Vulnerability to Friends’ Suicide Influence: The Moderating Effects of Gender and Adolescent Depression

This paper examines whether severity of depression reduces or intensifies the relationship between friends’ suicide attempt and adolescent's own attempt to commit suicide, and whether there are gender differences in this interrelationship. Using logistic regression and data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents studied at 2 points in time, this study yielded significant findings. First, friends’ suicide attempt and adolescent depression each predicts adolescent's own attempt to commit suicide, and these effects are similar for both boys and girls. Second, highly depressed adolescents are less likely than low- or nondepressed adolescents to attempt suicide when their friends attempt suicide, and this relationship is observed mainly among adolescent boys. Finally, for adolescent girls, depression reduces the relationship between friends’ suicidal attempt and adolescent's own attempt but this effect is not statistically significant. These results are discussed in light of their theoretical importance and policy implications.Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University. Has published in the areas of crime/delinquency, drug use/abuse, intergenerational processes, and psychosocial stress. Recent publications have appeared in Western Criminology Review, Social Psychology Quarterly, Sociological Inquiry, Journal of Adolescent Research, and Youth and Society.     

Relationships between Social Information Processing and Aggression among Adolescent Girls with and without ADHD

This study investigated the relationship between social information processing (SIP) and both relational and overt, physical aggression in a longitudinally-followed sample of 228 adolescent girls (ages 11–18; 140 with ADHD and 88 comparison girls). During childhood, girls participated in naturalistic summer camps where peer rejection, overt physical aggression, and relational aggression were assessed via multiple informants and methods. Approximately 4.5 years later, these girls participated in follow-up assessments during which they completed a commonly-used vignette procedure to assess SIP; overt and relational aggression were again assessed through multiple informants. Correlations between (a) overt and relational aggression and (b) maladaptive SIP were modest in this female adolescent sample. However, relationships between aggression and SIP were stronger for the comparison girls than for the girls with ADHD. The relevance of SIP models for adolescent girls and clinical implications of findings are discussed.

Effect of Major Depression on the Self-Image of Adolescent Boys and Girls

We investigated the specific impact of major depressive disorder (MDD) on the self-image of adolescent boys and girls seeking outpatient treatment. We used the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ) to compare 68 adolescents with MDD and 39 adolescents with no diagnosis of psychiatric illness according to the Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). Self-image among MDD patients was in general poorer than in the comparison group and was particularly expressed as dissatisfaction with life and an impaired mastery of the environment. Logistic regression analysis showed S2 (Emotional Tone) to be an independent factor associated with MDD (OR 1.15). In girls S2 was also independently associated with MDD (OR 1.14). The effect of MDD on self-image was more negative in girls than in boys and the self-image pattern differed between the sexes.     

Peer Selection and Socialization in Adolescent Depression: The Role of School Transitions

Previous studies have indicated homophily in depressive symptoms among adolescent friends, resulting from both peer selection and socialization processes. However, developmental differences and the role of school transitions in these processes have not been elucidated. A sample of 367 (51% female) adolescents was followed from 6th to 11th grade to investigate prospective relationships between adolescents’ and their friends’ depressive symptoms in middle school and in high school. Results revealed that students selected friends with similar levels of depressive symptoms after each school transition. Additionally, friends appeared to socialize adolescents to become more similar in depressive affect in late middle school years. These findings suggest normative selection effects after school transitions, followed by socialization effects in middle school, but not high school.     

The Cultural and Developmental Significance of Parenting Processes in Adolescent Anxiety and Depression Symptoms

This study examined the cultural and developmental significance of maternal and paternal parenting processes (closeness, support, monitoring, communication, conflict, and peer approval) for measures of anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents from Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States (N=6,935). Across all cultural contexts, measures of maternal and paternal support and conflict were most consistently associated with measures of internalizing behaviors. Few differences were observed in the importance of individual parenting processes for anxiety or depression symptoms across cultures. Additionally, with the exception of maternal conflict for anxiety and depression symptoms and paternal closeness for depression symptoms, none of the parenting process dimensions differed in importance for internalizing behaviors across developmental periods (middle versus late adolescence). The investigation provides evidence of great similarity in developmental processes, both across cultural contexts and developmental periods.

