Journal of Research on Adolescence最新文献

Biracial Black–White adolescents report more psychological distress than most monoracial youth, but less is known about the factors that precede or protect Biracial youth from such distress. This study examines how racial identity invalidation (RII; the denial of a Biracial person's racial identity/belonging) relates to depressive symptoms and satisfaction with life (SWL) among 330 Biracial Black–White adolescents in the United States (67% boys; M_age = 14.8, SD = 1.5). Guided by the identity capital model, it also examines whether racial flexibility (e.g., shifting between different racial identities based on what race is valued in a social context) and personal authenticity moderate those associations. The analyses included two moderated moderation regression models, which showed that RII was associated with more depressive symptoms and less satisfaction with life. Significant interaction effects emerged, illustrating that racial flexibility and authenticity may be promotive and protective for Biracial Black–White adolescents. The two moderators, however, functioned differently for each indicator of well-being (e.g., depressive symptoms vs. satisfaction with life). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Improving cannabis treatment for adolescents and young adults (AYA) is a public health priority. Sleep difficulties may serve as a treatment barrier, as AYA may use cannabis as a sleep aid and cessation may induce withdrawal-related sleep problems. While research has identified associations between cannabis use, CUD, and sleep, few studies have examined these associations during AYA treatment, and no studies have conducted day-level analyses. The present study examined day-level, temporal associations between cannabis use and sleep difficulties during AYA CUD treatment. From 2009 to 2012, AYA (N = 65, 51% female, 15–24 years, 57% White) completed a 42-day ecological momentary assessment study while receiving cognitive behavioral therapy plus motivational enhancement therapy. Each day, participants reported on cannabis use quantity, sleep duration, and trouble sleeping. We used time-varying effect modeling to examine how day-level associations between cannabis use, sleep duration, and trouble sleeping changed across treatment, and if CUD severity moderated these associations. During the first week of treatment, cannabis grams were related to longer sleep among AYA with severe CUD and shorter sleep among AYA with mild CUD. During the second week, greater cannabis grams related to shorter sleep duration, regardless of CUD severity. Additionally, during these first 2 weeks, cannabis grams were related to reduced trouble sleeping. Cannabis use was otherwise unassociated with sleep duration and trouble. Findings suggest clinicians treating AYA CUD should provide greater sleep management skills early in treatment.

Past research has associated adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with higher levels of affective distress. However, the mediation and moderation mechanisms among adolescents are less clear, particularly regarding the inconsistent findings on whether typical resilience factors (e.g., individual resilience and social support) effectively buffer the impacts of ACEs. Previous debates often did not adequately consider the interplays of resilience factors with different ACE dimensions, with less attention to the corresponding unique moderated mediation pathways (e.g., via basic psychological needs satisfaction and frustration). This study examined the moderated mediation mechanisms linking two ACE dimensions (i.e., maltreatment versus household dysfunction) to adolescent affective distress, with the mediating role of basic psychological needs and the moderating role of different resilience factors (i.e., individual resilience, peer support, and teacher support). A two-wave longitudinal survey obtained 992 valid adolescent participants from China (mean age = 14.215 years, SD = 1.165 at Wave 1). Structural equation modeling was used to examine moderated mediation models. The results showed that (1) Maltreatment (not household dysfunction) positively predicted affective distress (total effects); (2) needs frustration (not needs satisfaction) significantly mediated the maltreatment-affective distress relation, with maltreatment positively related to needs frustration, which in turn positively predicted affective distress; (3) individual resilience, peer support, and teacher support intensified the link between maltreatment and needs frustration, with the moderating effects on other pathways nonsignificant. This study reveals the distinct impacts of the two ACE dimensions and underscores the limitations and risks of the resilience factors in the ACE context.

