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The purpose of this paper is to explore the validity and reliability of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) to determine if it has predictive accuracy in relation to physical aggression, severe verbal aggression, property damage and self-harm, in a medium secure setting. In addition, the authors hoped to provide some of the first descriptive data available for the START:AV among a UK adolescent population in a medium secure adolescent unit.

The sample consisted of 90 female and male adolescents, with and without developmental disabilities. It was important to explore the measure’s predictive accuracy across specific population groups, such as between males and females, as well as those with developmental disabilities, and those without.

Some significant relationships were found between the START:AV and adverse outcomes. For instance, total strength and vulnerability scores were predictive for verbal and physical aggression. Differences in predictive validity were evident when comparisons were made between males and females, with relationships being evident amongst the male population only. When splitting the male sample into developmental disability and non-developmental disability groups, significant relationships were found between strength and vulnerability scores and verbal and physical aggression.

A number of practical implications are considered, such as the START:AV is relevant for use with adolescents in hospital settings and the significant inverse relationship between strength scores and negative outcomes supports the importance of considering protective/strength factors when working with at risk youths.

There is currently limited validation data for the START:AV in the UK or elsewhere.

Ethical concerns about the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA) have led to calls for developmental disorders to be removed from the list of mental disorders for which individuals can be detained. In parallel, there are long-standing concerns of ethnic disparity in the application of the MHA. Nonetheless, the impact of the intersections of developmental disorder diagnosis, adolescence and ethnicity on the application of the MHA is unknown. This study aims to explore ethnic differences in MHA sections and the factors accounting for this, in an adolescent inpatient developmental disorder service.

File reviews were conducted to explore differences in MHA status, as well as demographic, clinical and risk factors that may account for this, between 39 white British and ethnic minority adolescents detained to a specialist inpatient developmental disorder service.

Consistent with adult literature, adolescents of an ethnic minority were overrepresented in the sample and were significantly more likely to be detained on Part III or “forensic” sections of the MHA than White British counterparts, with five times greater risk. Analyses revealed no significant differences between ethnic minority and white British participants on demographic variables, clinical needs, risk behaviours, risk measures nor application of restrictive practices and safeguarding procedures.

National audits exploring patterns of detention under the MHA across adolescent developmental disorder populations need to include analysis of intersections to ensure that the MHA is used as a means of last resort and in an equitable manner.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first comprehensive exploration of the impact of ethnicity on detention patterns in ethnic minority and White British populations.

The primary aim of this chapter is to explore stigmatization, stress, and coping among adolescent mothers and to identify positive coping mechanisms that not only resist stigmatization but also generate positive affect.

Fifty-two pregnant and parenting adolescents in an urban county in the Midwestern United States were recruited to participate. A journaling tool was developed and used to allow participants to express their thoughts and concerns in a real-time, reflexive manner. Data were coded at different “nodes” or themes. Concepts, such as stigma, stress, strength, and empowerment were operationalized into key words and “themes” based on previous published literature. Key phrases were used to code the journaling data.

Adolescent mothers used positive reappraisal of life circumstances to create a positive self-image and resist the stress of stigma and parenting. Overcoming stereotypes and success in parenting were reappraised as “strength,” which allowed the young women to feel empowered in their caregiving role.

The chapter also contributes to the sociological literature on positive coping responses to stigma and stress. Indeed, very few studies have employed the sociological imagination of pregnant and parenting adolescents by describing not only their lives but also seeking their understanding and explaining their lives sociologically. This chapter also has direct implications for several health care providers, including nurses and social workers. For example, nurses and social workers are a vital part of the healthcare team for pregnant and parenting adolescents, and they often serve as the link between the adolescent, her family and significant others, and healthcare and social service agencies.

This chapter described the mechanisms that adolescent mothers use to cope with stress with a focus on how caregiving generates positive affect through the voices of these young mothers themselves. This chapter contributed to the sociological literature on stress and coping. In particular, our findings were also in line with the work of sociologist Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence concept. SOC is a global measure that indicates the availability of, and willingness to use, adaptive coping resources as a key variable in maintaining health.

This study aims to explore dietary diversity (DD) and nutritional status of adolescents among rural farm households in Southwestern Nigeria. It analyses whether higher commercialization levels of farm households translate to better nutrition.

