Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in the general adolescent population.

Objective: This study examined the psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a large sample of adolescents from the general population.

Method: In 2001, 1,340 junior high and high school adolescents in the Netherlands completed the SCARED. The SCARED is a questionnaire that purports to measure five child and adolescent anxiety symptom dimensions.

Separation-individuation revisited: on the interplay of parent-adolescent relations, identity and emotional adjustment in adolescence.

The objective of this study was to test our alternative interpretation of the separation-individuation hypothesis. This interpretation states that separation from the parents is not a precondition for individuation, but rather separation and individuation are two parallel processes of development during adolescence. We investigated our interpretation in two ways.

Young adults' recollections of parental bonds--does satisfaction with partner relationships mediate the longitudinal association with mental disorders?

Background: Recollections of cold and overprotective behaviors from parents have been hypothesized to lead to the presence of mental disorders in young adulthood through their detrimental effects on individuals' satisfaction in later partner relationships. Previous studies have not explicitly tested, however, whether partner relationship satisfaction mediates the longitudinal relationship from parental bonds to DSM-III-R disorders in young adults.

Methods: We examined: (1) whether recollections of parental bonds in the first 16 years of life were related to the prevalence of DSM-III-R mental disorders in young adulthood, and (2) whether young adults' satisfaction with current partner relationships mediated these links.

Personality, perceived parental rejection and problem behavior in adolescence.

Background: It has been well documented that adolescents run a heightened risk for developing depression and aggression when they feel rejected by their parents and that parental rejection has different effects for gender in developing depression and aggression. Whether personality in combination with gender plays a role in the association between parental rejection, depression and aggression has not yet received much attention.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study using data from the Conflict and Management of Relationships study (CONAMORE).

The reciprocal relationship between early adolescent attachment and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviour.

The aim of the present study is to examine the reciprocal relationship between parental attachment and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problem behaviour. In this longitudinal study, 288 adolescents (mean age 13.5 years) reported on their attachment relationships with their parents and on problem behaviour three times, with 1-year-intervals between measurement waves.

Lifetime parental smoking history and cessation and early adolescent smoking behavior.

Background: Associations are examined between parental smoking and smoking onset by their children. Smoking parents are more likely to have children who start smoking in their teenage years; however, less is known about whether parental quitting is related to adolescent smoking.

Methods: A cross-sectional national sample of 2,206 adolescents, ages 10-14 years, living in two-parent households were interviewed for the DEFACTO annual report on Dutch youth smoking behavior.

Young adults' relationship transitions and the incidence of mental disorders: a three-wave longitudinal study.

Background: Relationship transitions have consistently been found to be associated with mental health in young adulthood, but previous studies have not demonstrated clearly whether such relationship transitions actually precede the development of mental health problems and have focused almost exclusively on subclinical levels of problem behavior.

Methods: Longitudinal associations between the incidence of mood, anxiety, and substance disorders (DSM-III-R) and relationship transitions during young adulthood were examined using data from 1,581 Dutch young adults aged 18-34, who participated in three waves (1996, 1997, and 1999) of a nationwide epidemiological survey.

Results: Concurrent 3-year longitudinal associations showed that the incidence of mood and substance disorders was linked to relationship stability and change (i.

Personal agency and personality in adolescence: silent voices and findings.

We discuss the studies reported in this special issue on the basis of a descriptive framework. We conclude that implicit assumptions-silent voices, as we call them-concerning the transactional influence between person and environment, and concerning the primacy of personal agency exist side by side. We find in the studies both a variable-centred and a person-centred approach, and show that the person-centred approach can complement the variable-centred approach in a fruitful manner.

Parental and peer attachment and identity development in adolescence.

The main aim of this study was to test the situational hypothesis of parent-peer conflict and the parent-peer linkages hypothesis with regard to parental and peer attachment and identity. The situational hypothesis predicts that parental attachment will be associated with school identity and peer attachment with relational identity. The parent-peer linkages hypothesis suggests that parental attachment influences peer attachment and through peer attachment school and relational identity.