Youth-police contact is increasingly acknowledged as a stressor and a racialized adverse childhood experience that can undermine youths' mental health. There is limited empirical research, however, on youths' disclosure of police stops to trusted others and how disclosure might mitigate adverse mental health responses to police stops. The present study examines patterns of disclosure following direct and witnessed police stops and their implications for posttraumatic stress among a diverse sample of Black youth. Data come from the Survey of Police-Adolescent Contact Experiences (SPACE), a cross-sectional survey of a community-based sample of Black youth ages 12–21 in Baltimore City, Maryland (n = 341), administered from August 2022 to July 2023. Logistic and negative binomial regression methods were employed to examine key predictors of disclosure and associations between disclosure to recipients (e.g., family members, friends, nonfamilial adults) and police-initiated posttraumatic stress symptoms (PI-PTSS) following memorable stops. Results reveal most youth disclosed direct (65.18%) and witnessed (53.59%) stops. Still, in multivariable models, older youth, lesbian/gay and bisexual youth, and children of immigrant parents were less likely to disclose direct (but not witnessed) stops. Disclosure to a wider range of individuals—and to family members specifically—was associated with reduced PI-PTSS stemming from direct stops, whereas disclosure to nonfamilial adults (e.g., teachers, counselors) was associated with reduced PI-PTSS stemming from witnessed stops. Overall, our findings suggest disparities in Black youths' disclosure of police stops and that disclosure is generally associated with fewer trauma symptoms.

Researchers have debated whether peer victimization and peer sexual harassment (PSH) are branches from the same tree and/or whether they are different constructs; yet no previous study has been able to clarify this issue. We used exploratory structural equation modeling to examine three different, theoretically informed ways of conceptualizing peer victimization and PSH. Annual three-wave questionnaire data included 997 participants at T1 (M age = 10.0 years, SD = 0.3). Results indicated that peer victimization and PSH should best be viewed as two distinct, yet related constructs – a proposition valid across both time (ages 10–12) and genders. The findings from the present study can inform future research on adolescents' adverse peer experiences.

Traditional diagnostic and services pathways often overlook the nuanced ways that mental health problems and strengths appear in community settings. Some researchers have therefore used person-centered statistics—or clustering analyses—to identify profiles of socioemotional and behavioral difficulties and well-being traits in preclinical settings such as schools and communities. The objective of this review was to synthesize common adolescent mental health profiles within the literature and examine the state of the science. A systematic review of the literature was completed. Only studies that assessed multiple types of difficulties and/or strengths across community and/or school samples were included. A total of 3960 studies were screened, and k = 13 were included. Data extraction focused on the types of clusters in each included study, along with associated information like standardized scores, qualitative descriptions, sample size, and demographic characteristics. Data were integrated using a narrative synthesis, and meta-analysis was used to investigate the prevalence of each cluster. Data were reviewed from n = 103,098 adolescents in 10 countries across 3 World Health Organization (WHO) Regions with a mean (SD) age of 13.72 ± 1.76 years. A total of 59 clusters were identified, and these consisted of 6 main cluster types. The 4 most prevalent cluster types described patterns of Flourishing, Moderate Mental Health, Struggling, and Mental Health Problems. The other 2 cluster types were less prevalent and associated with Languishing or Asymptomatic presentations. Cluster types also differed with respect to the intensity, complexity, and depth of the core profile features. This review describes commonly identified mental health profiles in large representative samples of adolescents. The quality of included studies was generally acceptable, but the literature suffers from variance in how clusters are generated and how mental health is assessed. Overall, this review can guide the development of new classifications of youth mental health and inform early-stage intervention approaches in community settings.

This study tested whether measurement of the Familism scale of the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale (comprising Support, Obligations, and Referent subscales) was invariant across parent and youth reporters in early adolescence and examined whether reporter discrepancies predicted youth functioning across substance use, problem behavior, academic, peer, and family domains 1 year later. The sample comprised 2410 multi-ethnic Hispanic/Latino/a youth (M_age = 12.87 years; 48% female) and their parents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. At least partial metric invariance was established for Support and Obligations subscales, suggesting associations between mean levels of these subscales with other measures can be meaningfully compared by parent and youth reporters. However, the Referent subscale and Total Familism scale demonstrated only configural invariance, meaning their structure was similar across reporters, but item loadings, latent means, and associations with other measures were not comparable. Reporter discrepancies in Support and Obligations did not account for unique variance in any indicator of youth functioning beyond the main effects of parent and youth Support and Obligations, both of which were associated with adaptive youth outcomes. Both parent and youth reports on the Familism scale of the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale have demonstrated reliability and validity in previous work, but our tests of measurement invariance suggest only the Support and Obligations subscales, but not the Referent or Familism scales, can be meaningfully compared across parent and youth reporters. This work has important implications for the assessment of familism in early adolescence and its role for youth well-being.

