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The association of personal, parental, school and community factors with depressive symptoms among a sample of Colombian students of ages 9 to 12 years
Abstract
Few studies have examined how the personal characteristics of students, together with factors from their local social environments and communities, affect students living in generally high levels of social disruption. We examined the influence that personal characteristics as well as factors from the local social environments and communities may have on Colombian students’ levels of depressive symptoms shortly after the end of the of armed conflict. Data were collected from 710 students attending the fifth grade in a random sample of elementary schools in the province of Sucre in Colombia. Information was gathered on the students’ ages and gender as well as characteristics of their parents, school factors, and community factors. A five-level hierarchical regression model was used to determine the extent to which all these variables predicted depression scores, as measured by the Adolescent Depression Rating Scale. While personal, parental, school and community factors were all found to predict depression scores, the category, parental factors had the most impact. That was followed by school factors, community factors and finally personal characteristics. Multiple social and environmental factors were associated with the level of depression experienced by Colombian students.
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Crime consistently penetrates public and political debate, where crime, either perceived or real, shapes one’s sense of security, safety and wellbeing. This matters, as the perceived versus real dilemma influences policy decisions. But what matters most? Here the evidence is mixed with often highly inconsistent findings. Against this background, and employing more recent and arguably more robust econometric models, we compare the effect of real crime and perceived crime on self-reported life satisfaction after controlling for the effect of victimisation. We also explore the heterogenous effects of real crime and perceived crime among different socioeconomic and demographic groups. Overall, our results, across all model specifications, demonstrate that perceived crime always matters, while real crime only matters to those on high-incomes. We also find that females tend to be more sensitive to their perceptions, while living outside major cities does not have a significant effect. Our results support our belief that more should be done to reduce the misperceptions of crime. Further, public media coverage related to crime should be more objective and informative to avoid inflating misperceptions and public distress.
Introduction: Effective and speedy response to a public health crisis such as the covid-19 pandemic requires collaboration. Therefore, Ethiopian health professional associations formed a scientific advisory council in March 2020 to provide collaborative technical assistance to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in the national COVID-19 pandemic response. In this paper, we reflect on achievements and lessons learned in the collaborative partnership between health professional associations and the MOH in the COVID-19 response. Achievements and challenges: The scientific advisory council created a platform for coordinated communication between professional associations and the MOH, which provided technical assistance on preventive and control measures and established a web-based information repository to share credible and locally relevant COVID-19 resources to health workers. Professional associations also cooperatively provided COVID-19 training to health workers, engaged the media for public health education and advocacy, and called for better protection and support of health workers. However, the lack of institutional arrangement for collaboration, delay in implementation of recommendations, decrease in engagement of scientific advisory council members over time, and shortage of funding was observed as challenges in the collaborative engagement of professional associations. Conclusion and recommendation: The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented opportunities for a collaborative partnership between professional associations and the MOH. We believe this partnership contributed to reducing the spread of COVID-19 and saved many lives. Going forward, the partnership should be formalized to ensure effective and sustainable relationships and this partnership should be upgraded to engage professional associations in co-creating, implementing, and monitoring health policies and programs. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2021; 35(SI-4):00-00]
Even though the field of Learning Analytics (LA) has experienced an expressive growth in the last few years. The vast majority of the works found in literature are usually focusing on experimentation of techniques and methods over datasets restricted to a given discipline, course, or institution and are still few works manipulating region and countrywide datasets. This may be since the implementation of LA in national or regional scope and using data from governments and institutions poses many challenges that may threaten the success of such initiatives, including the same availability of data. The present article describes the experience of LA in Latin America using governmental data from Elementary and Middle Schools of the State of Norte de Santander - Colombia. This study is focusing on students' performance. Data from 2013 to 2018 was collected, containing information related to 1) students’ enrollment in school disciplines provided by Regional Education Secretary, 2) students qualifications provided by educational institutions, and 3) students qualifications provided by the national agency for education evaluation. The methodology followed includes a process of cleaning and integration of the data, subsequently a descriptive and visualization analysis is made and some educational data mining techniques are used (decision trees and clustering) for the modeling and extraction of some educational patterns. A total of eight patterns of interest are extracted. In addition to the decision trees, a feature ranking analysis was performed using xgboost and to facilitate the visual representation of the clusters, t-SNE and self-organized maps (SOM) were applied as result projection techniques. Finally, this paper compares the main challenges mentioned by the literature according to the Colombian experience and proposes an up-to-date list of challenges and solutions that can be used as a baseline for future works in this area and aligned with the Latin American context and reality.
Objective:
To analyse the possible direct and interactive associations of sex, age and parenting styles with symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Methods:
In this cross-sectional study, 710 students ranging from 8 to 13 years (mean age 10.8 years [ 0.75]), the most of them males (n = 422, 59.4%), completed three screening instruments: a parenting practices scale and two self-reports for evaluating anxiety and depressive symptoms. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed.
Results:
Authoritative (38.6%) and neglectful (38%) parenting styles were predominant. Symptoms of depression -F (3, 706) = 3.12, p = .03- and anxiety -F (3, 706) = 2.83, p = .4- differed by parenting styles. Students with a neglectful parenting style reported significant lower generalized anxiety symptoms than those whose parents used authoritative parenting.
