Attachment Styles Within the Coach-Athlete Dyad: Preliminary Investigation and Assessment Development

The present preliminary study aimed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a new sport-specific self-report instrument designed to assess athletes’ and coaches’ attachment styles. The development and initial validation comprised three main phases. In Phase 1, a pool of items was generated based on pre-existing self-report attachment instruments, modified to reflect a coach and an athlete’s style of attachment. In Phase 2, the content validity of the items was assessed by a panel of experts. A final scale was developed and administered to 405 coaches and 298 athletes (N = 703 participants). In Phase 3, confirmatory factor analysis of the obtained data was conducted to determine the final items of the Coach-Athlete Attachment Scale (CAAS). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed acceptable goodness of fit indexes for a 3-first order factor model as well as a 2-first order factor model for both the athlete and the coach data, respectively. A secure attachment style positively predicted relationship satisfaction, while an insecure attachment style was a negative predictor of relationship satisfaction. The CAAS revealed initial psychometric properties of content, factorial, and predictive validity, as well as reliability

The Role of Parental and Peer Attachment Relationships and School Connectedness in Predicting Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes

Background: Adolescent attachment relationships with parents and peers and the sense of connectedness with the schools attended have been established as salient predictors of psychological wellbeing. Few studies, however, have assessed the relative importance of each attachment or connectedness relationship and how they interrelate to influence mental health outcomes. Method: 203 adolescents (11-16 years) completed self-report measures of parental and peer attachment (Inventory of Parental & Peer Attachment – Revised; Gullone & Robinson, 2005); school connectedness (Psychological Sense of School Membership; Goodenow, 1993); conduct problems, emotional symptoms, and prosocial behaviour (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; Goodman, 1997). Results: Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that more insecure parental attachment (although not peer attachment or school connectedness) predicted conduct problems and emotional difficulties. Peer attachment and school connectedness were significant predictors of prosocial behaviour, whereas parental attachment was not. A mediational analysis revealed that peer attachment and school connectedness both mediate the relationship between parental attachment and prosocial behaviour. No significant moderation effects of either peer attachment or school connectedness on the relationship between parental attachment and mental health outcomes were found. Conclusions: Different attachment and connectedness relationships, although related, predict adolescent mental health outcomes in distinct ways. Improving parental attachment may have particular salience in reducing negative behaviours such as conduct problems and emotional difficulties, whereas improving peer attachment and school connectedness could be important for the display of prosocial behaviour

Engage for What? How Normative, Political, and Affective Forces Enable and Constrain Participation in Equitable Education Reform

As racial inequities are increasingly coming into focus and we are living through both a crisis of legitimacy in democratic processes and a crisis of care in which the social reproductive work of caring for children and others becomes increasingly difficult, school districts must grapple with ways of engaging and supporting youth, teachers, and communities in shaping equity-oriented reforms. The traditional mechanisms that school districts have used for engaging and collaborating in educational reform have failed to sufficiently address racialized opportunity gaps in education. This dissertation examines some of the ways that marginalized people participate in and lead attempts to change policies and practices in schools and build collective power to address racial inequities. Specifically, it seeks to answer the research question: How do habits, normative ideas, political forces, and social relations based on multiple and shifting identities enable and constrain who collaborates, engages, and participates in shaping equity-oriented reforms, as well as how they do so, and how such participation, collaboration, engagement, in turn, can shift those forces? I conducted three case studies&mdash;in New York City, New England, and Miami &mdash; sites with some political similarities and many differences, in which people who participated in educational reform efforts negotiated both sanctioned and unsanctioned spaces for participation. I examined how the process of participation shaped the reform itself and challenged or reinforced existing power dynamics. Using a mix of critical ethnographic methods within each case study, I explored the ways in which these stakeholders engaged with political and normative forces at the local level. Using comparative case study methodology to understand the similarities and differences between districts, I found that a district&rsquo;s inclusive orientation towards education reform can improve implementation. Additionally, the ways that participants used counterpublic spaces to build affective ties, develop political consciousness, and practice governing power to then be able to shift the way others in the district understood and felt about the reforms reflected the Black radical tradition (Morgan, 2021; Robinson, 2020). These approaches allowed them to develop strategies to shift the zone of mediation, by creating opportunities for affective, political, and normative shifts that then made them able to create deeper change. This research demonstrates the ways that exclusion from democratic processes and exploitation of reproductive labor can both enable and constrain how marginalized people participate in education reform efforts and the ways that people continue to resist in the face of challenges. In all three cases, the types of participation, who participated in the reform efforts, and what was considered acceptable by the districts were shaped by normative, political, and affective forces, while participants found multiple ways to resist and in turn shifted those forces to build more collective power, political analysis, and affective ties that strengthened their organizing for equitable reforms.</p

Lying Behavior, Family Functioning and Adjustment in Early Adolescence

Item does not contain fulltextCommunication between children and parents has been the subject of several studies, examining the effects of, for example, disclosure and secrecy on adolescents' social relationships and adjustment. Less attention has paid to adolescent deception. We developed and tested a new instrument on lying behavior in a sample of 671 parent-adolescent couples. Analyses on the psychometric properties showed that this instrument had one principal component, and high internal consistency, item-total correlations and inter-item correlations. Lying was moderately associated with other indicators of parent-child communication, the quality of the parent-child relationship, and with parenting practices. In addition, frequent lying was moderately related to behavioral problems and emotional problems.10 p

Assessing early memories of threat and subordination: Confirmatory factor analyisis of the early life experiences scale for adolescents.

