Browsing by Subject "Adolescent girls"

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BETI : a nonprofit organization empowering through performance
(2006-08) Mahajan, Geeti Shirazi; Hyder, Syed Akbar
BETI (Better Education Through Innovation) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of disempowered adolescent girls and their communities in rural areas in India through informal education and vocational training. This thesis focuses on BETI's use of nontraditional methodologies, particularly performing arts (music, dance, and theater), to empower these girls and to engage with their communities. Participating in performance allows for individuals to gain self-awareness and to experience an increase in confidence, which better equips them to change their realities in a positive way.
Breaking the silence : empowering adolescent girls through art
(2016-12) Link, Bethany L.; Adejumo, Christopher O., 1959-
This action research study investigates “loss of voice” in adolescent girls and explores the ways art educators can promote assertiveness and self-confidence in middle school girls. This study examines literature on adolescent girls’ psychology, the power of art-making, decentralized structure, and feminist pedagogy. Grounded in this literature the author creates a 12-week art club for 7th and 8th grade girls. This club was designed to promote assertiveness and self-confidence by letting the girls lead in a decentralized learning environment. The daily process of the club is chronicled and recommendations are made for art teachers looking to support girls as they transition through adolescence. Data was collected with surveys, interviews, field notes, and observations. After the club concluded, findings revealed that the girls involved in the study grew in their ability to assert their opinions, take risks, and have confidence in themselves.
Examining hostile attribution of intent, relational provocation, and physical aggression in girls
(2012-08) Amoscato, Laura Elizabeth; Sander, Janay Boswell; Carlson, Cindy; Keith, Timothy; Loukas, Alexandra; Aguilar, Jemel
Hostile attribution of intent (HAI) is a social information processing pattern that reflects a distorted interpretation of ambiguous social situations as overly negative, personal, and aggressive, leading to further aggression. Previous research has documented the existence of HAI in connection with relational aggression among adolescent girls, but little is known about the role of HAI and physical aggression in this population. This qualitative study explored the experiences of adolescent girls involved in physical fights with another girl in order to determine the types of provocation that led to physical aggression. Participants were 11 girls, ages 15 to 17 years, and 7 parent participants of the girls. School disciplinary records were used to identify participants for the study. All girls who had a disciplinary record for engaging in a physical fight with another female student were invited to participate. A semi-structured interview was conducted, and the parents were given a single-question survey related to socioeconomic status. Data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research as described by Hill, Thompson, and Williams (1997). The study participants reported that relational provocations, such as “talking mess” and “mean mugging,” led to physical aggression. They also noted that the type of help offered by adults to reduce conflict was not effective. Many participants reported receiving messages from adults implying it was acceptable to fight, provided that the participant won the fight. Finally, participants reported that disrespect is an acceptable and expected reason to get into a physical fight.
Investigation of anxiety symptoms in a cognitive-stress mediational model of depression in early adolescent girls
(2009-08) Herren, Jennifer Ann, 1981-; Stark, Kevin Douglas
Previous research indicates an increase in the prevalence of depression around adolescence, especially for females. Research suggests depressogenic cognitions play an essential role in the development of depression and may mediate the relation between risk factors and depression. Research has also shown the family environment, negative life events, and maternal depression are all related to the development of depressogenic cognitions. Additionally, few studies have tested models of depression while measuring both anxiety and depressive symptoms despite the high rates of comorbidity between the two disorders. The current study used path analytic techniques to integrate correlates of depression while accounting for comorbid anxiety symptoms in comprehensive model of depression for early adolescent girls. Participants included 203 girls, aged 9-14, along with their mothers. Participants completed self-report measures of the family environment, cognitive triad, and negative life events. Mothers of participants completed a self-report measure of psychopathology. Participants also completed a semi-structured diagnostic interview, which served as the measure for symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results supported previous literature finding a more depressogenic cognitive triad was significantly associated with higher depressive severity. Family environments, characterized by more cohesive and less conflictual family relationships, more communication, and higher engagement in social/recreational activities, were significantly associated with a more positive cognitive triad. Additionally, more negative life events were significantly associated with a more depressogenic cognitive triad. Both family social/recreational activities and negative life events had significant indirect effects on depression. Results indicated a strong relation between anxiety and depression, with anxiety having a significant positive direct effect on depression. The pathways from maternal depression and anxiety to the cognitive triad, anxiety symptoms to the cognitive triad, as well as family environment variables, maternal depression and anxiety and negative life events to anxiety symptoms were not found to be significant. Results from an exploratory analysis suggest anxiety may moderate the relation between the cognitive triad and depression. Implications of these results, limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided.
