Perceptions of relationship quality that predict friendship dissolution during childhood and adolescence: Social support matters more than negativity.

The present study examines perceptions of relationship quality as antecedents of best friendship dissolution. Participants included 230 students in Florida (United States; 54.3% girls; ages = 8-13; 39.

The Social Dynamics of Fun: Can Fun Youth Bring Peers Together and Positively Influence Their Friends?

There is a critical gap in our understanding of how peer relationships contribute to positive youth development. To address this gap the current study uses longitudinal social network data to examine if fun youth were socially desirable, inclusive of peers, and positive agents of social influence during the transition to adolescence. Participants were 210 students (47% female; Mage = 11.

The Perils of Not Being Attractive or Athletic: Pathways to Adolescent Adjustment Difficulties Through Escalating Unpopularity.

Adolescents who lack traits valued by peers are at risk for adjustment difficulties but the mechanisms responsible for deteriorating well-being have yet to be identified. The present study examines processes whereby low athleticism and low attractiveness give rise to adolescent adjustment difficulties. Participants were public middle school students (ages 10 to 13 years, M = 11.

Associations between emotions and psychophysiological states and confirmation bias in question formulation in ongoing simulated investigative interviews of child sexual abuse.

Introduction: In forensic settings interviewers are advised to ask as many open-ended questions as possible. However, even experts may have difficulty following this advice potentially negatively impacting an investigation. Here, we sought to investigate how emotions and psychophysiological parameters are associated with question formulation in real time in an ongoing (simulated) child sexual abuse (CSA) interview.

The lifetime prevalence of child sexual abuse assessed in young adults in Lithuania.

Objective: We examined the prevalence of different types of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in Lithuania focusing on how these experiences were related to victim's age and relationship to the perpetrator.

Methods: The participants came from a representative household survey of youth aged 18-29 and the sample consisted of 2000 participants (47.7 % women) with a mean age of 23.

Perceived maternal disapproval of friends: How mothers shape and respond to child and friend adjustment problems.

The present study examines relations between adjustment problems and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends in a sample of Lithuanian public middle-school students. The participants (ages 10 to 14) were 284 children (148 boys, 136 girls) who were involved in 142 stable friendships. Each friend described their own conduct problems, emotional problems, and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends twice during the same academic year ( = 14.

Path to posttraumatic growth: The role of centrality of event, deliberate and intrusive rumination, and self blame in women victims and survivors of intimate partner violence.

Increased interest in positive changes in the aftermath of traumatic events led researchers to examine assumptions about the process of posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, existing studies often use samples from mixed trauma survivors and investigate separate factors and their associations with growth. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the path from centrality of event to PTG involving intrusive and deliberate rumination and self-blame as a coping strategy in women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV).

Effects of individual differences, society, and culture on youth-rated problems and strengths in 38 societies.

Background: Clinicians increasingly serve youths from societal/cultural backgrounds different from their own. This raises questions about how to interpret what such youths report. Rescorla et al.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale in Adolescent Samples: Measurement Invariance across 24 Countries and Regions, Age, and Gender.

Unlabelled: Measurement of adolescent life satisfaction across cultures has not received much attention in previous empirical research. The present study evaluated measurement invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) among adolescents in 24 countries and regions (N = 22,710; age range = 13-19 years; 53% female). A single-factor model with residual covariance between a pair of items tapping past life satisfaction fitted well in 19 countries and regions and showed a partial metric invariance.

Posttraumatic Growth, Centrality of Event, Trauma Symptoms and Resilience: Profiles of Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence.

The current study used a person-oriented approach to investigate (a) potential distinctive groups of women survivors of IPV based on their posttraumatic growth (PTG), centrality of event, resilience, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) patterns, and (b) examine the role of sociodemographic (age, education, work status) and violence related (physical and emotional violence, time since last violence episode, psychological help) factors in distinguishing these groups. The study sample consisted of 421 women survivors of IPV, and latent profile analysis revealed four profiles: "negative impact" (11% of the sample), "positive growth" (46%), "low impact" (18%), and "distressed growth" (25%). Women age, education, received psychological help, frequency of physical and emotional violence, and time since last violence incident significantly distinguished some of the indicated profiles from each other.

Longitudinal Investigation of Posttraumatic Growth in Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: The Role of Event Centrality and Identity Exploration.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in posttraumatic growth (PTG) of women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Lithuania, in relation to the centrality of traumatic experience, identity exploration, and time after exposure to violence. The longitudinal study sample consisted of 217 women who experienced IPV, recruited from women shelters, social support centers, and through counseling psychologists. In this sample the assessment instruments were administered three times during an 18-month period (at 6-month intervals).

Self-Esteem Mediates Longitudinal Associations from Adolescent Perceptions of Parenting to Adjustment.

The present study examines direct and indirect associations between perceptions of parenting and adolescent adjustment. We focus on self-esteem as an intervening variable. Participants included 446 girls and 471 boys ages 14 to 17 (M = 15.

Knowing Who You Are for Not Feeling Lonely? A Longitudinal Study on Identity and Loneliness.

