Pde psych education-adolescence3_wellbeing_p_conway_ucc

• 1. Adolescents and Well-being Changing context (review) Inequality & well-being (The Spirit Level) Core themes Identity Belonging (connectedness) Purpose/meaning Developmental contextualism: Becoming an individual (face-to-face & digitalexperiences) in the social world of family,school, work, community (incl peers) P Conway, PDE @ UCC 1

2. Well-being & equality P Conway, PDE @ UCC 2 3. Storm and stress inadolescence Youth ."are heated by Nature as drunken men bywine. (Aristotle) Inclined to "contradict their parents and"tyrannize their teachers. (Socrates) "As the roaring of the waves precedes thetempest, so the murmur of rising passionsannounces the tumultuous change.... Keepyour hand upon the helm,or all is lost(Rousseau, 1762/1962, pp. 172-173).P Conway, PDE @ UCC3 4. Adolescents storm & stressand well-being: myths & facts Storm & stress (Hall, 1904):Conflictwith parents, mood & risk behaviour Myth: All experience storm & stress Fact: Minority, individual differences andcultural variation (f) Western individuation asgrowing up Changes over time: Recurrent conflicts with parents, high riskbehaviors (later adolescence) Developmental contextualism (Lerner,1993, see Coleman, 2001, Ch 1) Ecology, timing, continuity/discontinuity,reciprocity, agency & goodness of fit P Conway, PDE @ UCC4 5. Growing Up in Ireland Two cohorts of children included nine-year-olds and nine-month olds Child Cohort: 8,500 nine-year-old childreninterviewed at 9-years and 13-years. Infant Cohort: families of 11,000 nine-month oldinfants interviewed at 9-months and 3-years. 120 households from both cohorts for in-depthqualitative interview All data (quantitative and qualitative) will bedeposited in data archives as a nationalresource all anonymisedP Conway, PDE @ UCC5 6. 9 year olds & their parents(Growing Up in Ireland, 2009) In general, children record getting onwell with their parents: 86% said they got on very well with theirmother and 83% very well with theirfather. The majority of both mothers andfathers (77% and 68%) adopt anauthoritative parenting style: This combines high control with highsupport - usually associated with optimaloutcomes for childrenP Conway, PDE @ UCC 6 7. Parenting style & well-being Internationally validated Parenting Style Inventorycompleted by the children with a set of 12 age-appropriate questions: Authoritative - high control; high responsiveness/support Authoritarian - high control; low responsiveness/support Indulgent (permissive) - low control; highresponsiveness/support Uninvolved (neglectful) - low control; lowresponsiveness/support Authoritative - control with responsiveness/support,usually considered optimal P Conway, PDE @ UCC 7 8. Parenting styles: mothers &fathers - childrens viewsMajority of both mothers and fathers adoptauthoritative parenting style 77% mothersand 68% fathers Gender differences:Mothers/fathers & Boys/Girls P Conway, PDE @ UCC 8 9. Well-being & post-primaryschoolingP Conway, PDE @ UCC 9 10. Well-being & mental health Prevalence of mental health issuesacross life-span Changing attitudes not getting over ourvulnerability but living with & learning from it Some changes in mood a part ofadolescence Keeping an eye out for: Drink & drugs given centrality of alcohol inIrelands culture Hidden special needs: Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicide P Conway, PDE @ UCC10 11. Schools and mental health In context of overall approach to well-being Having, loving, being & health (Allardt, 1993,see OBrien, 2008) Paying attention & awareness of signs &symptoms In-school: awareness, initial response &referral Self-care as a teacher Support (in & out of school), mindfulness P Conway, PDE @ UCC 11 12. Mindfulness Getting in touch with experience thenow Efficacy of mindfulness, e.g. Langer(1987) in nursing home Choice of houseplants & make small numberof decisions about daily routines Trapped by categories, automatic behaviour& single perspectives Minding your mind with mindfulness(Bates, 2009) Headstrong: National Centre for YouthMental Health (Ireland) www.headstrong.ieP Conway, PDE @ UCC12