adolescent development

Over the past two decades, virginity pledges have proliferated in the US, despite mixed results regarding their effectiveness. Few studies have examined possible mechanisms that may shed light on why pledges work for some individuals but not others. Using a sample of emerging-adults aged 18-24 years old (n = 1,380),we examine the influence of religiosity on pledge signing and adherence, specifically whether the effectiveness of pledges is moderated by religiosity. Findings show that while religious participation is positively associated with signing a pledge, there is amoderating effect of religious commitment...

PURPOSE: To describe trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents and to identify early indicators of these trajectories using data from routine well-child assessments at ages 0-4 years. METHODS: Data from three assessment waves of adolescents (n = 1,816) of the TRAILS were used (ages: 11-17 years). Information on early indicators (at ages 0-4 years) came from the records of the well-child services. Trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems were based on the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist and the adolescent-reported Youth Self-Report, filled out at ages 11, 14, and 17 years...

OBJECTIVES: We examined the association between 2 important public health problems in the developing world: parental domestic violence and depressive symptoms during adolescence. METHODS: Data on depressive symptoms and witnessing of domestic violence were obtained during private face-to-face interviews conducted in 2002 with 2051 Filipino adolescents 17-19 years of age. RESULTS: Symptoms of depression were common; 11% of young men and 19% of young women reported wishing that they were dead occasionally or most of the time, and nearly half of all respondents recalled parental domestic violence...

This study examined profiles of nonresidential father engagement (i.e., support to the adolescent, contact frequency, remarriage, relocation, and interparental conflict) with their adolescent children (N = 156) 6 to 8 years following divorce and the prospective relation between these profiles and the psychosocial functioning of their offspring, 9 years later. Parental divorce occurred during late childhood to early adolescence; indicators of nonresidential father engagement were assessed during adolescence, and mental health problems and academic achievement of offspring were assessed 9 years later in young adulthood...

Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood and is characterized by emotional instability. Underlying this behavior may be an imbalance between the limbic subcortical areas and the prefrontal cortex. Here, we investigated differences in these regions during adolescence and young adulthood. Fifty subjects aged 10 to 24 viewed and rated neutral, negative, and positive pictures (IAPS: International Affective Picture System), while being scanned with functional MRI. Only those trials in which there was a match between the subject's response and the IAPS rating were included in the analyses...

Adolescent depression may be associated with future relationship problems that have long-term consequences given the developmental importance and health benefits of forming committed unions in emerging adulthood. The authors examined associations between emotional and behavioral indicators of adolescent depression (depressive symptoms, alcohol problems, and suicidal ideation) and romantic relationship and union formation and dissolution in emerging adulthood ( n = 14,146) using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health...

Interpretation biases, in which ambiguous information is interpreted negatively, have been hypothesized to place adolescent females at greater risk of developing anxiety and mood disorders than same-aged males. We tested the hypothesis that adolescent girls interpret ambiguous scenarios more negatively, and/or less positively, than same-aged males using the Adolescent Interpretation and Belief Questionnaire (N = 67, 11-15 years old). We also tested whether adolescent girls and boys differed in judging positive or negative interpretations to be more believable and whether the scenario content (social vs...

BACKGROUND: Bullying among adolescents represents a major public health challenge. The aim of this study was to map the stability of bullying victimization across the transitional phase from lower to upper secondary school, and to describe the sociodemographic, academic and health-related characteristics of those bullied during the transition. METHOD: 3674 Norwegian adolescents were followed longitudinally from the age of 15/16 until the age of 18/19, answering questionnaires about health, academic achievements, life events, lifestyle and sociodemography...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

