James J. Mazza

Exposure to violence in young inner-city adolescents: relationships with suicidal ideation, depression, and PTSD symptomatology.

This study examined the relationship of exposure to violence to suicidal ideation, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in 94 young adolescents from an inner-city school. Participants completed self-report measures of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire—Junior, Adolescent Psychopathology Scale—Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Subscale, and the Exposure to Violence Questionnaire. Using a hierarchical multiple regression design, exposure to violence demonstrated a unique relationship with PTSD symptomatology. Specifically, the relationship between violence exposure and PTSD symptomatology remained significant after controlling for depression and suicidal ideation severity. Controlling for PTSD symptomatology resulted in nonsignificant relationships between violence exposure and depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents. Additional analyses suggest that PTSD functions as a mediating variable between exposure to violence and depression and suicidal ideation. The implication of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Raising healthy children through enhancing social development in elementary school: Results after 1.5 years

This study examined results of a comprehensive, multifaceted longitudinal school-based prevention program called Raising Healthy Children (RHC). RHC focuses on enhancing protective factors with the goal of promoting positive youth development, reducing identified risk factors, and preventing adolescent problem behaviors. Participants included 938 elementary students from first or second grade who were enrolled in 10 area schools in the Pacific Northwest and randomly divided into two groups, those receiving RHC and peer controls. Analyses were conducted 18 months after implementation and focused on academic and behavioral improvements within the school environment. Results using hierarchical linear modeling showed that RHC students, compared to their peers who did not receive the intervention, had significantly higher teacher-reported academic performance (t ratio=2.27, p<.001) and a stronger commitment to school (t ratio=2.16, p<.03). Similarly, teachers reported that RHC students showed a significant decrease in antisocial behaviors (t ratio=−2.43, p<.02) and increased social competency (t ratio=2.96, p<.01) compared to control peers. Regression results from parent-reported outcomes also showed that RHC students had higher academic performance, β=.082, t=2.72, p<.01 and a stronger commitment to school, β=.080, t=2.45, p<.02. Results from this study and their implications for early and long-term prevention are discussed.

Reliability and Validity of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale with Young Adolescents.

Abstract The current investigation examined the reliability and validity of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS; Reynolds, 1986a ) in a sample of 89 young adolescents from an inner-city school. Participants were initially assessed in their classroom with the RADS, and then individually retested with the RADS and interviewed with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1967) . The internal consistency reliability of the RADS was .91 on the initial assessment and .93 for the retest. The test-retest reliability of the RADS was .87. The correlation between the RADS and the Hamilton interview on the retesting was .76 (p

Latent Growth Modeling of the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Substance Use During Adolescence

To explicate the nature of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use, the authors conducted research that incorporated both individual and group approaches and utilized longitudinal data across development. Multiple-group latent growth curve models were used to assess specific dimensions (cross-sectional and longitudinal correlation, within-individual change, and movement off developmental trajectories) of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use during adolescence and how this relationship differs by gender. Annual survey data from 8th through 11th grade were provided by 441 girls and 510 boys in the Raising Healthy Children project (E. C. Brown, R. F. Catalano, C. B. Fleming, K. P. Haggerty, & R. D. Abbott, 2005). Levels of depressive symptoms and substance use in early adolescence were positively associated for alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use for girls, but only for marijuana use for boys. Individual changes in depressive symptoms and substance use across adolescence were positively associated for each type of substance use. Evidence was also found for positive association between episodic expressions of depressive symptoms and alcohol use that fell outside developmental trajectories. Predictive relationships across constructs were not found, with the exception of higher level of depressive symptoms in early adolescence predicting less increase in alcohol use.

After-school activities, misbehavior in school, and delinquency from the end of elementary school through the beginning of high school: A test of social development model hypotheses

Annual survey data on 776 students from sixth through ninth grade were used to examine the relationships among after-school activities, misbehavior in school, and delinquency. The social development model hypothesizes that antisocial behavior in one developmental time period leads to less involvement in activities and interactions that have positive socializing influence in the next developmental time period. Although the overall correlations between structured activities and both misbehavior in school and delinquency did not indicate strong protective influences of structured activities, results of a cross-lagged model that adjusted for prior activity and behavior patterns provided support for the hypotheses. However, antisocial behavior did not predict involvement in activities across the middle school to high school transition. Consistent with routine activities theory, unstructured activity involvement and delinquent behavior in the first year of high school were positively correlated after adjusting for prior levels of antisocial behavior and structured and unstructured activity involvement.

