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Item Young adolescent men’s perspectives on risks and harmful impacts of pornography use(SAGE Publications, 2025-05-01) Vertongen R; Van Ommen C; Chamberlain KPornography use is often considered harmful, but what constitutes such harm is frequently vague and driven by adult perspectives about risk. This study aimed to explore how adolescents themselves understood harm and risk from pornography use. Thirteen male adolescents, 14 to 15 years old, were interviewed using in-depth interviews to understand their perspectives of risk and harm. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify three pertinent themes: pornography is risky and harmful, especially to naïve consumers; pornography is not harmful to me, because strategies of control can be used; and generational disparity, where differences between adult claims of harm and personal experiences were questioned. We propose adolescents’ concern for others’ wellbeing over their personal risks be considered as showing compassion. We conclude that adolescent perceptions of risk and harm are nuanced and insightful, and that adolescents can engage critically with pornography content to manage potential risks and harm.Item Communicating distress: suicide threats/gestures among clinical and community youth.(Springer Nature, 2023-08-01) Robinson K; Scharinger C; Brown RC; Plener PLAlthough self-injurious thoughts and behaviors are a global health concern, little is known about suicidal threat/gesture(s) where a person leads others to believe they want to end their lives when they have no intention to do so. This study assessed the lifetime prevalence of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors among both community adolescents (n = 1117) and in clinical youth (n = 191). Suicide threats/gestures were common among youth; 12.2% of community adolescents and 18.0% of clinical youth reporting having made a suicide threat/gesture, most commonly in the context of other self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. Across both samples, suicide threats/gestures were not uniquely associated with suicide attempts, and youth who reported suicide threats/gestures in the context of a history of self-harm or suicide plan(s) were no more likely to report a history of suicide attempt(s). Suicide threats/gestures were distinguished from suicide attempts in that they primarily fulfilled positive social functions, rather than autonomic functions. Findings suggest that suicidal threats/gestures are common in both community and clinical youth, and are not uniquely associated with suicide attempts, but rather function to communicate distress to others.Item Efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy for adolescent self-harm and suicidal ideation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.(Cambridge University Press, 2021-05-01) Kothgassner OD; Goreis A; Robinson K; Huscsava MM; Schmahl C; Plener PLBACKGROUND: Given the widespread nature and clinical consequences of self-harm and suicidal ideation among adolescents, establishing the efficacy of developmentally appropriate treatments that reduce both self-harm and suicidal ideation in the context of broader adolescent psychopathology is critical. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) literature on treating self-injury in adolescents (12-19 years). We searched for eligible trials and treatment evaluations published prior to July 2020 in MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases for clinical trials. Twenty-one studies were identified [five randomized-controlled trials (RCTs), three controlled clinical trials (CCTs), and 13 pre-post evaluations]. We extracted data for predefined primary (self-harm, suicidal ideation) and secondary outcomes (borderline personality symptoms; BPD) and calculated treatment effects for RCTs/CCTs and pre-post evaluations. This meta-analysis was pre-registered with OSF: osf.io/v83e7. RESULTS: Overall, the studies comprised 1673 adolescents. Compared to control groups, DBT-A showed small to moderate effects for reducing self-harm (g = -0.44; 95% CI -0.81 to -0.07) and suicidal ideation (g = -0.31, 95% CI -0.52 to -0.09). Pre-post evaluations suggested large effects for all outcomes (self-harm: g = -0.98, 95% CI -1.15 to -0.81; suicidal ideation: g = -1.16, 95% CI -1.51 to -0.80; BPD symptoms: g = -0.97, 95% CI -1.31 to -0.63). CONCLUSIONS: DBT-A appears to be a valuable treatment in reducing both adolescent self-harm and suicidal ideation. However, evidence that DBT-A reduces BPD symptoms was only found in pre-post evaluations.Item Does treatment method matter? A meta-analysis of the past 20 years of research on therapeutic interventions for self-harm and suicidal ideation in adolescents(BioMed Central Ltd, part of Springer Nature, 2020-05-11) Kothgassner OD; Robinson K; Goreis A; Ougrin D; Plener PLBackground: Self-harm is a clinically relevant and prevalent behaviour which peaks in adolescence. Given the high prevalence of self-harm, the high levels of psychiatric comorbidity, and its role as a risk factor for suicide, delivering evidence-based care is critical. