Music interventions are used for stress reduction in a variety of settings because of the positive effects of music listening on both physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, and hormonal levels) and psychological stress experiences (e.g., restlessness, anxiety, and nervousness). To summarize the growing body of empirical research, two multilevel meta-analyses of 104 RCTs, containing 327 effect sizes and 9,617 participants, were performed to assess the strength of the effects of music interventions on both physiological and psychological stress-related outcomes, and to test the potential moderators of the intervention effects. Results showed that music interventions had an overall significant effect on stress reduction in both physiological (d = .380) and psychological (d = .545) outcomes. Further, moderator analyses showed that the type of outcome assessment moderated the effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes. Larger effects were found on heart rate (d = .456), compared to blood pressure (d = .343) and hormone levels (d = .349). Implications for stress-reducing music interventions are discussed.

Physical activity interventions are often implemented in the adolescent mental health care practice to prevent or treat psychosocial problems. To date, no systematic review of the effect of these physical activity interventions in adolescents has been conducted. In the current study, four multilevel meta-analyses were performed to assess the overall effect of physical activity interventions on externalizing problems, internalizing problems, self-concept, and academic achievement in adolescents. In addition, possible moderating factors were examined. In total, 57 studies reporting on 216 effect sizes were included, and the results showed significant small-to-moderate effects of physical activity interventions on externalizing problems (d=0.320), internalizing problems (d=0.316), self-concept (d=0.297), and academic achievement (d=0.367). Further, moderator analyses showed that outcome, study, sample, and intervention characteristics influenced the effects of physical activity interventions on psychosocial outcomes. Implications for theory and practice concerning the use of physical activity interventions in adolescent mental health care practice are discussed.

A parental history of experiencing child maltreatment is an important risk factor in several etiological theories of child maltreatment. In the past, two reviews have been conducted on the available evidence for intergenerational continuity in child maltreatment, but were only qualitative in nature. Therefore, the present review aimed to provide a quantitative summary of the current knowledge on intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. In our 3-level random-effects meta-analysis, we included 84 studies reporting on 285 effect sizes and found a medium summary effect of r = 0.289; 95% CI [0.257, 0.337], with significant variation in effect sizes within (level 2) and between (level 3) studies. This implies that in families of parents who experienced maltreatment in their own childhood, the odds of child maltreatment are almost three times the odds of child maltreatment in families of parents without a history of experiencing child maltreatment (OR = 2.990). However, as indications for bias were found, caution is warranted in interpreting this effect. Moderator analyses revealed that the effect of intergenerational transmission was the smallest in children who experienced physical abuse. Further, study quality was negatively associated with effect size magnitude. We highlight the need for an improvement in quality of primary research, and discuss implications of our findings for clinical practice.

Insecure attachment to primary caregivers is associated with the development of depression symptoms in children and youth. This association has been shown by individual studies testing the relation between attachment and depression and by meta-analyses focusing on broad internalizing problems instead of depression or adult samples only. We therefore metaanalytically examined the associations between attachment security and depression in children and adolescents, using a multilevel approach. In total, 643 effect sizes were extracted from 123 independent samples. A significant moderate overall effect size was found (r = .31), indicating that insecure attachment to primary caregivers is associated with depression. Multivariate analysis of the significant moderators that impacted on the strength of the association between attachment security and depression showed that country of the study, study design, gender, the type of attachment, and the type of instrument to assess attachment uniquely contributed to the explanation of variance. This study suggests that insecure attachment may be a predictor of the development of depression in children and adolescents. When treating depression in children, attachment should therefore be addressed.

UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Training direct care staff working with persons with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour: A meta-analytic review study

Participation in sports activities is very popular among adolescents, and is frequently encouraged among youth. Many psychosocial health benefits in youth are attributed to sports participation, but to what extent this positive influence holds for juvenile delinquency is still not clear on both the theoretical and empirical level. There is much controversy on whether sports participation should be perceived as a protective or a risk factor for the development of juvenile delinquency. A multilevel meta-analysis of 51 published and unpublished studies, with 48 independent samples containing 431 effect sizes and N = 132,366 adolescents, was conducted to examine the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency and possible moderating factors of this association. The results showed that there is no overall significant association between sports participation and juvenile delinquency, indicating that adolescent athletes are neither more nor less delinquent than non-athletes. Some study, sample and sports characteristics significantly moderated the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency. However, this moderating influence was modest. Implications for theory and practice concerning the use of sports to prevent juvenile delinquency are discussed.

Sports are among the most important leisure activities for youth and adolescents. Both positive (i.e., prosocial) and negative (i.e., antisocial) moral behaviors occur on the playing field. To stimulate positive sports experiences, it is important to understand which factors are related to the moral behavior of young athletes; one of these is the moral climate, that is, the socio-moral environment in which sports take place. Little is known about the overall strength of the relationship between moral climate and moral behavior of young athletes, as well as the potential moderating factors of this relationship. A meta-analysis of 27 studies containing 117 effect sizes and N = 7726 young athletes (age < 18 years) was conducted. The results show that there is an overall significant association between these two variables ( r = 0.40), indicating that a prosocial moral climate is related to less antisocial and more prosocial behavior, while an antisocial moral climate is associated with more antisocial and less prosocial behavior of young athletes. Two study characteristics significantly moderated this relationship: specifically, stronger associations were found in cross-sectional and in older studies. In addition, the strength of the association between moral climate and moral behavior was stronger for antisocial moral climate compared to prosocial moral climate. Finally, associations for team members were stronger than those of coaches or a broad moral club climate. Implications for further research and sports practice are discussed.

Research in adolescent populations has shown that the severity, impact, and relative importance of dynamic risk factors for recidivism changes over the course of adolescence. This study examined whether there were age differences in the severity, impact, and relative importance of dynamic risk factors for recidivism in an adult offender population. The sample consisted of 8665 Dutch offenders and was divided into four age groups: 18-25 years old, 26-30 years old, 31-40 years old, and 41 + years old. The results showed that the severity and impact of dynamic risk factors varied across the age groups. An increase of the impact of dynamic risk factors was found over the course of adulthood, indicating that dynamic risk factors had a larger predictive power for recidivism in the older age groups. The relative importance of the risk factors also varied across age. In late adolescence, recidivism was most strongly predicted by problems in the education, alcohol use, and peer domains, whereas in adulthood, problems with drugs and alcohol were the most important predictors of recidivism. Results emphasize the importance of directing offender treatment at high risk offenders, and the focus on age specific criminogenic needs to maximize the effect of treatment.