New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development最新文献

Relationships support social animals' health, but maintaining relationships is challenging. When transitioning to parenthood, new parents balance pair-bond maintenance with infant care. We studied pair-bond maintenance via affiliation in 22 adult titi monkey pairs (Plecturocebus cupreus) for 16 months centered around their first offspring's birth. Pair affiliation peaked during pregnancy, decreased across the postpartum period, and rose after reaching minimum affiliation 32.6 weeks postpartum. Pairs in which fathers carry infants more than average had lower affiliation at the infant's birth and return to an increase in affiliation sooner. Parents of infants who were slow to independence had higher rates of affiliation. Titi monkey infants actively prefer their fathers; mothers may avoid their infant-carrying mate, suggesting infants play an active role in parental affiliative decline. Our data supports previous findings that affiliation between partners declines following an infant's birth, but demonstrates new knowledge about the extent and duration of affiliative decline.

An unsettled question in attachment theory and research is the extent to which children's attachment patterns with mothers and fathers jointly predict developmental outcomes. In this study, we used individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to assess whether early attachment networks with mothers and fathers are associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Following a pre-registered protocol, data from 9 studies and 1,097 children (mean age: 28.67 months) with attachment classifications to both mothers and fathers were included in analyses. We used a linear mixed effects analysis to assess differences in children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems as assessed via the average of both maternal and paternal reports based on whether children had two, one, or no insecure (or disorganized) attachments. Results indicated that children with an insecure attachment relationship with one or both parents were at higher risk for elevated internalizing behavioral problems compared with children who were securely attached to both parents. Children whose attachment relationships with both parents were classified as disorganized had more externalizing behavioral problems compared to children with either one or no disorganized attachment relationship with their parents. Across attachment classification networks and behavioral problems, findings suggest (a) an increased vulnerability to behavioral problems when children have insecure or disorganized attachment to both parents, and (b) that mother-child and father-child attachment relationships may not differ in the roles they play in children's development of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems.

The present study explores moral identity, moral emotion attribution, moral responsibility, acceptability, and moral decisions in adolescents. We hypothesized that moral identity predicts moral decisions in adolescents. Furthermore, we hypothesized that moral emotions mediate the relationship between moral identity and moral decisions and moral identity and moral responsibility/acceptability. A total of 749 adolescents were recruited. Questions regarding moral identity, moral emotion attribution, moral responsibility, acceptability, and moral decisions were answered by the participants. SPSS and AMOS wereused to analyze the data obtained.The results showed that moral identity was related positively to moral decisions and negatively to moral emotion attribution in adolescents. Mediation analysis showed that moral emotions were a significant mediator between moral identity and moral decisions. The findings indicate that moral identity plays an essential role in the moral decision-making processes in adolescents.

Assessing the effect mentors have on their mentees is methodologically challenging: most programs merely provide relatively short mentoring durations (typically in the range of 1 year), age ranges are usually rather small, and examining dyads with anything other than questionnaires has proven to be challenging in the past. Thus, although some excellent causal studies do exist, in general causal research is limited in the field and studies are opened up to social desirability. Using a controlled laboratory setting, the current study investigates the causal effect of a mentor's presence on the mentee's empathic accuracy, cognitive functioning, and prosocial behavior. The sample is characterized by a wide age range for mentees and long mentoring durations. Results support the hypothesis that mentees' performance is improved in all three domains when their mentor is present as compared to when their mentor is absent. Furthermore, mentoring duration was positively associated with the mentee's cognitive functioning when controlling for the mentee's age. The current findings extend our knowledge of the benefits of youth mentoring programs and demonstrate the necessity to include laboratory research when investigating mentoring dyads.

Despite empirical and epidemiological research indicating that risk taking propensity increases across adolescence, it is unknown whether this is true for positive risk taking. Additionally, adolescents' decisions are heavily influenced by their social environment, but it is unclear to what extent social influences are associated with positive risk taking. The present study compared age patterns between self-reported positive and negative (health and antisocial) risk taking. Self-reported peers' risk taking, risk perception and perceived social support were also examined as correlates of positive and negative risk taking. 338 adolescents and young adults (217 females) ages 12-25 years (M = 18.99; SD = 3.37) took part in the study. Positive risk taking was slightly higher among young adults than early adolescents, whereas the reverse pattern was found for antisocial risk taking. Health risk taking took the form of an inverted-U, peaking in young adulthood. In adolescents, positive risk taking was associated with peers' positive risk taking and lower perceived support from family. Negative risk taking was associated with peers' negative risk taking, higher risk perception and lower perceived support from family. Results suggest subtle age differences in positive risk taking among adolescents and early adults and indicate that adolescents' engagement in positive risk taking is associated with peers' behavior.

This study examined the effects of group art therapy on self-concept and peer relationships among adolescents using a mixed-method approach. Twelve recruited adolescents from a high school in Northern Taiwan attended weekly 2-h group art therapy sessions for 8 weeks. Through a discovery-oriented approach incorporating focus group interviews and individual interviews, qualitative results revealed that the participants started getting to know themselves better and were able to explore their inner selves while noticing their own emotions. Their self-concept also became more positive along with reduced negative self-concept, increased positive self-concept, and clearer visions towards future goals. Furthermore, the therapy modified adolescents' negative peer relationships by reducing their social anxiety and adjusting their complicated experiences. Participants were found to experience trustable, allied, and compassionate positive peer relationships while having reduced loneliness and improved social skills at the same time. Besides, the participants answered self-concept and peer relationship scales at pre- and post-interventions as well as a 12-month follow-up thereafter. Friedman test on the longitudinal data showed participants reporting consistently higher self-concept and peer relationship at post-intervention and 12-month follow-up than at the pre-intervention stage. Taken together, the findings duly support art therapy in boosting adolescents' self-concept and peer relationships.

The present study examined how maltreatment experience was associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children under institutional care. The key caregivers of children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years who were under institutional care in Nagano prefecture, Japan were asked to answer the background questionnaire, ADHD-Rating Scale, and the Japanese children's version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. A total of 378 valid responses were obtained, of which 222 reported maltreatment experience prior to institutionalization. Both hyperactive/impulsive and inattentive scores were significantly higher in the maltreated group. Maltreatment experience was significantly associated with the presence of hyperactive/impulsive symptoms (p = 0.003) and inattentive symptoms (p = 0.027). Particularly, those who had experienced physical abuse were significantly more likely to have hyperactive/impulsive symptoms (p = 0.012) and autistic trait (p = 0.002). Thorough assessment of neurodevelopmental symptoms should be performed when placing children with maltreatment experience into institutional care.

This research aims to understand how children conceptualise lying and how they associate it with moral reasoning within a narrative that contains everyday moral transgressions. This study also explores whether children are willing to lie when they are asked to do so by close adults, such as mothers, fathers and teachers, even after declaring that lying is wrong. We interviewed children (N = 146) from first to fourth grade on these themes, and discovered a developmental trend in the concept of lying, which is associated with other moral reasoning dimensions. Most children could define lying in a reasonable and accurate manner, and considered it inappropriate behaviour, but half admitted to lying after a close adult requested it.