Ana Mari Cauce

Social support in high-risk adolescents: structural components and adaptive impact.

This study examines the structure of social support and its relationship to adjustment for adolescents from high-stress lower socioeconomic class inner-city backgrounds. An attempt is made to (a) identify meaningful dimensions of perceived social support for this population; (b) examine the degree to which the perceived helpfulness of each source of support varied as a function of age, sex, and ethnic background; and (c) determine the relationship between the dimensions of social support, personal characteristics of the adolescent, and indices of personal and academic adjustment. Factor analyses reveal three distinct support dimensions: Family, Formal, and Informal Support. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance show differences in the perceived helpfulness of the support dimensions as a function of the adolescents age, sex, and ethnic background as well as in the relationship of each source of support to the adjustment indices. Implications of the findings for elaborating the impact of social support on coping efforts are discussed.

Social networks and social competence: Exploring the effects of early adolescent friendships

ConclusionsPerhaps the main significance of this work was in its methodological contributions. Most noteworthy were its attempts to expand network analysis beyond the examination of supportive functions, the use of a more objective measure of social support, and the use of a multivariate hierarchical strategy of analysis.This study obtained correlations between social network variables and social competence indices that were highly suggestive. However, it is important to keep in mind that the sample under investigation was fairly small and relatively homogeneous with respect to ethnicity, social class, and even values. Whether the exact nature of these relationships will generalize to different samples remains an empirical question. In fact, one would suppose that some of the results would be quite different for a population that does not highly value school. Further research, ideally longitudinal in nature, is sorely needed to address some of the issues raised by this study, both in terms of the social support/network literature and the possibly changing characteristics of minority children and their social environments as they move from preadolescence to adolescence.

Help-Seeking Pathways for Children and Adolescents

The processes by which children with emotional and behavioral disorders seek and obtain help have received little study; yet, they are critical for determining mental health policy and practice. In this article, help-seeking pathways for children are defined and a pathway model is presented. Influences on help-seeking pathways are then reviewed, including illness profile variables, predisposing factors, and barriers to and facilitators of care. Research targets such as the role of informal supports, collateral services, and cultural influences on help-seeking are recommended. Methodological considerations are presented that include assessment of clinically defined mental health need as well as subjective assessment of need, use of complementary qualitative and quantitative methods, and use of cross-system data. The implications for practice and policy of research on help-seeking pathways are described.

Adaptation and Vulnerability in High-Risk Adolescents: An Examination of Environmental Mediators

The relationship of characteristics of the social environment to the adaptation of adolescents from high-risk predisposing environments was examined. Specifically, the degree to which adolescents perceptions of various dimensions of their family and school environment as well as sources of social support related to differential levels of personal well-being and academic adjustment was explored. Multiple regression analyses revealed differences in the salience of the dimensions of the social environment as a function of the particular sphere of functioning under consideration. Implications of the findings for developing a model for understanding the relative vulnerability of individuals at risk as well as of the design of preventive interventions are discussed.

The impact of school transitions: A focus for preventive efforts

The relationship between cumulative or single school transfers and a students academic adjustment was explored. The school records of 250 high school students were examined and school transfers due to either residential mobility or the normative school change from eighth to ninth grade were identified. Correlations between the cumulative number of school transfers in a students history and their ninth-grade academic performance and attendance record were computed for both ethnic and sex subgroups. Analyses of variance for repeated measures were performed to assess the impact of any single school transition occurring at different points in the childs development. Correlational analyses indicated that high rates of school mobility were significantly related to poor academic performance, particularly for black and Hispanic students. Analyses of variance revealed that while no single school transition due to residential mobility in Grades 1 through 8 had a significant impact on the students posttransfer adjustment, the normative transition to high school was significantly related to lowered school performance and increased absences, particularly for students with a history of repeated school transfers and for black students.

