THIS MONTH'S EMERGING SCHOLAR SPOTLIGHT
DecemBer 2017
Demographic Factors and Individuation in Relation to Parents Predicting Attachment Avoidance and Anxiety in Turkish Emerging Adults
Savaş Karataş, Faculty of Education, Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Maltepe University, Turkey
Melita Puklek Levpušček, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Luka Komidar, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Background
Emerging adulthood is a life period characterized by new explorations in different areas such as love, work and worldviews. It is also identified by reduced behavioral and emotional dependencies on one's parents and by an individual’s postponement of taking over full adult responsibilities. In this period emerging adults still deal with the individuation issues, such as developing personal autonomy while maintaining connectedness to parents.
When the previous studies are examined, it can be seen that individuation in emerging adulthood has mostly been investigated in western societies; however, recent relational, social, economic, and demographic changes in Turkey demonstrate the need to extend the research on autonomy issues to other societies with more traditional cultural backgrounds. Therefore, fisrtly, we decided to conduct a Turkish validation of the Individuation Test for Emerging Adults-Short Form (ITEA-S) in the first part of the study. Secondly, we investigated the relationship between Turkish emerging adults’ individuation in relation to parents and characteristics of their attachment in a romantic relationship.
Method
In this study, we gathered data from two independent samples. The first sample consisted of 510 participants (Mage=22.3, SD=2.7), and the second sample consisted of 246 (Mage=21.1, SD=1.9) participants. The first sample filled in a personal information form and mother and father forms of ITEA-S while the second sample responded to a personal information form and the both forms of ITEA-S and The Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R).
Results
Our findings showed that the fit of the 5-factor model to the data was satisfactory for both forms of the ITEA-S. Besides, high standardized loadings ranging from .53 to .89 (MITEA-S-M=.73, MITEA-S-F=.76) indicated good construct validity of the Turkish version of the ITEA-S. The five ITEA-S scales (Support Seeking, Connectedness, Intrusiveness, Self-Reliance, Fear of Disappointing the Parent) also had satisfactory internal consistency with Cronbach a coefficients ranging from .74 to .92.
The results of the second part of the study showed that the regression models had higher predictive value for the attachment anxiety than the attachment avoidance. Younger participants experienced more attachment anxiety in their romantic relationships, while females reported more attachement avoidance than males in their romantic relationships. On the other hand, there were some differences in contributions of specific individuation dimensions in relation to mother and father to prediction of attachment dimensions. The results specified that connectedness with mother and self-reliance in relation to both parents were negatively associated with attachment avoidance. Also, higher perceived maternal intrusiveness, lower connectedness with father and higher fear of disappointing both parents were related to higher attachment anxiety in romantic relationships.
Conclusion
Both mother and father forms of the ITEA-S are appropriate instruments for measuring the individuation patterns of Turkish emerging adults. Also, the study demonstrated that healthy individuation dimensions (connectedness and self-reliance) mostly linked with lower attachment avoidance in romantic relationships, while negative aspects of individuation (intrusiveness and fear of disappointing the parent) associated with higher attachment anxiety in romantic relationships.
Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12144-017-9691-8.pdf
Contact: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Savas_Karatas
November 2017
The Relationship Between Identity Processes and Well-being in Various Life Domains.
Dominika Karaś, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland
Jan Cieciuch, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland
Background
Identity formation is without doubts one of the main topics in the developmental psychology research nowadays. However, the identity domains usually proposed as the most important for identity (such as ideological or educational) may be inadequate for contemporary young adults. The important question about identity formation in various life domains is: which domain contributes to the greatest extent to individual well-being?
The main aim of the research was to answer this question by applying a domain-specific approach to identity and examining the relationships between identity processes and well-being in various life domains (previously identified in qualitative study) and identifying the domains that are most important for experiencing well-being in young adulthood. We adopted the three-dimensional model of identity formation, consisted of three pivotal processes: in-depth exploration, commitment and reconsideration of commitment.
Method
In presented study we examined the total group of 1329 participants aged 19-35 (M = 22.77, SD = 3.64). We used the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form and the Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being to measure well-being and the Warsaw Measurement of Identity Commitments Scale to examine identity processes in the following domains: personality characteristics, worldview, hobbies and interests, experiences from the past, future plans, family relationships, relationships with friends and acquaintances, and occupation.
To examine the relationships between identity processes we tested two types of structural models. Firstly, we tested the separate model for each identity domain, where the identity processes were treated as the predictors of well-being. Then, we introduced all identity domains into one model. Finally, we tested the robustness of the findings from the second step by utilizing another measure of well-being, to confirm the results from the second step.
Results
The identity dimensions explained a high proportion of well-being variance (with commitment as the strongest positive predictor). Moreover, in-depth exploration was positively and reconsideration negatively related to well-being. However, the percentage of explained well-being variance varied depending on the domain. When introducing all domains into the one structural model, it appeared that well-being was significantly predicted by all three processes only in personality characteristics domain. In other domains, only a few coefficients were significant. Other domains connected with experiencing well-being were: aims and plans for the future, friends and acquaintances, past experiences, and occupation.
Conclusion
Results show that for young adults being strongly committed to one's personality traits, having stable, satisfactory individual relationships, and being certain about one's occupational choices are the most important factors for experiencing well-being.
Moreover, the results show that traditionally examined identity domains, such as ideological, occupational, and relational are not always considered by young people to be significantly important for achieving well-being. Thus, the implications for future research should include the revision of the possible range of identity domains, depending on the aim of the research. When applying the domain-specific approach to identity, one should examine simultaneously a greater variety of domains.
Link to paper: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886917305779
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.personalitas.pl
OCTOBEr 2017 |
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Sailing Uncharted Waters: Adolescent Personality Development and Social Relationship Experiences During a Year Abroad
Henriette Greischel, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany Franz J. Neyer, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany Background Personality development during adolescence has received considerable attention in the preceding decades. However, less is known about interindividual differences in intraindividual trajectories. Previous research suggested international mobility experiences as a context of differential development and revealed that such experiences catalyze personal and social development during young adulthood (Zimmermann & Neyer, 2013). |
Yet, despite its increasing commonness, scholars have widely neglected the role of international sojourns for adolescent development. Thus, our study focused on the question: How does spending a year abroad influence the personality and social relationship development of adolescents? To answer this question, we compared sojourning adolescents with those who stayed in Germany with regard to self-selection and socialization processes of personality traits. In addition, we examined social network fluctuation as a mechanism of personality change.
Method
The role of international mobility in adolescent trajectories was studied using a prospective control group design comprising 457 sojourners (high school exchange students recruited via the American Field Service) and 284 control participants (German adolescents; 73.3% female; mean age = 15.63, SD = 0.78), all of whom were assessed three times across one academic year. Adolescents’ Big Five and peer relationship fluctuations were assessed at six weeks before departure, as well as two and seven months abroad. Multivariate probit regressions and latent change models were used to analyze selection and socialization effects, respectively. In addition, gains and losses of national and international peer relations were tested as mediators in these change models.
Results
Before going abroad, sojourners demonstrated higher levels of Extraversion and Agreeableness, as well as lower levels of Neuroticism compared to controls. Longitudinal results revealed steeper increases in Openness and Agreeableness, as well as less increase in Neuroticism for exchange students. Results indicated that sojourners differed regarding their personality traits before they went abroad and continued to show differential trajectories toward socially desired trait levels later on. Sojourners’ social relationships showed higher fluctuation, which partially mediated sojourn effects on adolescent personality development.
Conclusion
We investigated international mobility as a meaningful context of differential trajectories to contribute to a bigger picture of personality development during adolescence. Going abroad for one year as an exchange student has become a global and increasingly common phenomenon in recent years and, therefore, deserves further attention. In our study, sailing uncharted waters played a meaningful role in adolescents’ personal and social development.
Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0479-1
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.pirats.uni-jena.de/ and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Henriette_Greischel
Method
The role of international mobility in adolescent trajectories was studied using a prospective control group design comprising 457 sojourners (high school exchange students recruited via the American Field Service) and 284 control participants (German adolescents; 73.3% female; mean age = 15.63, SD = 0.78), all of whom were assessed three times across one academic year. Adolescents’ Big Five and peer relationship fluctuations were assessed at six weeks before departure, as well as two and seven months abroad. Multivariate probit regressions and latent change models were used to analyze selection and socialization effects, respectively. In addition, gains and losses of national and international peer relations were tested as mediators in these change models.
Results
Before going abroad, sojourners demonstrated higher levels of Extraversion and Agreeableness, as well as lower levels of Neuroticism compared to controls. Longitudinal results revealed steeper increases in Openness and Agreeableness, as well as less increase in Neuroticism for exchange students. Results indicated that sojourners differed regarding their personality traits before they went abroad and continued to show differential trajectories toward socially desired trait levels later on. Sojourners’ social relationships showed higher fluctuation, which partially mediated sojourn effects on adolescent personality development.
Conclusion
We investigated international mobility as a meaningful context of differential trajectories to contribute to a bigger picture of personality development during adolescence. Going abroad for one year as an exchange student has become a global and increasingly common phenomenon in recent years and, therefore, deserves further attention. In our study, sailing uncharted waters played a meaningful role in adolescents’ personal and social development.
Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0479-1
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.pirats.uni-jena.de/ and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Henriette_Greischel
september 2017
Longitudinal Transmission of Conflict Management Styles Across Inter-Parental and Adolescent Relationships
Soundry Staats, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Inge E. van der Valk, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Wim H. J. Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Susan J. T. Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Background
Learning how to manage conflicts appropriately is an important developmental task for adolescents, and is related to their psychosocial functioning. The main context for adolescents to learn and practice effective conflict management skills is the family. Especially, inter-parental and parent–adolescent relationships would be important sources from which adolescents learn how to manage conflicts in other relationships, such as those with friends and romantic partners. Adolescents can observe conflict management styles that are used during inter-parental disputes and practice conflict management styles in relationships with their parents. Subsequently, they can use these observed and practiced styles in conflicts with friends and romantic partners. However, the processes according to which this transmission of conflict management takes place were understudied in research to date. Therefore, we longitudinally investigated transmission of conflict management styles across inter–parental, adolescent–parent, adolescent–friend, and adolescent–partner relationships.