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on treating self-harm in adolescents (12-19 years) published in the last 20 years, identifying 25 randomised controlled trials. We calculated the effect of treatment interventions relative to active control conditions in reducing self-harm, suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms. Results: Overall, treatment interventions fared slightly better than active controls in decreasing self-harm (d = 0.13, 95% CI 0.04-0.22, p =.004), suicidal ideation (d = 0.31, 95% CI 0.12-0.50, p =.001) and depressive symptoms (d = 0.22, 95% CI 0.07-0.38, p =.006). Subgroup analysis of specific therapies revealed moderate effects of DBT-A in reducing self-harm (d = 0.51, 95% CI 0.18-0.85, p =.002) and suicidal ideation (d = 0.48, 95% CI 0.17-0.80, p =.003), as well as moderate effects of family-centred therapy in the treating suicidal ideation (d = 0.58, 95% CI 0.01-1.15, p =.049). Conclusions: The findings of our meta-analysis indicate that, overall, currently available treatments are effective in treating self-harm, suicidal ideation, and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Although the treatment intervention conditions showed only small to moderate effects in comparison to active controls, these differences were statistically significant and are clinically important. Further research is needed to understand the reduction in self-harm within active controls, which may arise due to the natural course of self-harm, or the potential efficacy of treatment as usual and enhanced usual care. Given the significant reduction of self-harm in active control conditions, delivering effective care to a large number of adolescents with self-harm may require developing stepped-care models in clinical practice. Expensive and poorly available treatments should be targeted at young people who most need them.Item Youth, Pornography, and Addiction: A Critical Review(Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2024-04) Healy-Cullen S; Taylor K; Morison TPurpose of Review: In this article, we dig more deeply into the assumptions underpinning common-sense understandings about youth “exposure” to pornography and the ostensible “effects” of this exposure, specifically “pornography addiction”. We trace the emergence of the notion of “pornography addiction”, highlighting how cultural conditions have allowed for its realisation as a socially recognisable and intelligible narrative. Recent Findings: Media effects research on the issue of youth “exposure” to pornography is not conclusive, nor is pornography addiction officially recognised as a diagnosable disorder. Moreover, an emerging body of multidisciplinary qualitative research, which, importantly, includes the perspectives and experiences of young people themselves, raises questions about some of the assumptions and conclusions of effects-focused research. Summary: Despite inconclusive and contrasting findings, the social narrative of pornography addiction persists both within and beyond academe. We make sense of this persistence in relation to the broader problematisation of youth sexuality, which includes unease and moral objection to young people viewing pornography. It is important to recognise the broader socio-cultural systems supporting the cultural narrative of pornography addiction, and the social functions that this narrative serves, that is, the need for adult intervention into the sexual lives of youth.Item Adolescent-parent conflict as preceived by the adolescent : a study of the development of independence in adolescence : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Arts in Education(Massey University, 1975) Chong, HelenThe development of independence is one of the major developmental tasks of adolescence. The development of two aspects of independence - economic independence and emotional independence - were considered in this study. It was postulated that when the individual is emotionally dependent on his parents, and acceptant of being so, the degree of conflict with parents is low and that during the period of striving for emotional independence the degree of conflict with parents rises to a maximum, then falls as emotional independence is established. After a consideration of factors stated in the literature to be related to adolescent-parent conflict the following hypothesis was developed and tested: for those adolescents living with their parents who are by law permitted to engage in full time employment there is an inverse relation between the degree of economic independence and the degree of conflict with parents, regardless of age, sex, socio-economic status and whether or not the adolescent is a student. A scale to measure degree of conflict was developed and used to assess degree of conflict with mother, with father, and with both parents together. From 133 responses to the questionnaire designed to test this hypothesis a sample of 85 Europeans, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years who came from families where both the natural parents were present was obtained. The hypothesis was not verified. Conflict with mother was found to decrease with age. No other factors were found to be related to degree of conflict. An analysis of the areas of conflict indicated, on average, a greater number of areas of conflict with mother than with father and a greater number of areas of conflict with father than with both parents together. Examination of the highest ranking areas indicated that adolescents argue more with their mothers about specific home-centered topics and more with their fathers and both parents together about abstract and external topics. This difference in the nature of adolescent-parent conflict was explained in terms of the structure of the New Zealand family and the role each parent plays in the family.Item The impact of school-based Aggression Replacement Training on emotion regulation and aggressive behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2014) Smith, FreyaThis research evaluates the effectiveness and implementation of Aggression