Matthew C. Aalsma

What Is Bullying

It is important to consider the factors that contribute to a student exhibiting bullying behaviors. Specifically, some students may not have the language or strategies to navigate complex emotions or challenging situations. As a result, students may bully as a means to control their environment and create their own sense of safety and security. A key to reducing these harmful, yet preventable behaviors, is to provide students the opportunity to develop and practice pro-social skills to navigate peer interactions and strategies for recognizing and regulating their own emotions. Bullying behaviors can arise from a number of interrelated risk factors, so it is important not to consider each sign in isolation:

An Exploration of Community Reentry Needs and Services for Prisoners: A Focus on Care to Limit Return to High-Risk Behavior

Prisoner reentry is a stressful process and many prisoners return to behaviors that led to incarceration upon community reentry. We assess how individual-level vulnerabilities interact with system-level barriers that impact the community reentry process. An additional area explored was the impact of reentry services on risk behavior (i.e., sexual risk and substance use). Fifty-one (22 men, 29 women) primarily minority adults returning from the county jail or state prison participated in 4 focus groups in Febuary 2010. Participants took part in tape-recorded focus groups facilitated by research staff trained in qualitative research methodology. Participants reported that a lack of discharge planning led to poor community reentry (basic needs such as stable housing and employment were not met). As a result of a difficulty in accessing services to meet basic needs, many participants used drugs or engaged in sex for drugs, money, or transportation early in the community reentry process. Given the individual-level vulnerabilities of prisoners, they are more likely to reengage in risk behavior, which increases the risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV, reengaging in substance use, and recidivism. In summary, discharge planning should focus not only on sexual and substance use risk reduction, but also confirm that basic needs are met soon, if not immediately, upon release and subsequent community reentry.

The contribution of emotional intelligence to the social and academic success of gifted adolescents as measured by the multifactor emotional intelligence scale ‐ adolescent version

Emotional intelligence has been popularly portrayed as critical to human success and sometimes even more important than IQ (e.g., D. Goleman, 1995), yet sparse evidence exists supporting such a claim. The purpose of this study was to measure emotional intelligence, as conceptualized by J. D. Mayer and P. Salovey (1997), in order to better understand its contribution to the success of gifted adolescents. An adolescent version of the unpublished Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS‐A) was used to measure emotional intelligence, while measures of interpersonal relations, social stress, and grade point average were utilized to gauge success. Thirty‐nine gifted adolescents (mean age = 16.5) participated. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that emotional intelligence did not significantly contribute to the social and academic success of these adolescents. Recommendations for future research in this area are provided, including suggestions for designing studies that could be more practical for educators and other helping professionals.

The impact of delinquency on young adult sexual risk behaviors and sexually transmitted infections.

PURPOSE Youth in the juvenile justice system have increased sexual risk behavior and sexually transmitted infections (STI). However, research exploring the effect of self-reported delinquency on sexual risk behavior and STI is limited, and results vary depending on the populations studied. Therefore, we used nationally representative data to examine the longitudinal association between delinquent behavior, sexual risk behavior, and STI among adolescents and young adults. METHODS We used a sample of 10,828 participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Health. Outcomes included STI and sexual risk behavior from Wave III (17-27-year-olds). Predictors for the generalized linear regression models (stratified by gender) include race, age, education, relationship status at Wave III, and delinquent behavior groups (life-course persistent, adolescence-limited, late-onset and nondelinquency). RESULTS None of the delinquency groups were associated with young adult STI. Only life-course persistent delinquency was associated consistently with sexual risk behavior (except for condom use). The adolescence-limited and late-onset groups had limited effects on sexual risk outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Life-course persistent delinquency influences the expression of young adult sexual risk behavior. However, delinquent behavior does not predict STI in a population-based sample of youth. Programs and interventions that address the sexual health of youth need to consider the role of delinquency in shaping sexual risk behaviors, and future research should explore broader societal and environmental risk factors on STIs.

Reports of childhood sexual abuse by adolescents and young adults: Stability over time

The consistency of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) reporting was explored in this study. Two‐hundred seventeen adolescents and young adults (ages 14–24) enrolled in urban health care clinics completed self‐report questionnaires assessing CSA and other problem behaviors at enrollment and at 7 months. Results indicated that the stability of CSA self‐report at two time points was poor (58% consistent nonreporters of CSA, 20% consistent reporters, 22% inconsistent reporters). Consistent and inconsistent reporters were differentiated on risk measures. Adolescents who endorsed more items from the CSA scale were five times more likely to be consistent reporters. In sum, adolescent CSA reporting was quite inconsistent over time. Using multi‐item scales and assessing CSA at two time points enhances accuracy of reporting.

The Experiences of Parents Who Report Youth Bullying Victimization to School Officials

Current research offers a limited understanding of parental experiences when reporting bullying to school officials. This research examines the experiences of middle-school parents as they took steps to protect their bullied youth. The qualitative tradition of interpretive phenomenology was used to provide in-depth analysis of the phenomena. A criterion-based, purposeful sample of 11 parents was interviewed face-to-face with subsequent phone call follow-ups. Interviews were taped, transcribed, and coded. MAX qda software was used for data coding. In analyzing the interviews, paradigm cases, themes, and patterns were identified. Three parent stages were found: discovering, reporting, and living with the aftermath. In the discovery stage, parents reported using advice-giving in hopes of protecting their youth. As parents noticed negative psychosocial symptoms in their youth escalate, they shifted their focus to reporting the bullying to school officials. All but one parent experienced ongoing resistance from school officials in fully engaging the bullying problem. In the aftermath, 10 of the 11 parents were left with two choices: remove their youth from the school or let the victimization continue. One paradigm case illustrates how a school official met parental expectations of protection. This study highlights a parental sense of ambiguity of school officials’ roles and procedures related to school reporting and intervention. The results of this study have implications in the development and use of school-wide bullying protocols and parental advocacy.