Method
In this study, we used four waves of data from the ongoing longitudinal study Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR). In total, 799 Dutch middle-to-late adolescents (Mage t1 = 15.80; 54% boys) and their parents reported on their own use of three conflict management styles: positive problem solving, conflict engagement, and withdrawal, by completing the Conflict Resolution Style Inventory. Adolescents reported on the conflict management styles they used in conflicts with their mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner, and both mothers and fathers reported on the conflict management styles they utilized in conflicts with their partner. For each conflict management style separately, we performed path analyses with cross-lagged effects.
Results
Our findings indicated transmission of adolescent conflict management styles in relationships with parents to relationships with friends and romantic partners. Positive problem solving and conflict engagement utilized by adolescents in conflicts with parents were significantly, positively related to, respectively, adolescent positive problem solving and conflict engagement in relationships with friends 1 year later and relationships with partners 2 years later. No significant longitudinal effects emerged with regard to withdrawal. For all three conflict management styles, the results yielded no mediation of adolescent-parent relationships between inter-parental and adolescent-friend/partner relationships. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between boys and girls in the transmission of conflict management.
Conclusion
The study showed that the way adolescents manage conflicts with parents predicts how they handle conflicts later on in relationships outside the family. As adolescents’ conflict management style is prospectively related to their psychosocial and relational functioning, the results of the current study implicate that it is important to monitor and address adolescent conflict management in relationships with parents, so that constructive conflict management styles are utilized by adolescents in relationships with parents and in later friendships and romantic relationships.
Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jora.12324/full
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Soundry_Staats
Soundry Staats, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Inge E. van der Valk, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Wim H. J. Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Susan J. T. Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Background
Learning how to manage conflicts appropriately is an important developmental task for adolescents, and is related to their psychosocial functioning. The main context for adolescents to learn and practice effective conflict management skills is the family. Especially, inter-parental and parent–adolescent relationships would be important sources from which adolescents learn how to manage conflicts in other relationships, such as those with friends and romantic partners. Adolescents can observe conflict management styles that are used during inter-parental disputes and practice conflict management styles in relationships with their parents. Subsequently, they can use these observed and practiced styles in conflicts with friends and romantic partners. However, the processes according to which this transmission of conflict management takes place were understudied in research to date. Therefore, we longitudinally investigated transmission of conflict management styles across inter–parental, adolescent–parent, adolescent–friend, and adolescent–partner relationships.
Method
In this study, we used four waves of data from the ongoing longitudinal study Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR). In total, 799 Dutch middle-to-late adolescents (Mage t1 = 15.80; 54% boys) and their parents reported on their own use of three conflict management styles: positive problem solving, conflict engagement, and withdrawal, by completing the Conflict Resolution Style Inventory. Adolescents reported on the conflict management styles they used in conflicts with their mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner, and both mothers and fathers reported on the conflict management styles they utilized in conflicts with their partner. For each conflict management style separately, we performed path analyses with cross-lagged effects.
Results
Our findings indicated transmission of adolescent conflict management styles in relationships with parents to relationships with friends and romantic partners. Positive problem solving and conflict engagement utilized by adolescents in conflicts with parents were significantly, positively related to, respectively, adolescent positive problem solving and conflict engagement in relationships with friends 1 year later and relationships with partners 2 years later. No significant longitudinal effects emerged with regard to withdrawal. For all three conflict management styles, the results yielded no mediation of adolescent-parent relationships between inter-parental and adolescent-friend/partner relationships. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between boys and girls in the transmission of conflict management.
Conclusion
The study showed that the way adolescents manage conflicts with parents predicts how they handle conflicts later on in relationships outside the family. As adolescents’ conflict management style is prospectively related to their psychosocial and relational functioning, the results of the current study implicate that it is important to monitor and address adolescent conflict management in relationships with parents, so that constructive conflict management styles are utilized by adolescents in relationships with parents and in later friendships and romantic relationships.
Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jora.12324/full
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Soundry_Staats
AUGUST 2017
Assessing the Psychometric and Ecometric Properties of Neighbourhood Scales Using Adolescent Survey Data From Urban and Rural Scotland
Gina Martin, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Joanna Inchley, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Gerry Humphris, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Candace Currie, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Background
Despite the well-established need for specific measurement instruments to examine the relationship between neighbourhood conditions and adolescent well-being outcomes, few studies have developed scales to measure features of the neighbourhoods in which adolescents reside. Moreover, measures of neighbourhood features may be operationalised differently by adolescents living in different levels of urban/rurality. This has not been addressed in previous studies. The objectives of this study were to: 1) establish instruments to measure adolescent neighbourhood features at both the individual and neighbourhood level, 2) assess their psychometric and ecometric properties, 3) test for invariance by urban/rurality, and 4) generate neighbourhood level scores for use in further analysis.
Method
Data were from the Scottish 2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey, which included an over-sample of rural adolescents. The survey responses of interest came from questions designed to capture different facets of the local area in which each respondent resided. Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha. Invariance was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Scores were compared for various urban and rural classifications.
Multilevel models were used to estimate ecometric properties and generate neighbourhood scores. Intermediate data zones were used as proxies for neighbourhoods. Convergent validity was tested by examining the correlations between neighbourhood level constructs and administrative measures available from the Scottish Government.
Results
Two constructs labeled neighbourhood social cohesion and neighbourhood disorder were identified. Adjustments were made to the originally specified model to improve model fit and measures of invariance. At the individual level, reliability was .760 for social cohesion and .765 for disorder, and between .524 and .571 for both constructs at the neighbourhood level.
Individuals in rural areas experienced greater neighbourhood social cohesion than those living in urban areas. Lower levels of neighbourhood disorder was reported by those in rural areas compared with those in urban areas. However, the greatest neighbourhood disorder was experienced in accessible small towns.
At the neighbourhood level, neighbourhood social cohesion and neighbourhood disorder were significantly and negatively correlated (R =−.499, p < .001). A positive correlation was found between proportion of people living near derelict sites and neighbourhood disorder (R = .365, p < .001) and a negative association was found with neighbourhood social cohesion (R =−.320, p < .001). In terms of material deprivation, a negative correlation was present with neighbourhood social cohesion (R =−.396, p < .001) and a positive correlation was found with neighbourhood disorder (R = .410, p < .001).
Conclusion
The scales are appropriate for measuring neighbourhood characteristics experienced by adolescents across urban and rural Scotland, and can be used in future studies of neighbourhoods and health. However, trade-offs between neighbourhood sample size and reliability must be considered.
Link to paper: https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12963-017-0129-1
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=MByiqzUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Gina Martin, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Joanna Inchley, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Gerry Humphris, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Candace Currie, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Background
Despite the well-established need for specific measurement instruments to examine the relationship between neighbourhood conditions and adolescent well-being outcomes, few studies have developed scales to measure features of the neighbourhoods in which adolescents reside. Moreover, measures of neighbourhood features may be operationalised differently by adolescents living in different levels of urban/rurality. This has not been addressed in previous studies. The objectives of this study were to: 1) establish instruments to measure adolescent neighbourhood features at both the individual and neighbourhood level, 2) assess their psychometric and ecometric properties, 3) test for invariance by urban/rurality, and 4) generate neighbourhood level scores for use in further analysis.
Method
Data were from the Scottish 2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey, which included an over-sample of rural adolescents. The survey responses of interest came from questions designed to capture different facets of the local area in which each respondent resided. Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha. Invariance was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Scores were compared for various urban and rural classifications.
Multilevel models were used to estimate ecometric properties and generate neighbourhood scores. Intermediate data zones were used as proxies for neighbourhoods. Convergent validity was tested by examining the correlations between neighbourhood level constructs and administrative measures available from the Scottish Government.
Results
Two constructs labeled neighbourhood social cohesion and neighbourhood disorder were identified. Adjustments were made to the originally specified model to improve model fit and measures of invariance. At the individual level, reliability was .760 for social cohesion and .765 for disorder, and between .524 and .571 for both constructs at the neighbourhood level.
Individuals in rural areas experienced greater neighbourhood social cohesion than those living in urban areas. Lower levels of neighbourhood disorder was reported by those in rural areas compared with those in urban areas. However, the greatest neighbourhood disorder was experienced in accessible small towns.
At the neighbourhood level, neighbourhood social cohesion and neighbourhood disorder were significantly and negatively correlated (R =−.499, p < .001). A positive correlation was found between proportion of people living near derelict sites and neighbourhood disorder (R = .365, p < .001) and a negative association was found with neighbourhood social cohesion (R =−.320, p < .001). In terms of material deprivation, a negative correlation was present with neighbourhood social cohesion (R =−.396, p < .001) and a positive correlation was found with neighbourhood disorder (R = .410, p < .001).
Conclusion
The scales are appropriate for measuring neighbourhood characteristics experienced by adolescents across urban and rural Scotland, and can be used in future studies of neighbourhoods and health. However, trade-offs between neighbourhood sample size and reliability must be considered.
Link to paper: https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12963-017-0129-1
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=MByiqzUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
JULY 2017
Well-being, Mental Health Problems, and Alcohol Experiences among Young Swedish Adolescents: a General Population Study
Karin Boson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Kristina Berglund, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Peter Wennberg, Stockholm University, Sweden
Claudia Fahlke, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Background
A positive perspective on mental health has long been neglected in favor of psychopathological perspectives and mental health is often defined as the presence or absence of mental health problems and/or psychiatric diagnoses. However, the absence of mental health problems does not necessarily imply a state of well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of both self-reported emotional and behavioral problems as well as self-rated well-being in relation to alcohol experiences among Swedish girls and boys in early adolescence.
Method
A general sample of 1383 young people aged 12 to 13 years from the research program LoRDIA (Longitudinal Research on Development In Adolecsence) were included in the study. Their internalizing and externalizing problem styles, well-being and alcohol experiences were measured though self-reports. Person-oriented analyses were applied to the data to determine specific mental health configurations (“types”) that occurred more frequently than expected by chance. Health profiles were analyzed both in general and specifically in the subsample of adolescents with an early alcohol debut.