Stress mindset—how individuals perceive stress as either enhancing or debilitating—shapes stress experiences and influences mental and physical health outcomes. Yet, its relationship with sleep health remains underexplored. This study examined the longitudinal association between stress mindset and sleep health among Chinese adolescents and tested whether stress mindset moderates the adverse effects of stress on sleep. We analyzed two-wave data from 4,897 adolescents (M_age = 13.34, SD = 0.64, range = 10–15 years; 50.6% girls) from two middle schools in Sichuan Province, China. At baseline and 1 year later, adolescents completed self-report measures of stress mindset, stress experience, sleep outcomes, and demographic information including age, gender, subjective socioeconomic status, parental education level, and boarding status. A stress-is-enhancing mindset, compared to a stress-is-debilitating mindset, predicted longer sleep duration and better sleep quality 1 year later, independent of baseline sleep outcomes, stress levels, and demographic factors. Additionally, stress mindset moderated the association between stress levels and sleep duration, with a stress-is-enhancing mindset buffering against the negative impact of stress levels on sleep duration. Findings underscore the protective role of a stress-is-enhancing mindset in improving sleep quantity and quality, particularly under high stress. Interventions fostering a stress-is-enhancing mindset may be a promising approach to improving adolescent sleep health.

There is currently a mental health epidemic among adolescents, with record high rates of depression, particularly among females. Although many potential causes of this epidemic have been suggested, very little attention has been paid to the school context, despite the fact that academic pressures have increased in recent decades. Intense pressure to excel is thought to play a role in the development of depression, but little is known about how worries about school might play a role in the mental health crisis. We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess day-to-day worries, including school-related worries, in early adolescent females and the links between school-related worries and daily affect, as well as depressive symptoms over 1 year. Participants were 117 youth assigned female at birth, ages 11–13 (M_age = 12.25[0.80]), with 2/3 at heightened risk for depression due to shy/fearful temperament. Across 16 days, youth reported a daily worry in the morning and rated their positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) 3–4 times per day. School-related worries were the most frequently reported concerns, comprising 28% of total worries, more than triple the rate of any other categories. On days when school worries were reported, participants exhibited lower levels of same-day PA, compared with when other types of worries were reported. There were no associations between school worries and daily NA. The intensity of school worries predicted higher depressive symptoms at 1-year follow-up, particularly for low-risk participants. Findings suggest that school worries are pervasive among early adolescent females and may serve to dampen positive emotions, perhaps by diverting attention and time from potential positive experiences. School worries also contributed to increases in depressive symptoms over the course of 1 year, suggesting that school concerns warrant greater attention as a potential factor in the youth mental health crisis. Worries about school represent a potentially modifiable risk factor for depression, which could be addressed at the individual, family, school, and/or policy level.

Adolescence is marked by significant emotional fluctuations, with heightened emotional reactivity to stressors leading to the development of psychopathology. This study examined the linear and curvilinear associations between emotional reactivity to parent–adolescent conflicts, defined as greater increases in negative emotions (NE reactivity) and greater decreases in positive emotions (PE reactivity), and adolescent psychopathology in a sample of 147 Taiwanese adolescents who completed 10-day daily diary protocols and three-month follow-up assessments. The results showed that heightened NE reactivity was linearly associated with increased internalizing problems. PE reactivity showed linear associations with internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and suicidal ideation. Curvilinear analyses indicated that extreme levels of NE reactivity (both heightened and blunted) predicted greater internalizing problems, while extreme PE reactivity was associated with increased suicidal ideation. These results suggest that both hyperreactivity and hyporeactivity in emotional responses to parent–adolescent conflicts elevate the risk for multiple psychopathological outcomes. This study underscores the need to consider the nonlinear dynamics of emotional reactivity in understanding adolescent psychopathology and highlights the day-to-day emotional responses and their impacts on psychopathology.