The Skinny on Body Dissatisfaction: A Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Girls and Boys

The present study tested whether theoretically derived risk factors predicted increases in body dissatisfaction and whether gender moderated these relations with data from a longitudinal study of 428 adolescent girls and boys because few prospective studies have examined these aims, despite evidence that body dissatisfaction increases risk for various psychiatric disturbances. Body dissatisfaction showed significant increases for girls and significant decreases for boys during early adolescence. For both genders, parental support deficits, negative affectivity, and self-reported dietary restraint showed significant relations to future increases in body dissatisfaction. Ideal body internalization and body mass index did not demonstrate significant relations to future increases in body dissatisfaction; peer support deficits showed a marginal relation to this outcome. Gender did not moderate these relations, despite adequate power to detect interactive effects.

Friendship and Attachment Among Heterosexual and Sexual-Minority Youths: Does the Gender of Your Friend Matter?

One-hundered and sixty-eight sexual-minority and heterosexual youths aged 15–24 completed questionnaires to assess gender and sexual orientation differences in the percentage of same-gender peers in youths' friendship networks, the gender of their best friends, and their degree of attachment to these friends. Most youths had predominantly same-gender peer networks and same-gender best friends. Notable gender differences emerged among sexual minorities. Female sexual-minority youths reported heightened participation in close same-gender friendships, whereas sexual-minority male youths showed the opposite pattern. Unlike all other groups, male sexual-minority youths had more cross-gender than same-gender friends and were more attached to their best friends than were heterosexual males. They were also less attached to their romantic partners than were heterosexual males. It is suggested that male sexual-minority youths might become highly attached to friends to compensate for low expectations of intimacy with male romantic partners. Cultural factors contributing to these gender differences in sexual-minority youths' experiences are discussed.     

Psychological Pragmatics in Preadolescents: Sociomoral Understanding, Self-Worth, and School Behavior

This study examined individual differences in the relations among preadolescents' sociomoral understanding and self-understanding, teacher and peer ratings of school behavior. Two hundred and thirty-nine preadolescents (M = 11.9 years; 127 girls and 112 boys) completed tasks concerning perceptions of competence, vocabulary, and peer-rated social competence. Students also participated in a story-telling interview that assessed sociomoral understanding and self-understanding. Results indicated links between various self-concept dimensions and (a) teacher ratings of academic competence, peer aggression (both physical and relational), and prosocial behavior; and (b) general vocabulary ability. Both sociomoral understanding and self-understanding were found to be linked to perceived academic competence for boys only. Independent of vocabulary ability, girls scored higher than boys on perceived behavioral conduct, teacher ratings of relational aggression (Grade 6 only), and self-understanding, particularly a sense of self-agency. Content analysis showed that girls were more likely than boys to refer to their parents when discussing their sense of self-agency. Independent of vocabulary ability, boys scored marginally higher than girls on sociomoral understanding. Results are discussed in terms of curricular implications for inter- and intrapersonal understandings.     

What Do They Want in Life?: The Life Goals of a Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Generational Sample of High School Seniors