Results
Externalizing problems, in contrast to internalizing problems, occurred more commonly in adolescents who reported a high degree of well-being. Girls with low well-being and mental health problems were overrepresented (“types”) among those with alcohol experiences.
Conclusion
This is the first published study of data from the premiere data collection wave in the prospective LoRDIA-project. We found that young adolescents are generally “doing just fine”. Externalizing problems are, however, more common than internalizing problems among adolescents reporting high mental well-being. Girls with both mental health problems and low well-being are a vulnerable risk group in general and overrepresented among those with alcohol experiences. We believe that this study is relevant and provides a novel approach for understanding mental health among young adolescents. These results can contribute to knowledge about mental health in the youngest adolescents. We suggest that further research and practice should take both gender perspectives and positive psychology perspectives into account when describing and explaining mental health among adolescents, especially adolescents with an early alcohol debut.
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.17505/jpor.2016.12
Contact:
[email protected]
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karin_Boson
http://psy.gu.se/english/staff/?languageId=100001&disableRedirect=true&returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpsy.gu.se%2Fpersonal%2F%3FuserId%3Dxbosok&userId=xbosok
Website longitudinal research program:
www.lordia.se
Karin Boson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Kristina Berglund, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Peter Wennberg, Stockholm University, Sweden
Claudia Fahlke, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Background
A positive perspective on mental health has long been neglected in favor of psychopathological perspectives and mental health is often defined as the presence or absence of mental health problems and/or psychiatric diagnoses. However, the absence of mental health problems does not necessarily imply a state of well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of both self-reported emotional and behavioral problems as well as self-rated well-being in relation to alcohol experiences among Swedish girls and boys in early adolescence.
Method
A general sample of 1383 young people aged 12 to 13 years from the research program LoRDIA (Longitudinal Research on Development In Adolecsence) were included in the study. Their internalizing and externalizing problem styles, well-being and alcohol experiences were measured though self-reports. Person-oriented analyses were applied to the data to determine specific mental health configurations (“types”) that occurred more frequently than expected by chance. Health profiles were analyzed both in general and specifically in the subsample of adolescents with an early alcohol debut.
Results
Externalizing problems, in contrast to internalizing problems, occurred more commonly in adolescents who reported a high degree of well-being. Girls with low well-being and mental health problems were overrepresented (“types”) among those with alcohol experiences.
Conclusion
This is the first published study of data from the premiere data collection wave in the prospective LoRDIA-project. We found that young adolescents are generally “doing just fine”. Externalizing problems are, however, more common than internalizing problems among adolescents reporting high mental well-being. Girls with both mental health problems and low well-being are a vulnerable risk group in general and overrepresented among those with alcohol experiences. We believe that this study is relevant and provides a novel approach for understanding mental health among young adolescents. These results can contribute to knowledge about mental health in the youngest adolescents. We suggest that further research and practice should take both gender perspectives and positive psychology perspectives into account when describing and explaining mental health among adolescents, especially adolescents with an early alcohol debut.
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.17505/jpor.2016.12
Contact:
[email protected]
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karin_Boson
http://psy.gu.se/english/staff/?languageId=100001&disableRedirect=true&returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpsy.gu.se%2Fpersonal%2F%3FuserId%3Dxbosok&userId=xbosok
Website longitudinal research program:
www.lordia.se
June 2017
Developmental Change in Loneliness and Attitudes Toward Aloneness in Adolescence
Sofie Danneel, KU Leuven, Belgium
Marlies Maes, KU Leuven, Belgium
Janne Vanhalst, KU Leuven, Belgium
Patricia Bijttebier, KU Leuven, Belgium
Luc Goossens, KU Leuven, Belgium
Background
Loneliness is particularly salient during adolescence. Changes in different social contexts and the inability to cope with these changes can result in different types of loneliness. According to the multidimensional view on loneliness, loneliness can be experienced in relationships with peers and parents and can be placed in a broader perspective by taking into account attitudes toward aloneness (i.e., positive and negative). Cross-sectional studies investigating age differences in loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness are inconsistent. Longitudinal studies are better suited to infer developmental trends in loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness but these studies are scarce. The main aim of the current study was to fill that gap in current knowledge. However, before longitudinal trends can be examined, it is essential to test whether the scale designed to assess loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness measures the same construct over time.
Method
Two samples of Flemish adolescents consisting of 834 adolescents (61.9% girls, Mage = 14.84; Sample 1), and 968 adolescents (58.6% girls, Mage = 14.82; Sample 2), respectively, were used. Participants filled out the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA) during regular school hours on three (Sample 1) and four (Sample 2) measurement occasions with a 1-year interval. Longitudinal measurement invariance analyses and latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) were applied.
Results
Results indicated that the LACA shows longitudinal measurement invariance. As a result, latent means for the different subscales across three and four annual waves in middle to late adolescence could be compared. In both samples positive attitude toward aloneness and negative attitude toward aloneness increased and decreased, respectively, throughout adolescence. In addition, in both samples a decrease in parent-related loneliness was found. The results regarding peer-related loneliness were inconsistent across samples.
Conclusion
Additional research on the normative development for peer-related loneliness is clearly indicated, as the results were inconsistent across both samples. In contrast with theoretical expectations, a decrease in parent-related loneliness was found, suggesting that adolescents from ages 15 till 18 continue to perceive their parents as supportive. In line with earlier work, an increase for positive attitude toward aloneness was found in both samples, with an accompanying decrease for negative attitude toward aloneness. Thus, adolescents’ growing appreciation of time spent alone as a constructive domain of experience, as predicted in theoretical work (e.g., Goossens 2006; Larson 1997), has been clearly corroborated. In addition, this study found support for the added value of a multidimensional view of adolescent loneliness.
Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-017-0685-5
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sofie_Danneel
Sofie Danneel, KU Leuven, Belgium
Marlies Maes, KU Leuven, Belgium
Janne Vanhalst, KU Leuven, Belgium
Patricia Bijttebier, KU Leuven, Belgium
Luc Goossens, KU Leuven, Belgium
Background
Loneliness is particularly salient during adolescence. Changes in different social contexts and the inability to cope with these changes can result in different types of loneliness. According to the multidimensional view on loneliness, loneliness can be experienced in relationships with peers and parents and can be placed in a broader perspective by taking into account attitudes toward aloneness (i.e., positive and negative). Cross-sectional studies investigating age differences in loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness are inconsistent. Longitudinal studies are better suited to infer developmental trends in loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness but these studies are scarce. The main aim of the current study was to fill that gap in current knowledge. However, before longitudinal trends can be examined, it is essential to test whether the scale designed to assess loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness measures the same construct over time.
Method
Two samples of Flemish adolescents consisting of 834 adolescents (61.9% girls, Mage = 14.84; Sample 1), and 968 adolescents (58.6% girls, Mage = 14.82; Sample 2), respectively, were used. Participants filled out the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA) during regular school hours on three (Sample 1) and four (Sample 2) measurement occasions with a 1-year interval. Longitudinal measurement invariance analyses and latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) were applied.
Results
Results indicated that the LACA shows longitudinal measurement invariance. As a result, latent means for the different subscales across three and four annual waves in middle to late adolescence could be compared. In both samples positive attitude toward aloneness and negative attitude toward aloneness increased and decreased, respectively, throughout adolescence. In addition, in both samples a decrease in parent-related loneliness was found. The results regarding peer-related loneliness were inconsistent across samples.
Conclusion
Additional research on the normative development for peer-related loneliness is clearly indicated, as the results were inconsistent across both samples. In contrast with theoretical expectations, a decrease in parent-related loneliness was found, suggesting that adolescents from ages 15 till 18 continue to perceive their parents as supportive. In line with earlier work, an increase for positive attitude toward aloneness was found in both samples, with an accompanying decrease for negative attitude toward aloneness. Thus, adolescents’ growing appreciation of time spent alone as a constructive domain of experience, as predicted in theoretical work (e.g., Goossens 2006; Larson 1997), has been clearly corroborated. In addition, this study found support for the added value of a multidimensional view of adolescent loneliness.
Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-017-0685-5
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sofie_Danneel
MAY 2017
Perfectionistic concerns predict increases in adolescents’ anxiety symptoms: A three-wave longitudinal study
Lavinia E. Damian, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Oana Negru-Subtirica, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Joachim Stoeber, University of Kent, United Kingdom
Adriana Baban, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Background
It has been long proposed that perfectionism is a risk factor that contributes to the development and maintenance of a variety of anxiety symptoms. Cross-sectional studies with children and adolescents showed that both perfectionistic strivings and concerns are positively related to anxiety. However, the question of whether perfectionistic concerns represent a risk factor for the development of anxiety in adolescents is still unanswered, as are the questions of whether perfectionistic strivings play a role and whether the longitudinal perfectionism–anxiety relationships are reciprocal. We tried to answer these questions in the present research.
Method
To this aim, we employed a correlational longitudinal design with three waves spaced four to five months apart (overall nine months). Participants were 489 adolescents (54% female) aged 12 to 19 years (mean age at Time 1 was 15.9). We assessed perfectionism with two widely used scales: the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (Flett et al., 2016) and the Multidimensional Perfectioniosm Scale (Frost et al., 1990). Anxiety symptoms in the past three months were assessed with the self-report version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (Birmaher et al., 1997). After confirming longitudinal measurement invariance for both constructs, we conducted cross-lagged analyses in Mplus using the maximum likelihood robust estimator and followed a model comparison approach. We also conducted multi-group analyses to test for possible moderation effects of gender and age.
Results
As expected, results showed a positive effect from perfectionistic concerns to anxiety symptoms: Perfectionistic concerns predicted longitudinal increases in adolescents’ anxiety symptoms whereas perfectionistic strivings did not. In addition, anxiety symptoms did not predict increases in perfectionism. The results were the same for girls and boys, but age differences were found.