Replacement Training (ART) with a group of New Zealand (NZ) students aged 13-15 years (n=18). Aggression is a significant problem in NZ schools and despite recent progress with school-wide and individually targeted interventions, there are few evaluations of interventions with these adolescents. Deficient emotion regulation is a major risk factor in youth aggression. Although emotion regulation skills are targeted by many aggression interventions, outcome measures less frequently assess these skills than other social information processing abilities. This thesis links research evidence of the role of emotion in aggression, to the techniques taught in ART, to support the hypothesis that ART improves emotion regulation and reduces aggression. Analyses of the change in mean group scores and individual-level analyses indicate improvements in ART participants’ emotion regulation, anger control and social skills over the course of intervention and follow-up. These analyses also indicate reductions in ART participants’ externalising, problem behaviours and cognitive distortions. These findings support the use of ART as effective in reducing the risk of aggressive behaviour, and as an alternative to exclusionary discipline, in NZ schools. ART appears to be culturally acceptable and may offer a less resource intensive intervention than individual intervention plans. Keywords: aggression, emotion regulation, adolescence, social information processing, aggression replacement training.Item Rangatahi oranga : family functioning, cultural orientation and depression among New Zealand adolescents : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2011) Ketu-McKenzie, MiriamaMental health disparities between Maori and NZ European adolescents are well documented. Cultural-vulnerability theory posits that cultural dimensions may explain some of the difference in distress levels between different ethnic groups. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships between family functioning, cultural orientation and depression among NZ Maori and NZ European adolescents and examine whether cultural orientation - individualism and collectivism - would moderate the relationship between perceived family functioning and depression scores. Self-report data assessing individualism, collectivism, family functioning and depression were collected from 299 Maori and NZ European high school adolescents. Family dysfunction was found to positively correlate with depression scores for adolescents in both groups, however the relationship was stronger for adolescent males than females, and for NZ Europeans than Maori adolescents, and the relationship was strongest for Maori male adolescents specifically. The study's major findings were that collectivism had a moderating effect on the relationship between family functioning and depression for NZ European females only, and that for Maori male adolescents who were highly individualistic, family functioning accounted for 20% of the variance in depression scores. A further finding was that Maori adolescents displayed both highly individualistic and highly collectivistic tendencies, which indicates that there may be multiple culture-related pathways to depression for Maori youths. The findings suggest that Maori male adolescents may be more vulnerable to the deleterious effects of family dysfunction than Maori females, especially if they display tendencies towards individualism. The implications for these and other findings are discussed.Item "Ungrown-up grown-ups" : the representation of adolescence in twentieth-century New Zealand young adult fiction : a dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2004) Laurs, Deborah ElizabethBehaviouralists consider adolescence a time for developing autonomy, which accords with Michel Foucault‘s power/knowledge dynamic that recognises individuals‘ assertion of independence as a crucial element within society. Surprisingly, however, twentieth-century New Zealand Young Adult (YA) fiction tends to disempower adolescents, by portraying an adultist version of them as immature and unprepared for adult responsibilities. By depicting events through characters‘ eyes, a focalising device that encourages reader identification with the narratorial point-of-view, authors such as Esther Glen, Isabel Maud Peacocke, Joyce West, Phillis Garrard, Tessa Duder, Lisa Vasil, Margaret Mahy, William Taylor, Kate de Goldi, Paula Boock, David Hill, Jane Westaway, and Bernard Beckett stress the importance of conforming to adult authority. Rites of passage are rarely attained; protagonists respect their elders, and juvenile delinquents either repent or are punished for their misguided behaviours. ―Normal‖ expectations are established by the portrayal of single parents who behave ―like teenagers‖: an unnatural role reversal that demands a return to traditional hegemonic roles. Adolescents must forgive adults‘ failings within a discourse that rarely forgives theirs. Depictions of child abuse, while deploring the deed, tend to emphasise victims‘ forbearance rather than admitting perpetrators‘ culpability. As Foucault points out, adolescent sexuality both fascinates and alarms adult society. Within the texts, sex is strictly an adult prerogative, reserved for reproduction within marriage, with adolescent intimacy sanctioned only between couples who conform to the middle-class ideal of monogamy. On the other hand, teenagers who indulge in casual sex are invariably given cause to regret. Such presentations operate vicariously to protect readers from harm, but also create an idealised, steadfast sense of adultness in the process.