Testing the Causal Mediation Component of Dodge's Social Information Processing Model of Social Competence and Depression

In Dodge's model of “social information processing” depression is the result of a linear sequence of five stages of information processing (Annu Rev Psychol 44: 559–584, 1993). These stages follow a person's reaction to situational stimuli, such that each stage of information processing mediates the relationship between earlier and later stages. Because support for the social information processing model of depression has mainly come from retrospective examination of the literature (Annu Rev Psychol 44: 559–584, 1993), we conducted a three wave prospective study including 92 adolescents without lifetime or current depression. Depressive symptoms and information processing were assessed by using well established measures employed in previous studies. The social information processing model was supported by cross-sectional results of our study. Based on prospective data we could only partially support the mediation hypotheses of the model. We discuss our unexpected results in light of limitation, including applied measures and sample characteristics.

The Effects of Ethnic Identity,Ethnicity, and Gender on Adolescent Well-Being

Ethnic identity was conceptualized into three categories: (1) unexamined, (2) searching for identity, and (3) achieved ethnic identity. Analyses of data collected from 12,386 adolescents showed that ethnic identity is an important qualifier of the relationships between independent variables of ethnicity and gender, and dependent variables of global self-esteem, academic self-confidence, and purpose in life. Whites and Native Americans had lower ethnic identity, and Blacks and Hispanics had higher ethnic identity. Asians and repondents of mixed ethnicity had intermediate levels of ethnic identity. The greater the ethnic identity, the higher the self-esteem, purpose in life and self-confidence. This mechanism applies to ethnic minorities and to women among whom achieved ethnic identity may blunt the negative effects of social denigration and stereotyping, and it applies to whites, too. The paper argues that multiculturalism in the schools can increase ethnic identity.     

Smoke in the Looking Glass: Effects of Discordance Between Self- and Peer Rated Crowd Affiliation on Adolescent Anxiety, Depression and Self-feelings

Peer crowds serve as an identity marker for adolescents, indicating their image and status among peers; but adolescents do not always endorse peer appraisals of crowd affiliation. We report on two studies—one with 924 adolescents in grades 7–12 and a second with a more diverse population of 2,728 students in grades 9–11, followed for 2 years—that examined how congruence between peer and self-appraisals of crowd affiliation relate to self-esteem and internalizing symptoms. Analyses indicate that high-status crowd members may suffer and low-status crowd members benefit by denying their peer crowd affiliation, but effects are modest in size and not entirely consistent across the two studies. Findings underscore the value of symbolic interactionist principles concerning reflected appraisal processes in understanding how peer crowd affiliation affects adolescent self-image.

The Effects of Adolescent Activities on Delinquency: A Differential Involvement Approach

T. Hirschi’s (1969, Causes of Delinquency. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) control theory proposes that involvement, as an element of the social bond, should reduce delinquency. But, research studies have found that the effect of involvement is rather weak. This study reformulates Hirschi’s involvement hypothesis by posing involvement as a social setting variable and a differential factor. Certain activities provide a social setting favorable to the development of the social bond and the reduction in delinquent association. The reformulated hypothesis is examined based on a sample of Grade 7–12 students in a Western Canadian city. The results reveal that school- and family-related activities strengthen the social bond and reduce delinquent association and delinquency. In contrast, other conventional activities such as spending time with friends and dating have the opposite effects. In addition, the indirect effect of differential involvement on delinquency through the social bond and delinquent association is stronger than its direct effect. Thus, the undesirable effects of the less-positive activities on delinquency may be buffered or reduced by strengthening the social bond and reducing delinquent association.Siu Kwong Wong is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Brandon University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University. His major research interests are in the study of delinquency and social disorganization.     

Maternal Control and Adolescent Depression: Ethnic Differences Among Clinically Referred Girls

The relationship between perceived maternal control and depression was examined in 111 urban adolescent girls seeking psychological services at an outpatient mental health center in the Midwest. This study sought to clarify inconsistent findings in earlier research linking parental control and adolescent depression by examining urban girls with mental health problems and by testing ethnic background as a moderator of the general relationship. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires of adolescent girls' depressive symptoms, and perceptions of their mothers' parenting styles. Analyses did not detect a significant association between maternal control and depression in the combined sample of adolescent girls; however, findings were moderated by the ethnicity of the girls. Once ethnicity was included, no relation between control and depression was found for Caucasian and Latina girls, but high control was linked to less depression among African American girls. These findings highlight the importance of ethnicity and gender in child rearing and adolescent depression and stress the need for more culturally sensitive conceptualizations of depression     

Depression as a Moderator of Sociocultural Influences on Eating Disorder Symptoms in Adolescent Females and Males

This study aimed to explore the role of depression as a moderator of sociocultural influences on eating disorder symptoms. A sample of 509 adolescents (56% female) completed self-report questionnaires assessing depression, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms and sociocultural influences on appearance from family, peers and the media. Both girls and boys displaying high levels of depressive symptoms perceived stronger media and peer influences on appearance. Among girls, eating disorder symptoms were directly affected by sociocultural influences, in particular media influences, as well as by depression. However, depression played only a limited role as a moderator of these relationships. Among boys, sociocultural influences and depression revealed fewer direct effects on eating disorder symptoms. However, depression had a greater moderating effect on these relationships. Future research into the role of depression may increase the understanding of gender differences in body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness and bulimic symptoms.     