Clinical implications:
Children ages 8 to 13 years-old with authoritative parenting style should be evaluated for possible presence of generalized anxiety symptoms.
Depressive symptoms are common during adolescence. Failure at school often relates to low self-efficacy that, in turn, is associated with depressive symptoms. Several studies have supported the role of friends in counteracting depression in adolescence. The present study tested a mediation model in which the indirect effect between school achievement and depressive symptoms, mediated by perceived self-efficacy, was moderated by peer relationships at school. Self-report questionnaires were administered to 1004 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years (M = 15.5; SD = 1.2). The moderated mediation model showed that the mediation of self-efficacy in the relation between school achievement and depressive symptoms was moderated by peer relationships. Higher self-efficacy was associated to lower depressive symptoms, in particular in adolescents with more school friends. Conversely, the magnitude of this association is weaker for those with fewer school friends. Programs aimed at reducing psychological malaise should focus on fostering positive relationships among classmates.
Este artículo diagnostica el funcionamiento en la ciudad de Bogotá del Modelo Nacional de Vigilancia Comunitaria por Cuadrantes, una estrategia de control territorial aplicada por la Policía Nacional de Colombia. Para ello, desde un enfoque sistémico, se recurre al modelo de sistema viable y a la metodología de autotransformación. Mediante entrevistas no estructuradas a agentes de policía retirados, además de la consulta de fuentes secundarias, se siguieron cuatro pasos: identidad, definición de niveles de organización recursiva, estrategia estructural y diagnóstico. Los resultados muestran que el modelo promueve un servicio policial inclusivo y flexible, con una estructura específica de procesos primarios, roles, mecanismos y niveles, que facilita una mejor comprensión de las interacciones de la comunidad y, en últimas, mejores resultados en los objetivos institucionales de seguridad y convivencia.
Objetivo. Analizar las noticias publicadas sobre suicidio consumado en el Periódico El Meridiano de Sucre del 2010 al 2016. Método. 1) la búsqueda se acotó a un tiempo específico (2010 – 2016); 2) se clasificó la información proporcionada por los artículos de periódico teniendo en cuenta: la fecha del acontecimiento, el lugar, la edad, el sexo, la modalidad y el motivo; 3) se introdujo toda la información al paquete estadístico Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS v.21) para su análisis. Resultados. Se halló un aumento de las cifras del suicidio en los años 2015 y 2016. Entre los motivos más frecuentes para cometer el acto suicida se encuentran: depresión, problemas familiares, problemas de salud y problemas económicos. Conclusiones. Tanto en Sincelejo como en la zona rural sucreña, la modalidad de acto suicida más frecuente en hombres y mujeres es el ahorcamiento, y el motivo más frecuente: “la depresión”.
This project investigated the association between Jamaican school-age children’s perception of their communities and their levels of depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional survey of sixth-grade students from schools in Kingston, Jamaica was conducted. Results of correlational analyses indicated that there were significant associations between neighbourhood factors and depressive symptoms while multiple regression analyses suggested that neigbourhood factors and social class were predictive of children’s depressive symptoms. It appears that the perception of neighbourhood factors, particularly neighbourhood quality and network are associated with depressive symptom while neighbourhood factors may mediate the relationship between low social class and depressive symptoms.
Actualmente una de las mayores preocupaciones de la sociedad es conseguir que el alumnado alcance ciertas cotas de adaptación al contexto cambiante en el que se mueve y una de las estrategias principales es a través de un buen ajuste escolar. En este trabajo se analiza si dicho ajuste está condicionado por el lugar de nacimiento del alumnado (y sus progenitores), su sexo y su edad; los análisis se realizan con un total de 828 estudiantes (M=14.83 años; DT=1.81) de Secundaria de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco (CAPV). Los resultados indican que los nacidos en la CAPV son quienes ofrecen una mayor implicación afectiva y mejores calificaciones pero, al contrario de lo esperado, no en todos los casos los inmigrantes de 2ª generación obtienen mejores resultados que los nacidos fuera de la CAPV en las dimensiones del ajuste escolar. Por otro lado, en general, son las chicas las que ofrecen un mejor ajuste y el alumnado de 3º y 4º de la ESO el que peor rendimiento e implicación. Los resultados se discuten.
Objective. To understand the mental health treatment gap in the Region of the Americas by examining the prevalence of mental health disorders, use of mental health services, and the global burden of disease.
Methods. Data from community-based surveys of mental disorders in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the United States were utilized. The World Mental Health Survey published data were used to estimate the treatment gap. For Canada, Chile, and Guatemala, the treatment gap was calculated from data files. The mean, median, and weighted treatment gap, and the 12-month prevalence by severity and category of mental disorder were estimated for the general adult, child-adolescent, and indigenous populations. Disability-adjusted Life Years and Years Lived with Disability were calculated from the Global Burden of Disease study.