Panoramic distortions : understanding the culture of girls in a military structured residential treatment facility
(2011-05) Hernandez, Jessica, 1982-; Drum, David J.; Ainslie, Ricardo C.; McCarthy, Christopher; King, John D.; Aguilar, Jemel
Current research on girls and delinquency has brought to awareness the often stressful and traumatic lives of girls. Furthermore, the last three decades have seen an increase in the proportion of girls entering the Juvenile Justice System and an increase in the proportion of girl’s court ordered to attend military structured treatment programs. Developed with boys in mind, many researchers in the area of female delinquency believe that military structured treatment programs are less effectiveness for girls. Thus, the goal of the current study is to consider the experience of girls in a military structured residential treatment facility. Additionally, this study sought to answer the following questions posed by the administrative personnel of this program: 1) Why do staff members report more difficulties when working with the girls? 2) Why are girls more emotionally labile than boys? 3) What changes can be made to the program to increase girls’ success in the program? Participants in this study were referred to a military structured residential treatment program. At the time of the study, four girls, ages 14 to 16, participated in the study. In addition to the girls’ participation, staff members including drill instructors, program officers, teachers, health professionals, and administrative staff participated in the study. The current study utilized an ethnographic approach to explore and identify information that may be useful in better understanding the research questions. The Listening Guide Method (Brown & Gilligan, 1992) was utilized to conduct a narrative analysis of the interviews with both the girls and staff members. Results demonstrated that while in the program, services provided were uneven in both scope and quality. For example, lack of training among staff members resulted in missed opportunities to teach the girls necessary skills that would enable them to tolerate emotional distress while in the program and at home. In order to better meet the needs of the girls, it is recommended that this program strive to integrate both military and therapeutic programming, and educate and train all its staff members in the delivery of gender-responsive programming.
The relation between comorbid anxiety and treatment outcome in depressed early adolescent girls
(2009-08) Hamilton, Amy Melissa; Stark, Kevin Douglas
Previous research has suggested that depressive disorders are common in youth and are associated with many negative outcomes. As a result, understanding how to treat depression effectively is very important. It is unclear; however, what factors predict treatment success or failure for depressed youth. Researchers are starting to investigate whether comorbid anxiety is a possible moderator of treatment outcome for youth with depression. Studies of the relation between comorbid anxiety and treatment outcome have produced mixed findings and have almost exclusively focused on older depressed adolescents. There is also limited research exploring whether parent intervention moderates the effect of comorbid anxiety on treatment outcome in depressed youth. This study focused on investigating the relation between comorbid anxiety and treatment outcome in a sample of 84 depressed female early adolescents who received either group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or group CBT plus a parent intervention. The addition of parent intervention was explored as a moderator of the relation between anxiety and treatment outcome. Treatment outcome was measured by changes in depression severity and global functioning during treatment. The depression severity and global functioning scores of depressed girls with comorbid anxiety were also compared to depressed girls without comorbid anxiety prior to treatment to determine whether the first group of girls entered treatment with a different level of psychopathology. Participants and their primary caregivers were administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview which was used as a measure of depression severity, global functioning, anxiety severity, and to determine whether participants met diagnostic criteria for depressive and anxiety diagnoses. The results of this study suggested that depressed youth with comorbid anxiety or higher anxiety severity started out treatment with higher depression severity and lower functioning. Results also suggested that comorbid anxiety was not related to negative treatment outcome and that youth with comorbid anxiety actually experienced larger reductions in depression severity over the course of treatment than youth without comorbid anxiety. Parent intervention did not significantly moderate the effect of comorbid anxiety on treatment outcome. The study’s limitations, implications of the results, and recommendations for future research were discussed.