This study was conducted in Ogun and Oyo States of Southwestern Nigeria, using primary data from 352 farm households with a total of 160 adolescent members. The individual version of dietary diversity score (DDS) of nine food groups was used to calculate adolescent DDS over a 24-h recall period. World Health Organization AnthroPlus software was used in analyzing adolescents’ anthropometric data (height-for-age z-score and body mass index-for-age z-score) while household crop commercialization index (CCI) was estimated for each farm household. Separate logit models were used to examine the drivers of adolescents’ DD and malnutrition.

The study findings indicated that 100% of the adolescents consumed starchy staples while 0%, 3.1% and 12.5% consumed organ meat, milk/milk products and eggs, respectively. Results revealed that 74.1% and 21.2% of boys were stunted and thin while the prevalence in adolescent girls was 50.7% and 9.3%, respectively. Prevalence of stunting was found to be very high (60%–83%) in all the four CCI levels’ households indicating that belonging to highly commercialized households (CCI 3–4) may not necessarily translate to better nutrition of adolescent members. Food expenditure (p < 0.01) and access to piped water (p < 0.01) negatively influenced adolescents’ stunting mainly because of lower expenditure on food items and lower percent of household having access to piped water, respectively, while education (p < 0.01) had positive effects on adolescents’ DD.

Previous studies have contributed to the body of knowledge concerning the link between agricultural commercialization and nutrition using under-five children of the households. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigated the influence of CCI on DDS and nutritional status of adolescent members of farm households in Nigeria. This study fills this existing knowledge gap in investigating adolescents’ DD and malnutrition among smallholder farm households.

Amid widespread social and cultural shifts and advocacy toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights remain a hidden population of homeless adolescents who are cast out from families and communities because of their sexual and gender orientation. The result is an over-representation of LGBT adolescents among the homeless in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of literature and research which explores the status and needs of LGBT homeless adolescents in the United States.

To understand the experiences of LGBT adolescents leading up to and during homelessness, I provide a thematic and critical review of four decades of research to connect our understanding of the LGBT homeless experience with institutional and collective efforts that work to promote their well-being.

Bringing together this body of literature, I explore four interrelated questions. First, has the rate of homelessness increased for LGBT adolescents in recent decades? Second, what is the experience of LGBT adolescents who become homeless? Third, what role does advocacy and support play in ameliorating the difficulties these young people face? Finally, what role can future research and policy play in shaping the well-being of LGBT adolescents who become homeless?

Understanding the experience of homeless LGBT adolescents and the collective advocacy efforts designed to promote their well-being offers insight into the intersection of symbolic, inter-personal, and institutional forces which shape their trajectories.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the adolescent therapeutic community (ATC) literature – drawing on studies primarily from the USA with consideration made to the Australian context.

A review of the efficacy research for ATCs is considered, and the characteristics of Australians accessing ATC treatment are discussed in the context of developmental needs.

Similarities are found in what precipitates and perpetuates adolescent substance use in the USA and Australia, and therefore, what appears to facilitate effective treatment utilising the therapeutic community model.

The paper provides a valuable perspective for Australian services, and explores the application of the ATC model within the Australian treatment context.

This paper aims to review global adolescent empowerment programmes and develops and proposes a model that can be used with vulnerable adolescents. The model reflects theory and experience drawn from the literature.

The review is a synthesis of articles on empowerment theory, models and programme evaluations. Literature is selected and critiqued that reflects aspects of empowerment as described by Freire or relating to empowering models that could be generalised and related specifically to vulnerable adolescent programmes. Vulnerable adolescents within the context of this paper have been identified as those experiencing social, economic, cultural or physical disadvantage.

The findings document that empowerment programmes do not fully integrate the theory or pedagogy of empowerment as described by Freire. In most cases the goals of empowerment programmes, when stated, do not reflect the transformative or social action aspects of empowerment theory. Nevertheless there are sufficient examples of successful empowerment programmes with marginalised populations to warrant more rigorous application and evaluation of empowerment theory with this population in a variety of social settings. The relationship between the facilitator and participants and the development of critical consciousness are two vital aspects of empowerment theory that are unexplored and need further study.

