How does School Experience Relate to Adolescent Identity Formation Over Time? Cross-Lagged Associations between School Engagement,School Burnout and Identity Processing Styles

The existing research findings still do not provide a clear understanding of the links between adolescent school experience and their identity formation. To address this gap, we analyzed the dynamic links between adolescent school experiences and identity formation by exploring the cross-lagged associations between school engagement, school burnout and identity processing styles (information-oriented, normative and diffuse-avoidant) over a 2-year period during middle-to-late adolescence. The sample of this school-based study included 916 adolescents (51.4% females) in the 9th to 12th grades from diverse socio-economic and family backgrounds. The results from the cross-lagged analyses with three time points revealed that (a) school engagement positively predicted information-oriented identity processing over a 2-year period; (b) school burnout positively predicted the reliance on normative and diffuse-avoidant identity styles across the three measurements; (c) the effects were stable over the three time points and across different gender, grade, and socio-economic status groups. The unidirectional effects identified in our study support the general prediction that active engagement in learning at school can serve as a resource for adolescent identity formation, while school burnout, in contrast, can hinder the formation of adolescent identity. This points to the importance of taking developmental identity-related needs of adolescents into account when planning the school curriculum.     

The Course and Psychosocial Correlates of Personality Disorder Symptoms in Adolescence: Erikson's Developmental Theory Revisited

Personality disorder symptoms were investigated in a community sample of young people (n = 714) to assess their relationship over time with well-being during adolescence and the emergence of intimacy in early adulthood. Drawing on Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, changes in adolescent well-being were conceptualized as indirect indicators of identity consolidation. Cluster B personality disorder symptoms (borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic symptoms) were conceptualized to represent identity diffusion—i.e. maladaptive personality traits that usually resolve during the identity crisis of adolescence. Latent growth models were used in 2 age cohorts to assess (1) interrelationships between Cluster B symptoms, well-being, and intimacy at mean ages 13.8 and 18.6 years; and (2) associations between their developmental trajectories over the next 6 years. As expected, higher personality disorder symptoms were associated with lower well-being during adolescence, and declines in personality disorder symptoms over time were associated with corresponding gains in well-being. Consistent with Erikson's developmental theory, there was an inverse relationship between Cluster B symptoms and intimacy that increased in strength as young people entered adulthood. As an indicator of successful identity consolidation, well-being was significantly associated with intimacy in female adolescents and young adults.     

Reciprocal Associations between Educational Identity and Vocational Identity in Adolescence: A Three-wave Longitudinal Investigation

Education and vocation are core identity domains in adolescence. School is a normative social context in this developmental time frame and the formation of an educational identity is embedded in the goals that youth pursue in school. One of the main goals of education is to prepare young people for their future careers. Hence, educational identity should support the formation of vocational identity during adolescence. Considering the limited evidence on the longitudinal links between these two domain-specific identities, we conducted a three-wave investigation, testing the moderating role of age group, gender, and type of school. Participants (N?=?1030; 59.3% female) were adolescents (M _age ?=?16.72 years, SD _age ?=?1.23, age range 14–19 years) who completed self-report measures of educational and vocational identity three times during an academic year. We underscored reciprocal associations between educational identity and vocational identity. The results indicate that strong educational commitments supported the formation of strong vocational commitments across time. Adolescents who were involved in the in-depth exploration of their educational choices also reported more vocational exploration during the school year. In turn, vocational identity processes also supported educational identity formation, especially the reconsideration of educational commitments. In terms of moderators, we underscored that vocational commitment making and vocational flexibility bolstered educational commitment only in early-to-middle adolescents. Educational in-depth exploration fostered the identification with vocational commitments only in girls. Educational reconsideration of commitment promoted vocational self-doubt only in adolescents attending work-bound high-schools. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Are Stressful Developmental Processes of Youths Leading to Health Problems Amplified by Genetic Polymorphisms? The Case of Body Mass Index

