School-based mindfulness interventions have recently shown promise for treating and preventing mental health issues in young people. However, the literature lacks a high-level perspective of the impact of mindfulness on young people’s mental health according to their own first-hand accounts. Therefore, the objective of this study was to conduct the first systematic review and thematic synthesis to rigorously evaluate the qualitative evidence pertaining to students’ experiences of school-based MBIs. The following electronic databases were searched for qualitative school-based mindfulness intervention papers published up until the end of March 2019: PubMed , Web of Science , Scopus , ProQuest , and Google Scholar . An assessment of study quality was undertaken using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme qualitative checklist. The initial literature search returned 4102 papers and seven studies met all of the inclusion criteria. The thematic synthesis identified four major themes of (i) using attentional processes to regulate emotions and cognitions, (ii) stress reduction, (iii) improved coping and social skills, and (iv) calming and/or relaxation. Findings show that school-based MBIs are experienced by students as having a range of benefits to mental health, including in both preventative and treatment contexts. However, efforts should be made to improve methodological quality, including taking steps to minimise recall bias and provide a greater degree of transparency regarding how students are selected to attend qualitative interviews or focus groups.
Supakyada Sapthiang, William Van Gordon, Edo Shonin
This study investigated associations between parental and child psychopathology with parenting stress as a possible mediator, in order to get more insight in mothers' and fathers' roles in the development of psychopathology in children. Parents of 272 clinically referred (aged 6-20, 66% boys) reported about their own and their child's behavioral problems, and about parenting stress. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Outcomes of path models demonstrated that mothers' higher internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with respectively children's higher internalizing and externalizing problems. Fathers' higher externalizing problems were associated with both children's higher internalizing and externalizing problems, but fathers' internalizing problems were only associated with children's lower externalizing problems. Parenting stress fully mediated the relation between mothers' and children's externalizing problems, and partly mediated the relation between mothers' and children's internalizing problems. For fathers, parenting stress partly mediated the relation between fathers' internalizing problems and children's externalizing problems. Findings indicate that for mothers, the association between parental and child psychopathology is specific, whereas for fathers it is non-specific. Furthermore, results suggest that reducing parenting stress may decrease child problem behavior. Longitudinal studies are needed in order to gain more insight in the direction and underlying mechanisms of the relation between parental and child psychopathology, including parental stress.
Desirée Weijers, Francisca J. A. van Steensel, Susan Maria Bögels
Despite important advances, empirical evidence regarding the impact of divorce on children is mixed, ranging widely in its conclusions regarding the intensity, chronicity, and harmfulness of parental divorce on their post-divorce adjustment. To explain the broad range of findings, we suggest that successful and dysfunctional adjustment following parental divorce may not be mutually exclusive. Rather, they may be partly independent, and children may report divorce-specific traumatic feelings as well as a relatively high post-divorce adjustment. We examined these suggestions in a sample of 142 six-to-18-year-old Dutch children whose parents were involved in high-conflict divorces. Children completed self-reported measures of post-divorce traumatic impact and adjustment. Consistent with our suggestion, children showed, on average, both high levels of trauma and high levels of post-divorce adjustment. Nevertheless, illustrating domain spill-over, at the individual level, children who experienced more traumatic impact of the divorce also reported lower levels of post-divorce adjustment. These results suggest that high-conflict divorce represents a risk for traumatic impact, and, at the same time, children demonstrate resilience. Future research examining which children are more susceptible to trauma and/or resilience over time would be promising.
Reine C. van der Wal, Catrin Finkenauer, Margreet M. Visser
Abstract Parenting unfolds amid accelerating climate change, reshaping how adults understand responsibility, emotion, and everyday family life. We examined Italian parents’ lived experiences and meaning-making using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of nine semi-structured interviews (eight mothers, one father). Five interlinked themes were identified: (1) “Living in the forecast”: Parenthood as a temporal and intergenerational lens (past, present, and future); (2) “Panic, fear… and a spark”: Emotional ambivalence, solastalgia, and eco-grief; (3) “Honestly, we stay shut indoors”: Everyday life reorganized by climate constraints and family adaptations; (4) “My efforts are not enough” and “Not terror, but awareness”: Parental agency between helplessness and educational responsibility; (5) “Feels like a drop in the ocean”: Polarized coping from denial to guilt. Together, accounts portray climate change as an intimate, relational condition rather than a distant risk, saturating identity, care, and family practices. Findings extend environmental psychology by foregrounding intergenerational place-loss and the paradox of micro-agency within macro-helplessness, and they suggest supports that normalize eco-emotions, scaffold developmentally attuned communication, and connect parents to collective resources. Italy─a climate-vulnerable, family-centric context─offers a case for policy that treats parental well-being as climate adaptation. Implications span prevention, family services, and environmental communication, and invite longitudinal and cross-national research on parenting under climate stress.
