Journal of Research on Adolescence最新文献

Comprising a substantial proportion of the global youth population, Chinese youth play critical roles in Chinese and global societies. Yet extensive research on the development of Chinese youth has mainly taken a deficit approach. A comprehensive understanding of their holistic developmental profiles and their profiles' associations with social determinants of health (SDOHs) is needed. This person-centered study collected data from a nationally representative sample of 16,317 Chinese youth (M_age = 13.13 ± 2.52 years, 47.94% girls) on their negative and positive developmental indicators and key SDOHs. Four distinct profiles were identified: lower positive, moderately positive, thriving, and higher positive but highest negative (troubled). The likelihood of different profile memberships among youth was significantly predicted by the SDOHs examined. The findings revealed diverse coexisting patterns of negative and positive indicators and underscored the need to attend to SDOHs, which may generate differentially favorable profiles among youth through unequal exposure to stress or benefit from allocated resources.

A developmental perspective is needed to reveal the long-lasting influence of perceived parenting discrepancies on youth depressive symptoms from early adolescence to emerging adulthood. This is particularly important for U.S. families of Chinese origin, an understudied U.S. population in research on perceived parenting discrepancies. The current study used an 8-year longitudinal dataset of 444 youth (M_wave1.age = 13.51, SD = 0.64; 54% girls) and their mothers (N = 393) and fathers (N = 374) from U.S. families of Chinese origin to examine how convergent and divergent perceptions of parenting in early adolescence relate to depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood (M_wave3.age = 21.39, SD = 0.62). Response surface analysis revealed that when mothers, but not fathers, reported lower (versus higher) levels of hostility than adolescents in early adolescence, youth reported higher levels of depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood. The finding highlights the need for early adolescent interventions to address parent–child perceived parenting discrepancies when mothers reported less hostility than adolescents, given their lasting impact on youth depressive symptoms in U.S. families of Chinese origin.

Future-oriented self-efficacy and behaviors are essential assets as youth move from the structure of school to more independent pursuits. Given that adolescence is a time for internalizing goals, it is possible that future-oriented efficacy and behaviors grow out of an emerging sense of purpose and are scaffolded by parents, teachers, and school counselors. This study tested the longitudinal relations between parental, teacher, and school counselor support and future-oriented outcomes, with the mediating role of sense of purpose, using a racially and ethnically diverse sample of high school students followed across three years (n = 645; 51% female; $��M_{\mathrm{age}}�=�15.62�$). Early support from parents and satisfaction with school counselors, but not positive relationships with teachers, were significantly associated with adolescents' sense of purpose one year later, which then predicted future-oriented self-efficacy and behaviors in the last years of high school. Adolescents' sense of purpose at Time 2 mediated the pathway from the support of parents and school counselors at Time 1 to the outcomes at Time 3. While these associations did not vary by gender or students' intended postsecondary pathways—whether work or college—there were significant mean differences in each subgroup's perception of adult support. Findings suggest the need for parents and counselors to prioritize fostering a sense of purpose and tailoring supportive strategies to meet the needs of students based on their gender and aspirations.

Adolescence is crucial for wisdom development, yet it lacks measurement tools. According to the two-dimensional theory of wisdom that integrates virtue and wit, wisdom was conceptualized as a 6 second-order 10-factor structure and measured by the revised integrated wisdom scale (IWS-R). The present study aims to verify the reliability and validity of IWS-R in Chinese adolescents and to develop a simplified version for educational application. In study 1, a total of 4182 participants from China (ages 10–17 years, 54.13% boys) completed the 30-item IWS-R and criterion scales. Four weeks later, participants volunteered for a second survey for test–retest reliability analysis and longitudinal invariance testing. In study 2, we developed a short version of the 10-item revised Integrated Wisdom Scale (IWS-10) using genetic algorithms. Overall, the present study shows that both IWS-30 and IWS-10 have good reliability and validity among Chinese adolescents, which will contribute to the empirical research of wisdom psychology in the future.

Recognizing the significant roles of youth in social change efforts, research has increasingly aimed to clarify the processes that promote critical action among young people. Studies on sociopolitical development and critical consciousness emphasize that youth's reasoning about inequality and their sociopolitical efficacy are particularly salient precursors to critical action. However, this body of scholarship has yet to clarify the role of opportunity structures in sociopolitical development. Even less research investigates how the key factors in the sociopolitical development framework (e.g., critical reflection, sociopolitical efficacy, opportunity structures) differentially shape youth's critical action depending on their developmental phase. The current study analyzes the processes outlined in the theory of sociopolitical development using a diverse national sample of adolescents and young adults. Multigroup structural equation modeling of participants' survey data elucidated the prominent positive relationship between critical reflection and critical action, but revealed that sociopolitical efficacy was only positively linked to critical action in young adults. Additionally, the results indicated that opportunity structures played a more significant role in shaping the critical action of adolescents than that of young adults. In summary, the distinct relationships observed between adolescents and young adults highlight the necessity of considering key developmental differences in the sociopolitical development process to clarify pathways to political engagement.