Although previous research has documented the adverse influence of early socioeconomic disadvantage on youths’ physical health outcomes and the increase in health inequalities over the early life course, little is known about genetically informed sequential life course developmental processes leading to health outcomes. Consistent with the life course-stress process perspective, we hypothesized that early socioeconomic adversity initiates a stress process over the early life course. This process involves the disrupted transition from adolescence to young adulthood, which increases the risk of health problems during young adulthood. Behavioral, psychosocial, and genetic data were collected from 12,424 adolescents (53 % female) over a period of 13 years participating in the nationally representative National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Early cumulative socioeconomic adversity and the polygenic influence were measured using composite indices. The study provided evidence for stressful developmental processes of adolescents, involving parental rejection, depressive symptoms, and adolescents’ precocious transition. This longitudinal process was initiated by early cumulative socioeconomic adversity and eventuated with young adults’ increased body mass index (BMI). Furthermore, the study provided evidence for the influence of life context–gene interactions (G × E) on adolescents’ precocious development and young adult BMI (after controlling for the lagged measure) amplifying the stress process over the early life course. These findings emphasize the need for incorporating individual genetic characteristics in a longitudinal context into life course stress research. Furthermore, policies focused on eradicating childhood/adolescent adversities are necessary as well as youth programs and policies that promote youth competencies that aid in their successful transition to young adulthood.     

Trajectories of Identity Formation Modes and Their Personality Context in Adolescence

Identity formation is a dynamic process during adolescence. Trajectories of identity formation were assessed longitudinally in early and middle adolescents, taking into account the personality underpinnings of this process. Identity formation was conceptualized according to the circumplex of identity formation modes. The model distinguishes basic modes rooted in Marcia’s categories of exploration and commitment. Plasticity and stability, the two higher order Big Five meta-traits, were used to assess personality underpinnings. This study includes five measurement waves over 1.5 years and involves 1,839 Polish participants; 914 early adolescents (53.9% girls) and 925 middle adolescents (63.8% girls). The results suggest that (1) the four identity formation modes change dynamically, showing linear and curvilinear growth and that (2) identity formation mode trajectories are more dynamic in middle adolescence than in early adolescence. The results also showed that, in the conditional model, (3) the higher-order personality factors and gender affect the growth factors of identity formation modes. Overall, trajectories of identity formation modes are more linear during early adolescence and more curvilinear during middle adolescence. The initial levels in identity trajectories are influenced by the personality metatraits but only plasticity is related to change among early adolescents.     

Developmental Differences in Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Use of Mothers, Fathers, Best Friends, and Romantic Partners to Fulfill Attachment Needs

Adolescents and young adults (three age groups: 12–15, 16–19, and 20–28 years) reported their use of parents, and peers to fulfill attachment functions (proximity-seeking, safe haven, and secure base.) The use of each target figure varied with age and attachment function. Mothers were an important source of security across this age range. They were used as secure base consistently more than fathers or peers for all age groups, and regardless of whether or not participants had romantic partners; but were used less for proximity and safe haven by the two older groups. Best friends were used most and more than others as a safe haven; but were used less by young adults (vs. early adolescents) and by older adolescents with romantic partners. Romantic partners were used most and more than others for proximity; but were used less by early adolescents than by older participants. Fathers were selected less than other targets for all attachment functions. Those with romantic partners turned to them more than to others, and young adults selected their romantic partners as much as friends for safe haven. Those insecurely attached to mother turned to her less and to romantic partners more than did those securely attached. Implications for developmental changes in adolescent attachments are discussed. Professor of Psychology and Applied Human Sciences, Concordia University. Received PhD in social psychology from Ohio State University. Research interests include close interpersonal relationships and adjustment. Received MA in social/developmental psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University. Research interests include attachment and well-being in adolescence Received PhD in developmental psychology from Stanford University. Research interests include parenting, attachment, and adjustment in adolescence Received BA in Psychology (Honors) from Concordia University. Research interests include romantic relationships in adolescence     

Change in Ethnic Identity Across the High School Years Among Adolescents with Latin American,Asian, and European Backgrounds

Changes in adolescents’ ethnic identity (e.g., exploration, belonging) were examined over the 4 years of high school. Results from 541 adolescents (51% female) with Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds suggest that, as a group, adolescents do not report developmental changes in their ethnic exploration and belonging over time. Yet, within-person analyses of change reveal that individual adolescents exhibited substantial fluctuation in ethnic identity across the years, and this fluctuation was associated with concurrent changes in family cohesion, proportion of same-ethnic peers, and ethnic centrality. The discussion focuses on the value of examining intraindividual change over at least several years in order to more fully understand processes of ethnic identity development during adolescence.     

