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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.