Beyond the Deficit Model: Bullying and Trajectories of Character Virtues in Adolescence

Previous work on peer victimization has focused primarily on academic outcomes and negative indicators of youth involved in bullying. Few studies have taken a strength-based approach to examine attributes associated with bullies and victims of bullying. As such, we examined developmental trajectories of moral, performance, and civic character components, and their links to bully status using data from 713 youth (63 % female) who participated in Wave 3 (approximately Grade 7) through Wave 6 (approximately Grade 10) of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that moral character was stable across waves, whereas civic character increased slightly by Wave 6. Trajectories for performance character varied; some youth alternatively displayed positive versus negative growth. Youth who reported bullying behavior reported lower initial levels of moral, performance, and civic character as compared to youth not involved in bullying. Bully–victims reported lower initial levels of moral and civic character as compared to youth not involved in bullying. Implications for future work examining character-related components in the context of peer victimization are discussed.     

Parental Predictors of Motivational Orientation in Early Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study

Using latent variable path analysis with partial least squares (LVPLS), the study examines the pathways between parenting practices and children's motivational orientation toward school work over the transition to middle school. Greater external control and lack of guidance by parents in the 5th-grade year were related to children's poorer academic achievement that year, which in turn predicted a more extrinsic motivational orientation in 7th grade. In contrast, greater parental autonomy-supporting behavior in the 5th-grade year was related to children's higher academic achievement that year, which in turn predicted a more intrinsic motivational orientation in 7th grade. In all instances, children's perceptions of their academic competence mediated the relation between 5th-grade academic performance and 7th-grade motivational orientation. Associate Professor, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. Her current research focuses on anxiety and depression in childhood.     

Bullying Perpetration,Moral Disengagement and Need for Popularity: Examining Reciprocal Associations in Adolescence

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Precursors and consequences of bullying have been widely explored, but much remains unclear about the association of moral and motivational factors. This study...     

Dual-Factor Mental Health from Childhood to Early Adolescence and Associated Factors: A Latent Transition Analysis

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - The dual-factor model of mental health indicates the importance of simultaneously assessing symptoms and subjective wellbeing, but there is limited understanding...     

Patterns of Aggressive Behavior and Peer Victimization from Childhood to Early Adolescence: A Latent Class Analysis

The developmental period characterized by the transition from childhood and elementary school to early adolescence and middle school has been associated with increases in aggressive behavior and peer victimization. Few longitudinal studies, however, have examined the stability of aggression and victimization during this critical transition. This study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to examine patterns of aggressive behavior and victimization during the transition to middle school among urban, public school students (N = 458; Girls = 53%; Latino/a = 53%; M age at t1 = 10.2 years). Independent LCA models were conducted using self-reported data assessing subjects’ involvement in aggressive conduct and victimization during the spring semesters of grades four, five, and six. Elementary school students in the fourth grade initially belonged to one of four groups identified as aggressor, victim, aggressor-victim, and uninvolved latent classes. Contrary to prior research, membership in these classes changed significantly by the time students completed their first year of middle school with most youth participating in episodes of aggression and victimization during the transition. Six common paths that describe patterns of aggressive behavior and victimization from the last two years of elementary school to the first year of middle school were found. Findings are discussed in the context of social dominance theory and prior research that has found greater stability in aggression and victimization among early adolescents.     

Same-sex Versus Other-sex Best Friendship in Early Adolescence: Longitudinal Predictors of Antisocial Behavior Throughout Adolescence

This study examines the relationship between having other-sex versus same-sex best friends and antisocial behavior throughout early adolescence. Participants (N = 955) were recruited in 6th grade and followed longitudinally through 7th, 8th, and 11th grades. Participants were 58% ethnically diverse youth and 48% girls. Results indicate that the frequency of other-sex best friendship remained stable from 6th to 7th grade but significantly increased from 8th to 11th grade. Higher rates of concurrent antisocial behavior were related to having other-sex best friends in 6th grade but not in 7th grade. In 8th grade, there was an interaction between friendship and the sex of friends. Boys with only same-sex best friends and girls with other-sex best friends endorsed higher rates of antisocial behavior. Having other-sex best friends predicted antisocial behavior from 6th to 7th grade and 8th to 11th grade, especially for girls. Implications for the development of early adolescent friendship and antisocial behavior are discussed.

