Journal of Research on Adolescence最新文献

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents were extensive, touching aspects of their lives such as those reviewed in this Special Section : school experiences, family relationships, peer relationships, and civic engagement. In parallel with these effects on individuals, the fields of developmental and psychological science were shaken up by this global crisis. The accelerated transition to online data collection and collaboration presented opportunities to expand research on adolescence, breaking down many physical and social barriers to participation and sparking methodological innovation. Yet, this crisis also shed light on the global digital divides and the uneven impacts of the pandemic across the research community. This commentary reflects on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the methods and methodologies of developmental science, the challenges and opportunities it surfaced, and the populations included and omitted in this period of research. We integrate reflections on how the pandemic shaped our own research and on how the pandemic has shaped the future of developmental science.

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people's functioning, relationships, and well-being, four systematic reviews were put together to shed light on school experiences, family and peer relationships, and civic engagement during the pandemic. The reviews presented research findings on the protective role of several personal and contextual resources including intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, family, school, peer, and community support, as well as the harming effect of risk factors, such as poor mental health, COVID-19-related stressors, and technological challenges, thus highlighting the significant role of both personal and contextual factors in adolescent development and well-being. Equally important, the research findings collectively suggested an ecological perspective of the determining factors, although the focus was largely on factors in immediate contexts (family, school, peers, and local community). Adopting a more holistic approach that also considers factors in other ecological contexts (e.g., partnership between immediate contexts, the influence of cultural values and norms along with educational and developmental transitions) can be crucial in addressing the specific needs of young people across diverse contexts and cultures during a pandemic and in general. In addressing their needs, the ever-growing digital space of young people can be utilized to connect them to services and supportive networks in their contexts including distal ones.

In order to promote school safety for sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY), many schools implement strategies such as SGM-focused policies and gender-sexuality alliances (GSAs). Little is known about the effects such strategies have over time on feelings of safety at school for SGMY. Hierarchical Linear Models were conducted using longitudinal data from 417 SGMY attending secondary schools to examine trajectories of feelings of safety and the effects of SGM-focused policies, GSA presence, or GSA membership on feelings of safety. Findings indicate that SGM-focused policies and GSAs had direct benefits for safety at school SGMY, both independently and in combination; however, GSA membership was not. Schools should implement a combination of school strategies to promote safer environments for SGMY.

Parents' responses to youth positive affect (PA) have been dichotomized as enhancing and dampening. This dichotomy may not fit with cultural scripts about emotion in communities where a balance between positive and negative emotions is preferred. To assess parents' PA socialization in a culturally relevant manner for urban, middle-class families in India, we developed a new measure of parental goals about happiness and adapted the Responses to Adolescent Happy Affect Scale (RAHAS). We tested the psychometric properties of these measures and assessed relations among parental socialization goals and behaviors across 5 months. Our sample included 377 adolescent (84.4% girls; M_age = 14.47) and parent (63.9% mothers) dyads, primarily Hindu, in Bengaluru, India. Two parental goals factors emerged: "Balancing and Controlling" and "Maximizing and Sharing" happiness. Three factors emerged for the adapted RAHAS. Two factors were the same as the original RAHAS: (a) "Enhancing" strategies to upregulate PA and (b) "Dampening" strategies to downregulate PA. A third factor emerged: (c) "Balancing" strategies, which were culturally salient for families in India and aimed for moderation. Among socialization behaviors, "Enhancing" and "Dampening" were inversely related, while "Balancing" related positively to each. Balancing and Controlling goals were only correlated to "Balancing" behaviors. Maximizing and Sharing goals were correlated positively with "Enhancing" and inversely with "Dampening." Longitudinally, Maximizing and Sharing and Balancing and Controlling goals were related to a significant increase and marginal decrease in "Dampening," respectively. Challenging the dichotomy, our findings highlight the relevance of balancing to theories of PA socialization.

The widespread use of video games among adolescents has raised concerns about their impact on psychological and social development. This study aimed to assess the effects of different types of parental mediation on adolescents' tendency to use video games to avoid negative emotions and determine the relationship between adolescents' interpersonal skills and their reliance on online video games for escapism. Participants were 452 adolescents from 15 middle and high schools. Data on sociodemographic information, gaming habits, parental control of online gaming, interpersonal skills, and reasons for playing online games were also collected. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the data, with online video game escapism as the dependent variable. Results supported the study's hypothesis that both parental mediation and adolescent interpersonal skills significantly predict the use of online video games for escapism. Higher levels of parental monitoring were associated with a lower tendency of adolescents to use video games to escape negative emotions, while parental mediation supporting autonomy showed a similar but weaker protective effect. At the same time, parental monitoring was also found to be associated with lower interpersonal skills, notably higher impulsivity, narcissism, and stress in social situations. In addition, adolescents with higher levels of impulsivity were more likely to use video games for escapism. These findings highlight the importance of balanced parental involvement and the development of adolescents' social skills to mitigate the risks of problematic online gaming. Interventions should promote effective parental mediation strategies and enhance adolescents' interpersonal skills to reduce their tendency to use video games as a coping mechanism for real-life challenges. Effective parental mediation and improved interpersonal skills are critical for promoting healthier gaming habits and reducing adolescent escapism.

