Journal of Youth and Adolescence最新文献

Research has demonstrated the predictive effect of peer victimization on adolescent suicidal ideation. However, few studies have explored the bidirectional relations between peer victimization and suicidal ideation and how insomnia symptoms mediate these bidirectional relations. The present study examined reciprocal relations between peer victimization (i.e., physical and relational victimization) and suicidal ideation and the potential mediating role of insomnia symptoms and sex differences by disentangling between- and within-person effects. A total of 4731 students (44.9% girls; Mage = 10.91 years, SD = 0.52) participated in a four-wave longitudinal study with 6-month intervals. Results from random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling indicated significant positive associations between peer victimization, insomnia symptoms, and suicidal ideation at the between-person level. At the within-person level, significant sex differences were identified in the bidirectional associations between physical or relational victimization, insomnia symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Specifically, boys showed significant bidirectional associations between physical victimization and suicidal ideation. In contrast, for girls, suicidal ideation significantly predicted subsequent physical victimization, but the reverse pathway was not significant. Furthermore, no significant cross-lagged associations were found between relational victimization and suicidal ideation among boys. However, for girls, relational victimization and suicidal ideation demonstrated significant cross-lagged effects. Significant bidirectional associations between physical victimization and insomnia symptoms were observed in both boys and girls. For girls, insomnia symptoms significantly mediated the bidirectional relations between physical victimization and suicidal ideation, but the bidirectional relations between relational victimization and insomnia symptoms were not supported. For boys, while both physical and relational victimization significantly predicted insomnia symptoms, insomnia symptoms did not predict suicidal ideation. In the reverse pathway, insomnia symptoms mediated the pathway from suicidal ideation to physical victimization among boys. The findings underscore the importance of considering both sex differences and insomnia symptoms in understanding the pathways linking peer victimization to suicidal ideation, offering valuable insights for targeted interventions.

Existing research has predominantly relied on the perspective of a single informant to investigate the association between maternal psychological control and adolescent depressive symptoms, providing only limited insight into these complex dynamics. To provide a more nuanced understanding, the present study employed polynomial regression with response surface analysis (RSA) to investigate how mother-adolescent consistency and discrepancy in perceived maternal psychological control was associated with adolescent depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating roles of adolescent gender and age in these relationships. A total of 929 Chinese adolescents (463 girls, M_age = 12.56 years, SD_age = 1.91) and their mothers participated in the study. Mothers and adolescents reported maternal psychological control, and adolescents self-reported their levels of depressive symptoms. Results indicated that high maternal psychological control reported by both informants predicted higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms. A higher level of maternal psychological control as perceived by adolescents, compared to their mothers' reports, was positively correlated with greater adolescent depressive symptoms. Notably, these discrepancy effects were most pronounced among middle adolescent girls, indicating developmental and gender-specific vulnerability. These findings highlight that adolescents' perceptions of maternal psychological control and the extent to which these perceptions diverge from mothers' views are critical markers of depression risk, highlighting the need for gender- and age-sensitive parenting interventions.

While existing research has well documented child perfectionism as a risk factor for depressive symptoms, relatively limited studies have delved into the specific influence of parental child-oriented perfectionism on children's depressive symptoms. This study tracked 2228 Chinese adolescents (baseline M_age = 12.95 ± 0.79 years, 46.3% girls) with five measurements over three years. Using the Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM), results indicated that maternal (not paternal) child-oriented perfectionism had bidirectional links with children's maladaptive perfectionism. Children's maladaptive perfectionism and depressive symptoms exhibited stable reciprocal prediction. SES and child sex moderate effects: three-way links were more stable in low SES families; boys showed more stable reciprocal prediction between maladaptive perfectionism and depressive symptoms; maternal child-oriented perfectionism and girls' maladaptive perfectionism exhibited some reciprocal prediction. These findings provide insights into how parental child-oriented perfectionism as well as child maladaptive perfectionism was involved in the development of child depressive symptoms, thus informing strategies to cope with child depressive symptoms.

Adolescence is a period marked by significant changes in friendships; however, while existing research has focused on developmental trajectories of friendship quality, relatively less attention has been paid to fluctuations in friendship quality and their impact on psychological well-being. The present study sought to address this gap by examining whether and how friendship quality trajectories and fluctuations distinctly affect adolescent depressive symptoms. A sample of 1083 seventh-grade Chinese students (39.1% girls; baseline M_age = 12.91 years, SD = 0.40) from three public junior high schools participated in a four-wave longitudinal study. Results indicated that a declining friendship quality trajectory contributed to increased depressive symptoms, primarily through the mechanisms of reduced self-esteem and heightened insecurity. Beyond the influence of mean initial friendship quality and its trajectory, friendship quality fluctuations also predicted depressive symptoms through reduced self-esteem and heightened insecurity. These findings highlight the critical and distinct roles of friendship quality decline and fluctuations during adolescence, revealing how friendship quality changes shape adolescent depressive symptoms and providing valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to mitigate adolescent depression.

Many studies have emphasized the impact of negative social experiences (such as shyness and loneliness) on depressive symptoms in adolescents. However, studies examining the interplay and underlying mechanisms among these three constructs from the perspective of social motivation remain relatively scarce. Against this backdrop, this study employed the Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) to investigate the relationships among shyness, loneliness, and depressive symptoms from the perspective of two dominant types of social motivation development. Data were collected from 1214 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 15.46, SD_age = 0.71, 60.7% male) at three different time points, with each time point separated by six months. The results indicated that there are bidirectional relationships between shyness and the perceived social competence dimension of loneliness, and between the peer relationship evaluation dimension of loneliness and depressive symptoms. However, shyness only had a unidirectional predictive effect on depressive symptoms. The study also indicated that the marginally significant mediating role of the perceived social competence dimension of loneliness between shyness and depressive symptoms. Additionally, the research found no significant gender differences in shyness, loneliness, and depressive symptoms. These findings uncover the dynamic associations between shyness and the perceived social competence dimension of loneliness, and between the peer relationship evaluation dimension of loneliness and depressive symptoms, and emphasize the mediating role of the perceived social competence dimension of loneliness between shyness and depressive symptoms.