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How Mental Health Interviews Conducted Alone, in the Presence of an Adult, a Child or Both Affects Adolescents’ Reporting of Psychological Symptoms and Risky Behaviors

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

The normative process of autonomy development in adolescence involves changes in adolescents’ information management typically characterized by decreasing disclosure and increasing concealment. These changes may have an important impact on the early detection and timely treatment of mental health conditions and risky behavior. Therefore, the objective was to extend our understanding of how these developmental changes in adolescent disclosure might impact adolescent mental health interviews. Specifically, we estimated the effects of third party presence and type of third party presence (adult, child, or both) on adolescents’ reports of psychiatric symptoms, substance use, suicidal behavior, and childhood adversity. In this representative sample of 3005 adolescents from Mexico City (52.1 % female), administered the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI-A), adult presence influenced reporting the most; in their presence, adolescents reported more ADHD, parental mental illness and economic adversity, but less panic disorder, PTSD, drug use and disorder, and suicidal behavior. The presence of children was associated with increased odds of reporting conduct disorder, opportunity for drug use, parental criminal behavior, neglect, and the death of a parent. While adolescent information management strategies are normative and even desirable as a means of gaining emotional autonomy, they may also interfere with timely detection and treatment or intervention for mental health conditions and risky behaviors. Research and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the WMH staff for assistance with instrumentation and fieldwork.

Authors’ Contributions

A.H. participated in the interpretation of the data and drafted the manuscript; C.B. conceived of the study, coordinated the study, and participated in the drafting of the manuscript; E.M. participated in the design and performed the statistical analysis; L.C. coordinated quality control and the acquisition of data. She received her masters of public mental health from the National Autonomous University of Mexico; M.E.M.M. participated in the design and coordination of the study.

Funding

The Mexican Adolescent Mental Health Survey was supported by the National Council on Science and Technology and Ministry of Education grant CONACYT-SEP-SSEDF-2003-CO1-22 and National Council on Science and Technology grant CB-2010-01-155221 with supplementary support from Fundación Azteca. Writing of this paper was possible through a U.S. Student Fulbright-García Robles research grant and the Mexico-U.S. Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (COMEXUS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente, Calzada México-Xochimilco 101, San Lorenzo Huipulco, 14400, México, D.F., Mexico

    Aubrey V. Herrera, Corina Benjet, Enrique Méndez, Leticia Casanova & Maria Elena Medina-Mora

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  1. Aubrey V. Herrera
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  2. Corina Benjet
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  3. Enrique Méndez
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Correspondence to Corina Benjet.

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This study was approved by the internal review committee of the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Herrera, A.V., Benjet, C., Méndez, E. et al. How Mental Health Interviews Conducted Alone, in the Presence of an Adult, a Child or Both Affects Adolescents’ Reporting of Psychological Symptoms and Risky Behaviors. J Youth Adolescence 46, 417–428 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0418-1

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