Journal of Adolescence最新文献

Introduction: Self-disclosure is a fundamental aspect of human communication, particularly important for adolescents. As adolescents navigate the gradual transition from parental reliance to individual autonomy, they increasingly turn to their peers as trusted confidants. Although self-disclosure has been associated with positive psychological outcomes among adolescents, research remains limited, inconsistent, and outdated, particularly in the Majority World.

Methods: This study examined the direct relations between self-disclosure and psychological well-being among 192 Chinese adolescents and explored the indirect associations via self-perception. Adolescents (M_age = 13.18 years, SD = 1.1, 57.3% girls) reported their self-disclosure behaviors with best friends, self-perception, and psychological well-being.

Results: Results showed that Chinese adolescents reported a medium to high level of disclosure with their best friends, with no significant sex differences. Adolescents disclosed the most on school-related topics and the least about boy-girl relationships, with girls perceiving certain topics as more intimate than boys. Consistent with existing literature, self-disclosure was positively associated with overall psychological well-being (particularly the subfactors of self-acceptance, positive relationships, and personal growth). The indirect relation between self-disclosure and psychological well-being via perceived social competence was significant.

Conclusions: These findings underscore the important role of self-disclosure in supporting to foster adolescents' mental well-being and reveal enhanced social competence as one potential pathway linking the two. Overall, the study confirms the links between self-disclosure and youth well-being and adds to our understanding of disclosure behaviors among Chinese adolescents.

Introduction: Personal and national identities can play a pivotal role in understanding youth well-being in increasingly diverse societies. However, previous research has predominantly focused on Western contexts, overlooking youth from non-Western societies. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of research that simultaneously examined both personal and national identities in relation to well-being. To address this gap, this study focused on youth belonging to a majority group in Japan, confronting augmented cultural variations, and addressed relationships between personal and national identities and their links to well-being.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 968 university students in Japan aged 18-29 years (M_age = 20.06, SD = 1.17; 51.34% women) who identified their nationality as Japanese. Participants completed in 2016 self-report questionnaires, including measures of personal and national identity processes and well-being.

Results: Personal identity commitment and in-depth exploration were positively associated with national identity exploration and commitment, whereas personal identity reconsideration of commitment was positively associated with national identity exploration. Personal identity commitment and national identity exploration were positively related to well-being, and personal identity reconsideration of commitment was negatively related to well-being.

Conclusions: This study contributes to understanding the interplay between personal and national identity processes and their relations with well-being among youth in a majority group outside Western countries. Given the importance of identity for young people's adjustment and for fostering their sense of social responsibility, this study may have significant practical implications for promoting both individual well-being and social cohesion.

Background: Adolescence is a period when families must balance emotional connection with growing autonomy. How family functioning supports well-being during this transition remains unclear, particularly in cultural contexts that value harmony amid difference. This study examined how family functioning relates to life satisfaction among Hong Kong Chinese parents and adolescents, focusing on dialectical thinking and the balance between congruent and divergent family perceptions.

Method: Participants were 309 parent-adolescent dyads from Hong Kong. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model and the Actor-Partner Own-Difference approach, the study tested direct, indirect, and cross-dyadic pathways between family functioning, dialectical thinking, and life satisfaction, with multi-group models comparing mothers and fathers.

Results: Family functioning was positively associated with greater life satisfaction for both generations. Adolescents' perceptions were positively related to parents' life satisfaction, whereas parents' perceptions showed no cross-dyadic associations. In the multi-group analyses, fathers' family functioning was negatively associated with adolescents' life satisfaction, whereas the corresponding association was not evident for mothers. Regarding perceptual fit, congruence between parents' and adolescents' views was associated with higher well-being, whereas discrepancy was associated with lower parental well-being; for adolescents, discrepancy was positively associated with life satisfaction only in father-adolescent dyads. Dialectical thinking showed selective indirect effects linking family functioning to parents' life satisfaction, evident in the pooled sample and more consistently among mothers.

Conclusions: The study highlights adolescent family life as a relational context in which well-being reflects ongoing negotiation of connection and autonomy. The pattern emphasizes the importance of considering interdependence, role-specific dynamics, and culturally embedded meaning-making when interpreting links between family functioning and life satisfaction.

Introduction: Developing students' transversal skills, such as creativity, alongside strong academic foundations, has become an increasing priority for education systems worldwide. However, most existing research on mindsets and achievement has focused on general intelligence growth mindsets or growth mindsets in academic domains, particularly mathematics, leaving the role of mindsets in transversal skill development largely unexplored.

