7.2 Interviewing Adolescents

Definition and Age Range:- Young people, roughly between 12 and 18 years old.
- Primarily a developmental stage, not strict age range.
Significant Developmental Shifts:- Major change around 12 years old: shift from primary to high school.
- Move from being highest year in primary to youngest in high school.
Complex Life Factors:- Shaped by social environments, family, school, and peer group values.
- Life complexity from diverse family structures (e.g., single-parent, divorce), schooling pressures, and peer norms.
Challenges and Pressures:- Low school achievement can lead to seeking employment.
- High achievers face competitive stress in final school years.
- Critical period for self-questioning and contemplating future societal roles.

Cornerstone of Therapeutic Relationships:- Essential for therapeutic relationships with young people.
- Undefined limits lead to incorrect/incomplete information.
Starting the Interview:- Detail legal aspects, factual boundaries, and specific exceptions at the start.
- Exceptions to Confidentiality: Serious thoughts of homicide or suicide, recent physical or sexual abuse.
Ensuring Privacy:- Interview in a private room (door, far from waiting area) to reinforce confidentiality.

Challenges in Achieving Empathy:- Difficult for interviewers with limited youth experience.
- Differences in language, appearance, interests, and lifestyles hinder rapport.
Keys to a Rewarding Relationship:- Rewarding if topics are mutually concerning and interviewer genuinely seeks adolescent's opinion.
- Interviewers must truthfully establish and maintain credentials.
Techniques for Building Rapport:- Reflective Listening: Warm, nonjudgmental restatement, clarification, or expansion of adolescent's words.
- Open-Ended Questions:- Start with choices for younger adolescents (e.g., "X, Y, or Z?").
  - Always conclude with an open-ended question (e.g., "…or something else? What do you think?").
- Affirmations:- Examples: "I appreciate your honesty," "That's an excellent idea!"
  - Must be genuine and used sparingly to avoid inauthenticity.

Two Aspects of Language:- Ability to understand and effectively use language.
- Specific speech styles adolescents use.
Linguistic Development:- Linked to physical, cognitive, personality development; generally well-developed, but varies.
- Social language differences can obscure thinking of those with poorer competence.
Challenges for Adult Interviewers:- Main problem is keeping up with popular adolescent language, which seems foreign.
- Adults not involved with youth culture easily expose ignorance of 'secret language.'
Avoiding Hypocrisy:- Adolescents are highly sensitive to adult hypocrisy.
- Adult attempts to mimic adolescent language for rapport often fail, perceived as inauthentic/insulting due to misuse.

Adolescent Conceptual Ability:- High-performing adolescents often exceed adult abilities, but lack adult experience.
Limitations of School Performance as an Indicator:- Unreliable indicator of conceptual ability, especially for low-motivated students.
Impact of Emotion:- Emotion significantly affects conceptual performance during interviews, regardless of academic level.
Interviewer's Responsibility:- Adapt phrasing and conceptual level of questions considering more than just school performance.

Misleading Impressions:- Dress/hair can belie true attitudes/abilities; avoid judging mental state by physical presentation.
Influence of Peer Group and Fashion:- Fashions are highly changeable and peer-influenced.
Job Interview Advice and Reality:- Advised to dress formally for job interviews, but some don't.
- Interviewers must weigh appearance against answers, attitude, or skills.
- Many low-income adolescents cannot afford 'dressing up' for every interview.

Expressiveness:- Teenagers are very expressive via body language, especially when emotional.
- Gestures may appear exaggerated to adults.

Desire for Adult Treatment:- Adolescents desire adult treatment, even if appearing childlike in threatening situations.
Restoring Self-Worth:- Interviewers should use questioning styles that restore self-worth and acceptance.