Results. Mental and substance use disorders accounted for 10.5% of the global burden of disease in the Americas. The 12-month prevalence rate of severe mental disorders ranged from 2% – 10% across studies. The weighted mean treatment gap in the Americas for moderate to severe disorders was 65.7%; North America, 53.2%; Latin America, 74.7%; Mesoamerica, 78.7%; and South America, 73.1%. The treatment gap for severe mental disorders in children and adolescents was over 50%. One-third of the indigenous population in the United States and 80% in Latin America had not received treatment.
Conclusion. The treatment gap for mental health remains a public health concern. A high proportion of adults, children, and indigenous individuals with serious mental illness remains untreated. The result is an elevated prevalence of mental disorders and global burden of disease.
Para esta investigación se trabajó con víctimas del conflicto armado de dos poblaciones de los
Montes de María: Corregimiento de Chengue, en el Municipio de Ovejas, y Corregimiento de
Libertad, en el Municipio de San Onofre. Cada una de estas poblaciones vivieron historias de
victimización diferentes. La primera tuvo que huir de sus fincas debido a un hecho violento
que precipitó el desplazamiento y la segunda, convivió con miembros de las autodefensas
por un largo período de tiempo. El objetivo de este estudio es identificar los trastornos de
ansiedad y de estado de ánimo en personas oriundas de los corregimientos de Chengue y
de Libertad, por la ocurrencia de hechos victimizantes que se vivieron en estas poblaciones
durante la época del conflicto. Para ello, se aplicó una entrevista diagnóstica estructurada
de breve duración, que explora los principales trastornos psiquiátricos del Eje I del DSM-IV.
Participaron 129 personas adultas de Ovejas y de Libertad. Entre los resultados se encontró
que la población de Libertad aún a pesar de convivir con los paramilitares en condiciones
de estrés constante, presentó menos prevalencia de trastornos emocionales en comparación
con la población de Chengue. En este trabajo se abordan posibles razones para explicar este
fenómeno.
Extensive research has demonstrated the positive relationship between parental expectations and adolescents’ academic performance. However, little attention has been paid to the negative influence of parental expectations on adolescents’ emotion well-being. The present study investigated the effects of high parental expectations on both academic performance and depression of adolescents. In addition, it also explored whether these relationships could be mediated through adolescents’ value of academic success, self-efficacy, and supports from parents and school. The sample consisted of 872 adolescents from secondary schools in Hong Kong and the results revealed that high parental expectations were positively associated with adolescents’ academic performance and also positively associated with their depression. The mediating roles of adolescents’ value of academic success and school support frequency were also confirmed. This study provides some implications for parenting practice by clarifying the complex roles of parental expectations and the need for social support for adolescents.
En este artículo proveemos información sobre el menor desempeño de las niñas comparado con niños de similares características en las pruebas de salida del bachillerato colombianas, que son requeridas para el acceso a la Universidad. Usando la técnica de regresión cuantílica se encuentra que hay una brecha significativa a favor de los niños, que se incrementa a lo largo de la distribución. La descomposición de Juhn-Murphy-Pierce, muestra que las características personales, familiares y escolares explican una porción pequeña de las brechas, mientras que diferencias en los retornos juegan un papel importante. Adicionalmente, semuestra que la brecha observada difiere significativamente de acuerdo con la región; sugiriendo que características específicas de cada región como por ejemplo diferencias en la cultura relacionadas con el rol de la mujer- pueden estar influenciando el desempeño de las niñas.
In an Essay to highlight World Health Day 2017, Vikram Patel proposes a staged model, from wellness to distress to disorder, for classifying depressive symptoms.
Background:
Comorbid major depression (MD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD), particularly in adolescents, have been shown to be associated with poorer subsequent MD outcomes.
Methods:
Longitudinal data were used to model associations between a four-level classification of MD/AUD during the period 15-18 years (neither; MD-only; AUD-only; comorbid MD/AUD) and MD over the period 18-35 years. These associations were then adjusted for confounding by a series of factors measured in childhood.
Results:
The three disorder groups had rates of adult MD during the period 18-35 years that were significantly (p<.05) higher than that of the group with no disorder. Furthermore, those in the comorbid MD/AUD group had significantly (p <.05) higher rates of adult MD than those in the AUD-only group, and marginally (p <.10) higher rates of adult MD than those in the MD-only group. After adjustment for confounding, the difference in rates of adult MD between the MD-only group and the MD/AUD group were no longer statistically significant. The factors that explained the associations were gender, childhood behavior problems, and exposure to physical and sexual abuse.
Limitations:
The data were obtained by self-report, and may have been subject to biases.
Conclusions:
The results of these analyses suggest that marginally higher rates of depression to age 35 amongst the comorbid MD/AUD group were explained by increased exposure to adverse childhood circumstances amongst members of the comorbid group. Adolescent MD/AUD comorbidity is likely to be a risk marker, rather than a causal factor in subsequent MD.
In this article we review the mental health consequences of children's exposure to community and war violence (ETV) in four African countries: South Africa, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Rwanda. A focus on Africa is particularly pressing because of children's high levels of community and war ETV in countries therein. Regions of Africa present important macro-contexts for understanding children's various types of violence exposure amidst war and economic disadvantage. Findings of the review across 20 quantitative studies from 2004 to 2015 indicate consistent associations between exposure to war and community violence and children's symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and aggression. School climate and family support mitigate these ETV influences upon children: however, more research is needed on the buffering effects of such resources. The effects of war violence are mediated by perceived discrimination in communities post-conflict. We integrate findings across studies to synthesize knowledge on children's ETV in Africa around a model of its correlates, mediators, and moderators in relation to mental health. Emerging research points to avenues for prevention and future inquiry.
