Neuroticism and Conscientiousness as Moderators of the Relation Between Social Withdrawal and Internalizing Problems in Adolescence

Social withdrawal, or refraining from social interaction in the presence of peers, places adolescents at risk of developing emotional problems like anxiety and depression. The personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness also relate to emotional difficulties. For example, high conscientiousness predicts lower incidence of anxiety disorders and depression, while high neuroticism relates to greater likelihood of these problems. Based on these associations, socially withdrawn adolescents high in conscientiousness or low in neuroticism were expected to have lower levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants included 103 adolescents (59?% female) who reported on their personality traits in 8th grade and their anxiety and depressive symptoms in 9th grade. Peer ratings of social withdrawal were collected within schools in 8th grade. A structural equation model revealed that 8th grade withdrawal positively predicted 9th grade anxiety and depressive symptoms controlling for 8th grade anxiety and depressive symptoms, but neuroticism did not. Conscientiousness moderated the relation of withdrawal with depressive symptoms but not anxiety, such that high levels of conscientiousness attenuated the association between withdrawal and depressive symptoms. This buffering effect may stem from the conceptual relation between conscientiousness and self-regulation. Conscientiousness did not, however, moderate the association between withdrawal and anxiety, which may be partly due to the role anxiety plays in driving withdrawal. Thus, a conscientious, well-regulated personality partially protects withdrawn adolescents from the increased risk of emotional difficulties.     

Relationships Between Cognitive Strategies of Adolescents and Depressive Symptomatology Across Different Types of Life Event

The objective of the present study was to examine relationships between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptomatology across different types of life event. A sample of 138 secondary school students filled out a questionnaire. They were asked to indicate their most negative life event ever. On the basis of their answers, 3 types of negative life event were distinguished: loss, health threat, and relational stress experience. No relationship was found between type of negative life event and depressive symptomatology. Significant relationships were found between type of negative life event and the cognitive strategies self-blame and other-blame. Adolescents with a health threat experience scored higher on self-blame, while adolescents with a relational stress event scored higher on other-blame than the other groups. Significant relationships were also found between depressive symptomatology and the cognitive strategies self-blame, rumination, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, and catastrophizing. No interaction effects were found between type of negative life event and cognitive strategies, suggesting that relationships between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptomatology are consistent across different types of life event.     

The incidence of bulimic behavior in a secondary and University school population

A survey questionnaire was instructor administered to high school and university students (n=1500) to assess the incidence of bulimic behavior. The questionnaire was tested and found to be a reliable and valid index for bulimic symptomatology. Respondents included 59% high school and 41% university level students. Data was evaluated by school, grade, sex, race, and interest area. Bulimic behavior was demonstrated at an incidence of 4.30% for the total sample. There was a nonsignificant higher incidence found in university (5.31%) compared to high school (3.98%) respondents. A significantly greater percentage of females responded with bulimic behavior than did males; however, there were no significant differences found between university and high school females. Bulimic behavior appeared to peak at Grades 11 and 13. Significantly more whites reported bulimic behavior than did blacks. Several academic interest areas not previously indicated in the literature may be more vulnerable to bulimic behavior.Received her Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, M.P.H. from School of Public Health, University of North Carolina. Major interest is eating disorders.Received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. His major interest is statistical design and evaluation of Experiment Station projects.     

Socialization Goals,Parental Psychological Control,and Youth Anxiety in Chinese Students: Moderated Indirect Effects based on School Type

With rates of adolescent anxiety on the rise in China, it is imperative to investigate whether certain parenting beliefs and practices may be related to anxiety. Specifically, we tested whether parents’ socialization goals relate to parental psychological control, and subsequently, adolescents’ anxiety. We also tested if attending a “key” school (i.e., more competitive and achievement-oriented) or typical school moderated relations. Two hundred forty-seven high-school students (Mage?=?15.62, 57.5% girls) and a caregiver (59.5% mothers) participated. Caregivers completed measures of their socialization goals and their own psychological control. Adolescents reported on their perceptions of parental psychological control and their own anxiety. Psychological control was positively related to youth anxiety. Moderated indirect effects were found. For youth in typical schools, parents who strongly value academic achievement (i.e., achievement oriented goals) and those who strongly value broadening one’s experiences in new places and with new people (i.e., self-development in context goals) had youth who experienced more anxiety, and this relation occurred indirectly through greater parental psychological control. For youth in key schools, only parents’ achievement oriented goals were related to youth anxiety indirectly through parental psychological control. Parents’ interdependence oriented socialization goals were unrelated to either psychological control or anxiety.     

