How Mental Health Interviews Conducted Alone, in the Presence of an Adult, a Child or Both Affects Adolescents’ Reporting of Psychological Symptoms and Risky Behaviors

Abstract

The normative process of autonomy development in adolescence involves changes in adolescents’ information management typically characterized by decreasing disclosure and increasing concealment. These changes may have an important impact on the early detection and timely treatment of mental health conditions and risky behavior. Therefore, the objective was to extend our understanding of how these developmental changes in adolescent disclosure might impact adolescent mental health interviews. Specifically, we estimated the effects of third party presence and type of third party presence (adult, child, or both) on adolescents’ reports of psychiatric symptoms, substance use, suicidal behavior, and childhood adversity. In this representative sample of 3005 adolescents from Mexico City (52.1 % female), administered the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI-A), adult presence influenced reporting the most; in their presence, adolescents reported more ADHD, parental mental illness and economic adversity, but less panic disorder, PTSD, drug use and disorder, and suicidal behavior. The presence of children was associated with increased odds of reporting conduct disorder, opportunity for drug use, parental criminal behavior, neglect, and the death of a parent. While adolescent information management strategies are normative and even desirable as a means of gaining emotional autonomy, they may also interfere with timely detection and treatment or intervention for mental health conditions and risky behaviors. Research and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Psychometric properties of the Sindhi version of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) in a sample of early adolescents living in rural Pakistan

“…Alternatively, the variation could be attributed to the younger age range and the use of random sampling in the present study, or because participants were not interviewed alone. Both depressive symptomatology and risky behaviours have been negatively associated with disclosure when an adult is present, thus adolescents may have underreported depressive symptoms in our study [59].…”

Comparative Analysis of Lifetime Suicide Attempts among Mexican Adolescents, over the Past 12 Years

“…For example, while high levels of alcohol use might be a contributing factor in attempted suicide (i.e., by reducing inhibitions) [ 34 , 35 ], SAs might lead to increased alcohol consumption as a method of self-medication. It is also possible other variables account for this association (poverty, sexual abuse and prior mental disorders such as depression, among others) [ 36 ].…”

Justice for All: Trauma and the Need for Safety and Fairness Within Juvenile Justice Facilities

“…This may have significant implications for the current study given that about one third of the subsample identified as Hispanic or Latino and this subgroup also reported more institutional sanctions than Caucasian or African American participants. There is also evidence that adolescents report fewer PTSD symptoms when an adult is present during the computer-assisted CIDI (Herrera, Benjet, Méndez, Casanova, & Medina-Mora, 2017); it is unclear how many interviews were completed with an adult present in the Pathways study, but this is another potential contributor to reduced endorsement.…”