Journal of Youth and Adolescence最新文献

Cultivating interpersonal gratitude is crucial for promoting adaptive development in emerging adults. Social comparison theory provides a more comprehensive framework for exploring the mechanisms behind the formation of interpersonal gratitude. However, empirical findings regarding the effect of social comparison of received help on interpersonal gratitude are inconsistent, and the underlying mechanism driving this effect is still unclear. To address this, this study extended social comparison theory to help-receiving contexts, examining how social comparison of received help influences interpersonal gratitude among emerging adults in China, while exploring the mediating role of self-worth and the moderating role of help effectiveness. College students volunteered to participate in either Study 1 (N = 144, M_age = 21.54, 65.3% female) or Study 2 (N = 135, M_age = 20.81, 55.6% female). Study 1 employed a recall writing task, while Study 2 used an ecological momentary assessment technique. The two studies found consistent evidence that students who engage in a more extreme downward social comparison of received help show higher levels of interpersonal gratitude. Moreover, self-worth was an important pathway to explain this influence, particularly when students received low-efficiency help. These findings highlight the importance of reducing the self-threatening effects of low-efficiency help through social comparison in fostering interpersonal gratitude.

Cybervictimization and cyberbullying are serious public health issues. Parental monitoring serves as a protective factor, reducing adolescents' risk of cybervictimization and cyberbullying. However, no study has systematically explored the interplay between parental monitoring, cybervictimization and cyberbullying at within-person processes, the mediating mechanisms between them, and the moderator of sex among Chinese adolescents. This study followed 2407 Chinese adolescents (50.23% girl, M_age = 12.75, SD = 0.58 at baseline) from seven schools over three time points across one year. Random intercept cross-lagged models were employed to investigate the dynamic links among parental monitoring, deviant peer affiliation, cybervictimization and cyberbullying. Results indicated significant associations among these variables at the between-person level. At the within-person level, parental monitoring, deviant peer affiliation, and cybervictimization were reciprocally predictable. Parental monitoring and deviant peer affiliation predicted cyberbullying, but cyberbullying did not predict parental monitoring or deviant peer affiliation. Additionally, parental monitoring indirectly predicted cybervictimization but not cyberbullying through deviant peer affiliation. Sex differences were observed in the longitudinal associations. The present study provides valuable insights into the relations among parental monitoring, deviant peer affiliation, cybervictimization and cyberbullying from a developmental perspective, offering a new scientific basis for interventions targeting adolescents' involvement in cyberbullying.

Despite extensive research on the relationship between adolescents' prosocial behavior and well-being, few studies have examined the relationships between prosocial acts towards different targets (family, friends, and strangers) and both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being over time, especially within the cultural context of China, where relational closeness are highly emphasized. To address this research gap, the present study conducted a longitudinal investigation involving 514 Chinese adolescents (M = 13.75 years, SD = 1.46; 57.2% female) across three time points, each separated by six-month intervals. Cross-lagged panel network analyses revealed the reciprocal relationships between prosocial behavior and well-being, moderated by the relational closeness to the prosocial target. Specifically, the results showed a positive and reciprocal relationships between helping family members and both forms of well-being, as well as between helping friends and eudaimonic well-being. In contrast, while helping strangers did not exhibit a direct reciprocal relationship with well-being, both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being were predictive of prosocial behavior towards strangers. Furthermore, the mediation path analysis elucidated distinct mechanisms: helping family and strangers satisfied autonomy needs, contributing to well-being, whereas helping friends fulfilled relational needs. These findings highlight the mutual interplay between adolescents' prosocial behavior, particularly towards close relations, and their well-being.

Parenting styles and the developmental environment of adolescents in China have undergone significant changes. However, the development of parent-adolescent intimacy among contemporary Chinese adolescents and its impact on internalizing and externalizing problems remain unclear. To address this research gap, this study explored the development of father-child and mother-child intimacy during early and middle adolescence and examined their effects on internalizing and externalizing problems. Further, it investigates the potential gender differences in these developmental processes. In total, 1,370 early adolescents (M age T1 = 12.31, SD age _T1 = 0.49; 51.17% girls) and 1381 middle adolescents (M age _T1 = 15.19, SD age _T1 = 0.50; 50.16% girls) participated in this one-year, three-wave longitudinal survey. The results showed that father-child and mother-child intimacy decreased over one year in early adolescents, while in middle adolescents, father-child intimacy increased, and mother-child intimacy decreased. Furthermore, the development of parent-child intimacy in both early and middle adolescents negatively predicted internalizing and externalizing problems one year later. Regarding sex differences, early adolescent girls had lower initial levels of father-child intimacy but higher initial levels of mother-child intimacy compared to boys. In middle adolescents, girls also showed higher initial levels of mother-child intimacy than boys. Additionally, the decline in father-child intimacy had a stronger impact on anxiety and aggression in early adolescent girls and a more significant effect on depression in middle adolescent girls. These findings offer new insights into how parent-child intimacy changes in Chinese adolescents and its impact on internalizing and externalizing problems, providing valuable guidance for targeted interventions.