Objective and Self-Perceived Resources as Predictors of Depression Among Urban and Non-Urban Adolescent Mothers

Pregnant and parenting adolescents often cope with a lack of resources as they struggle to negotiate the tasks of motherhood and adolescence. Previous research has determined that young mothers have an increased rate of depression when compared to older mothers. In this study, self-perceived resource adequacy, education, income, age, and environment (urban vs. non-urban) were investigated as predictors of depression at approximately 14 and 36 months after birth in adolescent mothers (N=523). Self-perceived resources accounted for significant variance in depression at 14 and 36 months while controlling for education and income. However, education and income were not significant predictors while controlling for self-perceived resources. Age and environment did not predict depression. Researchers would be wise to focus on a young woman’s view of her situation, as it appears that self-perceived resources play an important role in predicting depression.Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, University of Kansas. She received her Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 2005. Her major research interests are adolescent parenthood, mental health, and parenting interventions.Professor at Iowa State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1976. His major research interests are stress and coping, mental health, and adolescence.Assistant Professor at Iowa State University. She received her Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1997. Her major research interests are assessment and program planning for children with disabilities and early literacy.     

Dependency,Self-Criticism,and Mothers' Responses to Adolescent Sons' Autonomy and Competence

A previous study found that dependency was associated with mothers' reacting punitively to independent behavior of their adolescent daughters and that self-criticism was associated with punitive and controlling responses to adolescent daughters. To extend these findings to mother–son relationships, the present study examined relations between personality and parenting behavior in 78 mothers of adolescent boys. Mothers completed measures of dependency and self-criticism and of baseline affect, and then were given experimentally manipulated results of the son's initial assessment of problem-solving ability (competence) and choice of discussion partner. Affect was assessed again. Mothers coached sons on computer problem-solving puzzles. Dependency was associated with mothers' giving fewer explicit commands and less negative feedback to (1) sons who were described as high in competence and who chose someone else as discussion partner and (2) sons who were described as average in competence and who chose the mother as discussion partner. It was concluded that mothers high in dependency relate to competent sons in ways that encourage independence, but relate to their less competent sons in ways that may foster dependency, by thwarting attempts at autonomy.     

A School-Level Analysis of Adolescent Extracurricular Activity,Delinquency, and Depression: The Importance of Situational Context

In this article we investigate the extent to which the relationship between extracurricular activities and youth development depends on situational contexts. Using a national sample including 13,466 youths in grades 7–12 across 120 schools, we conduct school-level analyses of the association between extracurricular activities, delinquency, and depression. Three main findings are reported. First, we observe near-normal distributions across schools in the proportions of delinquent or depressed youths involved in extracurricular activities, illustrating that extracurricular activities can be positive, neutral, or negative settings for youth development. Second, within individual schools we fail to uncover consistent associations in the propensity of delinquent or depressed youth to be involved with different types of extracurricular activities. Third, standard macro-level context variables do not explain the observed variations within or between schools. The results suggest that the relationships between extracurricular activities, delinquent conduct and depressive symptoms among youth ultimately depend more upon micro-level contextual factors than the type or content of the activities themselves.

Coping with Maternal Depressed Affect and Depression: Adolescent Children of Depressed and Well Mothers

This study examined the strategies adolescents use to cope with their mothers' depressive symptoms and/or episodes. An open-ended semistructured interview and a closed-ended coping scale, the Maternal Affectivity Coping Scale derived from the Self-Report Coping Scale (D. L. Causey and E. F. Dubow [1992] Development of a Self-Report Measure for Elementary School Children, Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, Vol. 21, pp. 47–59), was administered to pairs of adolescent siblings (N = 179) from families (N = 94) in which the mother was either depressed or well. With a few important exceptions, the results reveal similar coping styles in the offspring of depressed and well mothers. One difference was that mothers' current psychological distress was weakly related to young adolescents' coping patterns (e.g., problem solving, externalizing). Also, adolescents' coping styles (e.g., provide support) were related to the type of depressive symptoms the mother exhibited (e.g., anger, irritability). Second, greater sibling differences were found for emotion-focused coping strategies (e.g., distancing) in children of depressed mothers than in children of well mothers. Third, the results suggest that the sex of the adolescent may be important in attempting to understand individual differences in coping. Females were more likely than males to engage in interpersonally focused coping strategies (e.g., provide support to their mother, seek support from others). The feelings of responsibility for contributing to their mother's depression that were more evident in females than males may offer some insight into gender differences and may also have implications for placing females at higher risk for internalizing disorders.     

