Breadth of participation in organized and unstructured leisure activities over time and rural adolescents' functioning.

Discretionary time outside of school offers a distinct context that can promote adolescent development; however, potential for growth depends in part on how this time is used. In this study, person-centered analyses were used to examine patterns of breadth of participation in both organized and unstructured leisure activities among rural adolescents (N = 276, 49% female) across grades 7, 8, and 10. Adjusting for self-selection factors, the study associated these patterns with 10th grade outcomes.

Mexican-origin Mothers' and Fathers' Involvement in Adolescents' Peer Relationships: A Pattern-Analytic Approach.

Using latent profile analysis, this study examined patterns of mother-father involvement in adolescents' peer relationships along three dimensions, support, guidance, and restrictions, in 240 Mexican-origin families. Three profiles were identified: (a) High Mother Involvement (mothers higher than fathers on all three dimensions); (b) High Support/Congruent (mothers and fathers reported the highest levels of peer support and similar levels of guidance and restrictions); and (c) Differentiated (more guidance and restrictions by fathers than by mothers, similar levels of parent support). These profiles were linked to mothers' and fathers' familism values, traditional patriarchal gender role attitudes, and socioeconomic status, and to adolescents' friendship intimacy and risky behaviors measured longitudinally from early to late adolescence.

Who's the Boss? Patterns of Control in Adolescents' Sibling Relationships.

The goals of this study were to examine longitudinal changes in perceived control in adolescents' sibling relationships and to describe the nature and correlates of three distinct control patterns: Firstborn dominant, equal, and secondborn dominant. Firstborn and secondborn adolescents in 184 predominately European-American families participated in home interviews and a series of phone interviews as part of a longitudinal a study of family relationships and adolescent development. Findings revealed changes in control over three years as well as sibling differences.

Processes Linking Social Class and Racial Socialization in African American Dual-Earner Families.

We examined the links between social class, occupational self-direction, self-efficacy, and racial socialization in a sample of 128 two-parent African American couples raising adolescents. A series of multivariate, multilevel models revealed that mothers' SES was connected to self-efficacy via its association with occupational self-direction; in turn, self-efficacy partially explained the association between occupational self-direction and racial socialization. The link between maternal self-efficacy and racial socialization depended on whether or not children had experienced discrimination.

Processes linking adolescent well-being, marital love, and coparenting.

This study examined coparenting in a sample of 177 two-parent families with firstborn adolescents by using annual home interview data from mothers, fathers, and adolescents. With a path-analytic approach and with earlier problem behaviors controlled for, coparenting conflict predicted relative increases in adolescent risky behavior over 2 years. In addition, evidence for 2 types of mediation was found.