Conclusion
Adolescents who perceived that others had perfectionistic expectations of them and who were concerned about making mistakes and uncertain about their actions tended to experience increased anxiety symptoms over time. The long proposed hypothesis that perfectionism represents a risk factor contributing to the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms in adolescence found support in the present study. Interestingly, this effect was restricted to middle-to-late adolescents (16-19 years) whereas it was nonsignificant for early-to-middle adolescents (12-15 years). One possible explanation is the fact that cognitive abilities, self-consciousness, awareness of social standards, and susceptibility to evaluative feedback and to others’ achievement expectations increase in adolescence. In addition, it has been shown that older adolescents report higher levels of anxiety symptoms than younger adolescents. Hence, it is possible that, for these reasons, perfectionistic concerns represent a risk factor for the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms mainly for older adolescents.
Links to paper:
Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2016.1271877
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311454730_Perfectionistic_concerns_predict_increases_in_adolescents%27_anxiety_symptoms_A_three-wave_longitudinal_study
Contact: [email protected]
Website (Researchgate profile): https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lavinia_Damian
Lavinia E. Damian, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Oana Negru-Subtirica, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Joachim Stoeber, University of Kent, United Kingdom
Adriana Baban, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Background
It has been long proposed that perfectionism is a risk factor that contributes to the development and maintenance of a variety of anxiety symptoms. Cross-sectional studies with children and adolescents showed that both perfectionistic strivings and concerns are positively related to anxiety. However, the question of whether perfectionistic concerns represent a risk factor for the development of anxiety in adolescents is still unanswered, as are the questions of whether perfectionistic strivings play a role and whether the longitudinal perfectionism–anxiety relationships are reciprocal. We tried to answer these questions in the present research.
Method
To this aim, we employed a correlational longitudinal design with three waves spaced four to five months apart (overall nine months). Participants were 489 adolescents (54% female) aged 12 to 19 years (mean age at Time 1 was 15.9). We assessed perfectionism with two widely used scales: the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (Flett et al., 2016) and the Multidimensional Perfectioniosm Scale (Frost et al., 1990). Anxiety symptoms in the past three months were assessed with the self-report version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (Birmaher et al., 1997). After confirming longitudinal measurement invariance for both constructs, we conducted cross-lagged analyses in Mplus using the maximum likelihood robust estimator and followed a model comparison approach. We also conducted multi-group analyses to test for possible moderation effects of gender and age.
Results
As expected, results showed a positive effect from perfectionistic concerns to anxiety symptoms: Perfectionistic concerns predicted longitudinal increases in adolescents’ anxiety symptoms whereas perfectionistic strivings did not. In addition, anxiety symptoms did not predict increases in perfectionism. The results were the same for girls and boys, but age differences were found.
Conclusion
Adolescents who perceived that others had perfectionistic expectations of them and who were concerned about making mistakes and uncertain about their actions tended to experience increased anxiety symptoms over time. The long proposed hypothesis that perfectionism represents a risk factor contributing to the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms in adolescence found support in the present study. Interestingly, this effect was restricted to middle-to-late adolescents (16-19 years) whereas it was nonsignificant for early-to-middle adolescents (12-15 years). One possible explanation is the fact that cognitive abilities, self-consciousness, awareness of social standards, and susceptibility to evaluative feedback and to others’ achievement expectations increase in adolescence. In addition, it has been shown that older adolescents report higher levels of anxiety symptoms than younger adolescents. Hence, it is possible that, for these reasons, perfectionistic concerns represent a risk factor for the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms mainly for older adolescents.
Links to paper:
Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2016.1271877
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311454730_Perfectionistic_concerns_predict_increases_in_adolescents%27_anxiety_symptoms_A_three-wave_longitudinal_study
Contact: [email protected]
Website (Researchgate profile): https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lavinia_Damian
April 2017
Dark Shadows of Rumination: Finnish Young Adults’ Identity Profiles, Personal Goals, and Concerns
Elina Marttinen, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Julia Dietrich, University of Jena, Germany
Katariina Salmela-Aro, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Background
Young people in transition to adulthood take an active and goal-oriented role in their own development. The identity formation process is closely tied to the construction of personal goals that optimize young people's ability to handle their upcoming lifespan development. This study aimed to shed light on the intertwined processes of young adults' identity formation and the contents of their personal goals and concerns. Specifically, we examined to what extent there is a “dark side” to certain identity profiles, where individuals not only experience poor well-being, but also differ from individuals in other identity profiles in the kinds of personal goals they set and the concerns they struggle with.
Method
We studied sample of young adults (N = 577; 322 females) at age 23 and 25 of ongoing Finnish Educational Transitions Study (FinEdu). At age 23, identity formation was assesed with a short version of the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale. Identity formation was evaluated with five dimensions: commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration. For validation purposes, career goal appraisals and well-being (satisfaction with life, depressive symptoms, engagement in academic context and academic burnout) was measured at age 23. Personal goal and concern contents were studied with the Revised Personal Project Analysis Inventory at age 23 and 25. Using person oriented methods, we applied latent profile analysis to reveal identity formation profiles, and configural frequency analysis was employed to identify the more common and rarer personal goal and concern contents within the different identity profiles at age 23 and 25.
Results
Five profiles were revealed: moderate achievement (44 %) moderate diffusion (30 %), achievement (14 %), diffused diffusion (9 %) and reconsidering achievement (3 %). Two “dark side” identity profiles, characterized by low commitment and high ruminative exploration, were identified: moderate diffusion and diffused diffusion. The moderate diffusion profile seemed to have developmental task related personal goals and concerns. In the diffused diffusion profile, self-focused ruminative personal goals and concerns were typical and relationships related contents were atypical. The findings persisted over the two years’ follow-up.
Conclusion
It has been suggested in the identity and the personal goal literature that young people act adaptively when they intentionally engage in goal pursuits and identity negotiations, which are appropriate in meeting the demands of a developmental transition. Accordingly, the diffused diffusion profile, with multiple self-focused and lack of relationship related personal goals and concerns, can be considered maladaptive and not in line with societal expectations. These individuals seem to be willing to explore the possibilities of the transition to adulthood but for possibly different reasons, they seem to focus their attention on themselves, and engage in rumination.
Link to paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.10.024
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elina_Marttinen
Elina Marttinen, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Julia Dietrich, University of Jena, Germany
Katariina Salmela-Aro, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Background
Young people in transition to adulthood take an active and goal-oriented role in their own development. The identity formation process is closely tied to the construction of personal goals that optimize young people's ability to handle their upcoming lifespan development. This study aimed to shed light on the intertwined processes of young adults' identity formation and the contents of their personal goals and concerns. Specifically, we examined to what extent there is a “dark side” to certain identity profiles, where individuals not only experience poor well-being, but also differ from individuals in other identity profiles in the kinds of personal goals they set and the concerns they struggle with.
Method
We studied sample of young adults (N = 577; 322 females) at age 23 and 25 of ongoing Finnish Educational Transitions Study (FinEdu). At age 23, identity formation was assesed with a short version of the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale. Identity formation was evaluated with five dimensions: commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration. For validation purposes, career goal appraisals and well-being (satisfaction with life, depressive symptoms, engagement in academic context and academic burnout) was measured at age 23. Personal goal and concern contents were studied with the Revised Personal Project Analysis Inventory at age 23 and 25. Using person oriented methods, we applied latent profile analysis to reveal identity formation profiles, and configural frequency analysis was employed to identify the more common and rarer personal goal and concern contents within the different identity profiles at age 23 and 25.
Results
Five profiles were revealed: moderate achievement (44 %) moderate diffusion (30 %), achievement (14 %), diffused diffusion (9 %) and reconsidering achievement (3 %). Two “dark side” identity profiles, characterized by low commitment and high ruminative exploration, were identified: moderate diffusion and diffused diffusion. The moderate diffusion profile seemed to have developmental task related personal goals and concerns. In the diffused diffusion profile, self-focused ruminative personal goals and concerns were typical and relationships related contents were atypical. The findings persisted over the two years’ follow-up.
Conclusion
It has been suggested in the identity and the personal goal literature that young people act adaptively when they intentionally engage in goal pursuits and identity negotiations, which are appropriate in meeting the demands of a developmental transition. Accordingly, the diffused diffusion profile, with multiple self-focused and lack of relationship related personal goals and concerns, can be considered maladaptive and not in line with societal expectations. These individuals seem to be willing to explore the possibilities of the transition to adulthood but for possibly different reasons, they seem to focus their attention on themselves, and engage in rumination.
Link to paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.10.024
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elina_Marttinen
MaRch 2017
The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure – Revised (MEIM-R): Psychometric Evaluation With Adolescents From Diverse Ethnocultural Groups in Italy
Pasquale Musso, Palermo University, Italy
Ughetta Moscardino, Padua University, Italy
Cristiano Inguglia , Palermo University, Italy
Background
Ethnic identity refers to one’s sense of belonging to an ethnocultural group. Research indicates that it is a crucial predictor of psychological adjustment, being associated with higher self-esteem, better coping abilities, and mastery, particularly among ethnic minorities. It becomes particularly relevant in adolescence as related to identity formation, which is a central developmental task in this period. Given its importance for identity formation and psychological well-being, its assessment has become an issue. Among the measures assessing ethnic identity, Phinney and Ong (2007) recently developed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure – Revised (MEIM-R). Despite its extensive use, studies on its measurement characteristics in the European context are lacking. The current study addressed this gap by investigating the MEIM-R psychometric proprieties across multiple ethnocultural groups in Italy. Specifically, we evaluated its factor structure, internal consistency reliabilities of its scores, measurement and structural invariance, and levels of and group differences in ethnic identity.
Method
Participants were 1,445 adolescents (M= 15.08 years; age range: 13-18; SD = 1.02; 47% female) of Italian (64%), East European (14%), and North African (22%) origin. All participants were administered the MEIM-R comprising two subscales, ethnic identity exploration and commitment. Each subscale includes three close-ended items placed on a 5-point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and multigroup CFAs were performed to assess both the factorial validity and the measurement/structural invariance of the MEIM-R. Internal consistency reliability of the MEIM-R scores were assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients.
