Journal of Research on Adolescence最新文献

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.

The evidence on the direction of associations between mental health and problematic social media use (PSMU) and problematic gaming (PG) in adolescents remains inconclusive. Therefore, this study investigated a comprehensive model of temporal associations between mental health difficulties and strengths, and PSMU/PG, while accounting for sex and perceived social support as potential moderators. Mental health domains were measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, PSMU was measured with the Social Media Disorder Scale, and PG with the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale, assessed at two time points (2019, 2021). The analysis sample consisted of 645 Dutch adolescents (63% boys; M_age = 15.8, SD = 0.3, at Time 1) from the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development cohort. Cross-lagged panel analysis did not indicate general bidirectional associations, but the multigroup analysis revealed separate temporal associations by sex and social support. In girls, emotional problems preceded PSMU and PG. In boys, PG preceded emotional problems and hyperactivity/inattention preceded PSMU. Adolescents with more perceived social support did not show a relationship between emotional problems and subsequent PG. We suggest that emotional problems may be a potential risk factor for PSMU/PG in girls, while they may be considered a negative consequence of PG in boys. Additionally, hyperactivity/inattention may be a risk factor for PSMU in boys, and social support may be a general protective factor for PG. These findings highlight the importance of understanding individual differences in the relationships between PSMU/PG and mental health symptoms.

Conditional regard defined as adolescents' perception that parents' affection hinges upon whether they meet parental expectations affects their skills to build stable and sustainable relationships. However, its role in sibling relationships remains unexplored. This study investigates how conditional regard relates to sibling competition, favoritism, and conflict in 201 teenage sibling dyads. Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Models showed that conditional regard was associated with lower sibling relationship quality. Similarities between siblings' reports were low, and siblings' perceptions of parenting mainly predicted their own perceptions of sibling relationships. Competition and feeling disfavored mediated the negative effects of conditional regard on conflict. Feeling favored was predicted by conditional positive regard but did not mediate effects. Our findings highlight the potential of conditional regard to undermine sibling bonds.

The Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) contends that perfectionism predicts psychopathology via social disconnection and has received support in adult and adolescent samples. However, little is known about the role of online connection. Consequently, this work tested whether online social connection and in-person social support uniquely mediate the relation between perfectionistic self-presentation and depressive symptoms among adolescents. A community sample of 354 adolescents (M_age = 15.51, SD = 2.07; 68.93% female; 73.44% White) completed surveys assessing these constructs at three time points, each spaced approximately 2 months apart. Results supported the PSDM at the between-persons level such that perfectionistic self-presentation was related to depressive symptoms via online social connection and in-person social support. Importantly, these findings both replicate previous work which has predominantly focused on in-person connectedness and extend this body of work by demonstrating that online social connection is a significant mediator over and above the role of in-person social support. However, there was no longitudinal evidence for the PSDM at the within-persons level. Future directions and implications are discussed.

Shifts in societal attitudes and beliefs about sexual minority people may provide sexual minority youth with more opportunities to engage in intimate relationships during adolescence. To date, however, the degree to which sexual minority adolescents are involved in relationships and the factors related to such involvement are not well understood. The current study addressed this gap using data from a national sample of over 15,000 sexual minority adolescents. Twenty-nine percent of adolescents were currently dating; 70% had ever dated, and 57% had ever engaged in a nonheterosexual intimate relationship. Multivariable logistic regression models indicated that participants who were older, gender diverse, and plurisexual had a greater likelihood of dating involvement, whereas asexual participants had a lower likelihood of dating involvement. Partially supporting hypotheses, participants who reported higher levels of intrapersonal sexual stigma were less likely to be currently dating or to have ever dated. Contrary to hypotheses, participants who reported higher levels of interpersonal sexual stigma had a greater likelihood of dating involvement, and living in states with higher sexual stigma was associated with a greater likelihood of having ever dated or having ever engaged in a nonheterosexual relationship. Results reveal that many sexual minority youth are or have previously been involved in an intimate relationship and provide initial insights into factors associated with such involvement. These findings call for further research on sexual minority adolescents’ intimate relationships and for inclusive relationship and sexual health education to promote positive relationships among this group.