שתיל - שירותי תמיכה וייעוץ לקידום שינוי חברתי

Abrams L. S.

(2003)Sociocultural Variations
in Adolescent Girls' Expressions
of Distress: What We Know
and Need to KnowSocial workers have a unique interest in understanding diversity
in patterns of human adaptation to adverse circumstances. This paper
draws social workers' attention to empirical research on sociocultural variations
in adolescent girls' expressions of distress. Focusing on internalizing and
externalizing modes of expression, the author summarizes current studies
that investigate ethnic/race and socioeconomic influences on adolescent girls'
behavioral and psychological symptoms of underlying distress. This review of
existing literature points to the need for a more refined understanding of multiple
and interacting influences on adolescent female patterns of expression
and draws several implications for social work practice with this diverse population group.Understanding sociocultural variations in adolescent girls' expressions
of distress is an extremely complex task. To illustrate this point,
this paper drew mainly upon large-scale, national studies of youth
behavior with significant sample sizes and statistical power. However,
these studies do not provide an analysis of the circumstances leading
to these general indicators of distress.