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Substance use recovery is a dynamic process for youth, and social networks are tied to the recovery process. The Recovery Capital for Adolescents Model (RCAM) situates the resources accessible through social networks – social recovery capital (SRC) – in a larger framework of developmentally-informed recovery resources. This study aims to investigate the social network experiences among recovering youth enrolled in a recovery high school to understand how social influences help to build, or act as barriers to building, recovery capital. To gain insight into these networks, Social Identity Maps and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten youth ages 17–19 years (80% male; 50% non-Hispanic White). Study visits were conducted virtually, recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed using the RCAM as an organizing framework. Results supported that adolescent social networks play a unique and multifaceted role in the recovery journey. Three key nuances emerged: change permeates adolescent networks throughout the treatment and recovery process; shared substance use history and non-stigmatizing attitudes play a key role in connecting with others; and SRC is interconnected with human, financial, and community recovery capital. With adolescent recovery receiving increased attention from policy makers, practitioners, and researchers, the RCAM may be a useful way to contextualize available resources. Findings suggest SRC as a crucial, yet complex component intertwined with all other forms of recovery capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale–Global (SCORS-G) has been used increasingly in multimethod psychological assessment contexts as a framework for eliciting personality information from narrative data collection techniques, the most popular of which is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Although research on the reliability and validity of the SCORS system has evolved over the last decade, there are numerous psychometric and procedural shortcomings (and corresponding ethical issues) that should be considered when applying this methodology to the TAT in clinical and research settings. Chief among these concerns is a lack of normative benchmarking, variability in TAT card batteries that are administered across contexts (which limit generalization and direct research comparisons), ambiguous reliability and validity evidence (and lack of incremental validity), and redundancy in published studies (i.e., versions of the same data/samples presented repeatedly across research). There is also a dearth of information about how SCORS-G data are influenced by factors such as culture, language, cognitive functioning, and other variables that may impact narrative output, word count, and richness (and subsequent interpretation and clinical decision making). The review concludes with a discussion of the ethical implications of using the SCORS-G in clinical practice, and recommendation for a moratorium on its use until minimum psychometric standards can be established and greater clarity is achieved surrounding its use with diverse and vulnerable populations. Public Significance Statement: The current article presents a critical review of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale–Global (SCORS-G) system as applied to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in clinical practice and research, and important ethical issues that should be considered. A moratorium on the SCORS-G as applied to the TAT is recommended until minimum psychometric standards can be established, and greater clarity is achieved surrounding its use with diverse and vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]