Gimmelife : listening for dialogic voices in the email self-narratives of gifted young adolescents

The art of listening for voices within narrative research is a positive endeavour that has specific value within research design and subsequent approaches to analysis. This paper details an investigation into the dialogic nature of voices among gifted young adolescents who engaged in the co-construction of email-generated self-narratives. Data are drawn from a study involving ten adolescents, aged between ten and fourteen years, diagnosed as gifted according to Australian guidelines. Individual participants were asked to produce self-managed journal entries written and sent as asynchronous emails to the researcher who was the sole recipient and respondent. Within this approach, specific techniques of listening were used to examine a series of multi-vocal narratives generated over a period of six months. This paper proposes that an adaptation of the everyday convenience of email with the traditional journal format as a self-report mechanism creates a synergy that fosters self-disclosure. Individual excerpts are presented to show that the harnessing of personal narratives within an email context has potential to yield valuable insights into the emotions, personal realities and experiences of gifted young adolescents. Furthermore, the co-construction of self-expressive and explanatory narratives supported by a facilitative adult listener appeared to promote healthy self-awareness amongst participants. This paper contributes to narrative exploration in two distinct ways: first, in using online methods for gaining access to the everyday, emotional realities of participants; and, second, in demonstrating the value of listening as a narrative technique for uncovering layers of voices across a body of texts produced over time. These methods represent an innovative attempt to move beyond face-to-face approaches and away from a focus on content and coding techniques that might oversimplify complex emotions.

An exploration of the reasons why adolescents engage in traditional and cyber bullying

This study explored the reasons underlying adolescents’ perceptions of why their peers engage in bullying in the real and the cyber world. While there has been much research on why bullies engage in such behaviour, ranging from personality characteristics to social or familial reasons, the perceptions of young people on the motives of cyberbullies has not been researched. A new instrument, based on interviews and a literature review was piloted to measure young people’s perceptions of why their peers engage in both traditional and cyberbullying behaviour, according to their role in bullying. Four hundred students were surveyed in three co-educational independent secondary schools. A comparison between perceptions of bullies’ motives in traditional and cyberbullying was made. Implications for interventions with bullies are discussed.

Educational stress scale for adolescents : development, validity, and reliability with Chinese students

This article describes the development and initial validation of a new instrument to measure academic stress—the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents (ESSA). A series of cross-sectional questionnaire surveys were conducted with more than 2,000 Chinese adolescents to examine the psychometric properties. The final 16-item ESSA contains five latent variables: Pressure from study, Workload, Worry about grades, Self-expectation, and Despondency, which together explain 64% of the total item variance. Scale scores showed adequate internal consistency, 2-week test–retest reliability, and satisfactory concurrent validity. A confirmatory factor analysis suggested the proposed factor model fits well in a different sample. For researchers who have a particular interest in academic stress among adolescents, the ESSA promises to be a useful tool.

A prospective study investigating the impact of school belonging factors on negative affect in adolescents

School belonging, measured as a unidimensional construct, is an important predictor of negative affective problems in adolescents, including depression and anxiety symptoms. A recent study found that one such measure, the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale, actually comprises three factors: Caring Relations, Acceptance, and Rejection. We explored the relations of these factors with negative affect in a sample of 504 Australian grade 7 and 8 students who completed the PSSM and Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) at three time points. Each school belonging factor contributed to the prediction of negative affect in cross-sectional analyses. Scores on the Acceptance factor predicted subsequent negative affect for boys and girls, even controlling for prior negative affect. For girls, the Rejection factor was also significant in the prospective analysis. These findings have implications for the design of interventions and are further confirmation that school belonging should be considered a multidimensional construct.

The resourceful adolescent project : building psychological resilience in adolescents and their parents

"The model of adolescent depression underlying the Resourceful Adolescent Project (RAP) suggests that adolescent depression and suicide result from a combination of some or all of three interrelating factors: (a) deficits in adolescent psychological wellbeing and coping resources; (b) escalating or chronic family conflict; and (c) depressive adolescent thoughts, feelings and behaviour. This overview of the activities of RAP outlines the need for the project, the benefits of early intervention in preventing adolescent depression, and the empirical and theoretical bases of the programs used in the project. The programs for adolescents and for their parents, their efficacy and the future directions of RAP are also discussed." -- from Libraries Australia

Self-presentation and underachievement among young adolescents identified as gifted