Factors that Influence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence

Given that one of the most powerful predictors of adult crime is the presence of behavior problems in childhood and adolescence, there is a need to further understand factors that determine behavior patterns during this developmental stage. This study focuses on stressful life experiences such as exposure to delinquent peers, racial discrimination, as well as family characteristics such as parenting style and family transitions. Data come from four waves of the Family and Community Health Survey, an African-American sample. The present study investigates 354 males from this dataset. We utilize a group-based trajectory model to estimate the number and type of trajectories of delinquency. We then estimate multinomial regression models to predict trajectory group membership. The results indicated that there were four distinct groups of offenders (negligible delinquents; early starter/declining; late starter; and early starter/chronic offenders). We predicted group membership using both early predictors and measures of change in these predictors across the study period. The results indicated that individuals who experience greater racial discrimination (both early in childhood and throughout adolescence) are more likely to be in trajectory groups that begin offending early and persist through adolescence. Additionally, those respondents who reported having friends with greater delinquent behavior were more likely to be in groups that began their offending early in life and persisted when compared to groups who started later or desisted as they entered adulthood. The results contribute to developmental research and provide information that may be helpful in preventing adolescents from persisting in antisocial behavior as they enter adulthood.     

Impact of Early Adolescent Externalizing Problem Behaviors on Identity Development in Middle to Late Adolescence: A Prospective 7-Year Longitudinal Study

Adolescents at-risk for problem behaviors can have more difficulties in developing a firm sense of personal identity. Hence the purpose of this prospective longitudinal study was to scrutinize how externalizing problems in early adolescence impact identity development in middle to late adolescence. Participants were 443 (43.12 % female) Dutch adolescents. Teachers rated their externalizing problem behaviors when participants were 11 or 12 years old and their identity formation was studied during five consecutive years (from 14 to 18 years of age). The sample was divided into four groups: boys and girls with a high versus a low-risk for externalizing problem behaviors. Participants completed a self-report measure of identity commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. Multi-group Latent Growth Curve and profile stability analyses were used to evaluate identity development across adolescence. Findings indicated that high-risk boys and girls reported a less structured identity, with lower levels of commitment and higher levels of reconsideration of commitment. Since externalizing problems behaviors and lack of a coherent sense of identity might reinforce each other, early intervention for high-risk adolescents might foster positive youth development.     

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. The purpose of this study was to examine whether adolescents with different identity styles report differences in positive youth development (analyzed with the Five Cs—Competence, Confidence, Character, Connection, and Caring—model) and in various forms of civic engagement (i.e., involvement in school self-government activities, volunteering activities, youth political organizations, and youth non-political organizations). The participants were 1,633 (54.1 % female) 14–19 years old adolescents (M _age  = 16.56, SD _age  = 1.22). The findings indicated that adolescents with different identity styles differed significantly on all the Five Cs and on two (i.e., involvement in volunteering activities and in youth non-political organizations) forms of civic engagement. Briefly, adolescents with an information-oriented style reported high levels of both the Five Cs and civic engagement; participants with a normative style reported moderate to high scores on the Five Cs but low rates of civic engagement; diffuse-avoidant respondents scored low both on the Five Cs and on civic engagement. These findings suggest that the information-oriented style, contrary to the diffuse-avoidant one, has beneficial effects for both the individual and the community, while the normative style has quite beneficial effects for the individual but not for his/her community. Concluding, adolescents with different identity styles display meaningful differences in positive youth development and in rates of civic engagement.     

Kibbutz adolescence: The vicissitudes of ideology,communal upbringing,and self-experience

The kibbutz, in the early 1990s, presents a collective community in transition. Changes in social ideology are reshaping certain aspects of developmental processes of individuals who were brought up in a communal community. This special issue highlights the unique interaction between cultural context and personality development processes in kibbutz adolescents and young adults. Certain social, affective, and cognitive changes that contribute to identity formation in the kibbutz context are explored from multidisciptinary perspectives.Received Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Current research in the cognitive-psychodynamic aspects of parent-child relationships through adolescence and adulthood.     