Applying Social Cognitive Theory to Explore Relational Aggression across Early Adolescence: A Within- and Between-Person Analysis

In the past two decades, there has been a significant amount of research on children’s relational aggression, which has been found to be associated with psychosocial problems. Longitudinal studies have examined changes in relational aggression during early adolescence in relation to individual characteristics; however, most studies compare individual differences between people with regard to rates of relational aggression. A shortcoming to the current literature is the lack of studies that use a multilevel approach to examine individual differences (between-person) as well as the extent to which individuals deviate from their own typical levels (within-person) over time. In this study, within- and between-person psychological and peer-related predictors of rates of relational aggression over time were examined. Participants included 1,655 students in 5th–8th grade (mean age: 13.01) from four public middle schools in the Midwest, which consisted 828 females and 827 males. In terms of race and ethnicity, 819 (49.5%) were African Americans, followed by 571 (34.5%) Whites, and 265 (16%) Others. Longitudinal data were collected over four waves across two years of middle school. The findings indicated that contrary to the hypothesis that relational aggression would increase over time, there was no significant growth across time. Age, gender, and race were not associated with relational aggression over time; however, consistent with the Social Cognitive Theory, changes in within-person impulsivity, anger, and peer delinquency were all positively related to increases in relational aggression. At the between-person level of analysis, depressive symptoms and peer delinquency were related to relational aggression. Findings suggest that school-based programs that address anger management, impulsivity, empathy, and victimization could help prevent relational aggression.     

Involvement in Internet Aggression During Early Adolescence

The current study examined concurrent and longitudinal predictors of early adolescents’ involvement in Internet aggression. Cross-sectional results (N = 330; 57% female) showed that the likelihood of reporting Internet aggression was higher among youth who spent more time using Internet-based technologies to communicate with friends and who were themselves targets of Internet aggression. Offline relational aggression and beliefs supportive of relational and physical aggression also predicted concurrent involvement in Internet aggression. We used longitudinal data (N = 150; 51% female) to distinguish between youth who were aggressive in traditional contexts only (i.e., school) from those who were aggressive both online and offline. These results indicated that youth who were aggressive both online and offline were older at the initial assessment, were targets of Internet aggression, and held beliefs more supportive of relational aggression than youth who were aggressive offline only. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Personal Fable and Risk-Taking in Early Adolescence

Elkind’s (1967) theory of adolescent egocentrism proposes two distinct, but related, constructs – the imaginary audience and the personal fable. A corollary to the imaginary audience, the personal fable (PF) yields a sense of invulnerability and speciality commonly associated with behavioral risk-taking. When regarded as a developmental phenomenon, risk-taking is thought to be the result of cognitive immaturity. However, few adolescent health programs address the egocentric dimension of decision making. We believe that a valid and reliable measure of PF would aid assessment of risk-taking potential and inform preventive interventions. The present paper reports the results of a newly constructed measure of PF and its relation to risk-taking behavior. The following three hypotheses were tested using data from an availability sample of 119 middle school students: 1. PF scores will increase with age; 2. males will score higher than females on the invulnerability dimension of PF; and 3. PF and risk-taking will be positively correlated. As predicted, PF scores increased significantly across the age range studied. Of the two PF dimensions, only invulnerability significantly varied across grades. Males reported significantly higher invulnerability scores than females, and PF and risk-taking were positively correlated. Suggestions for the implementation of this new and, arguably, reliable and valid scale are presented. Amy Alberts, M. A., is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Applied Child Development at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University. Ms. Alberts’ research interests include psychosocial adjustment during the pubertal transition and adolescent-parent relationships. David Elkind, Ph.D. is Professor of Child Development at Tufts University. His research has been in the areas of social and cognitive development, building upon the research and theory of Jean Piaget. His latest book, The Power of Play will be Published by DaCapo Press in 2007. I have served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence for almost two decades. Although Dan and I have not always agreed on adolescent issues it has always been a responsible, mutually respecting disagreement. As an editor, Dan has always been sensitive, thoughtful and supportive, a pleasure to work with and for. Stephen Ginsberg is a senior at Tufts University and is currently applying to graduate programs in clinical psychology.     

Identifying Salient Stressors of Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Content Analysis

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Stressors play a defining role in youth development and, in particular, in adolescent psychological and behavioral adaptation. However, the nature of stressors...     

Cortisol Stress Response Variability in Early Adolescence: Attachment,Affect and Sex

Attachment, affect, and sex shape responsivity to psychosocial stress. Concurrent social contexts influence cortisol secretion, a stress hormone and biological marker of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity. Patterns of attachment, emotion status, and sex were hypothesized to relate to bifurcated, that is, accentuated and attenuated, cortisol reactivity. The theoretical framework for this study posits that multiple individual differences mediate a cortisol stress response. The effects of two psychosocial stress interventions, a modified Trier Social Stress Test for Teens and the Frustration Social Stressor for Adolescents were developed and investigated with early adolescents. Both of these protocols induced a significant stress reaction and evoked predicted bifurcation in cortisol responses; an increase or decrease from baseline to reactivity. In Study I, 120 predominantly middle-class, Euro-Canadian early adolescents with a mean age of 13.43 years were studied. The girls’ attenuated cortisol reactivity to the public performance stressor related significantly to their self-reported lower maternal-attachment and higher trait-anger. In Study II, a community sample of 146 predominantly Euro-Canadian middle-class youth, with an average age of 14.5 years participated. Their self-reports of higher trait-anger and trait-anxiety, and lower parental attachment by both sexes related differentially to accentuated and attenuated cortisol reactivity to the frustration stressor. Thus, attachment, affect, sex, and the stressor contextual factors were associated with the adrenal-cortical responses of these adolescents through complex interactions. Further studies of individual differences in physiological responses to stress are called for in order to clarify the identities of concurrent protective and risk factors in the psychosocial stress and physiological stress responses of early adolescents.     

