Journal of Research on Adolescence最新文献

Adolescence is a period of heightened exposure to both unpleasant and pleasant events, requiring effective emotion regulation. Cognitive reappraisal is particularly beneficial, yet research has typically examined its role either in unpleasant or in pleasant situations, rarely considering both simultaneously within individuals. In this 28-day daily diary study, we investigated whether cognitive reappraisal in unpleasant and pleasant events each uniquely contributes to subjective well-being, and, given cognitive maturation during adolescence, whether these associations become stronger with increasing age. A sample of 122 adolescents (15-19 years; M = 17.01, SD = 1.42) reported their end-of-day subjective well-being and the use of eight cognitive reappraisal strategies for the day's most unpleasant and most pleasant events. On a within-person level, both types of reappraisal predicted higher subjective well-being, even when simultaneously included in the model. Unexpectedly, these effects did not vary by age. On a between-person level, reappraisal in unpleasant and pleasant events was each associated with higher subjective well-being, but not when analyzed jointly, due to shared variance between both types of reappraisal. The within-person findings highlight that regulating emotions in both unpleasant and pleasant events uniquely contributes to adolescent well-being, emphasizing the importance of context on emotion regulation in adolescents.

The relationship between maltreatment and psychological difficulties in adolescence represents a critical domain in developmental psychopathology that requires more nuanced temporal examination. While extensive scholarship documents associations between these phenomena, understanding their reciprocal relationships requires distinguishing between two temporal patterns: early cumulative effects, which reflect how prolonged adverse experiences establish enduring vulnerability, and recency effects, which capture the immediate impact of proximate maltreatment. Using data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (N = 905, girls = 51.5%, Black = 53.2%), this study employs both cross-lagged panel models and random intercept cross-lagged panel models across four waves spanning ages 10–16 to disentangle within-person and between-person effects. Results revealed significant differences in relationship patterns: maltreatment significantly predicted subsequent externalizing problems (b = 0.522, p = .009), and externalizing problems predicted subsequent maltreatment (b = 0.015, p = .016), confirming a genuine “fatal spiral” at the within-person level. Conversely, maltreatment's effect on internalizing problems reached only marginal significance (b = 0.424, p = .063), with associations primarily reflected in correlated random intercepts (b = 0.783, p = .025), suggesting stable trait differences rather than causal processes. Early cumulative maltreatment significantly predicted between-person differences in internalizing problems (b = 0.146, p = .004), maltreatment (b = 0.046, p < .001), and externalizing problems (b = 0.188, p = .001), while recent adolescent maltreatment predominantly influenced within-person dynamics. These findings demonstrate the methodological importance of distinguishing the temporal dimensions of maltreatment effects from stable individual differences and from dynamic processes in developmental psychopathology.

This study used multilevel growth modeling to examine associations between ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) and sociopolitical development among undergraduates of color (N = 125) attending predominantly White institutions during the 2016 United States presidential election. Across the election cycle, awareness of inequality increased, whereas civic action declined. Preparation for bias was associated with higher initial awareness of inequality at the onset of the election, whereas cultural socialization and egalitarianism messages were linked to greater civic efficacy. Although ERS did not predict longitudinal changes in sociopolitical development, the findings underscore the importance of culturally responsive socialization processes in families of color, particularly in sociopolitical contexts where issues of race and politics intersect.

The ability to manage emotions using emotion regulation (ER) strategies is a core competency developed across childhood and into adolescence. Youth are expected to develop more diverse ER repertoires—the range of strategies that adolescents use—as they approach adulthood. However, to date, an examination of longitudinal change and stability in normative ER strategy use or repertoires across early to late adolescence has yet to be conducted. The present study reports on two longitudinal samples with measures of six ER strategies. Reports in the Younger Sample (N = 201, aged 11–12 at Wave 1) were repeated once a year for 5 years, and reports from the Older Sample (N = 187, aged 13–15 at Wave 1) were repeated twice a year for 3 years. Growth curve analyses revealed that Distraction, Rumination, and Suppression increased in the Younger Sample, whereas Reappraisal, Relaxation, and Engagement increased in the Older Sample. Latent Markov models showed four ER repertoires in both samples (low/average, suppression propensity, engagement propensity, and high diversity) that showed moderate to high stability across waves. Across adolescence, there were increasing transitions into the high diversity profile, with some nuances by sample. Results are discussed in terms of normative emotional development and implications for understanding adolescent polyregulation and ER flexibility.

This study investigated the longitudinal trajectory of learned helplessness in academic settings during adolescence, examined the generalizability of this trajectory across students' demographic and academic backgrounds, and assessed the role of parental autonomy support and psychological control in predicting learned helplessness at each time point. We analyzed five waves of large-scale panel data following Korean adolescent students (N = 2590) from Grade 7 to Grade 11. Our second-order latent basis growth modeling indicated that adolescent students tend to experience a significant, steady increase in helplessness from Grade 7 to Grade 11. In addition, both students' prior academic achievement and family income negatively predicted the intercept of learned helplessness. The contemporaneous effects of parental autonomy support and psychological control on learned helplessness were significant and in the expected directions at all time points: higher autonomy support was associated with lower learned helplessness, whereas higher psychological control was associated with higher helplessness. Notably, parental control exhibited a significant escalating effect, such that its detrimental effect on learned helplessness became stronger over time, whereas the protective effect of parental autonomy support remained stable. This study provides theoretical and practical implications, highlighting the roles of parental autonomy support and control in shaping adolescents' learned helplessness over time.

