimized by ADV. It examines differing responses between mothers and fathers across 3 vignettes. Most parents viewed the ADV as serious, meriting deeper discussions with the daughter, boyfriend, or his parents. Many planned to handle the incident by trying to end the adolescents’ relationship, talking to the boyfriend, or informing the daughter about ADV. These findings can help prevention workers show how knowledge about parents’ typical reactions can help parents modulate their responses to increase effective communication with adolescents.

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.

This exploratory mixed methods survey yielded a comprehensive picture of safety planning practices with children and adolescents in Texas emergency domestic violence shelters. Shelter personnel described safety planning goals, methods, timing, and contents and views of best practices, barriers, and risks. The study’s approach was guided by Proctor’s (2005) recommendations for developing the research base for an understudied intervention. Results indicate that the practice is widespread. Shelters consider developmental differences and use multiple methods and timing strategies. Views on goals and risks varied. Findings are contextualized with information on overall child/youth services. This article discusses implications for shelter practices and future research, such as outcome studies and the feasibility of children/youth implementing commonly recommended safety strategies.

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.

Some authors have proposed that the mechanisms underlying adolescent-to-parent abuse seem to be different from other forms of juvenile delinquency. Given that this aggression is exerted within the family setting, our study was aimed to explore if there was a differential family profile for those adolescents who commit a parent abuse offense compared to those who commit other types of offenses. Judicial files of 1,046 young offenders from the Juvenile Justice Service of Jaén (Spain) were examined. The final sample (654 young offenders) was divided into 2 groups: those who had committed offenses against a parent (parent abuse group) and those who had committed other types of offenses (other offenses group). Results showed that families with parent abuse have differential characteristics, especially regarding the family size, type of household, parenting styles, and the patterns of interactions between the family members.

The aim of the study was to explore the link between peer victimization and substance use and tested the mediating role of internalizing problems in urban African American adolescents in Chicago. Six hundred and thirty-eight adolescents in Chicago's Southside participated in the study. Results from the hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that youth who reported peer victimization were at risk of internalizing problems. Those who were bullied by their peers were more likely to display internalizing problems, which was also significantly associated with substance use. Consistent with the self-medication hypothesis, findings from the study suggest that bullied youth are likely to display internalizing problems and turn to substance use. Implications for mental health practice in school settings are also discussed.