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Vrdoljak G, Kurtović A, Babić Čikeš A, Hirnstein M. Gender and educational stage moderate the effects of developmental assets on risk behaviours in youth. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2023.2183872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Gabrijela Vrdoljak
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
| | - Ana Kurtović
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
| | - Ana Babić Čikeš
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
| | - Marina Hirnstein
- Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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Uka F, Gashi S, Gashi A, Gllogu D, Musliu A, Krasniqi A, Statovci A, Sopjani V, Perçuku V, Sadikovic I, Wiium N. The effectiveness of internal cohesion psychotherapy in treating young clients with depression and anxiety disorders: The role of developmental assets in Kosovo context. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1005709. [PMID: 36312183 PMCID: PMC9597360 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The positive youth development approach (PYD) is widely used as a meaningful framework to guide research, policy, and intervention, to support young people to develop their full potential. Psychotherapy, on the other hand, is a verbal and psychological procedure that can be a suitable solution to mental health concerns, which are prevalent among youth. This study aimed to explore the potential role of developmental assets in treating clients with depression and anxiety disorders using Internal Cohesion Psychotherapy (ICP). In total, 10 young people who took at least five sessions of ICP were part of this study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather information about clients’ experiences with ICP and their perception/opinions on the presence of developmental assets in their lives. The results confirm the effectiveness of ICP in treating depression and anxiety, while clients acknowledge the role of developmental assets in their psychotherapeutic process. The current study has important theoretical, practical, and research implications. It provides evidence on how clients use their developmental assets in maximizing the effectiveness of the ICP process. The usage of developmental assets to enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapy opens a new path for further research and can serve as a foundation ground for intervention on mental health among youth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fitim Uka
- Department of Psychology, University of Prishtina, Prishtina, Kosovo
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
- Munich Center of the Learning Sciences, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Bavaria, Germany
| | - Shkumbin Gashi
- Departement Gesundheit, Berner Fachhochschule, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Arlinda Gashi
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
- *Correspondence: Arlinda Gashi,
| | - Diellza Gllogu
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Arian Musliu
- Faculty of Education, University of Prishtina, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Albina Krasniqi
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Albina Statovci
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Vanesa Sopjani
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Veronë Perçuku
- Psycho-Social and Medical Research Center, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Irma Sadikovic
- Research Department, Empatia Multidisciplinary Clinic, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Nora Wiium
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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de Jesus MC, Dutra-Thomé L, Pereira AS. Developmental assets and positive youth development in Brazilian university students. Front Psychol 2022; 13:977507. [PMID: 36267079 PMCID: PMC9577292 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.977507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The Positive Youth Development (PYD) describes an intersection between young people and their context, emphasizing characteristics of a healthy development. The PYD’s 5Cs occur when there is an alignment between healthy individual characteristics and contextual resources. This study investigated the PYD’s 5Cs associations with the perception of social connections (family, community, academic), mental health, and stressful events. The sample was composed of 495 Brazilian College students aged between 18 and 33 years, who answered a survey with 59 questions about reflexive, constructive, and healthy behaviors. Descriptive, correlational, and regression analysis through structural equation modeling were conducted. The results focused on the role of family, community and educational institution in the PYD promotion. These results highlight the relevant contributions of social support in the construction of protective strategies of coping with stressful events and in the promotion of health behaviors and well-being, particularly in the university context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurício Coelho de Jesus
- Instituto de Psicologia, Federal University of Bahia, El Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
- *Correspondence: Maurício Coelho de Jesus,
| | - Luciana Dutra-Thomé
- Instituto de Psicologia, Federal University of Bahia, El Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
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Salaam B, Valentiner DP, Mounts NS. Parental Management of Adolescents’ Peer Relationships in Ghana and the United States. J Genet Psychol 2022; 183:465-481. [DOI: 10.1080/00221325.2022.2083936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Braima Salaam
- Department of Psychology, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, USA
| | | | - Nina S. Mounts
- Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
