Deakin University, Victoria
Mental Health Research 2009
Lina Ricciardelli is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at Deakin University in Victoria. She has published over 90 papers in the field of child and adolescent development. Her research focussed on the role of negative affect and other risk factors in the development body image concerns, problem eating behaviour and early substance abuse in children and adolescents.
Dr Ricciardelli’s research has particularly focused on the development of body image concerns and disordered eating in adolescent and preadolescent boys. Boys have been largely ignored in the field or they have often been studied in an ad hoc fashion. In addition, she developed and implemented innovative longitudinal work which examined the role of parents, peers and the media in determining strategies to lose weight, gain weight and increase muscles among adolescents and preadolescents. This work was highly influential in shaping future directions and advances in the field at both the national and the international level. Moreover, this critical ground work has led to the development of a new program which focuses on the impact of social comparisons on children aged between 8 and 10 years.
Recently Dr Ricciardelli broadened the focus of her research to include adolescents and adults from other cultural groups (Indigenous Australians, Chinese, Fijians and Tongans). The influence of socio-cultural factors on body image concerns and associated behaviours cannot be fully understood until these concerns and behaviours in different cultures are addressed.
Dr Ricciardelli is Chair of the College of Health Psychologists (2008-2009) in the Australian Psychological Society, and she is on the editorial board of international journals, Body and Image and Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
SUMMARY OF PROJECT:
An Early Intervention for Mental Health Problems Among Children: Comparisons, Openness, Peers and Esteem (COPE)
Children use social comparisons with others to learn about their own abilities and individual differences. This is a fundamental part of children’s social and emotional development. However many children develop an over reliance on social comparisons. This can lead to:
► maladaptive coping skills
► negative thought processes
► pessimistic attributions
► low self-esteem
► other negative self beliefs
These negative concerns in children heighten their risk of developing mental health problems.
Dr Ricciardelli’s study aims to implement an early intervention program called COPE. The program is designed to build resilience and improve issues connected to mental health problems in primary school children.
The study is focussed on children aged between 8 and 10 years: a crucial time to apply early intervention strategies that will enhance children’s ability to cope with psychosocial stressors and foster the development of positive mental health and well-being. This age is also when children frequently use social comparisons and are most vulnerable to their negative impact.
The program targets the use of social comparisons in four domains that are important for fostering the well-being of children. These include physical appearance, relationships with peers, physical activity and sport, and school achievement.
An extensive evaluation of the program in terms of how it improves the mental health of 8 to 10 year old girls and boys is underway. It is expected that children who participate in the social comparison training program will demonstrate:
► increased positive affect
► lower levels of negative affect
► lower depressive and anxiety symptoms
► higher levels of resiliency and
► more positive self-concepts
than do children on a wait-list control group. The effectiveness of the program will be evaluated upon completion and also at five follow-up periods: 1-month, 6-months, 12-months, 18-months and 24-months post-intervention.