Lying Behavior, Family Functioning and Adjustment in Early Adolescence

Communication between children and parents has been the subject of several studies, examining the effects of, for example, disclosure and secrecy on adolescents’ social relationships and adjustment. Less attention has paid to adolescent deception. We developed and tested a new instrument on lying behavior in a sample of 671 parent-adolescent couples. Analyses on the psychometric properties showed that this instrument had one principal component, and high internal consistency, item-total correlations and inter-item correlations. Lying was moderately associated with other indicators of parent-child communication, the quality of the parent-child relationship, and with parenting practices. In addition, frequent lying was moderately related to behavioral problems and emotional problems.full professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen. He received his Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Maastricht. His major research interest is the study of social influence processes, personality characteristics and development of smoking, drinking and drug use in adolescents and young adults.Associate Professor at the Free University of Amsterdam. She received her Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Louvain, at Louvain-la-Neuve. Her major research interests are interpersonal relationships, social prediction, secrecy and disclosure, and affective forecasting for self and others.working as a developmental psychologist. She received her MA in 2001 from the University of Leiden.     

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Depressive Symptoms During Middle Adolescence: A Longitudinal Analysis

Previous research has shown a consistent positive association between non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms. However, the direction of the effects has not been examined. To understand whether non-suicidal self-injury predicts depressive symptoms or vice versa, we examined the relations between non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms across three waves of self-report data collected 1 year apart from 506 Swedish adolescents (47 % girls; M age = 13.21; SD = .57) who were attending 7th grade at the onset of the study. The results suggest that depressive symptoms predict increases in non-suicidal self-injury 1 year later between the first and second waves of the study. Between the second and third waves of the study depressive symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury were significantly correlated indicating co-occurrence with no direction of effect rather than depressive symptoms predicting non-suicidal self-injury or vice versa. Group comparisons revealed no differences for boys and girls. The findings help clarify the relationships between non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence.     

The Link between Competitive Sport Participation and Self-concept in Early Adolescence: A Consideration of Gender and Sport Orientation

The current study explored specific aspects of sports and individuals on 4 domains of the self-system (physical competence and physical appearance self-concept, global physical and general self-esteem). Participants were 351 adolescents (M _age = 13.45, SD = 1.25 years, males n = 132) recruited from elite sports and regular school classrooms. Participants were separated into groups based on sports participation (elite athletes, n = 171, competitive athletes, n = 71; and non-athletes, n = 145). The intensity of the activity (strenuous, moderate, and mild), the level of athleticism (competitive, elite, non-athlete), gender, and sport orientation (win, goal, competitive) were examined. The level of athleticism (elite, competitive, and non-athlete) was found to be positively related to physical competence and appearance self-concept as well as global physical and general self-esteem. Analyses revealed a significant difference between the non-athletes and both the competitive and elite groups (with a difference between the latter two for physical competence only). Sport orientation was found to moderate the relation between athleticism and general self-esteem; non-athletes who had a greater win orientation or lower competitive orientation were also lower in self-esteem. Thus, the fit between the level of competition and self-concept may depend on characteristics of the individual such as her/her sport orientation.

Stability and Change of Bullying Roles in the Traditional and Virtual Contexts: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study in Chinese Early Adolescents

Traditional bullying and cyberbullying are two prevalent phenomena among adolescents around the world. Typically, bullying incidents involve distinct perpetrator and victim roles. However, the question whether participants’ roles in bullying situation remain stable or changeable is unclear. The present study examined the developmental stability and change of bullying roles by simultaneously investigating adolescents’ bullying behaviors both in the traditional and virtual contexts. Participants were 661 seventh- and eighth-grade students (39.0% girls) aged 11–15 years (M?=?12.86, SD?=?.73) in China. They completed a survey measuring their experiences in perpetration and victimization of traditional bullying and cyberbullying at three time points with 6-month intervals. A cross-lagged panel design was used to test for the temporal sequence of research variables. The results showed a moderate consistency in the bullying roles that students took on (i.e., perpetrator and victim) over time. Traditional bullying perpetrators continued to bully others online, whereas cyberbullying victims continued to be bullied offline. Regarding role change in bullying, perpetrators and victims did not change their roles in traditional bullying situation, but they tended to change their roles to the opposites in cyberbullying situation. Traditional bullying victims were more likely to become cyberbullying perpetrators, and vice versa. Traditional bullying perpetrators also had a greater tendency of being bullied online, but not vice versa. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing adolescents’ bullying behaviors should focus on the stability and change of bullying roles in the traditional and virtual contexts.