Results
Results showed that the MEIM-R has good internal consistency. Multigroup CFAs revealed configural and metric invariance, i.e., an equal, correlated two-factor structure (ethnic identity exploration and commitment) and equal factor loadings across ethnocultural groups. Scalar invariance, i.e., equal item intercepts, was found only for the commitment scores that showed no group differences in latent factor mean levels. Partial structural invariance was evidenced, with the factor covariances varying across groups.
Conclusion
To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate the psychometric properties of the MEIM-R across ethnically diverse adolescent samples in a European country. Consistent with previous research, we found evidence for a correlated two-factor structure, good internal consistency reliabilities, and configural and metric invariance of the MEIM-R. Also, the results supported measurement invariance for the commitment subscale, but only partial measurement invariance for the exploration subscale. Furthermore, inter-factor correlation varies as a function of ethnocultural group. These latter findings may be related to majority-minority status, differences in exposure to identity issues, specific dynamics in the processes of ethnic identity formation, and specific social and cultural features (e.g., generational status and religion) of the studied groups. To sum up, our study suggests that the MEIM-R is a valuable tool to assess the correlates of ethnic identity across ethnoculturally diverse adolescent groups in Italy. However, only comparisons of MEIM-R commitment scores are meaningful at this stage, whereas exploration scores across various groups should be performed with caution. Thus, further research on this popular measure is necessary.
Link to paper: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17405629.2016.1278363
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pasquale_Musso
Pasquale Musso, Palermo University, Italy
Ughetta Moscardino, Padua University, Italy
Cristiano Inguglia , Palermo University, Italy
Background
Ethnic identity refers to one’s sense of belonging to an ethnocultural group. Research indicates that it is a crucial predictor of psychological adjustment, being associated with higher self-esteem, better coping abilities, and mastery, particularly among ethnic minorities. It becomes particularly relevant in adolescence as related to identity formation, which is a central developmental task in this period. Given its importance for identity formation and psychological well-being, its assessment has become an issue. Among the measures assessing ethnic identity, Phinney and Ong (2007) recently developed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure – Revised (MEIM-R). Despite its extensive use, studies on its measurement characteristics in the European context are lacking. The current study addressed this gap by investigating the MEIM-R psychometric proprieties across multiple ethnocultural groups in Italy. Specifically, we evaluated its factor structure, internal consistency reliabilities of its scores, measurement and structural invariance, and levels of and group differences in ethnic identity.
Method
Participants were 1,445 adolescents (M= 15.08 years; age range: 13-18; SD = 1.02; 47% female) of Italian (64%), East European (14%), and North African (22%) origin. All participants were administered the MEIM-R comprising two subscales, ethnic identity exploration and commitment. Each subscale includes three close-ended items placed on a 5-point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and multigroup CFAs were performed to assess both the factorial validity and the measurement/structural invariance of the MEIM-R. Internal consistency reliability of the MEIM-R scores were assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients.
Results
Results showed that the MEIM-R has good internal consistency. Multigroup CFAs revealed configural and metric invariance, i.e., an equal, correlated two-factor structure (ethnic identity exploration and commitment) and equal factor loadings across ethnocultural groups. Scalar invariance, i.e., equal item intercepts, was found only for the commitment scores that showed no group differences in latent factor mean levels. Partial structural invariance was evidenced, with the factor covariances varying across groups.
Conclusion
To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate the psychometric properties of the MEIM-R across ethnically diverse adolescent samples in a European country. Consistent with previous research, we found evidence for a correlated two-factor structure, good internal consistency reliabilities, and configural and metric invariance of the MEIM-R. Also, the results supported measurement invariance for the commitment subscale, but only partial measurement invariance for the exploration subscale. Furthermore, inter-factor correlation varies as a function of ethnocultural group. These latter findings may be related to majority-minority status, differences in exposure to identity issues, specific dynamics in the processes of ethnic identity formation, and specific social and cultural features (e.g., generational status and religion) of the studied groups. To sum up, our study suggests that the MEIM-R is a valuable tool to assess the correlates of ethnic identity across ethnoculturally diverse adolescent groups in Italy. However, only comparisons of MEIM-R commitment scores are meaningful at this stage, whereas exploration scores across various groups should be performed with caution. Thus, further research on this popular measure is necessary.
Link to paper: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17405629.2016.1278363
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pasquale_Musso
february 2017
On the Development of Harmony, Turbulence, and Independence in Parent-Adolescent Relationships: A Five-Wave Longitudinal Study
Hana Hadiwijaya, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Theo Klimstra, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Jeroen Vermunt, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Susan Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Background
Distress in family relationships often increases as adolescents strive for more autonomy and independence. So far, research has mainly focused on general patterns of relationship quality development, while individual differences in development received less attention. However, whereas some adolescents might perceive distress in their relationship development, others might not. It could also be that those who perceive distress succeed in restoring the relationship quality with their parents by the end of adolescence, whereas others fail. This study provides a comprehensive perspective on changes in parent-adolescent relationship quality by examining both general and individual developmental patterns. First, we examined the general and typical developments by exploring change and stability in the prevalence of relationship quality profiles across the years. Second, we identified the atypical developments by investigating individual patterns that explain the changes in prevalence of profiles (i.e., patterns of adolescents changing from one profile to another).
Method
In the present study, we used a two-cohort five-wave longitudinal study design covering ages 12 to 16 (n = 919, 49.2% female) and 16 to 20 (n = 392, 56.6% female). Adolescents’ perceived support, conflict, and relative power in the relationship with their mothers and fathers were measured using the Network of Relationships Inventory. A latent transition analysis was performed to generate relationship profiles using the support, conflict, and power relationship variables. Additionally, this analysis identifies the number of adolescents in each relationship profile at every measurement occasion and estimates the extent to which adolescents remain in their current profile or change into another.
Results
From ages 12 to 16 years, only a subgroup of adolescents moved away from perceiving an authoritative relationship with their parents or changed into an uninvolved-discordant or turbulent relationship. Interestingly, some continued to perceive an authoritative relationship and many changed into perceiving a harmonious relationship with their parents. From ages 16 to 20 years, a majority of adolescents changed the relationship with their parents into an egalitarian and harmonious one. However, some continued to perceive the relationship with their parents as uninvolved-discordant or turbulent.
Conclusion
Our study provides new and unique evidence for adolescence being far less intense than presumed, as only a minority of adolescents experienced distress in the relationship with their parents. Importantly, we demonstrated that many adolescents successfully grew to perceive themselves as independent individuals and simultaneously established a satisfactory relationship by the end of adolescence despite the distress that emerged. Together, our promising findings mark the need for studying individual differences in relationship development across adolescence.
Link to paper: [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0627-7]
Contact: [[email protected]]
Website: [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hana_Hadiwijaya]
Hana Hadiwijaya, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Theo Klimstra, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Jeroen Vermunt, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Susan Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Background
Distress in family relationships often increases as adolescents strive for more autonomy and independence. So far, research has mainly focused on general patterns of relationship quality development, while individual differences in development received less attention. However, whereas some adolescents might perceive distress in their relationship development, others might not. It could also be that those who perceive distress succeed in restoring the relationship quality with their parents by the end of adolescence, whereas others fail. This study provides a comprehensive perspective on changes in parent-adolescent relationship quality by examining both general and individual developmental patterns. First, we examined the general and typical developments by exploring change and stability in the prevalence of relationship quality profiles across the years. Second, we identified the atypical developments by investigating individual patterns that explain the changes in prevalence of profiles (i.e., patterns of adolescents changing from one profile to another).
Method
In the present study, we used a two-cohort five-wave longitudinal study design covering ages 12 to 16 (n = 919, 49.2% female) and 16 to 20 (n = 392, 56.6% female). Adolescents’ perceived support, conflict, and relative power in the relationship with their mothers and fathers were measured using the Network of Relationships Inventory. A latent transition analysis was performed to generate relationship profiles using the support, conflict, and power relationship variables. Additionally, this analysis identifies the number of adolescents in each relationship profile at every measurement occasion and estimates the extent to which adolescents remain in their current profile or change into another.
Results
From ages 12 to 16 years, only a subgroup of adolescents moved away from perceiving an authoritative relationship with their parents or changed into an uninvolved-discordant or turbulent relationship. Interestingly, some continued to perceive an authoritative relationship and many changed into perceiving a harmonious relationship with their parents. From ages 16 to 20 years, a majority of adolescents changed the relationship with their parents into an egalitarian and harmonious one. However, some continued to perceive the relationship with their parents as uninvolved-discordant or turbulent.
Conclusion
Our study provides new and unique evidence for adolescence being far less intense than presumed, as only a minority of adolescents experienced distress in the relationship with their parents. Importantly, we demonstrated that many adolescents successfully grew to perceive themselves as independent individuals and simultaneously established a satisfactory relationship by the end of adolescence despite the distress that emerged. Together, our promising findings mark the need for studying individual differences in relationship development across adolescence.
Link to paper: [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0627-7]
Contact: [[email protected]]
Website: [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hana_Hadiwijaya]
January 2017
Is Social Anxiety Associated With Cannabis use? The Role of Cannabis use Effect Expectancies in Middle Adolescence.
Emilie Schmits, University of Liège, Belgium
Cécile Mathys, University of Liège, Belgium
Etienne Quertemont, University of Liège, Belgium
Background
Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug among teenagers. Adolescents with social anxiety disorder have greater risk of developing adult cannabis dependence relative to those without this disorder. Cannabis use also appeared to be related to cannabis effect expectancies, and a relationship between social anxiety and cannabis effect expectancies was reported in the literature. However, further studies are required to confirm the role of cannabis effect expectancies in the relationship between social anxiety and cannabis use, especially during adolescence, the period of life during which social anxiety and cannabis use generally emerge.
Method
A questionnaire was administered to 1,343 Belgian teenagers (M=15.7; age range: 14-18; SD=0.88; 49.59% of female). The data proceeded from the first of four waves in a longitudinal study. Several factors were studied: lifetime cannabis use, frequency of use, related problems, effects expectancies, and social anxiety. Linear and logistic regressions were performed to identify expectancies related to social anxiety and cannabis use, and mediation/moderation analyses were carried out.