This study investigated ethnic as well as gender and generational similarities and differences in the life goals among graduating high-school seniors. Adolescents came from six ethnic groups: White, African, Mexican, Other Latino, Filipino, and East/Southeast Asian Americans. Their self-articulated medium-range life goals were grouped into 8 major categories such as occupational, educational, familial, and material goals. Group differences in various aspects of future plans, such as priorities given to different life goals, time frame of attainment, and perceived controllability over their attainment, were also examined. Hypothesized group differences based on current social realities and small-scale qualitative studies on ethnic minorities were not found; there were very few ethnic, gender, and generational differences in adolescents’ life goals. All groups reported a higher priority for, earlier expected attainment of, and more control over their medium-range educational and occupational goals than their family-related and material goals. Further, long-term educational and occupational aspirations were high across all groups. There were moderate ethnic differences in educational expectations and none for corresponding career expectations. Thus, current inequalities in educational and occupational attainments across ethnic groups were only partially reflected in the life goals of adolescents on the brink of graduating from high school.This study was supported by the School of Social Ecology and the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at the University of California, Irvine; as well as the Max-Planck-Award for International Cooperation granted to Jutta Heckhausen and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). We are indebted to Susan Farruggia, Ph.D. and Laura Gil-Trejo for their valuable contribution to data collection and help in the day-to-day management of the overall project. We also acknowledge with appreciation the assistance of numerous undergraduate research assistants in data collection and data entry.Developmental psychologist with current interests in the familial factors that affect motivation and disengagement with life goals in adolescence and young adulthoodDevelopmental psychologist with current interests in cross-cultural human development,and the neural bases of math and language learning.Developmental psychologist with clinical training. Her current interests are in the cross-cultural study of familial and peer factors in adolescents’ and young adults’ psychological well-beingClinical psychologist with research interests in the links between economic stress and behavioral disorderDevelopmental psychologist with a current focus on developmental regulation during major life-course transitions, in particular the transition from school to work and to college     

A Person-Centered Approach to Adolescent Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Predictors and Correlates in a Community Sample

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Growing incidence of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and a lack of intensive examination of NSSI variability among adolescents justify identification of latent...     

Eating Problems and the Self-Concept: Results Based on a Representative Sample of Norwegian Adolescent Girls

The joint role of self-esteem and unstable self-perceptions for eating problems was investigated in a representative Norwegian population sample of girls in 3 age groups (N = 5287; aged 12–19 years). Three scales from the 12-item Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-12) measured eating problems: Restriction, Bulimia-food preoccupation, and Diet. Girls low on all EAT scales were most often characterized by high self-esteem combined with stable self-perceptions, whereas girls high on all EAT-scales were characterized by having low self-esteem and unstable self-perceptions. Bulimic tendencies and dieting were more common in older groups, whereas high scores on all EAT-scales simultaneously were equally common in all ages. The findings gave initial support to the continuity hypothesis in indicating that the age trends for eating problems, except for restrictive tendencies, followed those of eating disorders and in that the risk factors found for eating problems parallel those reported for eating disorders.     

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.

Eating Problems and Their Risk Factors: A 7-Year Longitudinal Study of a Population Sample of Norwegian Adolescent Girls

The longitudinal stability of eating problems and their relationships to risk factors were investigated in a representative population sample of 623 Norwegian girls aged 13–14 followed over 7 years (3 time points). Three eating problem symptoms were measured: Restriction, Bulimia-food preoccupation, and Diet, all taken from the12-item Eating Attitudes Test. The aim of the study was to investigate the stability of these eating problem symptoms both as separate components (as opposed to total symptom load) as well as from a syndrome perspective. Over 7 years, dieting behavior showed the highest correlational stability (0.32). Regarding stable eating problem syndromes, at all 3 time points, 1 group of girls with generalized eating problems was found, characterized by simultaneously pronounced bulimic tendencies and dieting. However, we did not establish individual stability across 7 years for this syndrome group. Through development, eating problem symptoms were associated with characteristic risk factors. Similarities and differences between findings regarding eating problems and eating disorders are discussed.     

Asset Ownership and Future Orientation of Youth and Their Parents: Evidence From Ghana

Although future orientation influences a variety of desirable behaviors, few studies have examined the relationship between economic resources and future orientation. In this study, we investigated whether and how asset ownership influences future orientation. We analyzed survey data collected from 3,007 Ghanaian youth and their parents. We used factor analysis to determine the psychometric qualities of our instruments, and propensity score analysis to examine the relationship between asset ownership and future orientation. Results suggest that asset ownership influences future orientation of youth and their parents. However, the direction of the relationship depends on the type of asset. Ownership of household possessions, including televisions contributes to higher levels of future orientation, but livestock ownership has a negative effect on future orientation. We discuss implications for future research, as well as programs for youth and their families.