Psychosocial Correlates of Affective Distress: Latent-Variable Models of Male and Female Adolescents in a Community Sample

Latent-variable confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the interrelationships of depressive and anxious symptomatology and 13 measures of psychosocial functioning in a community-based sample of adolescents participating in a school-based drug abuse prevention intervention. Measures of psychosocial functioning included: cognitive self-efficacy, self-management, self-reinforcement, decision-making and problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills, social anxiety, behavioral style, risk taking, conventionality, somatic complaints, perceived tangible, and adult support. Simultaneous group comparison and nested hierarchical tests were used to statistically contrast parameters obtained from male and female models. Overall, the hypothetical constructs were statistically reliable and models were psychometrically sound. Partial factorial invariance was obtained, however, the patterns of covariation between distress and psychosocial functioning were dissimilar for male and female youth. Differences clustered around affective distress, cognitive skills, and perceived functional support. More socially anxious females perceived less social support, whereas support and anxiety were positively related among male students. Male youth with high levels of conventional behavior were also socially anxious, whereas for females this relationship was absent and nonsignificant. For both male and female students, distress was moderately and inversely related to cognitive efficacy and personal competence skills. Distressed youth were also less conventional (behavioral control) and less diligent, and were characterized by greater sensation-seeking, poorer competence, and perceived less social support, and were more socially anxious with less interpersonal skills. Findings are discussed in terms of potential contributors to gender differences in distress and psychosocial functioning and their implications for the understanding of adolescent mental health.     

Values and Depressive Symptoms in American Indian Youth of the Northern Plains: Examining the Potential Moderating Roles of Outcome Expectancies and Perceived Community Values

Very little is known about processes contributing to depressive experiences in American Indian youth. We explored the relationship between value priorities and depressive symptoms among 183 (65 % female) American Indian youth in grades 9–12. In addition, two potential moderators of this relationship were examined: value outcome expectations (i.e., whether one expects that values will be realized or not) and perceived community values. We found that American Indian youth who endorsed higher levels of tradition/benevolence values reported fewer depressive symptoms. However, the relationship between endorsing power/materialism values and depressive symptoms depended on the extent to which youth perceived their communities as valuing power/materialism. Finally, value outcome expectancies appeared to relate more strongly to depressive symptoms than did value priorities. Overall, these findings support tribal community efforts to impart tradition/benevolence values to American Indian youth but also emphasize the importance of attending to value outcome expectations and the perceived values of the community in understanding American Indian youth’s depressive experiences.     

Early Adolescent Peer Ecologies in Rural Communities: Bullying in Schools That Do and Do not Have a Transition During the Middle Grades

The transition to middle school is considered to be a heightened period for involvement in bullying because the lack of a defined dominance hierarchy is thought to promote jockeying for social positions among students. Accordingly, this study examined bullying in peer ecologies at the beginning of the middle grade years in rural schools that did and did not have a transition to middle school. Thirty-six schools (20 with transitions, 16 without transitions) participated in this research with a sample of 1,800 participants (52% female) who were in sixth grade during the second year of data collection. Overall, 67% were White, 19% African American, 7% Latino, 2% Native American, and 5% other (multi-racial, Asian, unknown). Compared to schools without a transition, schools with a transition had fewer bullies following the move from fifth to sixth grade and the social dynamics in schools with a transition appeared to be less supportive of bullying. Further, students in schools with a transition reported being bullied less frequently in sixth grade and they perceived the sixth grade peer ecology as being more protective against bullying than did students in schools without a transition. In addition, proportionally more youth had controversial sociometric status in schools without a transition during sixth grade than in schools with a transition. Collectively, these findings suggest that risk for involvement in bullying may be elevated in schools that do not have a transition to middle school. They also bring into question the conventional view of the small K-8 or K-12 rural school as a peaceful and supportive peer community.     