In adolescence, both identity concerns and feelings of loneliness are of utmost importance to the experiences of young people. Yet, a theoretically grounded hypothesis that identity and loneliness are developmentally related has never been tested. Thus, the aim of this study was to disentangle the longitudinal associations between identity processes in educational and interpersonal domains and loneliness in adolescence.

The Role of Social Support in Identity Processes and Posttraumatic Growth: A Study of Victims of Intimate Partner Violence.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of social support for posttraumatic growth (PTG) and identity processes in a sample of 217 women victims of intimate partner violence (IPV), recruited from women shelters, social support centers, and through counseling psychologists. The results of the study highlight the important role of social support in seeking positive personal resolutions after experiencing traumatic events of IPV. It indicates that social support, but not social nonsupport, predicts higher levels of PTG and the development of new positive identities.

Developing Morality, Competence, and Sociability in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study of Gender Differences.

Morality, competence, and sociability have been conceptualized as fundamental dimensions of social judgment that individuals use to evaluate themselves and other people and groups. The way in which adolescents perceive themselves along these dimensions affects the quality of their relationships across multiple social contexts. Given the centrality of morality, competence, and sociability for adolescents' social life, the purpose of this study was to understand how these dimensions develop over time with a focus on gender differences, since males and females can show distinct trajectories due to socialization and developmental processes.

Adolescents' Self-Perception of Morality, Competence, and Sociability and their Interplay with Quality of Family, Friend, and School Relationships: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study.

Morality, competence, and sociability have been conceptualized as fundamental dimensions on which individuals ground their evaluation of themselves and of other people and groups. In this study, we examined the interplay between self-perceived morality, competence, and sociability and relationship quality within the core social contexts with which adolescents have extensive daily interactions (family, friends, and school). Participants were 916 (51.

A Cross-Cultural Perspective on the Relationships between Emotional Separation, Parental Trust, and Identity in Adolescents.

Emotional separation and parental trust in parent-adolescent relationships are important factors for adolescent identity formation. However, prior research findings on emotional separation are inconsistent. This study aimed to conduct a more rigorous examination of the associations of emotional separation and parental trust with identity synthesis, confusion, and consolidation by applying a bi-factor model to identity, using adolescent samples from Lithuania (N = 610; 53.

Testing Syndromes of Psychopathology in Parent and Youth Ratings Across Societies.

As societies become increasingly diverse, mental health professionals need instruments for assessing emotional, behavioral, and social problems in terms of constructs that are supported within and across societies. Building on decades of research findings, multisample alignment confirmatory factor analyses tested an empirically based 8-syndrome model on parent ratings across 30 societies and youth self-ratings across 19 societies. The Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 and Youth Self-Report for Ages 11-18 were used to measure syndromes descriptively designated as , and .

Parent-Adolescent Cross-Informant Agreement in Clinically Referred Samples: Findings From Seven Societies.

To conduct international comparisons of parent-adolescent cross-informant agreement in clinical samples, we analyzed ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self-Report (YSR) for 6,762 clinically referred adolescents ages 11-18 from 7 societies (M = 14.5 years, SD = 2.0 years; 51% boys).

The new life stage of emerging adulthood at ages 18-29 years: implications for mental health.

Since 1960 demographic trends towards longer time in education and late age to enter into marriage and of parenthood have led to the rise of a new life stage at ages 18-29 years, now widely known as emerging adulthood in developmental psychology. In this review we present some of the demographics of emerging adulthood in high-income countries with respect to the prevalence of tertiary education and the timing of parenthood. We examine the characteristics of emerging adulthood in several regions (with a focus on mental health implications) including distinctive features of emerging adulthood in the USA, unemployment in Europe, and a shift towards greater individualism in Japan.

Can Facebook informational use foster adolescent civic engagement?

The findings on the association between Social Networking Sites and civic engagement are mixed. The present study aims to evaluate a theoretical model linking the informational use of Internet-based social media (specifically, Facebook) with civic competencies and intentions for future civic engagement, taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions with family and friends and sharing the news online. Participants were 114 Italian high school students aged 14-17 years (57 % boys).

Parent-teacher agreement on children's problems in 21 societies.

Parent-teacher cross-informant agreement, although usually modest, may provide important clinical information. Using data for 27,962 children from 21 societies, we asked the following: (a) Do parents report more problems than teachers, and does this vary by society, age, gender, or type of problem? (b) Does parent-teacher agreement vary across different problem scales or across societies? (c) How well do parents and teachers in different societies agree on problem item ratings? (d) How much do parent-teacher dyads in different societies vary in within-dyad agreement on problem items? (e) How well do parents and teachers in 21 societies agree on whether the child's problem level exceeds a deviance threshold? We used five methods to test agreement for Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher's Report Form (TRF) ratings. CBCL scores were higher than TRF scores on most scales, but the informant differences varied in magnitude across the societies studied.

Identity styles, positive youth development, and civic engagement in adolescence.

Identity formation is a core developmental task of adolescence. Adolescents can rely on different social-cognitive styles to seek, process, and encode self-relevant information: information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant identity styles. The reliance on different styles might impact adolescents' adjustment and their active involvement in the society.