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Gomez-Baya D, Salinas-Perez JA, Sanchez-Lopez A, Paino-Quesada S, Mendoza-Berjano R. The Role of Developmental Assets in Gender Differences in Anxiety in Spanish Youth. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:810326. [PMID: 35546952 PMCID: PMC9081569 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.810326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2021] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychological disorders during emerging adulthood. Some consistent gender differences have been reported in anxiety with women suffering more anxiety than men, which has detrimental consequences in most life spheres in the youth and later life stages. The understanding of the development of anxiety in emerging adulthood requires a developmental perspective. The Developmental Assets Theory was postulated to describe the individual and the contextual resources which may foster positive youth development and mental health. The present study aims to analyze to what extent the gender differences in anxiety may be partly explained by gender differences in developmental assets. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was conducted in which a sample of 1,044 youths (75.5% women; age range = 18-28; M age = 20.47, SD = 3.08) enrolled in 11 universities from different regions in Spain filled in self-report measures of developmental assets and anxiety symptoms. The participants completed an online survey with the scales, Developmental Assets Profile developed by the Search Institute (1) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) (2). The results showed more anxiety in the female subsample (at both the symptoms and clinical levels). Some gender differences in developmental assets were also observed. A partial mediation model, based on regression analyses, indicated that gender differences in anxiety were partly explained by gender differences in developmental assets. Thus, higher anxiety in the women was partly due to lower scores in positive identity and higher scores in positive values. These results suggested the need to design programs to prevent anxiety with specific measures for women youth to nurture positive identity and promote strengths and coping skills that allow them to get the benefits of well-being derived from positive values, thus, preventing worry and stress overload, which may lead to anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Gomez-Baya
- Department of Social, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Jose A Salinas-Perez
- Department of Quantitative Methods, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Alvaro Sanchez-Lopez
- Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Susana Paino-Quesada
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Ramon Mendoza-Berjano
- Department of Social, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
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Gupta R, Agrawal R. Are the concerns destroying mental health of college students?: A qualitative analysis portraying experiences amidst COVID-19 ambiguities. ANALYSES OF SOCIAL ISSUES AND PUBLIC POLICY : ASAP 2021; 21:621-639. [PMID: 33821151 PMCID: PMC8013217 DOI: 10.1111/asap.12232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Revised: 12/29/2020] [Accepted: 12/29/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Coronavirus presenting an unforeseeable chain of events has exaggerated misery for students in India as they attracted the most detrimental experiences associated with lockdown restrictions leading to a shutdown of colleges as a preventive measure. The research endeavors to furnish a review of the overall hardships and psychological state of mind of college students and improvement in the implementation of policy decisions. Researchers conceptualize the newly discovered phenomenon by adopting grounded theory. Data from 256 newspaper articles, online articles and magazines have been gathered and converted into 256 separate files. To broaden the justification of research, social media analysis employing tweets, Facebook posts and Whatsapp messages are considered adding to the contributory prospects of the study. Compiled data is then refined through data mining technique. Triangulation approach amalgamating content analysis and thematic analysis has been deployed, thereby exploring the qualitative aspect of data gathering. Reviews from 31 students through telephonic conversation and 8 academic experts extended more accuracy to the research process. Findings administered academic disruptions with career concern, emotional suffering, financial concern, online learning, overseas injustice and psychological effects as the final themes representing various concerns experienced by college students. Hence, this work concludes with some constructive suggestions to deteriorate the amplified concerns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riya Gupta
- Department of Management Studies J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA Faridabad Haryana India
| | - Rachna Agrawal
- Department of Management Studies J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA Faridabad Haryana India
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Kabir RS, Doku DT, Wiium N. Connection in Youth Development Key to the Mental Health Continuum in Ghana: A Structural Equation Model of Thriving and Flourishing Indicators. Front Psychol 2021; 12:676376. [PMID: 34744857 PMCID: PMC8566431 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.676376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Practitioners from sub-Saharan Africa are working to provide evidence-based intervention programs to address the mental health of established adults in poor rural communities in Ghana. However, institutions in Ghana also pursue youth policy for training human capital that can contribute to national development as a strategy to leverage its heavy demographic makeup of adolescents and emerging adults. Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a framework for measuring indicators of thriving for such youthful populations. Studies have recently examined PYD in terms of developmental assets with mental illness, but less is known about their interaction with the continuum of mental health, which poses strength-based theoretical distinctions about the conditions of human flourishing. Investigating positive mental health in terms of well-being, along with developmental indicators from another conception of PYD with strong theoretical grounding known as the 5Cs, represents a salient cross-section of Ghana's current trajectory along these policies and evaluations of culturally attuned well-being toward youth-focused efforts. Thus, the aim of this study was to clarify whether developmental constructs could predict positive mental health outcomes for indications of adaptive regulation processes and cultural concepts of well-being. We used structural equation modeling of the PYD domains (i.e., the 5Cs) to provide novel insights into individual differences in factors of thriving with flourishing-languishing indicators from the mental health continuum (MHC; i.e., factors of Emotional, Social, and Psychological Well-being) for 710 youth and emerging adults (M age=19.97, SD=1.93) attending a university in Ghana. The results showed supported paths for Connection, which was associated with all three MHC well-being domains (βs=0.34-0.41), and Caring, which was associated with Psychological Well-being (β=0.27), as factors to consider for youth who are expected to underwrite Ghana's development under economically challenged conditions. These findings support evidence-based program outcomes and prior work that situates social relations as a key route to maintaining well-being, advancing research on the specificity of predictors for positive mental health factors among young people in an enterprising Ghana.