Identifying Trajectories of Adolescents’ Depressive Phenomena: An Examination of Early Risk Factors

Few studies have examined risk factors of childhood and early adolescent depressive symptomatology trajectories. This study examined self-report depressive symptomatology across a 6-year time period from 2nd to 8th grade to identify latent groups of individuals with similar patterns of depressive phenomena in a sample of 951 children (440 girls, 511 boys). Analyses, using semiparametric group modeling (SGM), identified 5 trajectory groups for girls and boys: low depressed stables, low depressed risers, mildly depressed stables, moderately depressed changers, and moderately depressed risers. Individual risk factors, with the exception of shy/withdrawn behavior, were significantly different across trajectory group membership for boys and girls, as was low-income status for boys. Boys in the low depressed and mildly depressed stable trajectory groups had significantly higher levels of antisocial behavior, attention problems, and lower social competency compared to girls in similar groups. These results suggest that universal prevention programs implemented in early elementary school that target selected risk factors may be helpful in reducing future adolescent mental health problems, specifically depressive symptomatology.     

Children's Psychological Distress Following the Death of a Parent

The death of a parent in childhood represents a profound psychological insult. Although a number of studies have examined rates of depression and anxiety in bereaved children, less attention has been given to understanding predictors of children's adjustment to the loss. Data are presented from 83 families with school-age children in which a parent had died of cancer in the preceding 18 months. The surviving parent and one randomly selected child completed individual interviews conducted by a clinician in the families' homes. Using multiple regression, potential predictors of children's psychosocial adjustment to parental death are examined and their relative importance is discussed. Among the predictors considered were child's age, child's gender, deceased parent's gender, time since death, length of illness, presence of siblings, and parental communication patterns. The child's perception of the surviving parent's level of openness in parental communication was found to be significantly correlated with lower levels of depressive symptoms and state anxiety in bereaved children. Boys reported lower levels of depressive symptoms than did girls, and older children reported lower levels of state anxiety than did younger children.     

How is Anxiety Involved in the Longitudinal Relationship between Brooding Rumination and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents?

A growing body of research supports the application of Response Styles Theory to adolescent populations. Although the essential dynamic, namely that rumination increases the incidence of depressive symptoms, has been demonstrated among adolescents, a number of important empirical questions remain, such as: what are the gender differences and developmental trends for brooding and reflective rumination?; does a reciprocal relationship exist between brooding or reflective rumination, on the one hand, and depressive symptoms and anxiety, on the other hand, over time? and how do additional variables (i.e., anxiety) impact upon the rumination-depressive symptoms relationship? In this study, self-reported levels of rumination (both brooding and reflective), and anxious and depressive symptoms were measured longitudinally across 4 months in a sample of 976 community adolescents (46 % females), aged 11–16 years old. Mean group differences showed that female adolescents reported engaging in more brooding rumination than male adolescents beginning at 13 years of age. A reciprocal brooding rumination to depressive symptoms relationship and a reciprocal brooding rumination to anxiety relationship were found over time, and they did not differ for boys and girls. We tested the possibility that anxious symptoms would function as a third variable, but the obtained model showed that brooding rumination and anxiety both contributed unique variance in predicting changes in depressive symptoms over time.     

Examining Multiracial Youth in Context: Ethnic Identity Development and Mental Health Outcomes

Although multiracial individuals are the fastest growing population in the United States, research on the identity development of multiracial adolescents remains scant. This study explores the relationship between ethnic identity, its components (affirmation, exploration), and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depressive symptoms) within the contexts of schools for multiracial adolescents. The participants were multiracial and monoracial minority and majority high school students (n = 4,766; 54.6 % female). Among the participants, 88.1 % were Caucasian, 7.4 % were African American, and 4.5 % were multiracial. The research questions examined the relationship between ethnic identity exploration and affirmation on mental health outcomes and explored the role school context plays in this relationship. The findings suggested that multiracial youth experience more exploration and less affirmation than African Americans, but more than Caucasians. In addition, multiracial youth were found to have higher levels of mental health issues than their monoracial minority and majority peers. Specifically, multiracial youth had higher levels of depressive symptoms than their African American and Caucasian counterparts. Multiracial and Caucasian youth had similar levels of anxiety but these levels were significantly higher than African Americans. School diversity did not influence mental health outcomes for multiracial youth. These findings provide insight into the experiences of multiracial youth and underscore the importance of further investigating factors that contribute to their mental health outcomes.     

Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Youth–Adult Relationships, and Suicide Attempts Among High School Students in Underserved Communities

To develop and refine interventions to prevent youth suicide, knowledge is needed about specific processes that reduce risk at a population level. Using a cross-sectional design, the present study tested hypotheses regarding associations between self-reported suicide attempts, emotion regulation difficulties, and positive youth–adult relationships among 7,978 high-school students (48.6 % male, 49.9 % female) in 30 high schools from predominantly rural, low-income communities. 683 students (8.6 %) reported a past-year suicide attempt. Emotion regulation difficulties and a lack of trusted adults at home and school were associated with increased risk for making a past-year suicide attempt, above and beyond the effects of depressive symptoms and demographic factors. The association between emotion regulation difficulties and suicide attempts was modestly lower among students who perceived themselves as having higher levels of trusted adults in the family, consistent with a protective effect. Having a trusted adult in the community (outside of school and family) was associated with fewer suicide attempts in models that controlled only for demographic covariates, but not when taking symptoms of depression into account. These findings point to adolescent emotion regulation and relationships with trusted adults as complementary targets for suicide prevention that merit further intervention studies. Reaching these targets in a broad population of adolescents will require new delivery systems and “option rich” (OR) intervention designs.     

Engagement in School and Community Civic Activities Among Rural Adolescents

Involvement in civic and community activities is a core part of positive youth development. Adolescents involved in voluntary civic activities have greater academic engagement, enhanced well-being, less involvement in problem behaviors, and they are more likely to value connections to their community than those who are not involved. The current research examined involvement in school and community civic activities as well as religious youth groups among 8th and 9th graders (N = 679, 61.7% female, 85.9% White) from small, rural schools in the Midwest U.S. and linked involvement to religiosity, well-being, problem behavior, academic engagement, and perceptions of parents and peers. Half of the adolescents in the sample reported involvement in civic activities or, more commonly, in religious youth groups. Adolescents who participated in religious youth groups reported more extracurriculars, less problem behavior, higher grades and motivation, and more support from parents and friends than adolescents who did not. The most frequently reported school civic activities were student council and Future Farmers of America, and 4-H was the most popular community civic activity. Those who were involved in school- and community-based civic activities reported more religiosity, academic engagement, and positive perceptions of parents and peers than uninvolved youth. The results support and extend research on rural youth by documenting civic activities across contexts and examining how involvement is associated with positive youth development.     

Short-Term Prospective Effects of Homophobic Victimization on the Mental Health of Heterosexual Adolescents

Many heterosexual youth report homophobic victimization but there is little longitudinal research to examine its mental health consequences for them. In a 7-month study across an academic school year among 572 heterosexual high school students (55 % females), we tested the short-term effects of homophobic victimization on anxiety and depressive symptoms with attention to gender differences. Homophobic victimization at the beginning of the school year predicted higher levels of concurrent anxiety over and above levels attributable to general victimization. Further, when controlling for initial anxiety and general victimization, homophobic victimization at the beginning of the school year predicted increased anxiety at the end of the school year for males, but not for females. Homophobic victimization across time points was more strongly associated for males than females, and this accounted for why initial homophobic victimization predicted increased anxiety for males but not females (i.e., it was indicative of mediated moderation). In contrast, homophobic victimization at the beginning of the school year did not predict concurrent depressive symptoms over and above general victimization. Similarly, although it predicted increased depressive symptoms at the end of the school year for males but not for females, the effect was weaker than for anxiety. These findings underscore that the effects of homophobic victimization are not temporary, particularly as they pertain to anxiety, and underscore the need to consider the nature of the victimization that youth experience, including for heterosexual youth.     

Self-Silencing and Rejection Sensitivity in Adolescent Romantic Relationships

This study examined the link between rejection sensitivity, self-silencing behaviors, and depressive symptomatology among adolescent dating couples. Self-silencing was hypothesized to be the process mediating the association between rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms. Our sample included 211 couples between 14 and 21 who were dating at least 4 weeks. Results indicated that dating adolescents who were sensitive to rejection reported more depressive symptomatology and higher levels of self-silencing behaviors within their romantic relationship compared to dating adolescents who were not so sensitive to rejection. Self-silencing was identified as a partial mediator of the association between rejection sensitivity and depressive symptomatology among dating adolescents. Clinical implications in light of these findings are discussed.

