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Article Excerpt
The aim of the present article is to describe the difficulties experienced by some Italian children and adolescents. We distinguish, however, between overt forms of maladjustment, such as juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, depression, and suicidal behavior, and less severe forms of maladjustment, which are generally associated with poor decision-making skills, social difficulties, and unproductive coping strategies. This presentation is then followed by a description of the current counseling situation in Italy. Also presented is a specific counseling program for at-risk young adolescents and children, conducted with a small group of individuals as part of a broader prevention project aimed at preventing bullying.
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Adolescents in Western societies frequently find themselves having to cope with difficult situations that can significantly influence their development and maturation. At times, however, these situations can be the source of great stress and discomfort, because they call for efficacious coping strategies that young people at this age may not have yet developed. Hence, their health as well as their current and future quality of life may be at risk (Frydenberg, 2002; Mann, Harmoni, & Power, 1989; Nota, Mann, Soresi, & Friedman, 2002).
These are some of the reasons why Italian educators and health and social service providers have begun focusing more attention on adolescents over the last few years. Experience has shown that certain signals of maladjustment can be observed early on, and if not promptly and adequately treated, can lead to serious personal and social problems and to psychopathology. Adolescents can experience dramatic problems associated with more manifest forms of maladjustment (i.e., juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, and mental health problems, including depression and suicidal behavior). Yet, they can also encounter less severe forms of maladjustment associated with poor decisional abilities, social difficulties, and the tendency to use unproductive coping strategies. Although the latter problems do not imply an immediately threatening situation, they underlie the dissatisfaction many adolescents report with their quality of life (Bonnino, Cattelino, & Ciairano, 2003; Chavez, Oetting, & Swaim, 1994; Kovacs, 1997; Nota & Soresi, 1998; Skinner & Wellborn, 1997; Torres & Solberg, 2001).
A particularly critical period is that of late childhood-early adolescence, when young individuals run the risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of aggressiveness and bullying at school. Frequently, this risk is due to children of this age having yet to adequately develop the social skills they need to cope with these situations efficaciously. Therefore, in the early 1990s, many research projects, more than ever before in Italy, were launched to monitor early forms of maladjustment, such as bullying. The results of these studies have lead to the implementation of new prevention programs (Gini, 2004; Menesini, 2000).
ITALIAN ADOLESCENTS AT-RISK FOR MANIFEST FORMS OF MALADJUSTMENT AND MENTAL DISEASES
As mentioned earlier, Italian researchers have been monitoring maladjustment and mental health problems for some years now. For example, one recent Department of the Interior (2002) report on juvenile delinquency revealed that, over the last 10 years, petty larceny and robbery rates have increased by 47% and that the incidence of adolescent drug-use has risen by 32%. There has also been an increase in the number of juvenile criminals who use firearms to commit murder. Moreover, the most vulnerable youths in weak social and relational contexts are exploited in a number of ways: 144,285 children under the age of 14 work, and 31,500 of these are involved in activities evincing the characteristics of juvenile exploitation. In the first nine months of 2003, as many as 420 cases of sexual abuse on minors were recorded. This is an increase of 13.2% from 2002 (Censis, 2003). In one study that involved more than 1,500 adolescents, approximately 15% reported frequent exposure to violence (e.g., seeing somebody they knew being robbed, threatened, or assaulted); 13.7% reported having been threatened; 10% reported having been robbed; and 11.3% reported having been beaten and injured by others (Soresi, Nota, Solberg, Ferrari, & Howard, in press).
Furthermore, increases in alcohol consumption and drug use have been recorded over the last few years. Young Italian adolescents tend to have their first experience with alcohol around the age of 11, usually at home during meals or at parties and celebrations. Excessive alcohol consumption begins around age 14 to 15, usually in the company of friends and outside the home. If the first cigarette is smoked around age 14, the first experience with drugs usually occurs at approximately age 16 (Annual Report ESPAD, 2001). In 2001, 32.7% of young adolescents reported using cannabis, 22.1% used cannabis and alcohol together, 6.5% used sedatives and tranquilizers, and 4% used cocaine.
Over the last 10 years, depression in infancy and adolescence has also been on the rise and the age of onset gets lower. If major depression disorders in the United States have reached the rates of 2% in children and 4-8% in adolescents, with a higher incidence in females than males, with increasing age, the situation in Italy is not much different (Department of Health, 2002). Childhood and adolescence depression must not be underestimated, as it is often associated with dysthymic and anxiety disorders, severe behavioral disorders, and substance abuse. Moreover, depressed adolescents have a greater history of suicide attempts, delirium, and sleep and eating disorders. According to a study based on anonymous self-reports, the rate of adolescent suicide attempts in 1996 was approximately 2.8% and increased to approximately 6% in the year 2000 (Department of Health, 2002).
ITALIAN ADOLESCENTS AND LESS SEVERE FORMS OF MALADJUSTMENT
Situations thought to represent less severe types of maladjustment, such as poor social skills, poor self-efficacy beliefs, and inadequate coping strategies, are frequent in Italy. For example, one study examined a sample of 3,500 adolescents, 57% male and 43% female, aged 15 to 18 years, who lived in various regions of northern, central, and southern Italy. A significant number, 16.7%, of them stated that they felt uncomfortable when they had to interact with others, that they seldom resorted to social skill-centered behavior, and that they had an unsatisfactory quality of life (QoL) (Ferrari, Soresi, & Nota, in press). It was further observed that the less satisfaction participants expressed about their life conditions, the greater their reported anxiety (i.e., correlations between QoL and anxiety were -.45 for state anxiety and -.52 for trait anxiety) and depression (i.e., the correlation between QoL and depression was -.51).
Another study (Frydenberg, Nota, Soresi, & Ferrari, in press) used the Adolescent Coping Scale (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993) to examine approximately 1,000 adolescents, 47.3% male and 52.7% female aged 15 to 18 years, from different Italian regions. Results revealed that 17.5% of participants resorted more frequently to non-productive coping strategies (e.g, avoiding or ignoring a problem, hoping and praying, self-blame, and keeping to themselves). These are inefficient strategies that often make it hard for adolescents to deal...
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