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Affiliation(s)
- Russell Sarwar Kabir
- Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima, Japan
| | - David Teye Doku
- Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
| | - Nora Wiium
- Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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Dost-Gözkan A, Kozina A, Stefenel D, Wiium N. External Developmental Assets and Positive Identity Among Emerging Adults in Norway, Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey. Front Psychol 2021; 12:656972. [PMID: 34335369 PMCID: PMC8316916 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study adopts The Developmental Assets and Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspectives which (in contrast to the deficit-based approaches which highlight risks and deficit in youth development) claim that young people have potencies to achieve optimal development if supported by their social environment. Extant research indicates that developmental assets are linked with a variety of thriving indicators. The present research aimed to contribute to the PYD research by examining the external developmental assets (support, empowerment, and boundaries and expectations) emerging adults (N = 2055; age range = 18–28) perceived in their social environment and the level of their positive identity in four countries (Norway, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey), which have different rankings in economic, human, and youth development indices. The present study also tested a path model, which examines the links between external development assets and positive identity. Findings indicated that although there are differences in the reports of external developmental assets and positive identity, external assets and positive identity are similarly and positively linked across the four countries. The findings build on the existing literature by showing that developmental assets are conducive to positive outcomes cross-nationally despite country-level differences in the experience of external assets. Policy implications of the findings were discussed from the perspective of ecological theory as well as Developmental Assets and Positive Youth Development Frameworks.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ana Kozina
- Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Delia Stefenel
- Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania
| | - Nora Wiium
- Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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Manrique-Millones D, Wiium N, Pineda-Marín C, Fernández-Arata M, Alfonso-Murcia D, López-Martínez JL, Millones-Rivalles R. Association Between Substance Use Behaviors, Developmental Assets and Mental Health: A Glance at Latin American Young College Students. Front Psychol 2021; 12:639578. [PMID: 33716908 PMCID: PMC7947607 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.639578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Positive Youth Development (PYD) is an approach that promotes resilience and focuses on youth strengths rather than their weaknesses as done by the traditional deficit-based perspective. Research in Europe and North America show that developmental assets are associated with school success, psychological well-being, and lower health risks among youth and young adults. However, not much research has been done on these associations in Latin American contexts. The purpose of this research study is to assess the association between substance use behaviors, such as drunkenness and the use of illicit drugs, and mental health, together with the mediating role of developmental assets representing youth strengths (e.g., social competence) and contextual resources (e.g., social support at home or school). Cross-national data was collected from Colombian (n = 210; 70.4% females) and Peruvian (n = 349; 66.5% females) 1st year university students. Results shed light on the protective role of developmental assets regarding substance use behaviors and mental well-being. Specifically, the results showed direct negative associations between developmental assets and substance use behaviors and positive associations of developmental assets with mental health indicators. Internal assets appear to be a stronger predictor of social, emotional, and psychological well-being compared to external assets. We did not find any statistical significance in the association of substance use behavior and mental health. We discuss implications regarding research, policy, and practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denisse Manrique-Millones
- Faculty of Communication Sciences, Tourism and Psychology, Research Institute of Psychology, Universidad San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru
| | - Nora Wiium
- Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Claudia Pineda-Marín
- Department of Psychology, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Manuel Fernández-Arata
- Faculty of Communication Sciences, Tourism and Psychology, Research Institute of Psychology, Universidad San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru
| | - Diego Alfonso-Murcia
- Department of Psychology, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Bogotá, Colombia
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Wiium N, Dimitrova R. Positive Youth Development Across Cultures: Introduction to the Special Issue. CHILD & YOUTH CARE FORUM 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10566-019-09488-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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