The Same Old Song?—Stability and Change in Relationship Schemas from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Relationship schemas are core elements of personality that guide interpersonal functioning. The aim of this study is to examine stability and change in relationship schemas across two developmental epochs—adolescence and young adulthood—in the stories that people tell about their interactions with others. Using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method, relationship themes were coded from semistructured interviews conducted in adolescence and again at age 25. The sample consisted of 40 participants in a longitudinal study of adolescent and young adult psychological development. There was considerable stability in the frequency with which particular themes were expressed in the narratives of adolescents and young adults. Significant changes from adolescence to young adulthood included a decrease in the perception of others as rejecting and of the self as opposing others. Young adults saw themselves and others more positively, and used a broader repertoire of themes in their relationship narratives than they had as adolescents. The basic continuity and particular changes in relationship schemas found in this study are consistent with knowledge about the adolescent-to-young-adult transition derived from other empirical and clinical findings. Relationship schemas may be rich units of study for learning about the development of interpersonal functioning.     

Dominance hierarchies in groups of middle to late adolescent males

Two cabin groups (N=5 and 6) of 14- to 17-year-old males were observed during a five-week camping session. Recorded were all instances of dyadic dominance behaviors occurring between group members in three behavior settings. Various group sociometric exercises and life history data were also available. Similar to previously studied early adolescent groups, the current middle and late adolescents formed a group dominance hierarchy that remained relatively stable during the camp session and in the behavior settings. In marked contrast to early adolescents, however, physical variables such as pubertal maturation, athletic ability, and physical fitness no longer predicted relative ranking among group members. Rather, individual variations in intelligence, creativity, crafts skill, cabin spirit, peer popularity, and camp experience predicted the group structure. Physical means of expressing dominance status were rare among the older adolescents.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Committee on Human Development, in 1977. Current teaching and research interests include early adolescence, the ecology of self-esteem during adolescence, and a biopsychological/ethological approach toward adolescence. Correspondence should be sent to the author at the above address.     

Violent Victimization and Perpetration During Adolescence: Developmental Stage Dependent Ecological Models

Using a variant of the ecological-transactional model and developmental theories of delinquency on a nationally representative sample of adolescents, the current study explored the ecological predictors of violent victimization, perpetration, and both for three different developmental stages during adolescence. We examined the relative influence of individual and family characteristics, peers, and neighborhood characteristics on the odds of experiencing violent victimization and perpetration over time with two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health for those adolescents who reported no exposure to violence at Wave 1 (N = 8,267; 50% female; 59% Caucasian; 17% African-American; 14% Hispanic). We found that more proximal factors differentiated between different experiences with violence at Wave 2. Also, negative peers significantly differentiated between violent victimization and perpetration, and this influence was strongest in early adolescence. In exploratory analyses, we found that middle adolescents were particularly vulnerable to their disadvantaged neighborhoods for a high-risk group. This analysis is one of the few that considers multiple ecological contexts simultaneously and provides support for developmental differences within adolescence on the influence that peers and neighborhoods have in predicting violent victimization and perpetration.     

Development of interest and enjoyment in adolescence. Part II. Boredom and psychopathology

Significant changes in both the capacity and the content of attention emerge during adolescence. Part II of this two-part article argues that a central task of adolescence is to utilize increased information-processing capacities in order to develop attentional habits which shape interests, provide enjoyment, and avoid boredom. Reports of chronic boredom or of extreme efforts to escape from boredom during adolescence may signify substantial difficulty in forming the attentional habits required for developing a separate identity. When adolescents are bored, they may resort to habits of attention and enjoyment which have deleterious personal, social, and ecological consequences. Further study of attention in adolescence may help to explore preventive educational approaches to the problem of boredom and of “pathological” solutions to boredom.     

Does Humor Explain Why Relationally Aggressive Adolescents are Popular?

