Supporting Youth in Adversity, in Transition and in Community

1. Supporting youth in adversity, in
transition, and in community
Adolescent resilience: : Focus on Practical
Strategies
Christine Wekerle, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pediatrics
McMaster University
Email: wekerc@mcmaster.ca
Twitter: @ResilienceInYou
@DrWekerle
Website: International Network in Child and Youth Resilience
www.in-car.ca

2. Positive Research Trends: Youth
OVERALL POPULATION TRENDS (from Child Trends)
• More teens volunteering in their communities
• Steady decrease in teen pregnancies and births (27/1000 US teens)
• Decrease in high school drop-out rate
• Decrease in teen mortality due to car accidents
• Increase in use of seatbelts
• Decrease in drunk driving
• Increasing % of “substance free” high schoolers (abstinence)
• About 3% of students (about 33,400) smoke cigarettes on a daily
basis
• Fewer teens in juvenile detention; fewer reporting being in a physical
fight past year
• Decrease in binge-drinking (US); All substances 1999-2013 (ON)
• Increase in marijuana use; increase in OTC cold/cough misuse (ON)
• Check out: Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (CAMH) 2013

3. Why Promote Resilience?
• Increasingly, we live in a world of change in which
resilience and ability to adapt to change are highly
valued
• Recent 2014 British report on “flux” in the workplace
indicates that resilient workers are highly preferred
• Resilience promotion helps minimize adjustment
problems and stress, maximize well-
being/happiness
• Need for resilience promotion suggested by growing
concerns about mental health problems among
youth and young adults

4. Resilience Definition
Capacity of a dynamic system to adapt
successfully to disturbances that threaten
system function viability or development
(Masten, 2014)
Types: unaffected/resistant; recovery;
normalization; transformation/post-
traumatic growth; hidden
• Masten Free Resilience Course (Feb 2015-March 2015):
https://www.coursera.org/course/resilienceinchildren

5. Mattering
• At the root of many resilience stories is
that one key person who makes the at
risk person feel like he or she matters
(Dweck) http://choose2matter.org/the-
science-of-mattering/
• Often this means spending time with
youth in non-achievement pursuits
• A sense of mattering is a highly
protective resource that promotes self-
esteem; but anti-mattering
experiences strip self-esteem
Every day we should hear at least one little
song, read one good poem, see one
exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a
few sensible words - Goethe

6. New RealitiesFacingYouth: VirtualConnections
Sexting
• 20% middle school youth report receiving a sext
• 5% report sending a sext
• Students who text 100/day were 2.4 more likely to receive a sext and 4.5
more likely to send a sext
• Sext involvement linked with being sexually active, unprotected sex
• Clinicians should discuss sexting as early sexual debut is linked with STIs
and teen pregnancies (Rice et al. , 2014 in Pediatrics)
Differential Language Analysis
• Lexicons reflect the group (or sub-group) and words matter
• From 15.4 million postings - Facebook word analyses, males use the
word “my” more often than females when signaling a relationship
• Social activities (sports, church, meetings etc.) correlate w/ emotional
stability
• (Schwartz et al., 2013 in PLOS ONE)

8. Practical Strategy: Resilience as
an everyday practice
System in Balance (Physical Regulation) Healthy nutrition and team sports participation
were found to have a positive effect on academic performance (Busch et al., 2014). Sleep
hygiene a critical issue for youth!
Healthy Coping (Emotion Regulation)
• Males persist in sensation-seeking longer than females and slower in developing impulse
control, Shullman et al., 2014.
• Practice in soothing and sustained attention – repetitive actions (cycling, running, rowing,
yoga, etc.), deep breathing practice, yoga, gaming (true!)
• Institute of Medicine – Neuroscience of Gaming Report
http://www.iom.edu/~/media/WIBgaming.pdf?la=en&utm_source=IOM+Email+List&ut
m_campaign=2056533b0e-
2_18.23_15_New_WIBS&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_211686812e-2056533b0e-
180169033
Social Connections (Attachment, Affiliation, Social Capital; Neighbourhood Cohesion) Big
Brothers/Big Sisters effective program
Motivation – Mindsets Matter (CBT + Tutoring > Male Academics, Cook et al., 2014)
• Evidence for matching personality style to change target (Conrod, Stewart brief
intervention)

9. 8 COMMON THINKING TRAPS  Anxiety
1) Jumping to conclusions: judging a situation based on assumptions as opposed to
definitive facts
2) Mental filtering: Paying attention to the negative details in a situation while
ignoring the positive
3) Magnifying: magnifying negative aspects in a situation
4) Minimizing: minimizing positive aspects in a situation
5) Personalizing: assuming the blame for problems even when you are not primarily
responsible
6) Externalizing: pushing the blame for problems onto others even when you are
primarily responsible
7) Overgeneralizing: concluding that one bad incident will lead to a repeated pattern
of defeat
8) Emotional reasoning: assuming your negative emotions translate into reality, or
confusing feelings with facts
Going to Accurate Thinking – Be The Scientist – Get Facts – Experiment!
Practical Process for Tackling Thinking (The 3C’s):
(1) Check for common thought holes (Am I thinking about this logically?)
(2) Collect evidence to paint an accurate picture (Am I in possession of all the facts?)
(3) Challenge the original thoughts (Am I going through my options?)

10. Minfulness Guide to
Problem-solving

11. Mindfulness
is a mindset and set of skills
• Impulisivity increasingly identified in research as a core issue
to unhealthy coping
• Teaching youth: Be prepared to pause
• Use the 3C’s : Check-in with others for feedback
• Check: Am I thinking about this logically?
• Collect: Am I in possession of all the facts?
• Challenge: Am I going through all my options?
• Video Clip
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033YRcV14I8

12. Figure 1. Examples of the stimuli used in natural, built, and geometric conditions.
Berry MS, Sweeney MM, Morath J, Odum AL, et al. (2014) The Nature of Impulsivity: Visual Exposure to Natural Environments Decreases
Impulsive Decision-Making in a Delay Discounting Task. PLoS ONE 9(5): e97915. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097915
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0097915

13. Resilience: Positive Connections
MentalHealthSuper-Hero clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blSkkwcy4uo
ResilienceApproachtoSuicideRisk:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033YRcV14I8

14. Picturing Wellness Conference
April 2016, McMaster University
www.in-car.ca for details
Thank you
for listening!