Abstract In many Western countries, the ideology of intensive parenting has gained prominence in the discourse of experts, policymakers, and within popular culture. This ideology emphasizes deep parental involvement in emotional, physical, and financial aspects (Lee et al., 2014). Meeting these demanding standards can exert significant pressure on parents, especially on mothers often considered as the primary caregiver. Moreover, these pressures may prompt parents to be highly, and potentially overly, involved in their children’s lives. Using data from 146 parent dyads (N = 292 parents; Mage = 47.57 years) of Swiss adolescents, the study explores parental perceptions of pressure to be a perfect parent and its association with one positive (responsiveness) and two negative types of involvement (overprotection and overvaluation). Thereby, we estimated Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) to examine mutual influences between mothers and fathers. The results indicated that mothers reported experiencing significantly more pressure than fathers. We found evidence for a positive association between perceptions of pressure and parental overprotection among both parents. The results also showed that there was a significant association between feelings of pressure and overvaluation, but only among fathers. Associations between pressure and responsiveness were not significant, and no significant partner effects were observed in any of the models. In conclusion, mothers particularly face heightened pressure to be perfect parents, but both parents may adapt their parenting strategies in response to perceived pressure to be perfect as a parent. These findings highlight the potential issues associated with societal pressures on parents and their impact on parenting behavior.
Gaëlle Venard, Grégoire Zimmermann, Jean‐Philippe Antonietti et al.
Abstract This study investigated profiles of perceived social support and their associations with mental health indicators for male and female adolescents. The sample was a nationally representative group of Danish adolescents age 13–16 years (Male N = 1114; Female N = 1065). Latent profile analysis was used to identify profiles of perceived social support from different sources (classmate, teacher, family, friend). Three distinct profiles of perceived social support were identified for both genders: ‘High’ support from all sources (54.4% of males; 55.5% of females), ‘Moderate’ support from all sources (31.6% of males; 28.8% of females) and ‘Low friend’ support with moderate support from other sources (13.9% of males; 15.7% of females). The ‘high’ perceived support profile was associated with optimal mental health; the ‘moderate’ perceived support profile was associated with lower wellbeing and more frequent emotional symptoms; and the ‘low friend’ perceived support profile was associated with the lowest levels of wellbeing and, specifically for females, higher frequency of emotional symptoms. Results highlight typical profiles of perceived social support among adolescents, and demonstrate nuanced associations between perceived social support and mental health indicators, with notable gender differences.
Kimberly J. Petersen, Pamela Qualter, Neil Humphrey et al.
Abstract The aim of the present study was to explore the gender-specific links between perceived parental behavioral and psychological control and adolescents’ psychological adjustment directly and indirectly through the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. The participants in the study were 930 early adolescents (mean age 12.9; SD 0.71; 49.9% girls) who filled in questionnaires about the parenting of their parents (for mothers and fathers respectively) as well as their own psychological adjustment (self-esteem and life satisfaction). The results of the structural equation modeling showed that the perception of adolescents regarding their parents’ behavioral and psychological control is significantly directly and/or indirectly associated with their psychological adjustment. Behavioral control was found to be positively and psychological control negatively associated with psychological adjustment. These associations have shown some gender-specific patterns. Among the boys, perceived control was associated with boys’ psychological adjustment indirectly through the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship for both mothers and fathers. On the other hand, the link between parental control and psychological adjustment among the girls was found to be direct for the father’s control and both direct and indirect for the mother’s control. Maternal control was associated with adolescents’ adjustment only indirectly through the quality of the mother-adolescent relationship while more direct associations were found among the fathers. This was particularly the case for the father-daughter dyad. However, the results were found to contradict previous findings in several points. This could have been attributed to the age of early adolescence as well as the cultural specifics of the sample.