Many empowerment programmes for vulnerable adolescents in resource‐poor countries have not been evaluated or have not been published. Lack of consistency in the use of terminology and evaluation also makes it difficult to compare studies.

This paper proposes a model of empowerment that could be effective in addressing the health needs of marginalised adolescents and is based on theory and field experiences.

This study is a formative evaluation of an adolescent online e-cigarette prevention program (Clearing the Vapor) giving attention to identifying higher risk adolescent populations, confirming the theory of change, and assessing short-term outcomes.

The evaluation was conducted using online pre-test and post-test survey data collected from adolescent program participants age 10–18 from 2019 to 2021. Analyses included risk ratios on perceived risk, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions across demographic variables. Pre-test and post-test comparisons were conducted with analysis involving the t-test and the McNemar test.

Prevalence of e-cigarette use was higher among males, older adolescents, and in racial/ethnic groups other than Whites and Asians. Adolescents with lower confidence to say “no” were more likely to use e-cigarettes. Greater perception of harm by using e-cigarettes increased the likelihood of adolescents feeling competent to explain to peers the harmful effects of e-cigarettes. Mean change in commitment levels to not use e-cigarettes increased for males and females, all ages, and racial/ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic Blacks and American Indians. Improvement in non-Hispanic Whites was significantly greater than for non-Hispanic Blacks, American Indians, and Hispanics.

Improvement in programming should give careful attention to the incorporation of more prevention activities and to materials tailored specifically to racial/ethnic participants. As a theory of change, findings support the utility of the Clearing the Vape prevention programming to address perceptions of harm that e-cigarettes are safe, confidence in explaining the harmful effects of use, and the development of skills to resist use.

Despite growing concerns over the increasing incidence of compulsive buying among young consumers, scant research attention has been focused on this darker side of consumer behavior among adolescent consumers. The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of compulsive buying as a coping mechanism in early adolescents.

The present study is the first to experimentally manipulate a common and important stressor in the lives of adolescents, academic stress, and measures its impact on compulsive buying among a sample of 12‐13 year old seventh graders. Next, the authors investigate whether gender moderates the stress‐compulsive buying relationship.

The present study finds that early adolescents increasingly turn to compulsive buying in an attempt to cope with heightened levels of academic stress. Surprisingly, gender was not found to moderate this relationship. Both boys and girls were found to respond to higher levels of academic stress with higher incidences of compulsive buying. Results suggest that compulsive buying is a common coping strategy for adolescents from both genders.

The results of this study suggest that compulsive buying is a common coping strategy in early adolescents. Additionally, both boys and girls were found to use compulsive buying as a means to cope with stress associated with school. Whether compulsive buying can be considered an adaptive or maladaptive coping strategy when dealing with stress requires further study be conducted in this area of research.

The paper makes several unique and important contributions to the literature. First, it describes one of few studies to investigate compulsive buying in early adolescents – a hard to reach population. Second, it is the only study to experimentally manipulate stress levels to investigate its impact on compulsive buying. Third, the study's findings in regard to gender's impact (or lack thereof) on the stress‐compulsive buying relationship suggest that compulsive buying begins early in adolescence and is a common coping strategy for both boys and girls. How young people cope with common stressors such as school has important implications for their mental and physical well‐being.

The purpose of this paper is to measure prevalence and predictors of mobile phone access and use among adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.

The current study was an interviewer-administered, cross-sectional survey among adolescents 14-19 years living in a hyper-endemic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) setting in South Africa.

Of 830 participants; 57 per cent were female. The median age was 18 years (IQR: 17-18). Mobile phone access was high (91 per cent). Almost half of participants (42 per cent) spent more than five hours daily using their mobile phones. Two-thirds (62 per cent) had access to the internet, most (84 per cent) accessed the internet via their mobile phones. Mobile phone access was more likely amongst Sotho language speakers (aOR: 2.87, 95 per cent CI: 1.30-6.36), those living in formal housing (aOR: 3.55, 95 per cent CI: 1.97-6.42) and those who reported heterosexual orientation (aOR: 2.37, CI: 1.35-4.16).

This study substantially contributes to the literature about mobile phones usage and patterns among school-going adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.