Results
First, social anxiety was shown to be negatively related to lifetime cannabis use but not to frequency and problems of use. Second, lifetime cannabis use was associated with every cannabis effects expectancy and high-order positive and negative effects expectancies. Third, social anxiety was negatively related to perceptual enhancement and craving effect expectancies and positively related to negative behavioral effects expectancies and high-order negative effects expectancies. Fourth, the study showed that relaxation and social facilitation effect expectancies and high-order positive effect expectancies may be considered moderator variables of the relation between lifetime cannabis use and social anxiety. Negative behavioral effects expectancies and high-order negative effects expectancies may be perceived as partial mediating variables.
Conclusion
The present study identified a negative relationship between social anxiety and lifetime cannabis use among adolescents. It also helps define the mechanisms underlying cannabis use initiation. Our data suggest that social anxiety is a potential protective factor for lifetime cannabis use in middle adolescence. Clearly, positive and negative effect expectancies play an important role in this relationship. These results support the importance of cannabis use effect expectancies in preventive programs.
Link to paper: 10.1080/1067828X.2015.1039683
Contact: Emilie Schmits, [email protected]
Website: http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/simple-search?query=emilie+Schmits ; www.psycrim.ulg.ac.be
Emilie Schmits, University of Liège, Belgium
Cécile Mathys, University of Liège, Belgium
Etienne Quertemont, University of Liège, Belgium
Background
Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug among teenagers. Adolescents with social anxiety disorder have greater risk of developing adult cannabis dependence relative to those without this disorder. Cannabis use also appeared to be related to cannabis effect expectancies, and a relationship between social anxiety and cannabis effect expectancies was reported in the literature. However, further studies are required to confirm the role of cannabis effect expectancies in the relationship between social anxiety and cannabis use, especially during adolescence, the period of life during which social anxiety and cannabis use generally emerge.
Method
A questionnaire was administered to 1,343 Belgian teenagers (M=15.7; age range: 14-18; SD=0.88; 49.59% of female). The data proceeded from the first of four waves in a longitudinal study. Several factors were studied: lifetime cannabis use, frequency of use, related problems, effects expectancies, and social anxiety. Linear and logistic regressions were performed to identify expectancies related to social anxiety and cannabis use, and mediation/moderation analyses were carried out.
Results
First, social anxiety was shown to be negatively related to lifetime cannabis use but not to frequency and problems of use. Second, lifetime cannabis use was associated with every cannabis effects expectancy and high-order positive and negative effects expectancies. Third, social anxiety was negatively related to perceptual enhancement and craving effect expectancies and positively related to negative behavioral effects expectancies and high-order negative effects expectancies. Fourth, the study showed that relaxation and social facilitation effect expectancies and high-order positive effect expectancies may be considered moderator variables of the relation between lifetime cannabis use and social anxiety. Negative behavioral effects expectancies and high-order negative effects expectancies may be perceived as partial mediating variables.
Conclusion
The present study identified a negative relationship between social anxiety and lifetime cannabis use among adolescents. It also helps define the mechanisms underlying cannabis use initiation. Our data suggest that social anxiety is a potential protective factor for lifetime cannabis use in middle adolescence. Clearly, positive and negative effect expectancies play an important role in this relationship. These results support the importance of cannabis use effect expectancies in preventive programs.
Link to paper: 10.1080/1067828X.2015.1039683
Contact: Emilie Schmits, [email protected]
Website: http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/simple-search?query=emilie+Schmits ; www.psycrim.ulg.ac.be
DECEMBER 2016
The Longitudinal Examination of the Directional Effects Between Perceived Parental Psychological Control and Adolescents’ Self-Reported Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Lithuania
Goda Kaniušonytė, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Rita Žukauskienė, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Background
It is known that parental rearing practices has effect on children's social, emotional, and behavioral development. One of those practices is parental psychological control (behavior that includes constraining, invalidating, and emotionally manipulating the child). There is strong evidence that parental psychological control is associated with adolescents’ maladjustment, including internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Numerous studies have shown that parents of children and adolescents with internalizing and externalizing problems use more controlling behaviors, however, there is no consensus regarding direction of this effect. Therefore, in the current study we examined a longitudinal cross-lagged model in order to determine whether parental excessive control plays a causal role in the development of adolescents’ problem behavior or vice versa.
Method
In study we used three-wave longitudinal community sample of Lithuanian adolescents. In this study only students who lived with both parents were used (N = 586, Mage T1 = 15.63, 51. 4 % girls). Participants reported on parental (Father and mother separately) psychological control (8-item Psychological Control Scale-Youth Self Report, PCS-YSR, Barber 1996) and internalizing/externalizing problem behaviors (ASEBA Youth Self-Report, YSR 11-18, Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Consistent with the goal of examining reciprocal relations among paternal and maternal psychological control and internalizing and externalizing problems over time, we used cross-lagged analysis.
Results and Conclusion
Results revealed evidence for both parents and adolescent effects with strongest effects for internalizing behaviors to parental psychological control and mothers' psychological control to adolescents' externalizing behaviors. We found significant differences between boys and girls in their problem behaviors and perception of parental psychological control. However, the absence of clear pattern prevents us from assumptions about the importance of parents’ gender separately for boys and girls. No moderation effect of age and socio-economic status was found, indicating that relationship between psychological control and problem behavior is consistent in different age groups and independent of socio-economic status. Overall, the results provide support to a reciprocal model in that adolescents affect parents as much as parents affect adolescents.
Link to paper: https://internationalpsychology.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ipb_summer_2016-7-26.pdf
Contact: [email protected]
Goda Kaniušonytė, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Rita Žukauskienė, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Background
It is known that parental rearing practices has effect on children's social, emotional, and behavioral development. One of those practices is parental psychological control (behavior that includes constraining, invalidating, and emotionally manipulating the child). There is strong evidence that parental psychological control is associated with adolescents’ maladjustment, including internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Numerous studies have shown that parents of children and adolescents with internalizing and externalizing problems use more controlling behaviors, however, there is no consensus regarding direction of this effect. Therefore, in the current study we examined a longitudinal cross-lagged model in order to determine whether parental excessive control plays a causal role in the development of adolescents’ problem behavior or vice versa.
Method
In study we used three-wave longitudinal community sample of Lithuanian adolescents. In this study only students who lived with both parents were used (N = 586, Mage T1 = 15.63, 51. 4 % girls). Participants reported on parental (Father and mother separately) psychological control (8-item Psychological Control Scale-Youth Self Report, PCS-YSR, Barber 1996) and internalizing/externalizing problem behaviors (ASEBA Youth Self-Report, YSR 11-18, Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Consistent with the goal of examining reciprocal relations among paternal and maternal psychological control and internalizing and externalizing problems over time, we used cross-lagged analysis.
Results and Conclusion
Results revealed evidence for both parents and adolescent effects with strongest effects for internalizing behaviors to parental psychological control and mothers' psychological control to adolescents' externalizing behaviors. We found significant differences between boys and girls in their problem behaviors and perception of parental psychological control. However, the absence of clear pattern prevents us from assumptions about the importance of parents’ gender separately for boys and girls. No moderation effect of age and socio-economic status was found, indicating that relationship between psychological control and problem behavior is consistent in different age groups and independent of socio-economic status. Overall, the results provide support to a reciprocal model in that adolescents affect parents as much as parents affect adolescents.
Link to paper: https://internationalpsychology.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ipb_summer_2016-7-26.pdf
Contact: [email protected]
NOVEMBER 2016
Sources of Social Support and Mental Health Among LGB Youth
Ryan J. Watson, University of Connecticut, USA
Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Arnold H. Grossman, New York University, USA
Background
Disparities in psychosocial adjustment have been identified for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth, yet research that explores multiple sources of social support among subgroups of LGB youth is sparse. Most youth receive simultaneous support from several different types of interpersonal relationships. Each type of relationship (e.g., family, friend, teacher, classmate) provides distinct sources of resources and specialized support. We examined whether multiple sources of social support, in the context of perceived importance of that support, were associated with the psychosocial adjustment of LGB youth, and whether there were differences across sex and sexual identities. We measured both the importance and presence of sources of social support for LGB male and females.
Method
Participants were 835 self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, and/or youth with same-sex attraction in three major cities in the Northeast, Southwest, and on the West Coast of the United States. Youth were recruited from community-based agencies and college groups by snowball sampling. The data came from the first of four waves in a longitudinal panel study of the risk and protective factors of suicide among sexual minority youth. We measured depression using the 20-item Beck Depression Inventory and self-esteem using 10 items of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. In addition, we measured parent, close friend, teacher, and classmate support using the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale.
Results
For gay male youth, only parent support was associated with less depression. Parent and close friend support were associated with higher self-esteem for gay youth. Parent, classmate, and close friend support were related to less depression for lesbian youth, but no support sources were associated with self-esteem for lesbian youth. Among bisexual youth, parent support was associated with less depression and higher self-esteem for males. For bisexual females, close friend support was associated with less depression, and parent support was associated with higher self-esteem.
Conclusion
This study contributes a deeper understanding of psychosocial adjustment and the role of social support for sexual minorities by elucidating different patterns of support for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Not all sources of social support were equally important for LGB youths’ psychosocial adjustment; instead, support sources operated differently among sexual minority subgroups, which suggests that there is no monolithic approach to dealing with LGB adolescents’ adjustment at home and school.
Link to paper: http://yas.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/07/19/0044118X16660110.abstract
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://familystudies.uconn.edu/ryan-watson/
Ryan J. Watson, University of Connecticut, USA
Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Arnold H. Grossman, New York University, USA
Background
Disparities in psychosocial adjustment have been identified for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth, yet research that explores multiple sources of social support among subgroups of LGB youth is sparse. Most youth receive simultaneous support from several different types of interpersonal relationships. Each type of relationship (e.g., family, friend, teacher, classmate) provides distinct sources of resources and specialized support. We examined whether multiple sources of social support, in the context of perceived importance of that support, were associated with the psychosocial adjustment of LGB youth, and whether there were differences across sex and sexual identities. We measured both the importance and presence of sources of social support for LGB male and females.