Background:
Research examining the depression literacy of undergraduates in non-western developing countries is limited. This study explores this among undergraduates in Sri Lanka.
Methods:
A total of 4671 undergraduates responded to a survey presenting a vignette of a depressed undergraduate. They were asked to identify the problem, describe their intended help-seeking actions if affected by it and rate the helpfulness of a range of help-providers and interventions for dealing with it. Mental health experts also rated these options, providing a benchmark for assessing the undergraduates' responses.
Results:
Only 17.4 % of undergraduates recognised depression, but this was significantly lower among those responding in Sinhala compared to English (3.5 vs 36.8 %). More undergraduates indicated intentions of seeking informal help, such as from friends and parents, than from professionals, such as psychiatrists and counsellors. However, a majority rated all these help-providers as 'helpful', aligning with expert opinion. Other options recommended by experts and rated as 'helpful' by a large proportion of undergraduates included counselling/psychological therapy and self-help strategies such as doing enjoyable activities and meditation/yoga/relaxation exercises. However, a low proportion of undergraduates rated "western medicine to improve mood" as 'helpful', deviating from expert opinion. Although not endorsed by experts, undergraduates indicated intentions of using religious strategies, highly endorsing these as 'helpful'. Labelling the problem as depression and using mental health-related labels were both associated with higher odds of endorsing professional help, with the label 'depression' associated with endorsing a wider range of professional options.
Conclusions:
The recognition rate of depression might be associated with the language used to label it. These undergraduates' knowledge about the use of medication for depression needs improvement. Health promotion interventions for depressed undergraduates must be designed in light of the prevalent socio-cultural backdrop, such as the undergraduates' high endorsement of informal and culturally relevant help-seeking. Improving their ability to recognise the problem as being mental health-related might trigger their use of professional options of help.
Sample size justification is an important consideration when planning a clinical trial, not only for the main trial but also for any preliminary pilot trial. When the outcome is a continuous variable, the sample size calculation requires an accurate estimate of the standard deviation of the outcome measure. A pilot trial can be used to get an estimate of the standard deviation, which could then be used to anticipate what may be observed in the main trial. However, an important consideration is that pilot trials often estimate the standard deviation parameter imprecisely. This paper looks at how we can choose an external pilot trial sample size in order to minimise the sample size of the overall clinical trial programme, that is, the pilot and the main trial together. We produce a method of calculating the optimal solution to the required pilot trial sample size when the standardised effect size for the main trial is known. However, as it may not be possible to know the standardised effect size to be used prior to the pilot trial, approximate rules are also presented. For a main trial designed with 90% power and two-sided 5% significance, we recommend pilot trial sample sizes per treatment arm of 75, 25, 15 and 10 for standardised effect sizes that are extra small (≤0.1), small (0.2), medium (0.5) or large (0.8), respectively.
Violence is considered one of the most important public health problems among Latino countries. In Colombia, approximately 41% of Medellin's inhabitants have witnessed a homicide, 75% have witnessed an aggressive incident, and 40% have been victims of other types of violent incidents. Despite increased national/international attention paid to the effects of neighborhood violence exposure on childhood depression, little is still known about this phenomenon in non-clinical samples. This study examined neighborhood violence exposure and depression (negative mood, interpersonal problems, ineffectiveness, anhedonia, and negative self-esteem) among N = 320 8-12 years old youth. Data were collected from public schools in Medellin during 2009. Kovacs' Children's Depression Inventory was used to assess depression; neighborhood violence exposure was measured using Medellin's Human Rights report on high-low violence rates neighborhoods where participants lived and/or attended school. Results show that 26 children reported depressive symptoms (a prevalence of 8.9 % in the total sample). Among early adolescents (boys and girls), exposure to higher levels of violence was associated with greater ineffectiveness. Gender did not moderate the relationship between violence exposure and depression subscales. Results raise awareness about the importance to further exploring other factors related to neighborhood violence exposure and depression (e.g., developmental stage, gender).
Strong and consistent gender differences exist in mental health problems and crime. Females suffer more from internalizing problems, including depression and anxiety, while males predominate in externalizing problems, which include delinquency, aggression, and substance abuse. These gender differences vary by race, however. Although gender differences in externalizing problems remain considerable across race, gender differences in internalizing problems are far greater for whites than African Americans. In explaining these patterns, our perspective differs from prior theories in both mental health and criminology by focusing on the intersection of gender and race in relation to both internalizing and externalizing problems. We propose that gender and race affect internalizing and externalizing problems through their impact on schemas about self-salience, which refer to beliefs about the importance of the self versus the collective in social relations. In testing this perspective, we examine a sample of white and African American males and females in adolescence, the point at which these patterns arise. We find that gender and race interact to shape schemas about self-salience. Further, these differences in self-salience help to explain the disparities by gender and race in internalizing and externalizing problems.