Methods: This study examines how growth mindset about general intelligence and domain-specific growth mindsets in mathematics, reading, and creativity are associated with achievement in mathematics, reading, and creative problem solving using data from 471,971 students across 64 education systems, drawn from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. We extend prior research, which has largely focused on general intelligence or mathematics mindsets in single-country contexts, by analyzing multi-domain and cross-national patterns. To address unobserved individual-level confounders, we leverage within-student, between-domain variation in mindsets and achievement, providing a more rigorous assessment of domain-specific associations. We additionally estimated models separately by gender, socioeconomic background, immigrant status, and OECD versus non-OECD systems to examine how associations vary across student and system contexts.

Results: Growth mindsets vary systematically across domains, with mathematics showing the lowest prevalence and general intelligence beliefs the highest. Domain-specific growth mindsets are positively associated with domain-congruent achievement in mathematics and reading, but not in creativity. Associations vary by student background, being stronger for girls, advantaged students, and those in OECD countries.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that growth mindsets are domain-bound rather than universal, with implications for theory, measurement, and the design of interventions tailored to academic and transversal skill domains.

Introduction: Seeking social approval and recognition is a major driving force for adolescents to engage in social interactions. Mianzi ("" in Chinese) is an indigenous concept related to the social perception of one's prestige or admiration. The goal of this 2-year longitudinal study was to examine the moderating role of social preference in the relations between self-reported concern for mianzi and adjustment in Chinese adolescents.

Methods: Participants in this study included junior high school students (N = 938; 461 boys) initially in seventh grade (Mage = 12.41 years) in urban and rural areas of China. Students completed a self-report measure of concern for mianzi, peer assessments of social preference, prosociality, and aggression. Head teachers in each classroom rated each student in the class on their behavioral problems and learning problems.

Results & conclusions: Adolescents' concern for mianzi was found to negatively predict later aggression, behavioral problems, and learning problems for students who had high initial social preference. Concern for mianzi also positively predicted later aggression for students, particularly boys, who had low initial social preference. The results suggested that concern for mianzi might be a sensitivity factor in adolescents' social-behavioral and school adjustment and highlighted the role of context in shaping the relations.

Background: Adolescents must plan their educational and occupational futures in a context shaped by globalization, social inequalities, and environmental crises. Although career guidance increasingly emphasizes sustainable and inclusive development, empirical interventions integrating social justice, sustainability, and critical consciousness within established career frameworks remain limited. Drawing on the life design paradigm and the psychology of working theory, this study evaluates a school-based career intervention aimed at enhancing career adaptability, perceptions of decent work, and critical consciousness among adolescents.

Methods: Using a quasi-experimental design, participants were 266 Italian 12th-grade students (Mage = 17.20 years, SD = 0.50; 77 males, 189 females) attending public high schools in northern Italy. Classes were assigned to an intervention group (n = 145) or a no-treatment control group (n = 121). The intervention consisted of 5 weekly 2-h didactic units delivered during school hours and focused on globalization, technology, inclusion, sustainability, and future career planning. Measures were collected at pre-test and post-test for both groups, with a 6-month follow-up for the intervention group. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models.

Results: Compared with controls, students in the intervention group showed greater improvements in career adaptability (concern, curiosity, and collaboration), more future-oriented perceptions of decent work, higher critical consciousness, and increased career decisiveness and internality. Improvements were sustained at 6-month follow-up.

Conclusions: Findings support the efficacy of a life design-based career intervention integrating sustainability and social justice, highlighting the potential of career education to foster agency and critical awareness for inclusive and sustainable career development.

Introduction: A cancer diagnosis during childhood and adolescence, together with intensive treatment, imposes significant psychosocial challenges. Alienation is a key yet underexplored component of this experience and may adversely affect physical well-being, mental health, and social adjustment. This review aimed to systematically synthesize qualitative evidence on alienation experienced by children and adolescents with cancer.

Methods: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE (Ovid), the Cochrane Library (Wiley), and CINAHL (EBSCO) from inception to 28 May 2025. Eligible studies were qualitative or mixed-methods research exploring the experience of alienation among children and adolescents with cancer. Two reviewers independently screened records, appraised methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research and extracted data. A meta-synthesis using the JBI meta-aggregation approach was undertaken.

Results: A total of 30 studies were included. Four synthesized findings and thirteen categories were identified: environmental alienation (e.g., locked up in hospital, being away from home, stuck in adult wards), self-alienation (e.g., caught in identity paradox, feeling like a stranger, walking alone in the shadow of fear), interpersonal alienation (e.g., they just don't get it, staying on the sidelines, trapped in my body, losing my place), and social alienation (e.g., life on pause, stuck between worlds, stamped with scars).

Conclusions: Alienation in the pediatric oncology context is a profound and multi-dimensional phenomenon. Understanding and addressing this experience is crucial for improving the quality of life and promoting social integration. Findings should be interpreted in light of variability in study quality and contextual diversity.

