At your own risk:The importance of group dynamics and peer processes in adolescent peer groups for adolescents’ involvement in risk behaviors

During adolescence peers become increasingly important to the social and emotional development of adolescents. Peer groups form one of the most important settings where adolescents socialize, find social support, and feel connected and accepted. However, these groups also form a context where adolescents influence each other in less favorable ways, such as risk behaviors. Although quite a lot is known about the influence of risk behavior by peers on an adolescent's own behavior, we know less about how and under which conditions youngsters become similar to those around them. The dissertation of Kim Pattiselanno attempts to go in to those questions and tries to increase our knowledge of how group dynamics and peer processes in adolescent peer groups relate to adolescents' involvement in risky behaviors

Who Helps Whom? Investigating the Development of Adolescent Prosocial Relationships

We investigated adolescent prosocial relations by examining social networks based on the question "Who helps you (e.g., with homework, with repairing a flat [bicycle] tire, or when you are feeling down?)." The effects of individual characteristics (academic achievement, symptoms of depressive mood, and peer status) on receiving help and giving help were examined, and we investigated the contribution of (dis)similarity between adolescents to the development of prosocial relations. Gender, structural network characteristics, and friendship relations were taken into account. Data were derived from the Social Network Analysis of Risk behavior in Early adolescence (SNARE) study, and contained information on students in 40 secondary school classes across 3 waves (N = 840, M age = 13.4, 49.7% boys). Results from longitudinal social network analyses (RSiena) revealed tendencies toward reciprocation of help and exchange of help within helping groups. Furthermore, boys were less often mentioned as helpers, particularly by girls. Depressed adolescents were less often mentioned as helpers, especially by low-depressed peers. Moreover, lower academic achievers indicated that they received help from their higher achieving peers. Rejected adolescents received help more often, but they less often helped low-rejected peers. Last, low-and high-popular adolescents less often helped each other, and also high-popular adolescents less often helped each other. These findings show that (dis) similarity in these characteristics is an important driving factor underlying the emergence and development of prosocial relations in the peer context, and that prosocial behavior should be defined in terms of benefitting particular others.</p

Development of an improvisational music therapy intervention for young adults with depressive symptoms:An intervention mapping study

Depression is a highly prevalent and seriously impairing disorder. Evidence suggests that music therapy can decrease depression, though the music therapy that is offered is often not clearly described in studies. The purpose of this study was to develop an improvisational music therapy intervention based on insights from theory, evidence and clinical practice for young adults with depressive symptoms. The Intervention Mapping method was used and resulted in (1) a model to explain how emotion dysregulation may affect depressive symptoms using the Component Process Model (CPM) as a theoretical framework; (2) a model to clarify as to how improvisational music therapy may change depressive symptoms using synchronisation and emotional resonance; (3) a prototype Emotion-regulating Improvisational Music Therapy for Preventing Depressive symptoms (EIMT-PD); (4) a ten-session improvisational music therapy manual aimed at improving emotion regulation and reducing depressive symptoms; (5) a program implementation plan; and (6) a summary of a multiple baseline study protocol to evaluate the effectiveness and principles of EIMT-PD. EIMT-PD, using synchronisation and emotional resonance may be a promising music therapy to improve emotion regulation and, in line with our expectations, reduce depressive symptoms. More research is needed to assess its effectiveness and principles

Efficacy of emotion-regulating improvisational music therapy to reduce depressive symptoms in young adult students:A multiple-case study design

Depression is a serious mental health problem. Therefore, Emotion-regulating Improvisational Music Therapy (EIMT) to prevent depression was developed. The main purpose of this study was to assess effects of EIMT on reducing depressive symptoms in young adult students. A multiple-case study design was used with multiple methods. Eleven cases (female students) were completed and analysed. Nine out of 11 students reported reliable reductions in depressive symptoms at post-test and four-week follow-up. All students reported significant improvement in emotion regulation at post-test and nine out of 11 at four-week follow-up. The group showed significant reduction of depressive symptoms and significant improvement in emotion regulation at post-test. Results remained after four-week follow-up for both outcomes. Qualitative analysis supported these results. Using piecewise multilevel regression analyses, a small significant effect was found for negative, but not for positive affect. Main limitations are a one-site study, with female students and researcher in dual-role. Further research is needed to provide support for generality. Findings demonstrate that EIMT as a preventive intervention can be beneficial for young adult students within a university context to decrease depressive symptoms and negative affect and improve emotion regulation. Multisite studies are indicated to study effects and mechanisms of EIMT

Structure Matters:The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality

Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8 % boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls’) cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys’ and girls’) cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality