Deficits in Emotional Clarity and Vulnerability to Peer Victimization and Internalizing Symptoms Among Early Adolescents

Peer victimization is a significant risk factor for a range of negative outcomes during adolescence, including depression and anxiety. Recent research has evaluated individual characteristics that heighten the risk of experiencing peer victimization. However, the role of emotional clarity, or the ability to understand one’s emotions, in being the target of peer victimization remains unclear. Thus, the present study evaluated whether deficits in emotional clarity increased the risk of experiencing peer victimization, particularly among adolescent girls, which, in turn, contributed to prospective levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. In the present study, 355 early adolescents (ages 12–13; 53 % female; 51 % African American) who were part of the Adolescent Cognition and Emotion project completed measures of emotional clarity, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms at baseline, and measures of peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms at follow-up. Moderation analyses indicated that deficits in emotional clarity predicted greater peer victimization among adolescent girls, but not adolescent boys. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that deficits in emotional clarity contributed to relational peer victimization, which, in turn, predicted prospective levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms among adolescent girls, but not boys. These findings indicate that deficits in emotional clarity represent a significant risk factor for adolescent girls to experience relational peer victimization, which, in turn, contributed to prospective levels of internalizing symptoms. Thus, prevention programs should target deficits in emotional clarity to prevent peer victimization and subsequent internalizing symptoms among adolescent girls.     

Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality as a Moderator for the Influences of Parents’ Religiousness on Adolescents’ Religiousness and Adjustment

Prior investigations have demonstrated that parents’ religiousness is related inversely to adolescent maladjustment. However, research remains unclear about whether the link between parents’ religiousness and adolescent adjustment outcomes—either directly or indirectly via adolescents’ own religiousness—varies depending on relationship context (e.g., parent-adolescent attachment). This study examined the moderating roles of parent-adolescent attachment on the apparent effects of the intergenerational transmission of religiousness on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms using data from 322 adolescents (mean age?=?12.63?years, 45?% girls, and 84?% White) and their parents. Structural equation models indicated significant indirect effects suggesting that parents’ organizational religiousness was positively to boys’ organizational religiousness—the latter of which appeared to mediate the negative association of parents’ organizational religiousness with boys’ internalizing symptoms. Significant interaction effects suggested also that, for both boys and girls, parents’ personal religiousness was associated positively with adolescent internalizing symptoms for parent-adolescent dyads with low attachment, whereas parents’ personal religiousness was not associated with adolescent internalizing symptoms for parent-adolescent dyads with high attachment. The findings help to identify the family dynamics by which the interaction of parents’ religiousness and adolescents’ religiousness might differentially influence adolescent adjustment.     

The Peer Context and the Development of the Perpetration of Adolescent Dating Violence

The peer context is a central focus in research on adolescent risk behaviors but few studies have investigated the role of the peer context in the perpetration of adolescent dating violence. This longitudinal study examined between-subjects and within-person contemporaneous and lagged effects of peer attributes, measured with social network analyses, on trajectories of dating violence perpetration and determined if effects varied by grade and/or sex of the adolescent. Data are from adolescents who participated in a five-wave panel study beginning when they were in 7 through 9th grade and ending when they were in 10 through 12th grade (n = 3,412); half were male, 40.5 % were white, 49.9 % were black and 10.4 % were of another race/ethnicity. Significant between-subjects effects indicate that adolescents who typically have friends who use dating violence, and girls who are typically high in social status, are at increased risk for using dating violence throughout adolescence. Adolescents who typically have high quality friendships and girls who typically have friends with pro-social beliefs are at decreased risk for using dating violence throughout adolescence. Significant within-person contemporaneous effects indicate that both boys and girls reported lower levels of dating violence than usual at times when they had more friends with pro-social beliefs, and reported higher levels of dating violence than usual at times when they had higher social status. None of the lagged effects were significant and none of the effects varied across grade. These findings suggest that the peer context plays an important role in the development of the perpetration of adolescent dating violence.     

The Role of Early Maturation, Perceived Popularity, and Rumors in the Emergence of Internalizing Symptoms Among Adolescent Girls

Despite the widely reported link between early pubertal timing and internalizing symptoms among girls, less is known about the peer reputation of earlier maturing girls. The current study assesses whether early maturation is associated with perceived popularity and/or rumors, and whether these reputational factors help account for earlier maturing girls' vulnerability to emotional distress. Drawing on three waves of data collected from an ethnically diverse sample of middle school girls (n?=?912), hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that more advanced development at the start of middle school predicted peer- and teacher-reported popularity as well as increased risk of being targeted for rumors. Mediation analyses suggested that popularity among boys can put earlier developing girls at risk for rumors. Finally, rumors acted as a partial mechanism through which early maturation was associated with subsequent internalizing symptoms. Knowledge of the peer mechanisms putting earlier developing girls at risk for psychosocial maladjustment can inform intervention and prevention efforts aimed at improving adolescent well-being.     

Positive Daily Family Interactions Eliminate Gender Differences in Internalizing Symptoms Among Adolescents

By the age of 18, girls are more than twice as likely as boys to experience internalizing symptoms. Focusing upon the family, a significant factor for adolescent mental health, we examined how positive and negative daily family interactions relate to gender differences in internalizing symptoms. 681 12th grade students (54 % female) completed diary checklists each night for 2 weeks in which they indicated whether they got along with their family (positive family interactions) and argued with their family (negative family interactions). Results indicate that negative daily family interactions explain, in part, why females experience heightened internalizing symptoms. Yet, even in the face of negative family interactions, positive daily family interactions have salutatory effects, reducing females’ emotional distress and eliminating gender differences in internalizing symptoms at high levels of positive interactions. These findings underscore the importance of positive family interactions for adolescent girls’ mental health.     

Internalizing Symptoms and Externalizing Problems: Risk Factors for or Consequences of Cyber Victimization?

Experiences of traditional victimization often co-occur with cyber victimization in adolescence but are not always controlled for when considering how cyber victimization is uniquely related to internalizing and externalizing symptoms. This is particularly problematic in longitudinal studies that attempt to determine the longitudinal associations between cyber victimization and internalizing symptoms, and between cyber victimization and externalizing problems and how these patterns may differ for adolescent boys and girls. In the current study, traditional victimization was controlled to examine the longitudinal sequences of association between cyber victimization and internalizing symptoms, and between cyber victimization and externalizing problems for adolescent boys and girls. Participants included 510 seventh and tenth grade students (M_age?=?13.7, 61.6% girls, 44% Asian and 30% White) who completed surveys across three academic years in middle and high school. Findings from longitudinal path models suggest that internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems respectively were associated with increases in experiences of cyber victimization (beyond the effect of traditional victimization) both within and across time, particularly for adolescent girls. Efforts to address adolescents’ experiences of cyber victimization must consider the vulnerabilities created by adolescents’ continued internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems that may differ for boys and girls. Implications for cyber victimization prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.

     

Moderating Effects of Aggression on the Associations Between Social Withdrawal Subtypes and Peer Difficulties During Early Adolescence

Recent research has revealed significant heterogeneity in the peer difficulties associated with social withdrawal subtypes during early adolescence, but little is known about possible sources of that heterogeneity. This study of 194 Indian young adolescents (48% female; 90% Hindu; M age= 13.35 years) evaluated whether the peer adversity related to self-reported social withdrawal subtypes (shyness, unsociability, avoidance) varied as a function of peer-nominated overt and relational aggression, and gender. Regression analyses revealed that overt aggression and gender moderated the pathways between shyness and peer exclusion and peer victimization such that the associations were significant and positive only for boys who were high and girls who were low in overt aggression. Several additional moderator effects were found, including results revealing that relational aggression (in certain cases, in conjunction with gender) moderated the association between: (1) avoidance and peer exclusion and peer rejection, (2) shyness and peer rejection, and (3) unsociability and peer victimization. For adolescents who were average and low in relational aggression, avoidance was positively related to peer rejection, and unsociability was positively related to peer victimization. However, only for boys who were high in relational aggression, avoidance was found to be positively related to peer exclusion, and shyness was positively related to peer rejection. The findings highlight the importance of considering additional individual risk factors in studies of social withdrawal subtypes and point to important differences for young adolescent withdrawn boys and girls.     

Clueless or Powerful? Identifying Subtypes of Bullies in Adolescence

This study examined the heterogeneity of bullying among adolescents. It was hypothesized that bullying behavior serves different social functions and, depending on these functions, bullies will differ in their skills, status and social behavior. In a total sample of 806 8th graders, 120 adolescents (52 boys, 68 girls) were identified as bullies based on peer nominations. An additional group of 50 adolescents (25 boys, 25 girls) served as the non-bully comparison group. Cluster analysis revealed three corresponding bully subtypes for boys and girls: a popular-socially intelligent group, a popular moderate group, and an unpopular-less socially intelligent group. Follow-up analyses showed that the clusters differed significantly from each other in physical and verbal aggression, leadership, network centrality, peer rejection, and self-perceptions of bullying. The results confirm the heterogeneous nature of bullies and the complex nature of bullying in the adolescent peer group.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Association Between Pubertal Maturation and Internalizing Symptoms

The literature consistently shows an association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems in girls. The association for boys is less clear. The present study examines genetic and environmental influences on the association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems for boys and girls in two primarily Caucasian adolescent twin/sibling studies: The Swedish Twin study of CHild and Adolescent Development (706 same-sex twin pairs aged 13-14, M = 13.7 years, 50 % female), and the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development sample (US-based, 687 same-sex twin/sibling pairs aged 10-18, M = 13.6 years, 47 % female). For girls, more advanced pubertal maturation was associated modestly with more internalizing problems, and that association was entirely explained by shared environmental influences. For boys, the association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems was weak and inconsistent. Results for girls were remarkably consistent across samples. Findings suggest that nongenetic mechanisms mediate the association between pubertal maturation and internalizing problems. Findings have implications for intervention such that environmental influences shared by twins/siblings may provide the best targets for intervention strategies designed to minimize the potential negative effects of pubertal maturation on internalizing symptoms in girls.     

Longitudinal Effects of a Universal Family-Focused Intervention on Growth Patterns of Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms and Polysubstance Use: Gender Comparisons

This study evaluated effects of the Iowa Strengthening Families Program, a family-focused universal preventive intervention, on growth patterns of adolescent internalizing (anxiety and depressive symptoms) and monthly polysubstance use (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, and other illicit drugs), as well as the association between internalizing and polysubstance growth factors. The sample consisted of rural Midwestern adolescents (N = 383), followed from sixth through twelfth grade. Compared to the control group, the intervention group adolescents showed a slower rate of increase in internalizing symptoms and polysubstance use. Intervention effects on internalizing symptoms were similar for boys and girls; however, girls demonstrated a higher overall level and a greater rate of increase across time. The intervention slowed the rate of increase in polysubstance use significantly more for girls than for boys, although overall levels of use were lower in the intervention group for both genders. Associations between internalizing and polysubstance use growth factors were found for girls, but not for boys, suggesting gender differences in psychosocial development.

Understanding the Link Between Social and Emotional Well-Being and Peer Relations in Early Adolescence: Gender-Specific Predictors of Peer Acceptance

Past studies have investigated relationships between peer acceptance and peer-rated social behaviors. However, relatively little is known about the manner in which indices of well-being such as optimism and positive affect may predict peer acceptance above and beyond peer ratings of antisocial and prosocial behaviors. Early adolescence—roughly between the ages of 9 and 14—is a time in the life span in which individuals undergo a myriad of changes at many different levels, such as changes due to cognitive development, pubertal development, and social role redefinitions. The present study investigated the relationship of self-reported affective empathy, optimism, anxiety (trait measures), and positive affect (state measure) to peer-reported peer acceptance in 99 (43% girls) 4th and 5th grade early adolescents. Because our preliminary analyses revealed gender-specific patterns, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the predictors of peer acceptance separately for boys and for girls. Girls’ acceptance of peers was significantly predicted by higher levels of empathy and optimism, and lower positive affect. For boys, higher positive affect, lower empathy, and lower anxiety significantly predicted peer acceptance. The results emphasize the importance of including indices of social and emotional well-being in addition to peer-ratings in understanding peer acceptance in early adolescence, and urge for more research on gender-specific peer acceptance.     

Predicting Life Satisfaction During Middle Adulthood from Peer Relationships During Mid-Adolescence

The immediate advantages of adolescent friendships and disadvantages of peer rejection are well documented, but there is little evidence that these effects extend into adulthood. This study tested the hypothesis that peer relationships during adolescence predict life satisfaction during middle adulthood, using data from a 30-year prospective longitudinal study. Participants included 996 (49.5 % female) 8th grade students from a community sample of Swedish youth. Self-reports of friendship and peer reports of rejection were obtained when participants were age 15. Self-reports of global life satisfaction and perceived relationship quality were collected at age 43 for women and age 48 for men. Path analyses tested a direct-effects model that examined links from adolescent friendship participation and peer rejection to middle adulthood outcomes, and a buffered-effects model that examined links from adolescent peer rejection to middle adulthood outcomes, separately for those with and without friends during adolescence. Strong support emerged for the buffered-effects model but not the direct-effects model. Adolescent friendship participation moderated associations between adolescent peer rejection and adult global life satisfaction and between adolescent peer rejection and adult perceived relationship quality such that peer rejection predicted poorer adult outcomes for youth without friends but not for youth with friends. The findings suggest that the risks of peer rejection—and benefits of friendship—extend from adolescence well into middle age.     

The Peer Appearance Culture During Adolescence: Gender and Body Mass Variations

The purpose of this research was to examine gender and body mass, as factors linked to perceived experiences within the peer appearance culture. The sample included 215 girls and 200 boys who were either in 7th grade or 10th grade. Students provided self-reports on experiences in three domains: appearance culture among friends (appearance conversations and diet/muscle talk), peer evaluations (peer appearance pressure, appearance teasing, and vicarious peer teasing), and peer acceptance concerns (appearance-based acceptance, peer appearance comparison). The results indicated that although girls reported more appearance conversations, boys perceived more appearance pressure and teasing. Boys also admitted that they talked with friends about muscle building at a rate greater than girls talked about dieting. BMI showed distinct gender patterns. BMI was a key attribute that unified the experiences within the appearance culture for overweight girls. Among the boys, BMI was associated with differentiated experiences for underweight and overweight participants.Associate Professor in Educational Psychology at the University of Washington. She is a developmental psychologist specializing in the contributions of peers to body image and social-emotional well-being during adolescence. Research interests include body image during adolescence and gender differences.Doctoral student at the University of Washington in Human Development and Cognition. Her research focuses on the social-emotional development of adolescents, academic and appearance social comparisons, and issues related to gender and science. Research interests include body image during adolescence, gender differences, social comparison, and academic competence.     

Physiological and Behavioral Engagement in Social Contexts as Predictors of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Depressive symptoms are considered to have evolutionary social functions to reduce social risks with peers and family members. However, social processes and their relationship to depressive symptoms have been understudied in adolescent boys. Low engagement in social contexts may predict depressive symptoms in adolescent boys, as it may signify efforts to reduce social risks. To address these issues, this study focused on 160 boys at risk for affective problems based on low socioeconomic status. We evaluated how behavioral and physiological engagement in peer and family contexts, respectively, in late childhood predicted depressive symptoms at age 12 and age 15. Social withdrawal was measured across late childhood (ages 9–12) in a camp setting using a latent variable of teacher ratings of withdrawn behavior, peer nominations of withdrawn behavior, and camp counselor ratings of withdrawn behavior. Physiological reactivity was measured during a provocative parent–child conversation using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at age 12. Social withdrawal in late childhood predicted depressive symptoms at age 12. The combination of high levels of social withdrawal with peers from ages 9–12 and low RSA reactivity with a parent at age 12 predicted higher depressive symptoms at age 15. Withdrawal in multiple social contexts may place boys at risk for depressive symptoms during the vulnerable period of adolescence.     

Same and Other: Interdependency Between Participation in Same- and Other-Sex Friendships

Linear and curvilinear associations between experiences in the same- and other-sex peer groups and the protective functions of friendship with an other-sex peer for early adolescents without a same-sex friend were examined in a sample of 231 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade girls and boys. Findings indicate that (a) at the level of the individual, early adolescent girls and, to a much smaller extent, early adolescent boys show a preference for same-sex peers; (b) this unilateral difference in expansiveness accounts for differences in participation rates in same -and other-sex friendships; (c) children of both sexes who are either very popular or very unpopular are more likely than other children to have other-sex friends; and (d) among children without a same-sex friend, having an other-sex friend is linked to higher levels of perceived well-being for boys and lower levels of well-being for girls. Each of these results is discussed according to our understanding of how the same- and other-sex peer systems function as a system to affect development in early adolescence.     

Body Dissatisfaction and Physical Development Among Ethnic Minority Adolescents

The present study examined the association between body dissatisfaction and adjustment, and the role physical development plays in this association, in an ethnically diverse sample of over 1100 urban, ninth grade boys and girls (M age = 14). More similarities than differences were found across ethnic groups: Caucasian, African American, Latino, Asian, and multiethnic boys reported similar areas of body dissatisfaction, levels of body dissatisfaction, and associations between body dissatisfaction and psychosocial maladjustment. For girls, only mean level differences were found with African American girls reporting lower levels of body dissatisfaction than girls from other ethnic backgrounds. Higher levels of body dissatisfaction predicted more psychological and social maladjustment for both boys and girls. For boys, faster development predicted stronger associations between feeling overweight and peer victimization. Feeling too small only predicted victimization if boys were actually low in physical development. For girls, physical development directly predicted less peer victimization, while perceived faster development predicted more victimization. Thus, it appears that physical development can protect both girls (directly) and boys (buffering against the negative effects of body dissatisfaction) from peer victimization, whereas perceived faster timing of development can exacerbate peer victimization.Adrienne Nishina conducted this research as an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the UCLA Department of Education. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human and Community Development at UC Davis. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from UCLA. Her major research interests include mental health in schools, adolescent peer relations, and ethnic diversity.Natalie Y. Ammon is a graduate student in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas, Austin. Her major research interests are at-risk youth and academic achievement.Amy D. Bellmore is an American Psychological Association/Institute of Educational Sciences Postdoctoral Education Research Training fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include peer-directed aggression, ethnicity and ethnic contexts, and the development of interpersonal perception.Sandra Graham is a Professor in the Department of Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD degree in educational psychology from UCLA. Her major research interests are the academic motivation and social behavior of ethnically diverse adolescents in urban schools.     

