Longitudinal Predictors of Self-Reliance for Coping with Mental Health Problems in the Military

Military personnel encounter occupational hazards that make them vulnerable to developing mental health symptoms; however, many soldiers who experience a problem do not seek treatment. A major barrier to treatment is self-reliance, a preference to manage problems oneself rather than seek help from a professional. In the present study, we sought a more comprehensive understanding of factors that contribute to self-reliance. Active-duty soldiers (N = 485) were surveyed at two time points. The sample was 93% male, 67% Caucasian, and most were aged 20-24 (49%). The survey included: factors that affect treatment-seeking, deployment experiences, and mental health symptoms. Results indicated that stigmatizing beliefs about those who seek treatment and negative beliefs about treatment at Time 1 were related to higher preferences for self-reliance at Time 2, while positive beliefs about treatment at Time 1 were related to lower self-reliance. Combat exposure, mental health symptoms, social support for treatment-seeking, and stigma from others were not significant predictors. These results demonstrate that self-reliance may not be unique to combat soldiers and may not diminish as symptoms become severe. Instead one’s views of treatment and others who seek treatment may be more impactful, and should be the target of interventions to encourage treatment-seeking

The Moderating Effects of Peer and Parental Support on the Relationship Between Vicarious Victimization and Substance Use

General strain theory (GST) hypothesizes that youth are more likely to engage in delinquency when they experience vicarious victimization, defined as knowing about or witnessing violence perpetrated against others, but that this relationship may be attenuated for those who receive social support from significant others. Based on prospective data from youth aged 8 to 17 participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), this article found mixed support for these hypotheses. Controlling for prior involvement in delinquency, as well as other risk and protective factors, adolescents who reported more vicarious victimization had an increased likelihood of alcohol use in the short term, but not the long term, and victimization was not related to tobacco or marijuana use. Peer support did not moderate the relationship between vicarious victimization and substance use, but family support did. In contrast to strain theory’s predictions, the relationship between vicarious victimization and substance use was stronger for those who had higher compared with lower levels of family support. Implications of these findings for strain theory and future research are discussed

Narrative approach to understand people's comprehension of acquaintance rape: The role of Sex Role Stereotyping

One of the most unreported crimes is acquaintance rape. This may be the result of people's understanding of what rape is because of their rape script and their stereotypes of victim characteristics. These judgements may be moderated by sex role stereotyping (SRS). We utilised a narrative approach to understand low and high SRS participants' rape scripts. Young-adult participants described what they believed a typical rape was, followed by describing an acquaintance rape and then what they believed the stereotypical victim of each crime would be. A narrative analysis was conducted on the data. We found that the blitz script is still held by 44% of low SRS and 47% of high SRS people despite 90% of rapes being committed by an acquaintance. While acquaintance rape scripts existed, the emotional imagery and content of these depended on participants level of SRS. Stereotypical victim characteristics also depended on SRS: those with high SRS were more likely to endorse rape myth ideals in describing victims than those with low SRS. These results have implications for educating people about what rape is so that victims might feel more confident in reporting rape

Developing a Stakeholder-Driven Anticipated Timeline of Impact for Evaluation of Social Programs

The authors present a stakeholder-driven method, the earliest anticipated timeline of impact, which is designed to assess stakeholder expectations for the earliest time frame in which social programs are likely to affect outcomes. The utility of the anticipated timeline of impact is illustrated using an example from an evaluation of a comprehensive community initiative in which such a timeline was developed using the concept-mapping methodology. The benefits of such a timeline, including for planning programs and evaluations, are explored. Some potential problems that might arise when developing a stakeholder-driven timeline of impact are also discussed

A study of adolescents’ and young adults’ TikTok challenge participation in South India

Involvement in social media activities has become a significant aspect of adolescents’ lives. Participation in numerous social media challenges with a variety of goals is also common among youth across platforms. Recently, the new app called TikTok has resulted in an increased level and variety of social media activities among youth. This study examines the factors related to participation in TikTok challenges, their potential impacts on adolescents and young adults, and participant reflection after performing a challenge. We recruited 25 adolescents and young adults who were actively involved in TikTok challenges from several secondary schools and colleges in South India. We administered a semi-structured, retrospective interview after screening participants through an online survey. The interview assessed motivations for participation, content of social media posts, and perceived consequences of participation. Based on the integrated behavior model, we conducted a theoretically grounded thematic analysis of the data. Our thematic analysis revealed that the factors closely related to the integrated behavior model motivated participation, such as attitudes, norms, personal agency, knowledge and skill, environmental constraints, habits, and individual differences. Further, one of the most frequent reasons reported as a motivational factor was being affirmed by others or peer pressure. Participants typically reported enjoying these challenges and experiencing positive feelings after completing the challenge. Overall, the participants seemed to have positive views of TikTok challenges and enjoyed the views and likes that came from posting about their participation in the challenge. Irrespective of the type of challenge participated in, the participants commented that taking part in online challenges is enjoyable and makes them feel confident. In sum, these adolescents appear to spend large amounts of time on TikTok due to the lure of online challenges and associated emotional states