The association between relational aggression and popularity during early adolescence is well established. Yet, little is known about why, exactly, relationally aggressive young adolescents are able to achieve and maintain high popular status among peers. The present study investigated the mediating role of humor in the association between relational aggression and popularity during early adolescence. Also considered was whether the association between relational aggression and humor varies according to adolescents’ gender and their friends’ levels of relational aggression. Participants were 265 sixth-grade students (48 % female; 41 % racial/ethnic minority; M _age = 12.04 years) who completed peer nomination and friendship measures in their classrooms at two time points (Wave 1: February; Wave 2: May). The results indicated that Wave 1 relational aggression was related to Wave 1 and 2 popularity indirectly through Wave 1 humor, after accounting for the effects of Wave 1 physical aggression, ethnicity, and gender. Additional analyses showed that relational aggression and humor were related significantly only for boys and for young adolescents with highly relationally aggressive friends. The results support the need for further research on humor and aggression during early adolescence and other mechanisms by which relationally aggressive youth achieve high popular status.     

Identity in adolescence: Influences of dysfunction and psychosocial task issues

The Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI) was utilized in two studies to investigate task resolutions (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity) in adolescence. In the first study, a comparison of delinquents and non-delinquents indicated that delinquents have less successful task resolutions. In the second study, a comparison of adolescents with high and low dysfunctional attitudes again revealed that troubled adolescents have less successful task resolutions. In this study, 7th graders, 12th graders, first-year college students, and junior and senior college students participated. Older adolescents demonstrated more successful task resolutions than younger adolescents, and different identity issues were salient during early adolescence as compared to later adolescence. Also, first-year college students had more problems with identity consolidation and less positive overall task resolutions than high school seniors or college juniors and seniors. A life-context approach to identity formation is discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the first biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Madison, Wisconsin, March 1986, and at the Midwestern Psychological Association meetings, Chicago, Illinois, 1987 and 1989.M.A. degree in psychology from University of Toledo. Research interests: identity development, cognitive and perceptual development.Ph.D. from University of Toledo. Research interests: personality and cognitive development in adolescence, infant cognitive development.     

Sexual Dating Aggression Across Grades 8 Through 12: Timing and Predictors of Onset

Investigators have identified a number of factors that increase risk for physical and psychological dating abuse perpetration during adolescence, but as yet little is known about the etiology of sexual dating aggression during this critical developmental period. This is an important gap in the literature given that research suggests that patterns of sexual dating violence that are established during this period may carry over into young adulthood. Using a sample of 459 male adolescents (76 % White, 19 % Black), the current study used survival analysis to examine the timing and predictors of sexual dating aggression perpetration onset across grades 8 through 12. Risk for sexual dating aggression onset increased across early adolescence, peaked in the 10th grade, and desisted thereafter. As predicted based on the Confluence Model of sexual aggression, associations between early physical aggression towards peers and dates and sexual aggression onset were stronger for teens reporting higher levels of rape myth acceptance. Contrary to predictions, inter-parental violence, prior victimization experiences, and parental monitoring knowledge did not predict sexual dating aggression onset. Findings support the notion that risk factors may work synergistically to predict sexual dating aggression and highlight the importance of rape myth acceptance as a construct that should be addressed by violence prevention programs.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Autonomy-Relevant Parenting: Longitudinal Links with Adolescents’ Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior

The goal of this study was to advance the understanding of separate and joint effects of mothers’ and fathers’ autonomy-relevant parenting during early and middle adolescence. In a sample of 518 families, adolescents (49 % female; 83 % European American, 16 % African American, 1 % other ethnic groups) reported on their mothers’ and fathers’ psychological control and knowledge about adolescents’ whereabouts, friends, and activities at ages 13 and 16. Mothers and adolescents reported on adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing behaviors at ages 12, 14, 15, and 17. Adolescents perceived their mothers as using more psychological control and having more knowledge than their fathers, but there was moderate concordance between adolescents’ perceptions of their mothers and fathers. More parental psychological control predicted increases in boys’ and girls’ internalizing problems and girls’ externalizing problems. More parental knowledge predicted decreases in boys’ externalizing and internalizing problems. The perceived levels of behavior of mothers and fathers did not interact with one another in predicting adolescent adjustment. The results generalize across early and late adolescence and across mothers’ and adolescents’ reports of behavior problems. Autonomy-relevant mothering and fathering predict changes in behavior problems during early and late adolescence, but only autonomy-relevant fathering accounts for unique variance in adolescent behavior problems.