The Contingent Effects of Risk Perception on Risk-Taking Behavior: Adolescent Participative Orientation and Marijuana Use

Viewing marijuana use as a risk-taking behavior, we find that the perception of high risk related to regular use of marijuana has no simple direct effect on that risk-taking behavior. Rather, the effect of risk perception is contingent upon the extent of youth participation in activities such as going to parties, going to bars, attending concerts and visiting friends. The perception of risk suppresses marijuana use most effectively in the context of activities where such a risk-taking behavior is most prevalent. These findings are congruent with recent literature on actions of risk-taking that takes into account the subjective meaning orientation as a moderator between perception and action. These lead us to conclude that a behavioral-specific approach can augment the conventional approach to common factors underlying the youths' proneness to problem behaviors.     

The Effects of Childhood and Adolescent Adversity on Substance Use Disorders and Poor Health in Early Adulthood

Childhood and adolescent adversity have been shown to predict later mental and physical health outcomes. Understanding which aspects and developmental timings of adversity are important, and the mechanisms by which they have their impact may help guide intervention approaches. A large subset of adolescents (N?=?457; Female 68.9?%) from the 10-year longitudinal Youth Emotion Project was examined to better understand the associations among childhood/adolescent adversity, substance use disorder, and later health quality. Adolescent (but not childhood) adversities were associated with poorer health in late adolescence/early adulthood, adolescent adversities were associated with subsequent onset of substance use disorder, and adolescent adversities continued to be associated with poorer health in late adolescence/early adulthood after accounting for the variance explained by substance use disorder onset. These associations were observed after statistically accounting for emotional disorders and socioeconomic status. Specific domains of adversity uniquely predicted substance use disorder and poorer health outcomes. In contrast with current recent research, our findings suggest the association between childhood/adolescent adversity and poorer health outcomes in late adolescence and emerging adulthood are not entirely accounted for by substance use disorder, suggesting efforts to curtail family-based adolescent adversity may have downstream health benefits.     

Structural Home Environment Effects on Developmental Trajectories of Self-Control and Adolescent Risk Taking

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Extant literature has demonstrated that self-control is critical for health and adjustment in adolescence. Questions remain regarding whether there are...     

Adolescent Children of Adolescent Mothers: The Impact of Family Functioning on Trajectories of Development

This study drew on four cycles of longitudinal data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth to examine the academic and behavioural trajectories of youth between 10 and 15 years of age as a function of maternal age at childbearing. The analyses controlled for several family characteristics and examined the mediating effects of three family functioning variables (maternal depression, and nurturing and rejecting parenting behaviours). Maternal age was related to academic competency in math (standardized Math scores), externalizing disorders (Property Offences, Hyperactivity-Inattention), and internalizing disorders (Anxiety-Emotional Disorder). After accounting for family characteristics, the children of the young and older teen mothers retained their disadvantage in Math scores and Property Offences, respectively, whereas the children of older mothers lost the advantages that they had exhibited at age 10 (for Property Offences, the benefits were mediated through family functioning). These results have implications for future research and for the development of policy and programming targeting the healthy development of youth.

The Effects of Neighborhood Proportion of Single-Parent Families and Mother–Adolescent Relationships on Adolescents' Number of Sexual Partners

Using both individual-level and census-level data, this study predicts the number of sexual partners reported by male and female adolescents from the quality of their mother relationship and neighborhood proportion of single-parent families. Both predictors were associated with number of sexual partners for both males and females in OLS analyses. However, in Repeated Measures analyses of females, neighborhood proportion of single-parent families was not significant. In both OLS and Repeated Measures formats models with individual-level single-parent family status, race, mothers' education and family income variables, neighborhood proportion of single-parent families was not significant for either gender. Interaction models found that neighborhood proportion of single-parent families moderated the influence of mother relationship on the number of sexual partners in OLS analyses for both sexes, but only for males in the Repeated Measures format. The direction of these two-way interactions varied significantly by gender–in both OLS and Repeated Measures. Mother relationships were more influential for females in neighborhoods with fewer single-parent families. In contrast, mother relationships were more influential for males in neighborhoods with more single-parent families.