Method
Participants were 835 self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, and/or youth with same-sex attraction in three major cities in the Northeast, Southwest, and on the West Coast of the United States. Youth were recruited from community-based agencies and college groups by snowball sampling. The data came from the first of four waves in a longitudinal panel study of the risk and protective factors of suicide among sexual minority youth. We measured depression using the 20-item Beck Depression Inventory and self-esteem using 10 items of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. In addition, we measured parent, close friend, teacher, and classmate support using the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale.
Results
For gay male youth, only parent support was associated with less depression. Parent and close friend support were associated with higher self-esteem for gay youth. Parent, classmate, and close friend support were related to less depression for lesbian youth, but no support sources were associated with self-esteem for lesbian youth. Among bisexual youth, parent support was associated with less depression and higher self-esteem for males. For bisexual females, close friend support was associated with less depression, and parent support was associated with higher self-esteem.
Conclusion
This study contributes a deeper understanding of psychosocial adjustment and the role of social support for sexual minorities by elucidating different patterns of support for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Not all sources of social support were equally important for LGB youths’ psychosocial adjustment; instead, support sources operated differently among sexual minority subgroups, which suggests that there is no monolithic approach to dealing with LGB adolescents’ adjustment at home and school.
Link to paper: http://yas.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/07/19/0044118X16660110.abstract
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://familystudies.uconn.edu/ryan-watson/
October 2016
Adolescents’ Loneliness and Depression Associated with Friendship Experiences and Well-Being: A Person-Centered Approach
Annette W. M. Spithoven, KU Leuven, Belgium
Gerine M. A. Lodder, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Luc Goossens, KU Leuven, Belgium
Patricia Bijttebier, KU Leuven, Belgium
Margot Bastin, KU Leuven, Belgium
Maaike Verhagen, Radboud University, The Netherlands
Ron H. J. Scholte, Radboud University, The Netherlands; Praktikon, The Netherlands
Background
It is often suggested that loneliness and depression are distinct, but partly overlapping constructs. More specifically, even though loneliness and depression are highly correlated, they are differentially related to other constructs, such as personality and suicidal ideation, have different developmental trajectories and have different presumed gender differences. Yet, it remains unclear whether and how loneliness and depression are coupled within individuals or whether one might experience either loneliness or depression. The current study examined whether loneliness and depression clusters could be identified in adolescents and whether these patterns were differentially related to friendship experiences and well-being. In order to check the robustness of the identified clusters, we used two samples to conduct the cluster analysis on.
Method
In two samples, 417 and 1,140 adolescents (48.40% and 48.68% male, respectively) reported on loneliness and depression. On average the adolescents, in the respective samples, were 12.47 (SD = 1.89) and 12.81 (SD = 0.42) years old. In Sample 2, participants also completed measures of happiness, self-esteem, friendship quantity and quality.
Results
Cluster analysis revealed four clusters. In the first cluster (70.74% and 78.51%) adolescents scored low on both the loneliness and depression (common cluster). The second cluster (15.59% and 4.82%) consisted of adolescents who scored high on depression, but relatively low on loneliness (predominantly depressed cluster). Adolescents in the third cluster (13.07 and 9.11%) scored high on loneliness, but scored relatively low on depression (predominantly lonely cluster). Adolescents in the fourth cluster (4.56% and 3.60%) scored high on both the loneliness and depression measures (co-occurrence cluster). Adolescents in the common cluster had the highest friendship quality, happiness, and self-esteem scores. Adolescents in de predominantly depressed cluster experienced low happiness and self-esteem, but they did not have lower friendship quantity or quality in comparison to the common cluster. Adolescents in the predominantly lonely cluster had lower friendship quantity and quality as well as lower self-esteem compared to the common cluster. Adolescents in the co-occurrence cluster had the lowest friendship quantity and quality as well as lowest happiness and self-esteem in comparison to all other clusters.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that loneliness and depression present themselves, more often than not, independently of each other within individuals. However, if adolescents are high on loneliness and depression, they have the lowest adjustment. The current study stresses the importance of assessing both loneliness and depressive symptoms, as their mutual relation within individuals is differentially related to other constructs of adjustment.
Link to paper: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-016-0478-2
Contact: Annette Spithoven, [email protected]
Website: https://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/soka/SOKA/00099493
Annette W. M. Spithoven, KU Leuven, Belgium
Gerine M. A. Lodder, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Luc Goossens, KU Leuven, Belgium
Patricia Bijttebier, KU Leuven, Belgium
Margot Bastin, KU Leuven, Belgium
Maaike Verhagen, Radboud University, The Netherlands
Ron H. J. Scholte, Radboud University, The Netherlands; Praktikon, The Netherlands
Background
It is often suggested that loneliness and depression are distinct, but partly overlapping constructs. More specifically, even though loneliness and depression are highly correlated, they are differentially related to other constructs, such as personality and suicidal ideation, have different developmental trajectories and have different presumed gender differences. Yet, it remains unclear whether and how loneliness and depression are coupled within individuals or whether one might experience either loneliness or depression. The current study examined whether loneliness and depression clusters could be identified in adolescents and whether these patterns were differentially related to friendship experiences and well-being. In order to check the robustness of the identified clusters, we used two samples to conduct the cluster analysis on.
Method
In two samples, 417 and 1,140 adolescents (48.40% and 48.68% male, respectively) reported on loneliness and depression. On average the adolescents, in the respective samples, were 12.47 (SD = 1.89) and 12.81 (SD = 0.42) years old. In Sample 2, participants also completed measures of happiness, self-esteem, friendship quantity and quality.
Results
Cluster analysis revealed four clusters. In the first cluster (70.74% and 78.51%) adolescents scored low on both the loneliness and depression (common cluster). The second cluster (15.59% and 4.82%) consisted of adolescents who scored high on depression, but relatively low on loneliness (predominantly depressed cluster). Adolescents in the third cluster (13.07 and 9.11%) scored high on loneliness, but scored relatively low on depression (predominantly lonely cluster). Adolescents in the fourth cluster (4.56% and 3.60%) scored high on both the loneliness and depression measures (co-occurrence cluster). Adolescents in the common cluster had the highest friendship quality, happiness, and self-esteem scores. Adolescents in de predominantly depressed cluster experienced low happiness and self-esteem, but they did not have lower friendship quantity or quality in comparison to the common cluster. Adolescents in the predominantly lonely cluster had lower friendship quantity and quality as well as lower self-esteem compared to the common cluster. Adolescents in the co-occurrence cluster had the lowest friendship quantity and quality as well as lowest happiness and self-esteem in comparison to all other clusters.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that loneliness and depression present themselves, more often than not, independently of each other within individuals. However, if adolescents are high on loneliness and depression, they have the lowest adjustment. The current study stresses the importance of assessing both loneliness and depressive symptoms, as their mutual relation within individuals is differentially related to other constructs of adjustment.
Link to paper: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-016-0478-2
Contact: Annette Spithoven, [email protected]
Website: https://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/soka/SOKA/00099493
July 2016
Discrepancies between Perceptions of the Parent-Adolescent Relationship and Early
Adolescent Depressive Symptoms
Stefanie A. Nelemans, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and KU Leuven, Belgium;
Susan Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Bill Hale, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Luc Goossens, KU Leuven, Belgium;
Hans Koot, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Tineke Oldehinkel, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Background
Adolescence is a critical period for the development of depressive symptoms and lower quality of the parent-adolescent relationship has been consistently associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms. However, adolescents and their parents often differ in their views of the parent-adolescent relationship, especially in early adolescence. For example, adolescents tend to perceive the parent-adolescent relationship more negatively than their parents do. Such discrepancies between adolescents and parents in their perception of the parent-adolescent relationship may be particularly important to consider as a risk for the development of adolescent depressive symptoms. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to examine how discrepancies in adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of the parent-adolescent relationship were associated with early adolescent depressive symptoms, both concurrently and longitudinally over a 1-year period.
Methods
Participants in this two-wave longitudinal community study were 497 adolescents (57% boys, Mage T1 = 13.03 years) and both parents, who all completed several questionnaires on two occasions with a 1-year interval. Adolescents reported on their depressive symptoms and all informants (i.e., adolescents, mothers, and fathers) reported on quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. Data are part of the young cohort of the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR) study. For our statistical analyses, we followed recent recommendations (Laird & De Los Reyes, 2013; see also Edwards, 1994, 2002) to use polynomial regression analysis including tests of moderation between perceptions of different informants rather than difference scores. Using interaction terms in regression analysis, we tested whether associations between adolescent-perceived quality of the parent-adolescent relationship and early adolescent depressive symptoms varied as a function of higher (or lower) mother/father-perceived quality of the parent-adolescent relationship.
Results and Conclusion
Results suggested the highest levels of concurrent early adolescent depressive symptoms when both mothers and adolescents reported low mother-adolescent relationship quality (i.e., a correspondence effect), but also when adolescents reported low father-adolescent relationship quality and fathers reported high father-adolescent relationship quality (i.e., a discrepancy effect). However, parent-adolescent correspondence or discrepancies were not significantly associated with changes in early adolescent depressive symptoms over a 1-year period, suggesting that associations appear to be more short-term than long-term. Altogether, the pattern of findings in our study suggest that using a more sophisticated methodology like polynomial regression analysis, rather than difference score analyses, can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of risk factors (in the parent-adolescent relationship) for early adolescent depressive symptoms.
Link to paper: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0503-5
Contact: Stefanie Nelemans, [email protected]
Website: http://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/SANelemans and https://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/soka/SOKA/00107690
Adolescent Depressive Symptoms
Stefanie A. Nelemans, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and KU Leuven, Belgium;
Susan Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Bill Hale, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Luc Goossens, KU Leuven, Belgium;
Hans Koot, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Tineke Oldehinkel, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Background
Adolescence is a critical period for the development of depressive symptoms and lower quality of the parent-adolescent relationship has been consistently associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms. However, adolescents and their parents often differ in their views of the parent-adolescent relationship, especially in early adolescence. For example, adolescents tend to perceive the parent-adolescent relationship more negatively than their parents do. Such discrepancies between adolescents and parents in their perception of the parent-adolescent relationship may be particularly important to consider as a risk for the development of adolescent depressive symptoms. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to examine how discrepancies in adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of the parent-adolescent relationship were associated with early adolescent depressive symptoms, both concurrently and longitudinally over a 1-year period.
