Journal of Research on Adolescence最新文献

Ongoing internal dialog on the limitations of Euro-American developmental science has opened up space to explore how best to work toward a knowledge base that is adequately representative of the values, cultures, epistemic traditions, and lived experiences of peoples, nations, and regions around the world. So far, recommendations for the advancement of a global developmental science have focused preponderantly on (1) methodological considerations and (2) an architecture to support cross-disciplinary international collaborative inquiry and/or enhance research capacity building for Majority World scholars and institutions. In this commentary, instead of focusing on specific contributions to the Special Issue, I make a case for an explicit commitment to field-building within Majority World contexts as the primary gap-closing path toward the cultivation of a global developmental science knowledge base. I begin with a worldwide population analysis to demonstrate the magnitude of geopolitical, eco-cultural, and epistemic imbalances inherent in the shaping of Euro-American developmental science. In tandem with the Special Issue's central theme, I draw on scholarship from the fields of history, sociology, and political economy to link decolonial theory to the advancement of a global developmental science. Finally, I explore ways in which exemplary research establishments already engaged in prolific inquiry and research training may be ideal candidates to support field-building and help to advance multidisciplinary inquiry within an ethos of epistemic and methodological pluralism.

Gender sexuality alliances (GSAs) represent consciousness-raisings that hold potential for critical consciousness development in youth. In this study, we focus on critical reflection—the understanding that oppression is structured and maintained by human action. We engage intersectionality as our analytical framework and analyze both student interview data (n = 38) and advisor closed-ended and open-ended survey data (n = 58) to examine: (1) the nature/content of critically reflective discussions in GSAs and (2) how advisors support critically reflective discussions in GSAs and their role in these discussions. Our findings suggest that (1) conversations centering race and its intersections with other socio-structural axes occur, albeit infrequently; (2) youth recognize and understand the concept of intersectionality in nuanced ways, desire to have critical intersectional conversations, and experience fragmentation from conversations around race, sexuality, and gender if they are situated at privileged locations on those axes; and (3) students want advisors to engage in critically reflective discussions in GSAs. The findings suggest that interventions and programming are needed that could cultivate advisors' and youth leaders' skills in facilitating intersectional dialogues for critical reflection among members.

This study aimed to generate localized knowledge by investigating the perceptions and experiences of preadolescent grandchildren and grandparents regarding grandparenting and intergenerational interactions and how these processes were related to the social skills of preadolescents from three ethnic groups in Malaysia. Using a concurrent quantitative–qualitative mixed method research design, Chinese, Malay, and Indian preadolescents (N = 465; ages 9–12 years old; M = 10.27 years; SD = 1.03) from rural areas in Malaysia completed a self-administered quantitative survey; furthermore, 25 grandparents participated in one-on-one interviews. Survey findings showed that preadolescent grandchildren who reported higher grandparental warmth and support had greater social skills, mediated by positive grandparent–grandchildren (GP–GC) relationships. The GP–GC relationship and preadolescent social skills association was stronger for skipped generation compared to three-generation households. Interview findings revealed that grandparents expressed unconditional love and autonomy support in their grandparenting roles by guiding and encouraging their preadolescent grandchildren to make decisions. The GP–GC interactions served as a dynamic force in promoting preadolescents' social skills. By employing a decolonized approach and drawing on the lived experiences of grandparents from three ethnic backgrounds in rural Malaysia, the study provided an understanding of grandparenting practices and their general implications across the three ethnic groups. The interview responses highlighted both commonalities and specificities in grandparenting practices and relationship dynamics shaped by religious, class, and sociocultural dimensions in rural Malaysia.

Sibling relationships in adolescence provide rich and relevant socializing opportunities for developing early adult romantic relationships, but much less is known regarding the effect of siblings on future romantic partnerships. Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we investigated the association between observed positive behaviors (warmth, support, positive communication), sibling pairs during adolescence (7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grades), and the same observed behaviors between adult romantic partners nearly two decades later (M age = 31 years old). In structural equation models (SEMs), we tested four dyadic pathways of interest: (1) individual behavioral continuity; (2) evocative partner effects; (3) sibling modeling; and (4) sibling-to-partner matching. In multiple group analyses, we also investigated gendered socialization effects for different sibling dyads (i.e., brother-brother; sister-sister; and mixed-sex sibling pairs). Results showed strong continuity from adolescent behavior toward their sibling to the same behavior toward their romantic partner in early adulthood, but there was no evidence for sibling modeling effects nor for sibling matching. We also found significant differences between sister-sister sibling dyads compared to brother-brother and mixed-sex sibling dyads for the evocative pathway. Findings highlight the "long view" of positive adolescent behavior in sibling relationships for shaping future romantic partnerships in adulthood.