Gender Differences in the Longitudinal Impact of Exposure to Violence on Mental Health in Urban Youth

There is evidence of gender differences in psychopathology during adolescence, but little research has investigated gender differences in trauma-related symptoms. Exposure to violence is a commonly experienced potentially traumatic event among urban adolescents, and the few studies examining gender differences in its mental health impact have produced inconsistent findings. The present study examines the moderating effects of gender on the longitudinal association between exposure to violence and a variety of mental health symptoms (externalizing, internalizing, PTSD, dissociation) in a racially diverse urban adolescent sample (N = 615; 50.6% female; Time 1 mean age = 14.15; Time 2 mean age = 16.70). For both genders, exposure to violence prospectively predicted increases in all types of symptoms. Although boys reported more exposure to violence on average, girls experiencing violence were more likely to experience dissociative (but not PTSD, internalizing, or externalizing) symptoms. The results suggest that adolescent girls exposed to potentially traumatic events may be especially vulnerable to experiencing certain trauma-related symptoms and imply gender-specific pathways to trauma-related psychopathology.     

Risk,Compensatory, Vulnerability,and Protective Factors Influencing Mental Health in Adolescence

The aim of the study was to elucidate the relative contribution to and function of general risk factors for mental disorders as well as compensatory, vulnerability, and protective factors in a general population sample of preadolescent and adolescent students. Data were collected in a representative sample of 1,110 (10 to 17 year-old) subjects of a school-based quota sample in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. The factors under study were assessed using questionnaires. The Youth Self Report (YSR) was used as an indicator of emotional and behavioral abnormalities. Further questionnaires were concerned with life events, coping strategies, self-esteem, self-awareness, parental child-rearing behaviors, the school environment, and the social network. General risk factors for both sexes included increased self-awareness, avoidance behavior, perceived rejection by the parents, competitive behavior among classmates, and controlling behavior of the teachers. General compensatory factors included self-esteem and acceptance by the parents. Performance stress served as a risk factor for internalizing disorders in both sexes; for externalizing disorders it was a risk factor in girls and a vulnerability factor in boys. Active coping and peer acceptance were protective factors for internalizing disorders and peer acceptance was also a compensatory factor for externalizing disorders. In addition, some gender-specific interactions were identified.     

What Friends are for: The Relationships Between Body Image, Substance Use, and Peer Influence Among Finnish Adolescents

The study investigated the relationships between substance use, body image, and peer influence among Finnish adolescents. The participants (N=488, 240 boys and 248 girls), were eighth-grade high school students. The data were gathered using a questionnaire. In addition to background information, the study covered risk behaviors frequency, body satisfaction, and peer relationships. The results indicated that the levels of body satisfaction among the adolescent girls studied were lower than those among the adolescent boys. It was found that the girls engaged in more discussion with peers than the boys concerning both intimate and general matters. Moreover, having an intimate relationship with one's peers was associated with a greater tendency to drink purely in order to get drunk. However, a slightly more distant relationship with friends was associated with a greater risk for smoking. In general, dissatisfaction with one's physical appearance seemed to relate to substance use. By highlighting the relationships between adolescents’ body image, substance use, and peer influence the study gives pointers for further research, and may be suggestive in terms of the kinds of social policies that ought to be pursued in the future.MA (Educational Sciences) from the University of Turku. Research interests include substance use and the life processes of adolescents.Docent (Educational Sciences), PhD from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.     

Interpersonal Relationships and the Development of Behavior Problems in Adolescents in Urban Schools: A Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trajectories of behavioral problems for a sample of predominately minority adolescents (n = 212, 91% African-American and/or Hispanic, 45% boys, 55% girls) in a large, urban school district and to determine the impact of parental and peer relationships, gender, and risk status on their development during middle and high school. Multi-level growth modeling was the primary statistical procedure used to track internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems across time. Results indicated that behavioral problems as rated by students’ teachers declined significantly for both boys and girls, a finding that is in direct contrast to previous studies of adolescent behavior. The quality of parental relationships was a strong predictor of both types of behavior whereas the quality of peer relationships predicted only internalizing behavioral symptoms. These findings suggest that behavioral trajectories may be somewhat unique for this population underscoring the need for additional research in this area. The findings also have implications for intervening with children and youth who display behavioral problems during critical developmental periods.