In this study, we explore the influence of culture on adolescent identity formation, using the recently postulated master narrative framework. Most identity research using the framework thus far has departed from specific, a priori defined master narratives and domains. However, considering the rapidly changing and globalized sociocultural landscape, it is vital to consider contemporary developments and investigate what master narratives guide and constrain today's adolescents' identities. We therefore take a qualitative, bottom-up approach, examining adolescents' narratives without a priori defining what master narratives to focus on. Our study consisted of a reflexive thematic analysis of 15 focus groups interviews reaching a total of 72 Flemish adolescents. We developed three master narratives, each consisting of two contradicting imperatives. “I should be myself, but also fit in,” “I can be anything I want, but must be realistic,” and “I need to be happy now, but also work to be happy later.” The study underscores the importance of understanding adolescent identity formation as the dynamic navigation of multiple, contradicting sociocultural discourses. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the way current adolescent identity is embedded within the all-encompassing social organization of neoliberal capitalism.

Prior research has examined individuals' perceptions of punishments (PP) and rewards (PR) for crime, as well as their use of moral disengagement (MD), to understand why adolescents and young adults commit crimes. However, the joint development of these cognitions as a broader risk-perception mechanism remains understudied. This paper explores the independent and relational development of these processes in justice-involved youth. Data from 1,170 male participants (42.1% Black, 34.0% Hispanic, 19.2% White, 4.6% Other) in the Pathways to Desistance study were analyzed using a three-variable autoregressive latent trajectory model. MD, PP, and PR were measured across 11 waves and 7 years, allowing for the simultaneous examination of individual trajectories and their bidirectional relationships from adolescence to young adulthood. Although PP increased and MD and PR decreased across adolescence, all three exhibited decelerations in their change prior to young adulthood. Moreover, bidirectional relationships between the processes suggest the presence of harmful developmental cycles that may prematurely halt justice-involved youths' cognitive growth related to risk perception. Findings suggest that distorted risk and reward perceptions of crime, amplified by MD, may create harmful developmental cycles during adolescence that distort risk perception in adulthood. Further, the decelerations from late adolescence to young adulthood (~ages 18–22) point to a salient critical transitional period of development for these processes. These results may help inform developmentally tailored programs for at-risk youth. By targeting PP, PR, and MD as intertwined processes, interventions may recalibrate maladaptive perceptions, disrupt risky decision-making cycles, and reduce long-term offending.

This mixed-methods study used a participatory action approach to develop and test a culturally grounded measure of hope among adolescents. Eighteen adult community leaders participated in interviews, and a youth advisory board provided their perspectives on hope in the southeastern U.S. This information was used to develop the Adolescent Hope Scale. Psychometric testing was conducted using data from an online panel of 311 youth participants (66.2% male; M_age = 12.62; 62.1% White American, 32.8% Black or African American) and their parents or legal guardians in the U.S. The newly developed Adolescent Hope Scale functioned equally well across gender and ethnicity. It was uniquely predictive of physical and relational aggression, conduct problems, anger management, peer relational problems, and prosocial behavior. Promoting hope is a potential intervention target to reduce problem behaviors.

Adolescent anxiety symptoms are a global concern, and studying their trends and influencing factors in China is essential due to unique cultural and social dynamics impacting mental health. This study presents a cross-temporal meta-analysis of research employing the GAD-7 to assess anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents. Systematic searches were conducted across databases including CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, and Wiley, resulting in the inclusion of 66 articles (67 studies) spanning data collection from 2016 to 2023. The findings revealed that: (1) Anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents showed a slight decrease from 2016 to 2020, which was not statistically significant, but then experienced a significant increase from 2021 to 2023. (2) Throughout the period, female adolescents had significantly higher increases in anxiety symptoms compared to males. Clinically anxious adolescents had a slightly more pronounced decline in anxiety symptoms from 2016 to 2020 compared to those with subclinical anxiety, but this difference was not significant from 2021 to 2023. (3) Social change factors including social connectedness, socioeconomic conditions, and social threats did not significantly impact adolescent anxiety symptoms in China from 2016 to 2020, and this pattern continued from 2021 to 2023. This research advances the understanding of the mechanisms driving adolescent anxiety symptoms in China and offers a foundation for targeted prevention and intervention strategies, emphasizing the importance of addressing emerging stressors in mental health policies.

Friends are influential relationships during adolescence (Laursen & Veenstra, 2021), but little research has considered the role of close friends on the development of adolescents' emotion regulation (ER). The current study considered the roles of contagion of ER between friends, friends' modeling of ER (as perceived by the adolescent), and friends' direct feedback for negative emotions on adolescents' ER over a 2-year period. Participants were 202 adolescents (M_age = 12.66, 53% girls, 77% White, 18% Black, largely middle class) who participated with a same-gender close friend (101 dyads). Adolescents and their friends reported on their ER (i.e., inhibition, constructive regulation, dysregulation) at an initial assessment (T1) and 2 years later (T2). At T1, adolescents also reported on their perceptions of their friends' ER and their supportive and unsupportive responses to negative emotions. Actor-Partner Interdependence Models tested whether friends' ER (i.e., contagion effect), adolescents' perceptions of friends' ER (i.e., modeling effect), and friends' expected responses to negative emotions (i.e., direct feedback) predicted adolescents' T2 ER. Results supported the presence of contagion effects such that friends' ER was positively related to adolescents' ER over time for all ER facets. Modeling effects (i.e., perceptions of friends' ER) significantly predicted adolescents' T2 emotion dysregulation. Supportive responses to negative emotion were associated with greater T2 emotion dysregulation. Unsupportive responses to negative emotion were associated with lower constructive regulation and greater dysregulation at T2. Results have implications for the influential nature of close friends during adolescence and the distinct ways that friends influence adolescents' emotional development.