Somatic and psychological symptoms frequently co-occur in adolescence, yet little is known about their symptom-level interconnections and potential cultural differences. This study employed a network approach to examine interconnections among somatic and psychological symptoms, identify central and bridge symptoms, and compare network patterns across 6037 adolescents in Hong Kong, China (HKC, a bicultural region with Chinese heritage and British influence; 48.94% girls; M_age = 15.56 years) and 5577 in Ireland (a representative Western culture; 49.79% girls; M_age = 15.56 years). Results revealed that dizziness and difficulties in getting to sleep consistently emerged as bridge symptoms in both groups, underscoring their pivotal role in the co-occurrence of somatic and psychological symptoms. Dizziness and feeling depressed were central in both groups, while feeling nervous emerged as an additional central symptom among HKC (vs Irish) adolescents, suggesting the cultural salience of anxiety-related experiences in Hong Kong's bicultural context. These symptoms highlight targets for intervention aimed at promoting adolescent well-being. Cross-cultural comparisons further revealed distinct patterns of network connectivity. Specifically, HKC adolescents exhibited denser within-domain associations compared with Irish adolescents. In contrast, Irish (vs HKC) adolescents displayed denser cross-domain (somatic–psychological) associations. These findings suggest that interventions should be adapted to different cultures. For HKC adolescents, attention needs to be paid to the risk that symptoms in one domain may exacerbate similar discomforts within the same domain; for Irish adolescents, efforts in lowering symptoms in one domain may more effectively translate into improvements in another domain.

Affect reactivity to negative events is considered a vulnerability factor for mental health problems; however, its role in internet addiction has been less explored. Based on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, this study investigated whether affect reactivity to negative events in two key interpersonal domains—parents and peers—contributes to the development of internet addiction during the transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9 among Chinese adolescents. A 12-day daily diary combined with a 6-month longitudinal design was used to collect data from 244 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 13.87, SD_age = 0.51, 42.6% girls). Results revealed that internet addiction remained relatively stable but demonstrated significant individual differences over the 6-month transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9. At the within-person level, daily negative parent and peer events were associated with higher levels of negative affect. Moreover, daily affect reactivity to negative peer events, but not negative parent events, predicted a faster increase in internet addiction over 6 months. The findings highlight the critical role of affect reactivity to negative peer events in the development of internet addiction and offer insights for targeted prevention strategies.

Adolescents often report using a repertoire of strategies to regulate their emotions. However, global characterizations of strategy use provide limited insight into the dynamic processes of everyday emotion regulation (ER). It remains unknown whether adolescents can use multiple ER strategies simultaneously within a given emotional event and adjust strategies flexibly as their emotions shift, namely, emotion polyregulation flexibility. Leveraging the Bray–Curtis dissimilarity index to quantify sequential changes in both emotions and ER strategies within and across days, we examined whether adolescents (a) engaged in polyregulation flexibility, as evidenced by contingent prompt-to-prompt variability in emotion and ER, and (b) perceived greater regulatory success afterward. Adolescents (N = 117, ages 13–15, 55% girls) completed ecological momentary assessments for 14 days (four prompts per day), rating the intensities of four negative emotions, their efforts using six ER strategies, and regulatory success, along with one-time surveys on trait-level emotional mindset and awareness (as covariates). Using multilevel modeling, greater emotion intensity and variability predicted greater ER variability, supporting adolescents' engagement in flexible polyregulation. Further, coupled, unidirectional effort changes across multiple strategies—rather than switching between strategies—uniquely predicted greater perceived regulatory success. These findings offer direct empirical evidence for adolescents' capacity to flexibly draw from their repertoire of ER strategies to adapt to shifting emotions in everyday life, underscoring the need to move beyond static measurement (e.g., overall counts, ranges) of individual strategy use toward dynamic approaches for capturing the unfolding of ER processes.

Adolescence is a critical period for developing coping capacities, yet global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and war displacement impose unprecedented stressors that can overwhelm existing resources. This study qualitatively explored and compared how adolescents in Germany (N = 20 experiencing pandemic lockdown, aged 11–16; N = 25 Ukrainian refugees experiencing displacement, aged 12–18) coped with these distinct adversities. Drawing on an integrated theoretical framework (combining the transactional model of stress and coping with a risk and resilience framework), we analyzed semi-structured interviews using reflexive thematic analysis to explore the connections among contextual stressors, their impact on resources, and reported coping strategies. Findings revealed that while both crises elicited common coping functions—including adapting routines, emotion regulation, maintaining/rebuilding social connections, and positive reframing—the specific form and feasibility of these strategies appeared to be linked to how each crisis uniquely impacted adolescents' personal, social, and material resources. Crisis-specific strategies were also identified, which seemed to correspond to the distinct resource challenges associated with pandemic confinement (e.g., purposeful engagement with idle time) versus war displacement (e.g., focus on educational continuity amidst profound loss and acculturative demands). These findings underscore that adolescent coping is a dynamic, context-dependent process contingent on available resources. Understanding these connections between stressors, resources, and coping is crucial for developing interventions that are both broadly applicable and tailored to the specific challenges adolescents face in diverse crisis situations, considering their developmental needs.

Purpose is a developmental asset in adolescence, yet little is known about how stability in this sense shapes its benefits. This study examined whether within-person fluctuations in daily sense of purpose moderate links between trait purpose and youth adjustment. Adolescents (N = 321, M[SD]_age = 16.14[1.17]) completed baseline surveys of trait purpose and Big Five personality, followed by ~70 daily assessments of purpose, well-being, self-esteem, and self-concept clarity. Purpose variability was indexed in two ways: using intraindividual standard deviations (iSD; variability) and mean square successive differences (iMSSD; instability). A greater trait purpose was, in general, more strongly associated with positive adjustment among adolescents, exhibiting less daily variability. Effects generally persisted after controlling for demographics and personality, suggesting that sensing purpose consistently, not just intensely, corresponds with adolescent adjustment.