Abstract Background The strategies that parents use to guide and discipline their children may influence their emotional health. Relatively little research has been conducted examining the association of parenting practices to depressive symptoms among Caribbean adolescents. This project examines the association of parenting styles to levels of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent. Methods Adolescents attending grade ten of academic year 2006/2007 in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St. Vincent, and St. Kitts and Nevis were administered the Parenting Practices Scale along with the BDI-II. Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive and Neglectful parenting styles were created using a median split procedure of the monitoring and nurturance subscales of the Parenting Practices Scale. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships of parenting styles to depressive symptoms. Results A wide cross-section of tenth grade students in each nation was sampled (n = 1955; 278 from Jamaica, 217 from the Bahamas, 737 St. Kitts and Nevis, 716 from St. Vincent; 52.1% females, 45.6% males and 2.3% no gender reported; age 12 to 19 years, mean = 15.3 yrs, sd = .95 yrs). Nearly half (52.1%) of all adolescents reported mild to severe symptoms of depression with 29.1% reporting moderate to severe symptoms of depression. In general, authoritative and permissive parenting styles were both associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms in adolescents. However, the relationship of parenting styles to depression scores was not consistent across countries (p
This article is an approach to the consequences of the internal armed conflict that Colombia has lived during the last four decades. It starts with the identification of the conflict's context and its current characteristics. It then focuses on the different manifestations and consequences of the conflict and on their deep impact on the life, quality of life, health,disease, and health services of the population. In special we refer to the high homicide rates, forced internal displacement, kidnapping and the use of antipersonnel mines. Among the most affected groups are young men, women, children, and ethnic minorities such as indigenous and afro-american people. This analysis also refers to the frequent violations of International Human Rights and to the negative impact of violence on the provision of health services. Finally, general conclusions are drawn, and alternatives for studies on the problem and for possible solutions from the standpoint of the health sector are proposed.
Altered inflammatory cytokine profiles are often observed in individuals suffering from major depression. Recent clinical work reports on elevated IL-6 and decreased IL-10 in depression. Elevated IL-6 has served as a consistent biomarker of depression and IL-10 is proposed to influence depressive behavior through its ability to counterbalance pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. Clinical and animal studies suggest a role for IL-10 in modifying depressive behavior. Murine restraint stress (RST) is regularly employed in the study of behavioral and biological symptoms associated with depressive disorders. While responses to acute RST exposure have been widely characterized, few studies have examined the ongoing and longitudinal effects of extended RST and fewer still have examined the lasting impact during the post-stress period. Consistent with clinical data, we report that a protocol of prolonged murine RST produced altered cytokine profiles similar to those observed in major depressive disorder. Parallel to these changes in circulating cytokines, IL-10 mRNA expression was diminished in the cortex and hippocampus throughout the stress period and following cessation of RST. Moreover, chronic RST promoted depressive-like behavior throughout the 28-day stress period and these depressive-like complications were maintained weeks after cessation of RST. Because of the correlation between IL-10 suppression and depressive behavior and because many successful antidepressant therapies yield increases in IL-10, we examined the effects of IL-10 treatment on RST-induced behavioral changes. Behavioral deficits induced by RST were reversed by exogenous administration of recombinant IL-10. This work provides one of the first reports describing the biological and behavioral impact following prolonged RST and, taken together, this study provides details on the correlation between responses to chronic RST and those seen in depressive disorders.
Despite extensive literatures on the impact on children of exposure to violence
in families, neighborhoods, and peer groups, there has been relatively little effort
evaluating their cumulative impact. There also has been less attention to the effects of
exposure to political conflict and violence. We collected data from a representative
sample of 600 Palestinian youths (3 age cohorts: 8, 11, and 14 years old) to evaluate
the relation of exposure to political conflict and violence, and violence in the family,
community, and school, to posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and aggressive
behavior. Results highlight the additive effects of exposure to political conflict and
violence, suggesting that interventionists should consider the full spectrum of sources
of environmental risk for PTS symptoms and aggressive behavior.
Although there are numerous reports of how adverse parent-child interactions during development might contribute to problems with self-esteem and later risk for depression, less research has focused on the potential deleterious effects of parenting inconsistency during development. The purpose of the current study was to test whether reports of inconsistent parent-child interactions during development are associated with uncertain self-esteem and depression vulnerability in adulthood. In order to test this possibility, a previously depressed group (high-risk) of college students and a never depressed group (low-risk) of college students were compared on measures of trait self-esteem, self-esteem certainty, parental bonding (care and over-protection), and a new retrospective measure of parenting consistency (Consistency of Parenting Scale; COPS; Luxton, 2007). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test a series of structural and latent means models that examined whether inconsistent parenting contributes to the development of uncertain self-esteem and depression risk--above and beyond the influence of negative parenting dimensions alone (i.e., low care and overprotection). The results indicated that only consistency of mother care was associated with certainty of self-esteem in the high-risk group and only mother consistency of control was associated with self-esteem certainty in the low-risk group. The high-risk group also reported higher levels of father inconsistency of care and lower levels of both trait self-esteem and self-esteem certainty compared to the low-risk group. Although there was not a general moderating effect of gender on the association between the parenting variables and self-esteem certainty, gender by depression status model tests indicated that the association between inconsistent mother control and certainty of self-esteem was only among low-risk women and the association between inconsistent mother care and self-esteem certainty was only among high-risk women. Both high-risk women and high-risk men reported higher levels of father inconsistency of care compared to low-risk women. These findings are important because they suggest that inconsistent parenting practices might have an adverse influence on the development of the self-esteem of children, which may make children more vulnerable for depression later in life. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.