Introduction: Many LGBTQ+ youth seek support from adults at school, which can include advisors of Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs; clubs affirming LGBTQ+ youth). Little research has considered how efficacious advisors feel to support LGBTQ+ GSA members, or how advisors' efficacy contributes to LGBTQ+ youth's school experiences.

Methods: We examined advisors' self-efficacy to support and advocate for LGBTQ+ youth (n = 30 advisors in 30 schools/GSAs; M_age = 44.74 years, SD = 10.55; 63% LGBQ+ ; 90% cisgender; 77% White). Utilizing three waves of data from 310 LGBTQ+ youth in these GSAs (M_age = 15.11 years, SD = 1.60; 98% LGBQ+ ; 55% trans/nonbinary; 50% youth of color), we analyzed three-level multilevel models to test whether LGBTQ+ youth in GSAs whose advisors reported greater LGBTQ+ self-efficacy reported more positive experiences within their GSA and in school over 6 months.

Results: Advisors felt competent supporting LGBTQ+ youth, though responses on individual items covered the full range. LGBTQ+ youth in GSAs whose advisors reported greater LGBTQ+ self-efficacy at the beginning of the study felt that their advisors were more responsive to their needs, perceived a more open and respectful climate in their GSA, and felt greater school belonging over the study period. Advisor LGBTQ+ self-efficacy did not predict youth's reported levels of victimization over the study period.

Conclusions: Findings highlight that efficacious GSA advisors could promote safe and inclusive GSAs and schools for LGBTQ+ youth at a time when LGBTQ+ youth face heightened structural oppression, while indicating the need for professional development to enhance advisor efficacy.

Background: Positive youth development (PYD) is a strength-based approach that promotes positive outcomes to support the well-being of youth. With digital technology becoming central to adolescents' lives, understanding how PYD is related to internet behaviors is crucial. The current study addresses this growing need by systematically reviewing the studies that examined how PYD-related constructs are associated with youth internet behaviors over time.

Method: This systematic review synthesized findings from 10 longitudinal studies identified from 794 screened records that examined the association between PYD-related variables and youth internet behaviors. Following PRISMA guidelines, the methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for cohort studies. A narrative synthesis approach was employed to integrate findings.

Result: Findings indicate that high PYD attributes, developmental assets, and school assets were shown to negatively predict problematic internet behaviors, including internet addiction, internet gaming disorder, and cyberbullying victimization, both concurrently and longitudinally. Importantly, these associations were rarely direct. Positive mediators and moderators strengthened the protective effects of PYD, whereas adverse psychological states and contextual risks weakened these associations.

Conclusion: This review highlights that PYD functions mainly as a protective developmental resource operating through indirect and conditional pathways in digital contexts. However, the literature remains heavily focused on risk-oriented internet outcomes, with limited attention to positive forms of digital engagement. Conceptual inconsistencies in PYD operationalization and a strong geographic concentration of studies further underscore the need for more robust, theoretically integrated, and cross-cultural longitudinal research.

Introduction: Adolescents' experiences of autonomy can promote either thriving or stress, depending on whether autonomy is supported or thwarted. Drawing from Self-Determination Theory, we examined whether autonomy satisfaction and autonomy frustration are empirically distinguishable constructs and how they differentially predict adolescents' learning behaviors, academic achievement, and school burnout. We also explored the mediating roles of persistence and procrastination and examined gender differences in these relationships.

Methods: Participants were 1639 10th-grade students (mean age = 15.37 years; 45.3% male) from a public high school in Southwest China. Students completed validated self-report questionnaires assessing autonomy satisfaction, autonomy frustration, persistence, procrastination, and school burnout. Academic achievement was indexed by standardized semester exam scores in three core subjects. Structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis were used to test hypothesized relationships and gender differences.

Results: Bifactor CFA confirmed the empirical distinction between autonomy satisfaction and frustration. Autonomy satisfaction predicted higher persistence and lower procrastination, leading to better academic achievement and lower school burnout. In contrast, autonomy frustration predicted lower persistence and higher procrastination, which contributed to poorer achievement and increased burnout. Direct effects also showed that autonomy frustration strongly predicted burnout, while autonomy satisfaction buffered against it. In addition, the protective effects of autonomy satisfaction on persistence and procrastination were stronger for boys.

Conclusions: Autonomy satisfaction and frustration are distinct and uniquely predictive of Chinese adolescents' academic and psychological outcomes. Differentiating these constructs is crucial for understanding student motivation and informing interventions. Gender-sensitive strategies may enhance effectiveness in supporting student autonomy and reducing school burnout.