The role of parental attitudes and provider discussions in uptake of adolescent vaccines.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parental vaccine attitudes, the number of specific vaccines discussed with a provider, and immunization outcomes including discussing immunization with their teen, knowledge of adolescent vaccine schedule, and their son or daughter being up-to-date on recommended vaccines using a nationally weight sample. Parents completed an internet-based survey between December 2012 and January 2013 and we computed a vaccine attitude scale (higher scores indicating stronger and more positive attitudes toward vaccination of teen) for each parent and categorized them into one of three groups: low (n=76), medium (n=207) or high (n=215). We also constructed a vaccine discussion scale representing the number of vaccines discussed with their adolescents physician. Parents who were identified as having high vaccine attitudes were significantly more likely to report their physician talked with them about a particular vaccine. Using logistic regression and controlling for respondents gender and age, income, and teens gender, we found medium as compared to low-attitude parents had a 6.21 (95%CI=3.08, 12.51) greater odds of reporting that their teen had all recommended vaccines. Similarly, high as compared to low-attitude parents reported a 23.02 (95% CI=11.27, 46.99) greater odds of having a teen who was up-to-date on recommended vaccines. We detected that for each additional vaccine discussed, there was a 1.24 (95%CI=1.11, 1.39) increase in odds of the teen having all recommended vaccines. Parental immunization attitudes and provider discussion about vaccines are key ingredients to improving immunization rates among adolescents. While some parents may be reluctant to immunize their son or daughter with a recommended vaccine, vaccine-specific discussions between physicians and parents represent an important first step to continued discussions with providers regarding vaccination. Moreover, vaccine discussions must occur within the context of ongoing conversations about health and disease prevention.

Adolescent romantic couples influence on substance use in young adulthood

Research has demonstrated that adolescent peer group affiliations are consistent predictors of substance use initiation and maintenance; it is less clear how adolescent romantic relationships influence substance use behavior. Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Participants in the final dataset for the current study included adolescents (321 males and 321 females) who were identified in reciprocated romantic relationships at Wave 1 (1994-1995; mean age 16.7 years) that were followed into young adulthood and reassessed at two different time points (Wave 2 in 1996, mean age 17.7, and Wave 3 in 2001-2002, mean age 23.1). Data were gathered from both partners, and included demographic variables, longitudinal measures of substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana), and relationship seriousness. Hierarchical linear modeling using SAS PROC MIXED were utilized to test for individual versus partner influences. Results revealed individual and partner effects for the prediction of alcohol and tobacco, although individual effects were generally greater than partner influences. For marijuana use, as self-reported relationship seriousness increased, future marijuana use decreased. These findings suggest the developmental significance of adolescent romantic relationships on the prediction of future substance use behavior during young adulthood.

A Statewide Collaboration to Initiate Mental Health Screening and Assess Services for Detained Youths in Indiana

OBJECTIVES We describe a statewide effort to implement detention-based mental health screening and assess follow-up services offered to detained youths in Indiana. METHODS A total of 25,265 detention stays (15,461 unique youths) occurred between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2011, across 16 detention centers participating in the Indiana Juvenile Mental Health Screening Project. We collected screening results and reports of detention-based follow-up mental health services and referrals from justice system records. RESULTS Approximately 21% of youths screened positive for mental health issues requiring follow-up. A positive screen significantly predicted that youths would receive a follow-up mental health service or referral while detained or upon detention center discharge, compared with youths who did not screen positive (61% vs 39%). Logistic regression models indicated that a positive screen was associated with (1) contact with a mental health clinician within 24 hours of detention center intake and (2) a mental health referral upon discharge. White youths were more likely than minorities to receive both follow-up services. CONCLUSIONS Future statewide efforts to improve the mental health of detained youths should incorporate standards for providing appropriate follow-up services in detention centers.

Can lay health workers promote better medical self-management by persons living with HIV? An evaluation of the Positive Choices program.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate Positive Choices (PC), a program that employed lay health workers to motivate antiretroviral adherence among persons living with HIV with coverage from Indianas high-risk insurance pool. METHODS Four hundred and forty nine participants living in the greater Indianapolis area were randomly allocated to treatment (n = 91) or control (n = 358) groups and followed for one year. RESULTS Compared to control subjects, PC subjects were more likely to adhere to HIV medications (medication possession ratio adherence ≥ 0.95, OR = 1.83, p = 0.046), and to achieve undetectable viral load (<50 copies/mL, OR = 2.01, p = 0.011) in the 12 months following introduction of PC. There were no significant differences observed between groups in any of self-reported health status indicators. CONCLUSION Estimates suggest that PC clients were 16% more likely to have undetectable viral loads than clients in standard care. The incremental program cost was approximately