The Early Life Experiences Scale (ELES) is a self-report questionnaire that assesses personal feelings of perceived threat and submissiveness in interactions within family. This paper presents the adaptation and validation of the ELES in Portuguese language for adolescents. The sample was composed of 771 adolescents from community schools with ages between 13 and 18 years old. Along with ELES, participants also answered the Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children and Adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the factor structure of the ELES and results confirm a three-factor structure, composed by Threat, Submissiveness and Unvalued dimensions. These emotional memories focused on perceived threat, submissiveness and unvalued seem to have a distinct nature. The scale also showed adequate internal consistency, good test-retest reliability and convergent validity with measures of positive emotional memories, positive and negative affect. There were sex differences for threat subscale and age differences for submissiveness subscale. Overall, these findings suggest that the ELES in its Portuguese version for adolescents may be a useful tool for research, educational and clinical contexts with school-aged adolescents

Understanding the sex difference in vulnerability to adolescent depression: an examination of child and parent characteristics

This study examined sex differences in risk factors associated with adolescent depression in a large sample of boys and girls. Moderation and mediation explanatory models of the sex difference in likelihood of depression were examined. Findings indicate that the factors associated with depression in adolescent boys and girls are quite similar. All of the variables considered were associated with depression, but sex did not moderate the impact of vulnerability factors on likelihood of depression diagnosis. However, negative self-perceptions in the domains of achievement, global self-worth, and physical appearance partially mediated the relationship between sex and depression. Further, girls had higher levels of positive self-perceptions in interpersonal domains that acted as suppressors and reduced the likelihood of depression in girls. These findings suggest that girls' higher incidence of depression is due in part to their higher levels of negative self-perceptions, whereas positive interpersonal factors serve to protect them from depressive episodes

Preventing mood and anxiety disorders in youth: a multi-centre RCT in the high risk offspring of depressed and anxious patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anxiety and mood disorders are highly prevalent and pose a huge burden on patients. Their offspring is at increased risk of developing these disorders as well, indicating a clear need for prevention of psychopathology in this group. Given high comorbidity and non-specificity of intergenerational transmission of disorders, prevention programs should target both anxiety and depression. Further, while the indication for preventive interventions is often elevated symptoms, offspring with other high risk profiles may also benefit from resilience-based prevention programs.</p> <p>Method/design</p> <p>The current STERK-study (Screening and Training: Enhancing Resilience in Kids) is a randomized controlled clinical trial combining selected and indicated prevention: it is targeted at both high risk individuals without symptoms and at those with subsyndromal symptoms. Individuals without symptoms meet two of three criteria of the High Risk Index (HRI; female gender, both parents affected, history of a parental suicide (attempt). This index was developed in an earlier study and corresponds with elevated risk in offspring of depressed patients. Children aged 8–17 years (n = 204) with subthreshold symptoms or meeting the criteria on the HRI are randomised to one of two treatment conditions, namely (a) 10 weekly individual child CBT sessions and 2 parent sessions or (b) minimal information. Assessments are held at pre-test, post-test and at 12 and 24 months follow-up. Primary outcome is the time to onset of a mood or anxiety disorder in the offspring. Secondary outcome measures include number of days with depression or anxiety, child and parent symptom levels, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness. Based on models of aetiology of mood and anxiety disorders as well as mechanisms of change during interventions, we selected potential mediators and moderators of treatment outcome, namely coping, parent–child interaction, self-associations, optimism/pessimism, temperament, and emotion processing.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The current intervention trial aims to significantly reduce the risk of intergenerational transmission of mood and anxiety disorders with a short and well targeted intervention that is directed at strengthening the resilience in potentially vulnerable children. We plan to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of such an intervention and to identify mechanisms of change.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>NTR2888</p

Keeping secrets from parents: Longitudinal associations of secrecy in adolescence

Contains fulltext : 55705.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)A 2-wave survey study among 1173 10-14-year-olds tested the longitudinal contribution of secrecy from parents to psychosocial and behavioral problems in adolescence. Additionally, it investigated a hypothesized contribution of secrecy from parents to adolescent development by examining its relation with self-control. Results showed that keeping secrets from parents is associated with substantial psychosocial and behavioral disadvantages in adolescence even after controlling for possible confounding variables, including communication with parents, trust in parents, and perceived parental supportiveness. Contrary to prediction, secrecy was also negatively associated with feelings of self-control. Secrecy from parents thus appears to be an important risk factor for adolescent psychosocial well-being and behavioral adjustment.12 p