The relationship between a trusted adult and adolescent outcomes: a protocol of a scoping review

Pringle, Jan; Whitehead, Ross; Milne, Dona; Scott, Eileen; McAteer, John

doi:10.1186/s13643-018-0873-8

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Accordingly, disclosure recipients likely selectively activate ties with adults in their own network to marshal resources on behalf of friends who make mental health disclosures on social media. Concurrent with previous reports, we refer to such adults as “trusted adults” [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…While prior studies have conceptualized trusted adults as having traits such as empathy, confidentiality, and physical and emotional availability, they focused on adolescents seeking help for themselves rather than for a friend [19][20][21]. One study on American Indian and Alaskan native youth examined how they would respond to concerning posts from a friend and offered initial evidence about the traits and roles of trusted adults [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seeking Help From Trusted Adults in Response to Peers’ Social Media Posts About Mental Health Struggles: Qualitative Interview Study Among Latinx Adolescents

Campos-Castillo¹,

Thomas²,

Reyes³

et al. 2021

JMIR Ment Health

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Background Rather than confiding in adults about their mental health struggles, adolescents may use social media to disclose them to peers. Disclosure recipients are tasked with deciding whether to alert an adult and, if so, whom to alert. Few studies have examined how adolescents decide on a trusted adult to help a friend who posts on social media about his/her mental health struggles. Moreover, Latinx adolescents are underrepresented in research on social media use, which creates gaps in understanding how social media may influence their well-being. Objective This qualitative study presents findings from semistructured interviews with Latinx adolescents to investigate how they seek out trusted adults when a friend posts on social media about their mental health struggles. Specifically, we sought to determine which adult ties they activated, the resources they believed the adult could provide, and the support they expected the adult to provide. Methods We recruited participants through a nonprofit organization serving the Latinx community (primarily of Mexican origin) located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We conducted 43 semistructured interviews, each lasting 60-90 minutes, with Latinx adolescents (25 females, 18 males) aged 13-17 years. All interviews were conducted in English, at the adolescents’ request. Using a grounded theory approach, we identified the nature of the relationship between the trusted adult and either the disclosure recipient or distressed friend, and the resources and support the trusted adult is expected to provide. Results Participants nominated adults who were emotionally or physically proximate to either the disclosure recipient or distressed friend, particularly parents (of the recipient and friend) and school staff. However, some felt that not all parents and school staff were emotionally proximate. Adolescents sought trusted adults with access to two resources: experiential knowledge and authority. Some, particularly males, avoided adults with authority because of the risk of punishment and others thought their immigrant parents did not have relevant experiential knowledge to assist them. Interviewees felt that trusted adults with either resource could provide emotional and instrumental support either directly or indirectly, while those with experiential knowledge could provide informational support. Notably, interviews did not problematize the fact that the disclosure occurred on social media when deliberating about adults. Conclusions To assist a distressed friend posting on social media, Latinx adolescents look not only for trusted adults who are emotionally and physically proximate but also those who have key resources that facilitate support. Efforts should focus on connecting adolescents with trusted adults and training adults who hold positions of authority or experiential knowledge to offer both direct and indirect support. Additionally, efforts should consider how immigrant experiences shape parent-child relations and address the potential long-term consequences of oversurveillance of Latinx youth, particularly males, by school staff for their access to social support.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking Help From Trusted Adults in Response to Peers’ Social Media Posts About Mental Health Struggles: Qualitative Interview Study Among Latinx Adolescents

Campos-Castillo¹,

Thomas²,

Reyes³

et al. 2021

JMIR Ment Health

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“…We recently conducted a systematic review to identify the influence of trusted adult presence on adolescent health and education outcomes (Pringle, Whitehead, Milne, Scott, & McAteer, 2018). For the purposes of the review, we used the term ‘trusted adult’ as defined by the Scottish Government (Show all authorsLyn Craig2Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Australia Sydney AustraliaSee all articles by this authorScottish Government, 2017): someone who ‘children and young people may turn to for help, and will take them seriously’ .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was further defined as support from a specific, dependable (adult) individual, who acts in a responsible manner, rather than (social) support as a more general concept (Orbit, 2017). The methods used to conduct the review (Pringle et al, 2018) are summarised in Table 1, and registered on Prospero (CRD 42017076739).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a taxonomy to characterise trusted adult support in the lives of adolescents