Identifying a future occupation is an important achievement during adolescence, a process particularly complex for Peruvian adolescents. Perú is a postcolonial country with many forms of inequality, and one of them is the opportunity gap to attend a college. However, most adolescents aspire to go to university as a way out of poverty, and, since Perú is a collectivist society, this is a family task: it is adolescents' responsibility to go to college in order to give a better life to their families. Theories developed for WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) do not provide an accurate explanation of Peruvian adolescents' occupational projects because they envision a person with autonomy and resources to choose a career. Thus, our goal is to analyze adolescents' occupational plans considering the role adolescent–caregivers relationships play in this configuration. This study is part of the project “Being an adolescent in Perú” (PUCP-UNICEF) which characterized Peruvian adolescence by studying 14 variables through a qualitative study with 66 participants. In depth interviews were conducted and the data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results of the thematic analysis are organized in three topics that explain the relationship between occupational plans and adolescent–caregiver relationship (1) adolescents have occupational aspirations rather than achievable projects that are that are built alone, without adult support; (2) attending college as an occupational aspiration belongs to the family, not to the individual operating also a kind of “debt” to pay to their caregivers for being financially supported to be able to study in high school; and (3) caregivers do not have the possibility or resources of being able to accompany their adolescent's occupational plans. We conclude that Peruvian adolescents think about their future within the framework of their family's needs, rather than linked to personal and occupational goals, impeding adolescents from exploring and selecting a realistic occupational goal consistent with their interests. The results allow us to discuss the relevance of studying adolescent development taking into account the particularities of the adolescents' cultural and socioeconomic contexts as well as the core role that relationship with caregivers plays in this process in Perú.

While aspiring to be a diverse and global science, developmental science continues to be dominated by EuroAmerican epistemologies, researchers, and communities in its published scholarship. Adolescents in communities across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America comprise 85% of the world's adolescent population, and yet their experiences and perspectives are marginalized in our science. Adolescents in the Majority World live in highly diverse social, cultural, political, economic, educational and healthcare contexts that contribute to their development, and we have much to learn from their experiences. This article situates the marginalization of the global majority within coloniality embedded in developmental science. The article describes the impetus for this special issue Towards a decolonial developmental science and the process of putting it together, along with providing an overview of the 18 articles in this collection that push us towards decoloniality. The special issue serves as a call to transform developmental science to be decolonial by empowering adolescent development in Majority World communities to take center stage. Adolescent development research from Majority World communities has the potential to challenge the knowledge base generated from Minority World samples, contributing to a science that is comprehensive, inclusive, and can inform prevention and intervention efforts to support the well-being of adolescents globally.

This study examines the degree to which two middle childhood executive control aspects, working memory and combined inhibitory control/flexible shifting, predict adolescent substance use and externalizing and internalizing problems. Participants were 301 children (ages 3–6 years; 48.2% male) recruited from a Midwestern city in the United States and followed into adolescence (ages 14–18 years). Working memory had a statistically significant unadjusted association with externalizing problems (r = −.30, p = .003) in a confirmatory factor analysis. Neither factor significantly predicted any of the adolescent outcomes in a structural equation model that adjusted for each EC aspect, sociodemographic covariates, and middle childhood externalizing and internalizing problems. Stronger prediction of EC aspects might not emerge until they become more fully differentiated later in development.

Adolescence, the second decade of life, bridges childhood and adulthood, but also represents a host of unique experiences that impact health and well-being. Lifespan theories often emphasize the continuity of individual characteristics and their contexts from childhood to adolescence, underscoring the distal influence of childhood experiences. Yet, adolescence is marked by transitions that may provoke discontinuities, particularly within individuals, their contexts, and their interactions within those contexts. These discontinuities occur at varied times, orders, and intensities for individual youth, suggesting that adolescence may be a developmental turning point where earlier life experiences may be mediated, reversed, or transformed by proximal events. This perspective piece emphasizes the importance of considering transitions, discontinuities, and developmental turning points in adolescence as well as their potential to explain heterogeneity in adolescent and adult outcomes. We explore one biological and one contextual transition in adolescence and highlight innovative theories and methods for investigating continuity and discontinuity dynamics across development, which could lead to new insights related to the adolescent period and its importance in shaping future life trajectories.

Research on adolescence from the Majority World possesses major hidden potential in contributing to global adolescent research and developmental science more broadly. In this commentary, the authors (1) describe the background and the process through which this special issue came into fruition, (2) introduce the emic approaches to study the influences of macro-contextual variations on developmental science and provide several pertinent examples on the contributions of Majority World research, (3) elaborate on challenges and barriers that Majority World scholars often face in conducting and disseminating their research, and (4) a few actionable steps and recommendations in promoting the representation and inclusion of Majority World research into global developmental science. Only when our field fully integrates findings from all regions of the world will we be able to develop a fundamental scientific representation and understanding of what it means to be an adolescent, how adolescents develop over time, and what tasks or phenomena in adolescent development are truly universal or specific to particular groups, regions, or areas.

The current study examined whether autonomy-supportive parenting practices may be associated with Black adolescents' quantity of natural mentors (i.e., adults from youths' everyday lives who youth go to for support and guidance) via adolescents' confidence. This study employed survey data from 216 Black youth and qualitative interviews from a subsample of youth (n = 25), their primary caregivers (n = 25), and one nonparental adult relative with whom the youth reported feeling close (n = 25). Comparative analyses were then completed among a subset of 10 family triads corresponding to youth from the qualitative subsample who had the highest (n = 5) and the lowest (n = 5) scores on a survey measure of adolescents' confidence. Study findings suggest that Black adolescents' confidence may be an explanatory link in the association between autonomy-supportive parenting practices among primary caregivers and Black adolescents' quantity of natural mentoring relationships. Moreover, we found that a range of autonomy-supportive parenting practices may be associated with youth confidence, which may, in turn, inform how Black adolescents engage with adults in their social networks.