Mária Bačíková-Slešková, Lucia Barbierik, Oľga Orosová
PURPOSE: Cyberbullying is a crucial issue that affects adolescent mental health, with evidence to suggest that adolescents who are victims of cyberbullying are at higher risk for self-harm. However, longitudinal evidence is lacking, meaning the direction of effects cannot be established. This study investigated longitudinal associations between levels of cyberbullying involvement (bully, victim, or both), frequency, and self-harm a year later in an adolescent sample. METHODS: Data were collected from Year 9 students (13-14-year-olds; N = 1,195) enrolled in 19 schools in Southwest England using an online questionnaire with a 1-year follow-up period (October 2019-October 2020). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to test for associations between different levels of cyberbullying involvement at baseline and the likelihood of self-harm a year later, adjusting for key covariates. A secondary regression analysis also explored the associations between the frequency of cyberbullying involvement at baseline and subsequent self-harm. RESULTS: Compared to those with no cyberbullying involvement, individuals who were both victims and perpetrators (adjusted odds ratio = 2.94, 95% confidence interval: 1.99-4.34) as well as victims only (adjusted odds ratio = 2.81, 95% confidence interval: 1.95-4.04) showed an increased risk of subsequent self-harm. In terms of frequency, associations were found between frequent and occasional cyberbullying and self-harm for both victims and perpetrators; however, associations for the perpetrator group attenuated to the null following adjustment for covariates. DISCUSSION: Our findings highlight cyberbullying in early adolescence as a risk factor for subsequent self-harm. Cyberbullying prevention should be a priority for school mental health interventions, with consideration that most perpetrators of cyberbullying may also be victims.
Abstract Given the large discrepancy between prevalence rates of mental disorders in adolescents and actual treatment rates, there is a need to understand what prevents this age group from seeking psychotherapy. We assessed the barriers to seeking psychotherapy in this age group, including their attitudes toward people with a mental disorder, using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Participants were 288 adolescents aged 12–21 years (M = 16.8 years, SD = 2.3; 37% identified as male, 63% as female, and 0% as nonbinary). Qualitative data were obtained with open-ended questions on barriers to initiating psychotherapy and attitudes toward people with a mental disorder. Barriers to seeking psychotherapy and information about psychotherapy were assessed with a questionnaire using a quantitative design. The qualitative assessment revealed as the main barriers fear of a negative interaction with a psychotherapist, fear of being confronted with their own emotions, self-stigma, and fear of public stigma. Further, lack of accessibility, lack of trust in the therapist, a desire for social distance from, and a negative attitude toward people with a mental disorder were associated with a decreased intention to initiate psychotherapy. Previous positive experience with a psychotherapist was a facilitator of seeking psychotherapy. We found gender differences, with higher desire for social distance and higher optimism bias scores as well as poorer mental health knowledge for participants identifying as male. Integrating results from both approaches results in further information for the improvement of prevention programs and interventions to lower barriers to seeking psychotherapy. Gender differences indicate a need for gender-role-specific interventions.
Abstract Approximately half of mothers receiving substance use treatment are involved with childcare proceedings. This review aims to determine whether integrated treatment programmes for mothers with substance use problems are effective in preventing out-of-home placement (temporally/permanent) and influencing other maternal factors such as patterns of substance use, treatment completion and parenting behaviours. Six trials were identified—two randomised controlled trials and four non-randomised controlled studies. The pooled sample of participants was 1717. The results showed that mothers who participated in integrated treatment programmes were significantly less likely to have the children removed from their care (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.61), more likely to complete substance use treatment (OR = 3.01, 95% CI = 1.79, 5.06), and more likely to reduce their alcohol consumption (Standardised Mean Difference (SMD) = −0.40, 95% Cl = −0.78, −0.01) and drug use (SMD = −0.30, 95% CI = −0.53, −0.07). However, non-significant reductions were observed for parent–child conflict (SMD = −0.35, 95% CI = −0.72, 0.03) and child abuse risk (SMD = −0.03, 95% CI = −0.36, 0.31). While the findings from this review suggest that mothers involved in integrated treatment programmes could potentially be less likely to experience out-of-home child placements and more likely to improve substance use treatment outcomes, little evidence exists for the effectiveness of these interventions. Further research, particularly high-quality RCTs, is required to demonstrate and persuade health and public policy on the far-reaching value of the integrated approaches.
Samantha H. F. Neo, Sam Norton, Despoina Kavallari et al.
