Targeting Vulnerabilities to Risky Behavior an In

Authors: Anthony Claro MarieMichelle Boulanger Steven R Shaw

Publish Date: 2015/07/11

Volume: 19, Issue: 4, Pages: 330-339

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Abstract

The paper examined the effectiveness of an inschool intervention for adolescents designed to target emotional regulation skills related to risky behaviors The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Intended for Youth CERTIFY program was delivered to atrisk adolescents in Montreal Canada Participants were drawn from an alternative high school and a dropout prevention program within an urban high school The pilot was a studentfocused therapeutic modality without parental intervention for maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation CER and engagement in risky behaviors CERTIFY is a schoolbased group intervention targeting CER strategies and was implemented with 28 adolescents from two English language secondary schools The intervention was conducted for 12 weeks for the intervention group versus controls who were offered usual school supports Program outcomes were evaluated using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Risky Behaviors Questionnaire for Adolescents The intervention group made significant gains with regard to using adaptive CER strategies Specifically the intervention resulted in increases in selfreported use of positive reappraisal and refocusing on planning No significant gains were found for reducing the use of maladaptive CER strategies or risky behaviors This schoolbased intervention program for highrisk adolescents increased overall use of adaptive CER strategies and provided insight for future intervention design

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