Pringle

McAteer

Whitehead

et al. 2019

Journal of Adolescence

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IntroductionA systematic review of trusted adult interventions for adolescents revealed that there was no common terminology, agreed explicit definition, or detail, regarding the personal qualities, functions and roles fulfilled by trusted adults that was used consistently across the papers. To provide clarity, we therefore aimed to produce a taxonomy of trusted adult input, using evidence drawn from our review.MethodsData from the review findings were used to compile the taxonomy, moving from the general to the more specific, in a four stage process. This involved: (1) compilation of elements described in individual papers, (2) grouping of elements derived from stage 1 into categories, (3) examination of context and nature of the relationship, (4) development of a categorisation of trusted adult input.FindingsThe resulting taxonomy encapsulates core essential qualities provided by people acting in trusted adult or mentoring roles, and gives details relating to what a young person might expect from individuals they put their trust in. The taxonomy consists of six categories relating to: delivery context, roles of trusted adults, nature of support, personal qualities, actions/functions, and impact.ConclusionsThe taxonomy describes key elements that define the trusted adult role, and has the potential to inform the development of policies and guidelines relating to support provision. It may be used as a framework for the reporting of trusted adult interventions within research, and act as a helpful guide if a young person is in doubt about the behaviour or qualities displayed by an adult in their environment.

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“…These were: having a role model, parents/caregivers knew a lot about me, feeling a sense of belonging at school, having supportive friends, knowing where in the community to get help, being given opportunities, and feeling culturally engaged (see Additional file 1 : Table S1 for questions and responses included for each resource). Previous research has identified differences in how an always-available trusted adult support is defined or termed within the literature [ 29 ]. In line with previous research undertaken in Wales [ 11 ], we measured always having access to trusted adult support by the question ‘While you were growing up, before the age of 18, was there an adult in your life who you could trust and talk to about any personal problems’.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult support during childhood: a retrospective study of trusted adult relationships, sources of personal adult support and their association with childhood resilience resources

Ashton¹,

Davies

Hughes

et al. 2021

BMC Psychol

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Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can affect health and well-being across the life course. Resilience is an individual characteristic that is known to help negate the effect of adversities and potentially transform toxic stress into tolerable stress. Having access to a trusted adult during childhood is critical to helping children build resiliency. Here, we aim to understand the relationship between always having access to trusted adult support and childhood resilience resources, and examine which sources of personal adult support and the number of sources of adult support, best foster childhood resilience. Methods A Welsh national cross-sectional retrospective survey (n = 2497), using a stratified random probability sample. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews at participants’ places of residence by trained interviewers. Analyses use chi-square and binary logistic regression methods. Outcome measures were childhood resilience resources, access to an always-available trusted adult, and sources of personal adult support. Results Prevalence of access to an always-available trusted adult decreased with increasing number of ACEs from 86.6% of individuals with no ACEs, to 44.4% of those with four or more ACEs (≥ 4). In addition, for those experiencing ≥ 4 ACEs, individuals with no access to a trusted adult were substantially less likely than those with access, to report childhood resilience resources. For example, for individuals with ≥ 4 ACEs, those with access to an always-available trusted adult were 5.6 times more likely to have had supportive friends and 5.7 times more likely to have been given opportunities to develop skills to succeed in life, compared to those with no access to a trusted adult. When looking at sources of personal adult support, resilience levels increased dramatically for those individuals who had either one parent only or two parents as sources of support, in comparison to those without parental support. Conclusions Analyses here suggest strong relationships between elements of childhood resilience, constant access to trusted adults and different sources of personal adult support. While the eradication of ACEs remains unlikely, actions to strengthen childhood access to trusted adults may partially ease immediate harms and protect future generations.

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The relationship between a trusted adult and adolescent outcomes: a protocol of a scoping review

Cited by 16 publications

References 18 publications

Seeking Help From Trusted Adults in Response to Peers’ Social Media Posts About Mental Health Struggles: Qualitative Interview Study Among Latinx Adolescents

Seeking Help From Trusted Adults in Response to Peers’ Social Media Posts About Mental Health Struggles: Qualitative Interview Study Among Latinx Adolescents

Developing a taxonomy to characterise trusted adult support in the lives of adolescents

Adult support during childhood: a retrospective study of trusted adult relationships, sources of personal adult support and their association with childhood resilience resources

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