Self-Concept Clarity Across Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations With Open Communication With Parents and Internalizing Symptoms

Higher self-concept clarity is related to several adjustment indices and may be promoted by open communication with parents, while problems with self-concept clarity development could enhance internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms) in adolescence. This longitudinal study examined linkages between self-concept clarity, adolescents’ open communication with parents, and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms. Dutch youths (N = 323; 51.1 % girls; mean age Time 1 = 13.3 years) reported on these constructs over four consecutive annual measurements. Concurrent positive links between open communication and self-concept clarity were found at Time 1. Over time, higher levels of open communication with parents predicted higher self-concept clarity only in middle adolescence (mean age between 14 and 15 years). We also found concurrent associations between self-concept clarity and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Longitudinally, lower self-concept clarity predicted relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms across all waves, and also higher anxiety levels from Time 1 to Time 2. Conversely, higher levels of anxiety also predicted lower levels of self-concept clarity during the first three waves. Self-concept clarity did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms. This study is one of the first to investigate self-concept clarity across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety symptoms and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower self-concept clarity and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.     

Longitudinal Dynamics of Depressogenic Personality and Attachment Dimensions in Adolescence: An Examination of Associations with Changes in Depressive Symptoms

Depressogenic personality and attachment are two major factors related to the development of adolescents’ depressive symptoms. However, no previous longitudinal studies have examined simultaneously both vulnerability factors in relationship to depressive symptoms. The present study examined associations between intra-individual change in adolescents’ depressogenic personality orientations (i.e., sociotropy and autonomy), dimensions of mother–adolescent attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance), and depressive symptoms. The sample of the present research consisted of 289 high school students (mean age = 12.51 years at Time 1, 66 % female) participating in a 3-wave cohort-sequential design. Latent growth curve modeling revealed no significant intra-individual change in depressogenic personality orientations but significant changes in dimensions of attachment and symptoms of depression. Initial levels of sociotropy were not related significantly to changes in attachment dimensions and depressive symptoms. High initial levels of autonomy were associated with increases in attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and depressive symptoms. In addition, results suggested that the association between initial levels of autonomy and increases in depressive symptoms was mediated by increases in attachment anxiety and avoidance. The discussion focuses on the status of depressogenic personality and attachment as risk factors for depression.     

Adolescent Sleep Barriers: Profiles within a Diverse Sample of Urban Youth

Most adolescents face numerous obstacles to good sleep, which may undermine healthy development. In this study, we used latent class analysis and identified four categories of sleep barriers in a diverse sample of 553 urban youth (57% female). The majority profile, School/Screens Barriers, reported the most homework and extracurricular barriers, along with high screen time. The Home/Screens Barriers class (i.e., high environmental noise, light, screen use) and the High/Social Barriers class (i.e., high barriers across domains, particularly social) reported the poorest sleep quality and highest depressive/anxiety symptoms. The Minimal Barriers class—predominately male, with low depressive/anxiety symptoms—reported more sleep per night. We discuss implications of our findings for targeting interventions to address poor adolescent sleep among specific clusters of students.     

Depression and suicidal behavior among delinquent females

Depressive symptomatology and suicidal behavior were evaluated in a multiethnic sample of 48 delinquent females through ratings on self-reports and probation officers' reports. Psychological functioning of the subjects was also evaluated through the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines, the Rorschach, and the WAIS or WISC-R in order to identify delinquent personality patterns. Four personality patterns were identified: the borderline, the antisocial, the neurotic, and the socialized delinquent personalities. A chi-square analysis of the data demonstrated that level of depression and frequency of suicidal behavior were both significantly related to personality patterns. Level of depression was also significantly related to ethnicity, but not to socioeconomic status. The results have implications for assessment and treatment of delinquent females and also raise issues concerning the interaction of personality, cultural factors, and delinquent behavior which should be addressed in future research with larger, socioculturally diverse samples.This research is based on the author's doctoral dissertation and was supported by a Pre-Doctoral National Research Service Fellowship award from the National Institute of Mental Health.Received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1980. Major interest is adolescent psychopathology and delinquency.