Theoretically informed models are required to further the comprehensive understanding of children's ETV. We draw on the stress process paradigm to forward an overall conceptual model of ETV (ETV) in childhood and adolescence. Around this conceptual model, we synthesize research in four dominant areas of the literature which are detailed but often disconnected including: (1) exposure to three forms of physical violence (e.g., child physical maltreatment, interparental violence, and community ETV); (2) the multilevel correlates and causes of ETV (e.g., neighborhood characteristics including concentrated disadvantage; family characteristics including socio-economic status and family stressors); (3) a range of consequences of ETV (e.g., internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, role transitions, and academic outcomes); and (4) multilevel and cross domain mediators and moderators of ETV influences (e.g., school and community factors, family social support, and individual coping resources). We highlight the range of interconnected processes through which violence exposures may influence children and suggest opportunities for prevention and intervention. We further identify needed future research on children's ETV including coping resources as well as research on cumulative contributions of violence exposure, violence exposure modifications, curvilinearity, and timing of exposure.
In response to Anastasi's (1958) long-standing challenge, the authors propose an empirically testable theoretical model that (a) goes beyond and qualifies the established behavioral genetics paradigm by allowing for nonadditive synergistic effects, direct measures of the environment, and mechanisms of organism-environment interaction, called proximal processes, through which genotypes are transformed into phenotypes; (b) hypothesizes that estimates of heritability (e.g., h2) increase markedly with the magnitude of proximal processes; (c) demonstrates that heritability measures the proportion of variation in individual differences attributable only to actualized genetic potential, with the degree of nonactualized potential remaining unknown; (d) proposes that, by enhancing proximal processes and environments, it is possible to increase the extent of actualized genetic potentials for developmental competence.
Research on parent risk factors, family environment, and familial involvement in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents is integrated, providing an update to prior reviews on the topic. First, the psychosocial parent and family factors associated with youth depression are examined. The literature indicates that a broad array of parent and family factors is associated with youth risk for depression, ranging from parental pathology to parental cognitive style to family emotional climate. Next, treatment approaches for youth depression that have been empirically tested are described and then summarized in terms of their level of parent inclusion, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and family systems approaches. Families have mostly not been incorporated into clinical treatment research with depressed adolescents, with only 32% of treatments including parents in treatment in any capacity. Nonetheless, the overall effectiveness of treatments that involve children and adolescents exclusively is very similar to that of treatments that include parents as agents or facilitators of change. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and directions for further research.
To examine the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ADRS), a new measure was specifically designed to evaluate adolescent depression.
The 11-item clinician-report and 44-item self-report versions of the ADRS were developed from a qualitative phase involving interviews of experts and adolescents. These two instruments were then administered to 402 French speaking adolescents with and without depressive disorders. Item distribution, internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity and factorial structure were assessed.
After reduction procedures, a 10-item clinician version and a 10-item self-report version were obtained. The ADRS demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha Cronbach coefficient >.70). It also discriminated better between adolescents with and without depression than the Hamilton Depressive Rating Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13).
The ADRS is a useful, short, clinician-report and self-report scale to evaluate adolescent depression. Further studies to replicate our findings and evaluate ADRS sensitivity to effects of treatment and psychometric properties in populations of adolescents with several psychiatric disorders are warranted.
Against the background of a lack of screening instruments for measuring depressive symptoms in Colombian adolescents and preadolescents, this study aims to establish the internal consistency reliability, component structure and the concurrent and discriminant validity of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Six-Item Scale (KADS-6) among preadolescent school students in Sincelejo, Colombia. Participated 710 youth (10.8 years of age ± .75 years) divided into two groups to cross-validate analyses that were undertaken to determine the internal consistency reliability, as well as the concurrent and discriminant validity, of the KADS-6 among preadolescents. Results show that over 95% of the sample did not report problems understanding any of the items on the KADS-6. The KADS-6 had acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability, concurrent and discriminant validity and was unidimensional. In conclusion, The KADS-6 is well understood by Colombian preadolescents and has adequate psychometric properties in adolescents, rendering it acceptable for use with Colombian preadolescents.
Background: While much literature has focused on examining associations between neighbourhood characteristics and antisocial behaviour, little is known about the effect of perceptions of neighborhood disorder on emotions, mental health, and criminal justice contact.
Aims: Our aim was to examine whether depressive symptoms mediate relations between perceived neighbourhood disorder, future criminal justice contact, and suicidal ideation.