Risk-taking is a concerning yet prevalent issue during adolescence and can be life-threatening. Examining its etiological sources and evolving pathways helps inform strategies to mitigate adolescents' risk-taking behavior. Studies have found that unfavorable environmental factors, such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), are associated with momentary levels of risk-taking in adolescents, but little is known about whether ACEs shape the developmental trajectory of risk-taking. Even less research has investigated the underlying mechanisms. Drawing on the self-regulation theory, this study examined the associations between ACEs and the developmental trajectory of adolescent risk-taking. Moreover, it also explored self-control as a mediator and genetic variations as a moderator from a "gene × environment" approach. Participants were 564 Chinese adolescents (48.40% males, M_age = 14.20 years, SD = 1.52). Adolescents reported their ACEs and self-control at T1 and risk-taking three times, with a six-month interval between each time point. Adolescents' saliva was collected at T1 for genetic extraction, and polygenetic index was created based on the gene-by-environment interaction between SNPs and ACEs for self-control via the leave-one-out machine learning approach. Findings of latent growth modeling revealed that adolescents' risk-taking decreased over time. ACEs were directly and indirectly through self-control associated with high initial levels of, and a rapid decrease in, risk-taking, especially for those with a higher polygenetic index compared to those with a lower polygenetic index. Theoretically, these results suggest a tripartite model of adolescent risk-taking, such that risk-taking is the combined function of adverse experiences in early years, low self-control, and carriage of sensitive genes. Practically, intervention strategies should reduce childhood adversities, build up self-control, and consider the potential impacts of genetic plasticity.

Current understanding of the longitudinal relationships between different aspects of peer relationships and mental health problems in early- to mid-adolescence is limited. In particular, the role played by gender in these developmental cascades processes is unclear, little is known about within-person effects between bullying victimization and internalizing symptoms, and the theorized benefits of friendship and social support are largely untested. Addressing these important research gaps, this study tested a number of theory-driven hypotheses (e.g., interpersonal risk model, transactional model) regarding longitudinal relationships between bullying victimization, friendship and social support, and internalizing symptoms. The study sample was N = 26,458 adolescents (50.6% girls, average age 12 years 8 months (SD = 3.58 months) at baseline) attending k = 176 schools in Greater Manchester, England. Separating within-person effects from between-person effects, a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was applied to three annual waves of data. Analyses revealed that developmental cascade pathways varied across gender, as follows: higher rates of bullying victimization led to increased internalizing symptoms (partially for girls, fully for boys) and lower levels of friendship and social support (for girls only); higher levels of friendship and social support did not confer any protection against future bullying victimization (for girls or boys) but did lead to reduced internalizing symptoms (partially for girls, but not for boys); and, higher levels of internalizing symptoms led to increased rates of bullying victimization (for boys only) and lower levels of friendship and social support (partially for girls, fully for boys). Evidence of reciprocal relationships between bullying victimization and internalizing symptoms (for boys only) and between internalizing symptoms and friendship and social support (for girls only) was also found. Effect sizes of developmental cascade pathways varied but were mostly in the moderate-to-large range relative to the empirical distribution of cross-lagged effects in existing studies (i.e., 50th to 75th percentile). Sensitivity analyses indicated that findings were largely robust to a number of researcher-led analytic choices. The current study indicates that approaches to prevent or reduce the effects of bullying victimization should be prioritized, given the consistent evidence of its substantial role in increasing internalizing symptoms for both genders, in addition to its deleterious impact on girls’ friendship and social support. Preregistration: This study was preregistered at https://osf.io/xrwfq. The study design, hypotheses, and target analyses were registered.