Deviant Behavior and Victimization Among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

This study used a high-risk population of runaway and homeless adolescents to investigate the effects of a history of caretaker abuse and deviant subsistence strategies on victimization among adolescents. Based on a multisite sample of 974 homeless and runaway adolescents, logistic regression models were used first to examine factors predicting involvement in sexual and nonsexual deviant subsistence strategies and then to investigate the effects of deviant subsistence strategies on physical and sexual victimization when adolescents were on the streets. Results indicated that when controlling for all other factors, including histories of physical and sexual maltreatment in families of origin, street behaviors, sexual orientation, and informal support systems, engaging in nonsexual deviant subsistence strategies increased the likelihood of physical victimization more than two times. Engaging in sexual deviant subsistence strategies increased the likelihood of sexual victimization almost four times. The results are interpreted in terms of life course developmental theory and lifestyle exposure theories.

The Prevalence of Dental Anxiety in Children from Low-income Families and its Relationship to Personality Traits

The prevalence of dental anxiety and the association between dental anxiety and personality traits were examined in a population-based sample of 895 US urban children, from 5 to 11 years of age, from low-income families. Dental anxiety was reported by the child using the Dental Subscale (DS) of the Childrens Fear Survey Schedule, and behavioral problems and personality traits were evaluated by parent report on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Mean DS scores were 31.1 (SD = 10.3) for boys and 34.3 (SD = 11.0) for girls. CBCL score means were 33.3 (SD = 23.2) for boys and 28.5 (SD = 19.1) for girls. The hypothesized relationship between DS and CBCL scores in this population was not demonstrated.

Predicting DSM-III-R disorders from the Youth Self-Report: analysis of data from a field study.

OBJECTIVEnTo predict DSM-III-R diagnoses from Youth Self-Report (YSR) scores.nnnMETHODnThe Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version 2.1c (DISC-2.1c) and YSR were administered to 289 homeless adolescents. Stepwise discriminant analysis identified YSR scales contributing to predictions of DSM-III-R disorders. Paper-and-pencil prediction rules based on YSR borderline or clinical scores were evaluated.nnnRESULTSnStatistically significant discriminant functions for disruptive disorders, depressive disorders, manic disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and posttraumatic stress disorder, each based on a unique pair of YSR scales, produced overall hit rates of 0.66 to 0.90. Paper-and-pencil predictions produced comparable results. The weakest overall predictions were for the disruptive behaviors; the best rule (IF Aggressive OR Delinquent is at least borderline THEN predict oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder) produced a 0.72 hit rate. The strongest overall predictions were for schizophrenia; the best prediction rule (IF [Thought Problems AND Delinquent are at least borderline] AND [at least one is clinical] THEN predict schizophrenia) produced a 0.87 hlt rate.nnnCONCLUSIONSnWhile the success rates reported here are specific to this sample, it appears that the YSR has good ability to predict DSM-III-R diagnoses as determined by the DISC. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that categorical diagnoses can be treated as locations or cluster sectors in a multidimensional space.

Behavior Problems in 5− to 11-Year-Old Children from Low-Income Families

OBJECTIVEnThe aims of the present study were to survey the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores (behavioral section) in a nonclinical population of US urban children from low-income families and to compare the distribution and pattern of scores with the normative data in the CBCL manual (1991).nnnMETHODnThe sample consisted of 890 low-income children and a mother or female guardian selected randomly from among Seattle public school students aged 5 to 11 years.nnnRESULTSnIn this sample the total CBCL score as well as all subscale scores were significantly higher than the norms. The proportion of children who scored in the clinical/borderline range was also higher than the norm.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThese findings support previous work showing that poverty is a risk factor for mental distress in children. They also raise questions about the validity of the CBCL norms for screening or research purpose for low-income families.

Sequential Progression of Substance Use Among Homeless Youth: An Empirical Investigation of the Gateway Theory

We examined the sequence of substance-use initiation in 375 street youth (age 13–21) who were interviewed from 1994–99 in Seattle, Washington. Based on the “gateway theory,” participants were categorized into six profiles to describe the order in which they initiated use of various substances (i.e., alcohol, marijuana, other drugs), or classified as nonprogressors if they had not tried all three classes of drugs. Youth progressing in the hypothesized gateway order (i.e., alcohol preceding marijuana, followed by other drugs) initiated their use at an earlier age than youth who had not progressed through all three substance classes. However, there was no relationship between a substance initiation profile and current substance-use. Implications include the recognition that street youth may follow different patterns of use than normative groups, and that interventions geared toward youth who use substances heavily must include contextual factors, in addition to substance-use history.