EducationNews.org

Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

Associate Professor Ian Shochet is the Acting Head of School Psychology in the School of Psychology and Counseling at the Queensland University of Technology at Beams Road in Carseldine, Australia. In this interview, he responds to questions and concerns about students who are depressed and have difficulty coping with adolescence.

1) What are you currently researching in terms of adolescence and depression?

We have two lines of research. For the last 10 years we have been researching a resilience building program called the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP). This is a 12 session program delivered as a regular part of the school curriculum to students (from grade 8 -10) aimed at building resilience to prevent mental health problem, particularly depression. The program teaches skills such as stress management, the development of positive self –talk, problem solving, developing support systems and interpersonal skills such as preventing and managing conflict. The efficacy of RAP has been systematically researched through randomized controlled trials. The results show that this universal approach to the prevention of adolescent depression provides advantages in terms of increased reach and can significantly reduce future depressive symptoms. The program is now running in hundreds of schools in Australia and throughout the world. We are continuing to research some creative ways of delivering these programs into the school.

Our second line of research is in the area of school connectedness and looking at the link between school connectedness and adolescent depression. In the course of our work on the RAP program we discovered that school connectedness, namely the extent to which students feel accepted, valued, respected and included in the school, impacts significantly on their mental health, particularly depression. School connectedness surfaced as one of the strongest factors in adolescent depression. It was even stronger than other important factors such as attachment to parents. This would suggest that teachers play a greater than expected role in teenage development. This issue however is quite complex. At face value it would suggest that by changing the culture in the schools to be more warm and valuing in their relationships and to make sure that the students have a greater sense of inclusiveness and belonging that it would make a big improvement. However there may be a number of factors outside of the school that may impact and the students sense of connectedness to the school and therefore on their wellbeing.Teasing this out is an important focus of our current research.

2) Are teenagers more depressed than they were say, 10 years ago?

There is probably no evidence to show that teenagers are more depressed now than 10 years ago. But we know that it is a really significant problem. Approximately one in five teenagers will experience clinical levels of depression at some point in their teenage years. We know that this can fundamentally impact on their wellbeing and future prospects. Depression often goes hand in hand with anxiety, substance misuse and conduct problems.

3) How would you compare the stress levels of teenagers today as compared to 10 years ago?

I don't know about a comparison from 10 years ago but certainly the stress that teenagers are under today is excessive. It certainly appears to be a lot more stressful for teenagers now than when I was a teenager. There are competing pressures from so many sources and it is a much more fast-passed world with multiple stimuli and forms of communication. Most teenagers do well and navigate their teenage years quite comfortably so it is important to keep this healthy and resilience perspective in mind as well.

4) How are most kids in Australia coping with stress and depression? DO they seek counseling or turn to drugs?

Like in other parts of the world we know that only a small proportion of teenagers in Australiathat are depressed will seek help or be given the kind of professional care that they need. This is another reason why we have focused on prevention research. We know that even mild symptoms of depression can have quite bad consequences for teenagers and affect their coping and functioning in general. To their credit the Australian Governments over the years have recognized the severe problem of teenage depression and the importance of putting efforts into prevention and improving our ability to detect and engage teenagers in need of help.

5) Do you do any type of "screening "for depression? What about screening for suicide?

There are a number of very good screening tests for both depression and suicide. Prof Bill Reynolds from Humboldt University in California did some pioneering work in this regard. One such test is the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale. This is a highly regarded test.

6) Are the Australian schools more difficult or expecting more from the Australian students than previously?

We have no hard evidence on this. I think we have only more recently become aware of the remarkably strong link between attachment to school and teenage wellbeing.I would imagine that this has always been the case. If you think that students spend a minimum of 6 hours a day at school and are constantly monitoring how they are stacking up in relation to their peers in terms of their academic work or other extra curricular activities or in terms of how much they are liked and valued by the teachers and peers. It is understandable therefore that a factor like school connectedness can turn out to be one of the strongest predictors of teenage depression. I don't think it is just a recent phenomenon.

7) What books/articles have you written on adolescence and depression?

I have attached references to three publications. The first two relate to our work of preventing depression with the RAP program and the third describes in more detail some of our research on school connectedness and teenage mental health. Many thanks for your interest in our work.

Shochet, I. M., Dadds, M. R., Holland, D., Whitefield, K., Harnett, P., & Osgarby, S. (2001). The efficacy of a universal school-based program to prevent adolescent depression. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30(3), 303-315.

Shochet, I.M. & Ham, D. (2004). Universal based approaches to preventing adolescent depression: Past Findings and future directions of the Resourceful Adolescent Program. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 6,-25.

Shochet, I.M., Dadds, M.R. , Ham, D., & Montague(2006). School connectedness is an underemphasized parameter in adolescent mental health: Results of a community prediction study. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 170-179