Methods: We grounded this research in the primary arguments of General Strain Theory. Data from structured self-reports by over 2,000 now adult participants in the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY), offspring born to the women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) were analyzed. Information on neighbourhood disorder and depressive symptoms were drawn from the 2012 wave of data collection and on offending and suicidal ideation from the next wave in 2014. Structured equation models were estimated to examine direct and indirect paths between neighbourhood disorder, depression, justice contact, and suicidal ideation.
Results: Depressive symptoms were found to partially mediate the total direct effect of perceived neighbourhood disorder on future criminal justice contact, with the strength of this pathway varying across race and ethnicity. The association between perceived neighbourhood disorder and suicidal ideation was fully mediated by depressive symptoms.
Conclusions and implications: Findings are consistent with an ecological stress framework for understanding the relationship between stressful living conditions, crime, and mental illness. Results suggest that in addition to neighbourhood improvements, ready access to mental health care within disordered communities may help to identify, as well as treat those suffering from suicidal ideation.
Course grades, as an indicator of academic performance, are a primary academic concern at the secondary school level and have been associated with various aspects of mental health status. The purpose of this study is to simultaneously assess whether symptoms of mental illness (depression and anxiety) and mental well-being (psychosocial well-being) are associated with self-reported grades (in their primary language [English or French] and math courses) and education behaviors (school days missed due to health, truancy, and frequency of incomplete homework) in a sample of secondary school students across Canada ( n = 57,394). Multivariate imputation by chained equations and multilevel proportional odds logistic regressions were used to assess associations between mental health scores, academic performance and education behaviors. Lower depression and higher psychosocial well-being scores were associated with better grade levels in both math and language courses, as well as better education behaviors. In turn, better education behaviors were associated with higher course grades. Depression scores and psychosocial well-being scores remained associated with higher grades after controlling for education behaviors, however the magnitude of association was diminished. Results indicate that the effects of mental health factors were partially attenuated by education behaviors, suggesting while reduced class attendance and poor homework adherence were associated with both academic outcomes and mental health, they do not account entirely for the association between lower grades and worse mental health.
Suicide in young people is a significant health concern, with numerous community- and school-based interventions promising to prevent suicide currently being applied across Canada. Before widespread application of any one of these, it is essential to determine its effectiveness and safety. We systematically reviewed the global literature on one of the most common community suicide prevention interventions in Canada and summarized data on 2 commonly applied school-based suicide prevention programmes. None of these has demonstrated effectiveness in preventing youth suicide or safety in application. Concurrently with their widespread distribution in Canada, the suicide rate in young women has increased—the first time in over 3 decades. Policy and regulatory implications of these findings are discussed.
This study aimed at determining the relationship between various levels of direct and indirect exposure to violence, and victimization, emotional (anxiety and depression), and behavioral (aggression and delinquency) effects in 1362 children and youngsters (56,8% males, 43,2% females), aged 7-8 (14,53%), 9- 10(64,96%), 11-12 (38,10%) and 13-14(7,19%), studying 2nd - 5th primary grade and 1St year of secondary and from three socioeconomic levels (38% high, 26,1% medium and 36% low) from Cali, Colombia. Significant differences were found between levels of total exposure to violence, direct exposure to violence and higher scores en anxiety, depression, PTSD, aggression and delinquency. These effects were significantly higher in low than in medium or high socioeconomic strata. Unlike general exposure, direct exposure to violence showed a greater relation to delinquency, according to reports by mothers. Limitations and caveats of the present study are discussed, as well as implications for future research and for designing prevention programs.
Background:
Depression symptom screening scales are often used to determine a clinical diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) in prevention research. The aim of this review is to systematically examine the reliability, validity and diagnostic utility of commonly used screening scales in depression prevention research among children and adolescents.
Methods:
We conducted a systematic review of the electronic databases PsycINFO, PsycEXTRA and Medline examining the reliability, validity and diagnostic utility of four commonly used depression symptom rating scales among children and adolescents: the Children׳s Depression Inventory (CDI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS). We used univariate and bivariate random effects models to pool data and conducted metaregression to identify and explain causes of heterogeneity.
Results:
We identified 54 studies (66 data points, 34,542 participants). Across the four scales, internal reliability was 'good' (pooled estimate: 0.89, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.86-0.92). Sensitivity and specificity were 'moderate' (sensitivity: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.76-0.84; specificity: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.74-0.83). For studies that used a diagnostic interview to determine a diagnosis of MDD, positive predictive power for identifying true cases was mostly poor. Psychometric properties did not differ on the basis of study quality, sample type (clinical vs. nonclinical) or sample age (child vs. adolescent).
Limitations:
Some analyses may have been underpowered to identify conditions in which test performance may vary, due to low numbers of studies with adequate data.
Conclusions:
Commonly used depression symptom rating scales are reliable measures of depressive symptoms among adolescents; however, using cutoff scores to indicate clinical levels of depression may result in many false positives.