Identifying Trajectories of Adolescents’ Depressive Phenomena: An Examination of Early Risk Factors

Few studies have examined risk factors of childhood and early adolescent depressive symptomatology trajectories. This study examined self-report depressive symptomatology across a 6-year time period from 2nd to 8th grade to identify latent groups of individuals with similar patterns of depressive phenomena in a sample of 951 children (440 girls, 511 boys). Analyses, using semiparametric group modeling (SGM), identified 5 trajectory groups for girls and boys: low depressed stables, low depressed risers, mildly depressed stables, moderately depressed changers, and moderately depressed risers. Individual risk factors, with the exception of shy/withdrawn behavior, were significantly different across trajectory group membership for boys and girls, as was low-income status for boys. Boys in the low depressed and mildly depressed stable trajectory groups had significantly higher levels of antisocial behavior, attention problems, and lower social competency compared to girls in similar groups. These results suggest that universal prevention programs implemented in early elementary school that target selected risk factors may be helpful in reducing future adolescent mental health problems, specifically depressive symptomatology.

Suicide and Suicidal Behaviors in Children and Adolescents

Suicide and suicidal behavior have been described for nearly all of recorded history (Rosen, 1971). Historically, societal and professional perspectives on suicide have gone through continual periods of acceptance, rejection, ambivalence, and philosophical debate for millennia. Even today, the view of suicide as a pathological behavior or mental health problem to be prevented has been questioned by some (e. g., Szasz, 1986). The existential debate as to the legitimacy or normality of suicide is enervated when we consider suicidal behavior in children and adolescents.

Early Predictors of Adolescent Depression: A 7-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the longitudinal relationship of early elementary predictors to adolescent depression 7 years later. The sample consisted of 938 students who have been part of a larger longitudinal study that started in 1993. Data collected from parents, teachers, and youth self-reports on early risk factors when students were in 1st and 2nd grade were compared to adolescent self-reported depression 7 years later. Regression analyses were conducted with each risk factor separately and combined, while also examining gender and the gender × risk factor interaction. Results showed that the risk factors predominately in the individual characteristic group (depression, anxiety, and antisocial behavior) were predictive of depression 7 years later. Gender differences among the longitudinal risk factors were also found in relation to adolescent depression. Discussion of the results focuses on the practice of children’s mental health assessment and implications for the development of prevention and intervention programs for depression.

An examination of the validity of retrospective measures of suicide attempts in youth

PURPOSE This study used prospective data to investigate the validity of a retrospective measure of suicide attempts from four different perspectives. METHODS Data were retrieved from 883 participants in the Raising Healthy Children project, a longitudinal study of youth recruited from a Pacific Northwest school district. The retrospective measure was collected when participants were 18-19 years of age and results were compared with measures of depressive symptoms collected prospectively. RESULTS Results showed strong corroboration between retrospective reports of first suicide attempt and prospective measures of depression, with attempters experiencing significantly more depression than their nonattempting peers, t (df = 853) = 10.26, p < .001. In addition, within the attempter group, depression scores during the year of their reported first attempt were significantly higher than the average depression score across previous years, t (df = 67) = 3.01, p < .01. CONCLUSIONS Results from this study suggest that the reports of older adolescents regarding their suicide attempts are corroborated by their prospective reports of depression in childhood and earlier adolescence. Thus, there is support that retrospective measures of suicidal behavior, namely suicide attempts, may be a valid method of assessment.

School-Based Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention

Youth suicide is a worldwide public health problem that requires urgent attention. For example, in the United States, although suicide is the tenth leading cause of death among Americans overall, it is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 15–24 and the third leading cause of death among those ages 10–14. Because children and adolescents spend so much time in them, schools are ideal focal points for focused suicide prevention efforts.