Protective factors, positive qualities and psychopathology in adolescents in clinical settings

Objective. To identify positive qualities and mental health problems in adolescents that are clients of a mental health specialized service. Materials and methods. The sample consisted of 145 patients of both sexes. The Mexican validated official international Hispanic version of the Youth Self Repo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: María Elena Márquez-Caraveo, Verónica Pérez-Barrón
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública 2019-04-01
Series:Salud Pública de México
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.saludpublica.mx/index.php/spm/article/view/10275
Description
Summary:Objective. To identify positive qualities and mental health problems in adolescents that are clients of a mental health specialized service. Materials and methods. The sample consisted of 145 patients of both sexes. The Mexican validated official international Hispanic version of the Youth Self Report/11-18 (YSR/11-18) was used; it measures psy­chopathology and individual characteristics associated with positive adaptation, called Positive Qualities. Results. The positive quality most commonly reported was related to the positive social behavior, without mean differences between girls and boys. Girls showed the highest level of internalizing and externalizing problems. Conclusions. Adolescents with psychopathology in clinical settings also show posi­tive qualities. It is important to identify and enhance these characteristics as protective factors in adolescents living in high-risk contexts. Girls showed higher psychopathology levels, implying gender differences in preventive intervention.
ISSN:0036-3634