The neighborhood characteristics questionnaire (Simcha-Fagan and Schwartz, 1986) was modified to be relevant to families with young children living in urban areas, to be sufficiently brief to be included in needs assessment evaluations, and to be useful with families from a range of ethnic backgrounds. The modified form has four scales created conceptually and confirmed by factor analysis. They describe residents' perceptions of street crime and life quality, social relationships and networks among neighbors, attachment to the neighborhood, and neighborhood disorder. Reliability was established by internal consistency and validity by relationships with other psychosocial factors, and comparison with observations of the neighborhood. Internal consistency of all four scales of the neighborhood characteristics questionnaire was high. Agreement between observers and interview respondents was clearest for scales representing social disorganization. The use of the questionnaire in the evaluation of community intervention programs is discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
OBJECTIVE: The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. DESIGN: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 108 Colombian families. RESULTS: Fathers reported higher uncontrollable success attributions and higher authoritarian attitudes than did mothers, whereas mothers reported higher modernity of attitudes than did fathers; only the gender differences related to parental attitudes remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Medium effect sizes were found for concordance between parents in the same family for attributions regarding uncontrollable success and progressive attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. CONCLUSIONS: This work elucidates ways that parent gender relates to attributions regarding parents' success and failure in caregiving and to progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes in Colombia.
School dissatisfaction is an important component of the subjective well-being of adolescents associated with “risky behavior” like drug use, unprotected sex, norm violations and illegal behavior. We extend the standard human capital model to joint human investment (education) and disinvestment (risky behavior). Based on this model, we develop a general dynamic framework to analyze the preference formation of children and behavioral change at school. Once an educational norm is set by adults, children can rationally deviate from this norm, while staying at school, after experiencing bad surprises like a school failure. The same type of dynamic equation can be used in a sequence to predict education, satisfaction with school, and a host of risky behavior. We test these assumptions with a unique panel data set on American adolescents attending middle or high school. School dissatisfaction is found to have a significant positive effect upon nine different types of risky behavior.
The relation between family economic hardship and adolescent distress among secondary school students in a small Midwestern community was investigated. According to prior results, family hardship has both direct and indirect effects on adolescent distress. The indirect effects come about through stress-induced changes in parental nurturance and parental discipline. The findings of this study showed that hardship effects varied according to type of distress. For females as well as males, economic hardship had both direct and indirect effects on a depression-loneliness distress factor. The indirect effects occurred through less parental nurturance and more inconsistent discipline. No direct effect of economic hardship was found for either males or females on a distress factor composed of delinquency and drug use items. For both females and males, however, an indirect effect of family economic hardship on the delinquency-drug use factor was found with inconsistent parental discipline as the mediating variable.
Unipolar depression only becomes more common in girls than boys after the age of 13, as a result of an increased incidence of depressive episodes in girls at that time. This article reviews evidence that links multiple dimensions of maturation in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis with this phenomenon. Effects of developmental status and timing have been implicated, but few studies have deployed either the measurement strategies or the statistical power needed to provide a satisfactory answer to the question regarding which components of puberty are most responsible.
Neighborhoods with poor-quality housing, few resources, and unsafe conditions impose stress, which can lead to depression. The stress imposed by adverse neighborhoods increases depression above and beyond the effects of the individual's own personal stressors, such as poverty and negative events within the family or work-place. Furthermore, adverse neighborhoods appear to intensify the harmful impact of personal stressors and interfere with the formation of bonds between people, again increasing risk for depression. Neighborhoods do not affect all people in the same way. People with different personality characteristics adjust in different ways to challenging neighborhoods. As a field, psychology should pay more attention to the impact of contextual factors such as neighborhoods. Neighborhood-level mental health problems should be addressed at the neighborhood level. Public housing policies that contribute to the concentration of poverty should be avoided and research should be conducted on the most effective ways to mobilize neighborhood residents to meet common goals and improve the context in which they live.
Colombia’s ex-FARC leaders admit kidnapping and other crimes
- S Grattan
- Grattan S.
Grattan, S. (2021). Colombia's ex-FARC leaders admit kidnapping and other crimes [Press release]. Retrieved
from. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/30/colombias-ex-farc-leaders-admit-kidnapping-andother-crimes#:∼:text=30_Apr_2021_Bogota%2C_Colombia_%E2%80%94_Eight_ex-commanders,humanity_in_a_transitional_justice_court_on_Friday
Perceptions of crime, feelings of safety, and experiences of victimization in saskatchewan jurisdictions policed by the royal Canadian mounted police. Centre for forensic behavioural science and justice studies
- L M Jewel
- Jewel L. M.
Jewel, L. M. (2014). Perceptions of crime, feelings of safety, and experiences of victimization in saskatchewan
jurisdictions policed by the royal Canadian mounted police. Centre for forensic behavioural science and
justice studies. University of Saskatchewan. https://cfbsjs.usask.ca/documents/research/research_papers/
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Immobilisation, restricted spatial mobility and displacement in violent conflict: Humanitarian needs of confined communities in Colombia
- M Rudolf
- Rudolf M.
Rudolf, M. (2020). Immobilisation, restricted spatial mobility and displacement in violent conflict: Humanitarian needs of confined communities in Colombia. Social Science Open Access Repository. https://
nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-68081-7
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Statistics Canada (1994). National longitudinal survey of children and youth (NLSCY). https://www23.statcan.
gc.ca.
Global economic prospects
- World Bank
World Bank. (2020). Global economic prospects, June 2020. The World Bank.
Author biographies
Organisation for economic co-operation and development-OECD the europa directory of international organizations 2021
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