PURPOSE: To use an ecological momentary assessment design to examine the links between momentary negative affect and cortisol in a sample of adolescents preparing to transition to college. Guided by a risk and resilience framework, we also explored whether important ecological factors, perceived discrimination and social support, moderated the momentary associations between negative affect and youths' cortisol. METHODS: Adolescents (N = 77) provided salivary samples and diary reports of affect and experiences five times a day over 3 days...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Adolescence and early adulthood is a time when peer groups become increasingly influential in the lives of young people. Youths exposed to deviant peers risk susceptibility to externalizing behaviors and related psychopathology. In addition to environmental correlates of deviant peer affiliation, a growing body of evidence has suggested that affiliation with deviant peers is heritable. This study examined the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on affiliation with deviant peers, changes in the relative importance of these factors, and which of these factors contribute to the stability of affiliation across this critical developmental period using a longitudinal twin study design that assessed same-sex twins (485 monozygotic pairs, 271 dizygotic pairs) at 3 discrete ages: 15, 18, and 21 years of age...

Previous research has found that financial transfers from parents to young adult children decline as children age and that age is one of the strongest predictors of support. Using data collected from young adults (ages 18 to 34) and their parents (ages 40 to 60; N=536 parent-child dyads), we explore the possibility that the relationship between age and financial support is mediated by offspring needs, acquisition of adult roles, or geographical and emotional closeness. We find that age-related declines in offspring's needs help to explain why financial support falls with age...

Adolescents are commonly seen as irrational, a position supported to varying degrees by many developmentalists, who often appeal to recent research on adolescent brains. Careful review of relevant evidence, however, shows that (1) adults are less rational than is generally assumed, (2) adolescents (and adults) are categorically different from children with respect to the attainment of advanced levels of rationality and psychological functioning, and (3) adolescents and adults do not differ categorically from each other with respect to any rational competencies, irrational tendencies, brain structures, or neurological functioning...

We use the life course perspective to argue that family transitions like divorce and remarriage are turning points in adolescents' lives and that emotional distress associated with these events are shaped by the circumstances surrounding them. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we explore how family transitions net of family structure are related to two types of emotional distress, acute depressive symptoms and excessive binge drinking, and whether family context moderates these associations...

This study investigated relationships between attachment insecurity, maladaptive cognitive schemas, and various types of psychopathological symptoms in a sample of clinically referred adolescents (N = 82). A mediation model was tested in which maladaptive schemas operated as mediators in the relations between indices of attachment quality and conduct, peer, and emotional problems. Results revealed partial support for the hypothesized mediation effect: the schema domain of disconnection/rejection acted as a mediator in the links between insecure attachment and peer problems and emotional problems...

BACKGROUND: Externalizing traits or behaviors are typically assessed by self-report scales or criminal records. Few genetically informative studies have used both methods to determine whether they assess the same genetic or environmental risk factors. METHOD: We examined 442 male Swedish twin pairs with self-reported externalizing behaviors at age 16–17 years [externalizing traits (EXT), self-reported delinquency (SRD), impulsivity (IMP), grandiosity (GRD) and callousness (CLS)] and criminal behavior (CB) from the National Suspect Registry from age 13 to 25 years...

Hope has been studied within various disciplines since at least the 1950s, as researchers have attempted to describe, explain, and predict the association between human functioning and this seemingly vital-yet often abstract-construct. Recent work by Snyder and colleagues identified future goal orientation as a necessary component of hope. For developmental scientists, understanding the associations between hope and intentional self regulation strategies that may help young people achieve their goals could provide insight into the positive development of youth...

CONTEXT The substantial changes in adolescent alcohol use prevalence over time suggest that population-level environmental factors are important determinants of use, yet the potential influence of such environmental factors is inadequately understood. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether adolescents in birth cohorts and/or time periods characterized by restrictive social norms toward alcohol were at decreased risk for alcohol use and binge drinking, controlling for individual attitudes (disapproval) toward use...

In the decade and a half since Coley and Chase-Lansdale's (1998) review of teenage childbearing, there have been a number of studies investigating teenage childbearing from a developmental psychological perspective. Many of these studies have focused primarily on identifying individual, familial, and socioeconomic risk factors in childhood and adolescence that are highly correlated with teenage sexual behavior and teenage childbearing. We have an emerging understanding of teenage childbearing as the culmination of a complex cascade of experiences and decisions that overlap greatly with the risks for antisocial behavior...