Academically gifted students are recognised as possessing considerable achievement potential. Yet many gifted students fail to perform at a level commensurate with their ability. This phenomenon is known as underachievement and may have far-reaching personal and social costs. Underachievement is particularly prevalent during early adolescence, between the ages of 10 to 14 years, when declining levels of academic achievement are often apparent. Grouping for instructional purposes is advocated as a means of reducing underachievement for gifted students by providing opportunities for like-minded and like-ability individuals to learn together. Despite this, some gifted students continue to underachieve. For some, underachievement appears to be a deliberate choice making them a population of learners at-risk. This multiple case study examines the relationship between self-presentation and underachievement as experienced by three gifted adolescents. It reveals how students perceived and explained the discrepancy between their ability and performance. Further, the study identifies those self-presentation strategies adopted in response to underachievement. Findings may assist parents and educators to provide greater support for gifted adolescents.

Children physical activity correlates and parent physical activity do not have a strong association with physical activity amongst adolescents

Background: Physical activity is a key modifiable behavior impacting a number of important health outcomes. The path to developing chronic diseases commonly commences with lifestyle patterns developed during childhood and adolescence. This study examined whether parent physical activity and other factors correlated with physical activity amongst children are associated with self-reported physical activity in adolescents. Methods: A total of 115 adolescents (aged 12-14) and their parents completed questionnaire assessments. Self-reported physical activity was measured amongst adolescents and their parents using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (IPAQ-A), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) respectively. Adolescents also completed the Children’s Physical Activity Correlates (CPAC), which measured factors that have previously demonstrated association with physical activity amongst children. To examine whether parent physical activity or items from the CPAC were associated with self-reported adolescent physical activity, backward step-wise regression was undertaken. One item was removed at each step in descending order of significance (until two tailed item alpha=0.05 was achieved). Results: A total of 93 (80.9%) adolescents and their parents had complete data sets and were included in the analysis. Independent variables were removed in the order: perceptions of parental role modeling; importance of exercise; perceptions of parental encouragement; peer acceptance; fun of physical exertion; perceived competence; parent physical activity; self-esteem; liking of exercise; and parental influence. The only variable remaining in the model was ‘liking of games and sport’ (p=0.003, adjusted r-squared=0.085). Discussion: These findings indicate that factors associated with self-reported physical activity in adolescents are not necessarily the same as younger children (aged 8-11). While ‘liking of games and sport’ was included in the final model, the r-squared value did not indicate a strong association. Interestingly, parent self-reported physical activity was not included in the final model. It is likely that adolescent physical activity may be influenced by a variety of direct and indirect forms of socialization. These findings do support the view that intrinsically motivated themes such as the liking of games and sport take precedence over outside influences, like those presented by parents, in determining youth physical activity behaviors. These findings do not suggest that parents have no influence on adolescent physical activity patterns, but rather, the influence is likely to be more complex than physical activity behavior modeling perceived by the adolescent. Further research in this field is warranted in order to better understand potential contributors to successful physical activity promotion interventions amongst young adolescents.

Victimization experiences of adolescents in Malaysia

Purpose There has been little community-based research regarding multiple-type victimization experiences of young people in Asia, and none in Malaysia. This study aimed to estimate prevalence, explore gender differences, as well as describe typical perpetrators and family and social risk factors among Malaysian adolescents. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 1,870 students was conducted in 20 randomly selected secondary schools in Selangor state (mean age: 16 years; 58.8% female). The questionnaire included items on individual, family, and social background and different types of victimization experiences in childhood. Results Emotional and physical types of victimization were most common. A significant proportion of adolescents (22.1%) were exposed to more than one type, with 3% reporting all four types. Compared with females, males reported more physical, emotional, and sexual victimization. The excess of sexual victimization among boys was due to higher exposure to noncontact events, whereas prevalence of forced intercourse was equal for both genders (3.0%). Although adult male perpetrators predominate, female adults and peers of both genders also contribute substantially. Low quality of parent–child relationships and poor school and neighborhood environments had the strongest associations with victimization. Family structure (parental divorce, presence of step-parent or single parent, or household size), parental drug use, and rural/urban location were not influential in this sample. Conclusion This study extends the analysis of multiple-type victimization to a Malaysian population. Although some personal, familial, and social factors correlate with those found in western nations, there are cross-cultural differences, especially with regard to the nature of sexual violence based on gender and the influence of family structure.