Although evidence from previous studies suggests that adolescents with negative coping styles who experienced victimization are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms, these associations have not yet been disentangled to separate between-person differences from within-person effects. To investigate the within-person bidirectional relationships among relational victimization, coping styles and depressive symptoms, this study conducted a four-wave random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis. The final sample consisted of 1506 adolescents, 72.6% of whom were male, with a mean age of 10.90 years (SD = 1.12) at the first time point. The findings revealed a prospective within-person association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms, and a reciprocal within-person relationship between depressive symptoms and avoidance coping. The approach coping style negatively predicted depressive symptoms over time, whereas depressive symptoms did not affect the approach coping style. These findings show how depressive symptoms, relational victimization, and coping styles are related at the individual level, extending previous research through the demonstration of stable within-person associations over time.

Previous research has consistently demonstrated that emotional abuse is a robust predictor of adolescent suicidal ideation. However, few studies have explored the bidirectional relation between changes in emotional abuse and suicidal ideation at the within-person level, as well as the underlying mediating mechanisms. This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal relations between emotional abuse and suicidal ideation, along with the potential mediating role of self-disgust, by disentangling between- and within-person effects. A total of 4731 students (44.9% girls; Mage = 10.91 years, SD = 0.72) participated in a four-wave longitudinal study with 6-month intervals. Results from random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling indicated significant positive associations between emotional abuse, self-disgust, and suicidal ideation at the between-person level. At the within-person level, findings revealed that emotional abuse directly predicted suicidal ideation, and suicidal ideation also directly predicted emotional abuse. Emotional abuse also indirectly predicted suicidal ideation via self-disgust, while suicidal ideation indirectly predicted emotional abuse through self-disgust. These findings emphasize self-disgust as a central psychological mechanism in the bidirectional relations between emotional abuse and suicidal ideation. Targeted interventions reducing self-disgust and fostering a healthier self-concept could be crucial in breaking this harmful cycle, ultimately protecting adolescents from escalating emotional abuse and suicidal thoughts.

Young women of color frequently face discrimination, reflecting the intersecting societal influences of sexism and racism. Although friendships play a significant role in women’s lives, there is a lack of research on the role of friendships in navigating exposure to gendered racial discrimination (in-person and social media) and associated mental health. This study investigated the extent to which the content of friendship conversations (i.e., co-rumination against gendered racism, socializing messages related to gendered racial pride and empowerment and oppression awareness) and perceived friendship intimacy and support mediated or moderated the positive association between exposure to gendered racism and mental health. Co-rumination was tested as a mediator, while the other variables were examined as moderators. Online survey data were collected from 339 cisgender women aged 18–24 (M age = 20.90, SD = 1.96; 32.74% Asian, 33.92% Black, and 33.33% Hispanic or Latina; 68.14% identified as straight or heterosexual). Participants described friendship communications and perceived intimacy and support with a same gender and race close friend. Exposure to gendered racial discrimination was significantly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms and substance use as a coping mechanism. Co-rumination about gendered racism was positively correlated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Conversely, pride and empowerment socialization was negatively associated with substance use for coping, while oppression awareness socialization was positively correlated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Structural Equation Modeling Analyses indicated that co-rumination partially mediated the relationship between gendered racism exposure and anxiety symptoms, with other friendship indices not moderating these associations. These findings highlight co-rumination about gendered racism as a risk factor for young women of color and underscore the importance of exploring how the multifaceted nature of friendships is associated with exposure to gendered racism and mental health.

Although there is ample evidence linking academic and behavioral domains, few studies have examined the long-term, varied impacts of academic performance trajectories on problem behavior outcomes, particularly in early and middle adolescence. This study examined the different three-year academic performance trajectories, their links with behavioral outcomes, and the demographic and educational predictors that distinguish these patterns. The sample consisted of 10,279 Chinese adolescents (46.43% girls; Mage = 12.97 years, SD = 0.89). Three trajectory groups emerged: Moderate Start with Steady Growth (45.93%), High Start with Accelerated Growth (36.89%), and Low Start with Minimal Growth (17.17%). Demographic and educational factors (i.e., age, parents' education, family income, family size, school climate, rank, and sector) predicted group membership. The High Start with Accelerated Growth group exhibited fewer externalizing problems than the other groups. The results underscored the differences in academic performance trajectories and their associations with the predictors and outcomes of problem behaviors, which has implications for academic and behavioral development.