John Schulenberg has had significant impact on developmental science. His conceptual writing and empirical research, grounded in developmental contextualism, emphasized the critical role that developmental transitions play in shaping health risks, especially substance use, across the life course. Schulenberg's integration of developmental concepts with large-scale epidemiological studies, particularly through his leadership in the Monitoring the Future study, provides key insights into how significant life changes-such as school transitions, employment, and relationships-interact to influence well-being across adolescence and early adulthood. He was a fierce advocate for adolescence and young adulthood being critical phases of life, deserving of focused attention and support. John was also a devoted mentor to the next generation of developmental scientists. This commentary reflects on John Schulenberg's legacy, highlighting five of his foundational concepts (developmental tasks, transitions, trajectories, turning points, and timing) and celebrating his role as a generative and joyful mentor. He fostered open intellectual dialog, promoted and celebrated career development, and took pleasure in life inside and outside work, helping early career scientists to develop innovative and impactful research programs. Schulenberg's commitment to positive relationships and celebrating success is an enduring model for future generations of developmental scientists and mentors.

The under-involvement of adolescents in health research has been attributed to multiple barriers faced by both researchers and adolescents. Despite identifying these barriers, the literature offers few solutions, mostly from the perspective of researchers. To address this, we conducted a qualitative study to explore effective strategies to address these barriers from the perspective of both researchers and adolescents. We conducted semi-structured interviews with adolescents (n = 25) and researchers (n = 25) from 14 countries. We included adolescents aged 10-24 years with experience of contributing to health research studies and health researchers with experience of engaging adolescents in health research. The interviews explored the mitigation strategies to commonly reported barriers to meaningful adolescent involvement for researchers and adolescents. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. We identified three overarching strategies to address the commonly experienced barriers to adolescent involvement. First, participants suggested the need to plan for adequate resources, organizational support, capacity building, accessibility, compensation, and adolescents' safety. Second, they recommended building relationships by engaging the community, fostering trust and respect with adolescents, promoting teamwork, and maintaining transparent communication. Third, they proposed making involvement engaging for adolescents by creating a conducive environment, increasing their representation, using interesting methods, and addressing power dynamics. These findings build on the current best practices for adolescent involvement in health research by highlighting which strategies should be incorporated early on to plan for and prevent potential challenges to adolescent involvement.

During adolescence, opportunities for interethnic interactions can shape future attitudes toward diversity. However, it is unclear how family can influence adolescents' quality of contact in different life contexts. This study aims to fill this gap. A sample of 702 Italian adolescents (M_age = 15.61, SD_age = 1.11, 48.58% girls) and their parents (615 mothers, M_age = 48.45, SD_age = 4.34; 487 fathers, M_age = 51.22, SD_age = 4.92) completed questionnaires at two time points. Cross-lagged models indicated that adolescents' intergroup contact at T1 was associated with mothers' contact over time, mainly in structured (i.e., school and work) contexts. No significant associations were found regarding fathers' intergroup contact and unstructured contexts. These results shed new light on the process of family transmission during adolescence, particularly regarding intergroup dynamics.

Substance use among youth is associated with adverse consequences and may increase vulnerability to addiction and psychiatric disorders later in life. Sociocultural factors such as discrimination have been associated with substance use, while positive cultural resources, such as enculturation and familism, have demonstrated protective outcomes. However, few studies have highlighted how family factors influence substance use among Latinx youth during their transition from adolescence to young adulthood. This study used longitudinal data to explore the associations between sociocultural factors, family factors, childhood adversity, and substance use among Latinx youth. The data were from a longitudinal study of acculturation and substance use among Latinx youth in Southern California (n = 1257, 52.1% female, mixed socioeconomic status). The average age was 14.5 (SD = 0.39). Data collection began in 2005 and ended in 2016. Hierarchical regression models showed that discrimination was associated with higher problematic alcohol susceptibility. Childhood adversity was associated with higher odds of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use. Parental communication was associated with lower odds of problematic alcohol and marijuana use. To promote youth well-being, preventive efforts should prioritize reducing childhood adversity and discrimination, while fostering positive family relationships. Overall, our findings suggest the need for interventions targeting various systemic levels to effectively address substance use among Latinx youth.

Short-term longitudinal data were used to examine how racial discrimination, cultural socialization (CS), and preparation for bias (PB) related to Black and Latinx young adults' public and private regard. Black (n = 90) and Latinx (n = 54) young adults (M_age = 20 years) were assessed at two time points, 6 weeks apart. Racial discrimination predicted lower levels of public regard 6 week later; whereas PB predicted greater levels of private regard. CS moderated the relations between racial discrimination and private regard suggesting that at low levels of CS, discrimination related to lower private regard 6 weeks later. Findings demonstrate the short-term effects of racial discrimination and suggest that ethnic-racial socialization is a salient cultural resource for young adults.