Invited Commentary: Promotion and Prevention in Youth Development: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

This commentary uses the contributions of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development as a chance to reflect on the progress of the past two decades and suggest important tasks for the future. Meaningful advances in theory now set the stage for needed work on measurement, evaluation, and understanding of contextual processes. The commentary ends with a plea for an integration of the research and programmatic approaches of promotion and prevention in order to study youth development and implement youth programs.     

Homophobia and the Transition to Adulthood: A Three Year Panel Study among Belgian Late Adolescents and Young Adults, 2008–2011

Studies on homophobia among adolescents routinely depart from the assumption that this attitude will be continued into adulthood. However, little research has been conducted on how the transition toward adulthood actually affects homophobia. While earlier studies relied on cross-sectional observations, the present analysis makes use of the Belgian Political Panel Survey (2008-2011), tracking 2,815 respondents (52?% female, 48?% male) between the ages of 18 and 21. A conditional change model shows that while men had substantially higher levels of homophobia than women to begin with, this difference grew even larger throughout the observation period. The discrepancy between Muslim respondents and those with other religions became larger as well. Overall, the gender and religious differences already present in adolescence had become further polarized at the end of the observation period. Friendship relations with persons with a different sexual orientation, on the other hand, significantly reduced prejudice, especially among men, while the results also show that changes in the level of homophobia are related strongly to conservative views on gender roles. We conclude that groups that already display high levels of homophobia during adolescence are likely to grow even more extreme in their views in the transition to adulthood.     

Who Is Exposed to Harmful Online Content? The Role of Risk and Protective Factors Among Czech,Finnish, and Spanish Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Although adolescents’ exposure to harmful online content has been linked to decreased subjective well-being and offline risky behaviors, there is limited...     

Correction to: A Two-Way Street? Reciprocal Associations Between Parental Warmth and Hostility with Substance Use Among Justice-Involved Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence -     

Positive Developmental Changes after Transition to High School: Is Retrospective Growth Correlated with Measured Changes in Current Status of Personal Growth?

The transition to high school is generally considered as a stressful turning point in adolescent development, but some students experience personal growth (i.e., positive developmental changes) through that experience. It is important to examine the mechanism behind such positive changes to understand various developmental patterns of adolescents during the transition. However, the concept of growth in this research area remains unexplored. Some researchers have questioned whether retrospective, self-reported growth reflects actual positive changes in the perception of personal growth. We elaborated on the concept of growth after high school transition by examining whether retrospective appraisal of personal growth after transition to high school is correlated with measured change in growth. Two hundred and sixty-two Japanese adolescents (aged 14–16 years, 50% girls) participated in surveys right before and right after transition. We assessed five domains of growth, including improved relating to others, identification of new possibilities, increased sense of personal strength, spiritual growth, and greater appreciation of life. The results showed that retrospective assessment of growth and measured change during transition were positively associated, provided the adolescents reported the transition as an important turning point in their lives. Adolescents who experienced salient positive changes across the transition were more likely to engage in intrusive and deliberate rumination and social support than adolescents who reported fewer changes. In summary, retrospective growth covaried with measured change only when adolescents perceived the transition as impactful in their lives.     

Longitudinal Links Between Perceptions of Adolescence and the Social Beliefs of Adolescents: Are Parents’ Stereotypes Related to Beliefs Held About and by Their Children?

This study examined: (1) relations between parents prior stereotypes about adolescence and their later beliefs about their own child during early and middle adolescence, (2) relations between parents stereotypes and their own childs behaviors during middle and late adolescence, and (3) the role of congruency between mothers and fathers beliefs about adolescence in predicting their childs behavior. The results revealed significant relations between parents prior stereotyped beliefs and their specific beliefs about their own children during the 7th and 10th grades. In addition, the relations between parents prior stereotypes and their adolescent childrens behaviors measured at 3 and 5 years later (10th and 12th grades) were estimated. Parents stereotypes about adolescence significantly predicted their childrens behaviors in both 10th and 12th grades. Finally, the congruency between mothers and fathers stereotyped beliefs was significantly related to their childrens behaviors in the 10th and 12th grades. Parents who had consistent and strong stereotypes about adolescence had adolescent children with more deviant peers than parents with consistent, but less-stereotyped views.Portions of this paper were presented at the 2002 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Adolescence, New Orleans, LA. This research was made possible by grants from NSF, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation to Jacquelynne Eccles and Bonnie Barber.Professor of Psychology, and Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University. Received PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Current interests include the development of social cognitive processes during childhood and adolescence, and gender differences in achievement motivation, self-perceptions of achievement, and parents influences on achievement.Doctoral Candidate and Research Assistant, Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University. Received MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include gender socialization and activity involvement during adolescence.Research Associate, North Carolina Center for Nursing. Received MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include adolescent development.