Methods
Participants in this two-wave longitudinal community study were 497 adolescents (57% boys, Mage T1 = 13.03 years) and both parents, who all completed several questionnaires on two occasions with a 1-year interval. Adolescents reported on their depressive symptoms and all informants (i.e., adolescents, mothers, and fathers) reported on quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. Data are part of the young cohort of the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR) study. For our statistical analyses, we followed recent recommendations (Laird & De Los Reyes, 2013; see also Edwards, 1994, 2002) to use polynomial regression analysis including tests of moderation between perceptions of different informants rather than difference scores. Using interaction terms in regression analysis, we tested whether associations between adolescent-perceived quality of the parent-adolescent relationship and early adolescent depressive symptoms varied as a function of higher (or lower) mother/father-perceived quality of the parent-adolescent relationship.
Results and Conclusion
Results suggested the highest levels of concurrent early adolescent depressive symptoms when both mothers and adolescents reported low mother-adolescent relationship quality (i.e., a correspondence effect), but also when adolescents reported low father-adolescent relationship quality and fathers reported high father-adolescent relationship quality (i.e., a discrepancy effect). However, parent-adolescent correspondence or discrepancies were not significantly associated with changes in early adolescent depressive symptoms over a 1-year period, suggesting that associations appear to be more short-term than long-term. Altogether, the pattern of findings in our study suggest that using a more sophisticated methodology like polynomial regression analysis, rather than difference score analyses, can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of risk factors (in the parent-adolescent relationship) for early adolescent depressive symptoms.
Link to paper: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0503-5
Contact: Stefanie Nelemans, [email protected]
Website: http://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/SANelemans and https://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/soka/SOKA/00107690
may 2016
Assessment of Identity During Adolescence Using Daily Diary Methods: Measurement Invariance Across Time and Sex
By: Andrik I. Becht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Susan Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Wilma Vollebergh, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Dominique Maciejewski, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Pol van Lier, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Hans Koot, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Jaap Denissen, Tilburg University, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Background
Establishing a firm identity is one of the key developmental tasks in adolescence (Erikson, 1968). It has been increasingly suggested to study identity processes on the short-term, in order to advance our knowledge on how short-term identity formation unfolds in adolescence (Lichtwarck-Aschoff et al., 2008). Following this suggestion, studies have started using daily diary methods to study identity development in adolescence. However, for valid comparisons of identity scores over time or across sex, it is important to assess whether these daily reports assess the same construct over time as well as across boys and girls. That is, such daily diary reports must show measurement invariance, implying that they measure an identical construct across time and groups (van de Schoot, Lugtig, & Hox, 2012). Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess measurement invariance of adolescents’ daily identity reports across time (i.e., from early to late adolescence) and across sex.
Methods
Dutch adolescents (N = 494; Mage = 13.32 years at T1, 56.7% male) from the general population reported on their identity commitments, exploration in depth, and reconsideration on a daily basis for a week every four months, across 5 successive years. We used the single-item version of the Utrecht Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS; Klimstra et al., 2010), a measure of identity formation processes covering both the interpersonal and educational identity domains. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study tested configural invariance (i.e., equal pattern of factors across time and sex), metric invariance (i.e., equal factor loadings across time and sex), scalar invariance (i.e., equal item intercepts across time and sex) and strict invariance (i.e., equal item residual variances across time and sex). These tests for measurement invariance were conducted across days within weeks, across sex, across weeks within years, and across years.
Results & Conclusion
Findings based on the CFAs indicated that daily identity reports showed configural, metric, scalar and strict measurement invariance (1) across days within weeks; (2) across days within weeks for boys and girls; (3) across weeks within years; (4) and across 5 years in both the educational and interpersonal identity domains. Our findings that daily diary methods consistently show measurement invariance across various time intervals (i.e., from days to years) and across sex suggests that daily diary reports of identity formation processes can be used to measure identity across adolescence as well as across boys and girls.
Link to paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000204
Contact: Andrik Becht ([email protected]),
Website: http://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/AIBecht/0
By: Andrik I. Becht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Susan Branje, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Wilma Vollebergh, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Dominique Maciejewski, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Pol van Lier, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Hans Koot, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Jaap Denissen, Tilburg University, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Background
Establishing a firm identity is one of the key developmental tasks in adolescence (Erikson, 1968). It has been increasingly suggested to study identity processes on the short-term, in order to advance our knowledge on how short-term identity formation unfolds in adolescence (Lichtwarck-Aschoff et al., 2008). Following this suggestion, studies have started using daily diary methods to study identity development in adolescence. However, for valid comparisons of identity scores over time or across sex, it is important to assess whether these daily reports assess the same construct over time as well as across boys and girls. That is, such daily diary reports must show measurement invariance, implying that they measure an identical construct across time and groups (van de Schoot, Lugtig, & Hox, 2012). Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess measurement invariance of adolescents’ daily identity reports across time (i.e., from early to late adolescence) and across sex.
Methods
Dutch adolescents (N = 494; Mage = 13.32 years at T1, 56.7% male) from the general population reported on their identity commitments, exploration in depth, and reconsideration on a daily basis for a week every four months, across 5 successive years. We used the single-item version of the Utrecht Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS; Klimstra et al., 2010), a measure of identity formation processes covering both the interpersonal and educational identity domains. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study tested configural invariance (i.e., equal pattern of factors across time and sex), metric invariance (i.e., equal factor loadings across time and sex), scalar invariance (i.e., equal item intercepts across time and sex) and strict invariance (i.e., equal item residual variances across time and sex). These tests for measurement invariance were conducted across days within weeks, across sex, across weeks within years, and across years.
Results & Conclusion
Findings based on the CFAs indicated that daily identity reports showed configural, metric, scalar and strict measurement invariance (1) across days within weeks; (2) across days within weeks for boys and girls; (3) across weeks within years; (4) and across 5 years in both the educational and interpersonal identity domains. Our findings that daily diary methods consistently show measurement invariance across various time intervals (i.e., from days to years) and across sex suggests that daily diary reports of identity formation processes can be used to measure identity across adolescence as well as across boys and girls.
Link to paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000204
Contact: Andrik Becht ([email protected]),
Website: http://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/AIBecht/0
April 2016
Me, Myself, and Mobility:
The Relevance of Region for Young Adults’ Identity Development
By:
Elisabeth Schubach, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Julia Zimmermann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Franz J. Neyer, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Background
With the rise of globalization and a vastly increased availability of communication possibilities, residential mobility—the change of residence—has become a main characteristic of everyday life in most Western cultures (Oishi, 2010). Therefore, accomplishing developmental tasks in various life domains is not any longer tied to one’s local living quarters, but is increasingly calling for a widespread geographical surrounding. This further suggests that individuals are forced to address questions concerning their geographical placement, especially in times of developmental transitions. As a result, region, the living environment of individuals’ everyday lives, represents a striking domain of identity development (Schubach, Zimmermann, Noack, & Neyer, in press). In view of the recurring need for maintaining and revising regional identity throughout the lifespan, we incorporated regional identity into existing developmental identity concepts (Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008).
Design and Research Questions
Using the longitudinal KOMPASS Study on Career Trajectories and Individual Development of German Post-Secondary Graduates (KOMPASS), we had a prospective design comparing 1,795 individuals (71% female, mean age of 24.54 years) who relocated and others who stayed--movers and non-movers, respectively.
The present study pursued to major goals: We first aimed to test whether region is a relevant identity domain and therefore investigated the pattern of regional identity statuses. We second wanted to clarify the adaptive development of regional identity. To do so, we investigated meaningful associations with personality traits and life satisfaction. In addition, to explore how and why regional identity changes, we studied the stability of regional identity statuses across time, analyzing transitions between statuses and examining the impact of a life transition on identity development.
Results and Discussion
First, four regional identity statuses emerged—moratorium, searching moratorium, closure, and achievement. This pattern is similar to previous results on job identity statuses (Crocetti et al., 2014). The absence of a fifth status (i.e., diffusion) points to the salience of region as a core domain of identity. Second, the emergent statuses showed meaningful associations with personality traits and life satisfaction. These associations illustrate the adaptive function of regional identity as a more established regional identity coincided with higher life satisfaction and higher scores on personality traits related with maturity (Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). This further implies that regional identity shows as similar developmental trajectory as other identity domains (Crocetti, Schwartz, Fermani, Klimstra, & Meeus, 2012; Luyckx et al., 2014). Third, the stability of identity status membership across a period of six months was highest for the non-movers group. Comparatively less stability across time was found for the movers, underscoring the relevance of transitions for identity development.
Conclusion
We conclude that in a mobile world the placing of the self in geographical spaces, and thus, regional identity, matters. This is due to sociocultural changes that have made it necessary for individuals to fulfill their developmental tasks in a broader geographical context. This study is also, to the best of our knowledge, the first to link life transitions to identity status transitions. We hope that future research will continue to explore the trajectories of regional identity.
Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/per.2048/abstract
Contact: Elisabeth Schubach ([email protected]), http://www.psychologie.uni-jena.de/en/Departments/Personality+Psychology+_+Psychological+Diagnostics/staff/Elisabeth+Schubach.html
The Relevance of Region for Young Adults’ Identity Development
By:
Elisabeth Schubach, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Julia Zimmermann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Franz J. Neyer, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Background
With the rise of globalization and a vastly increased availability of communication possibilities, residential mobility—the change of residence—has become a main characteristic of everyday life in most Western cultures (Oishi, 2010). Therefore, accomplishing developmental tasks in various life domains is not any longer tied to one’s local living quarters, but is increasingly calling for a widespread geographical surrounding. This further suggests that individuals are forced to address questions concerning their geographical placement, especially in times of developmental transitions. As a result, region, the living environment of individuals’ everyday lives, represents a striking domain of identity development (Schubach, Zimmermann, Noack, & Neyer, in press). In view of the recurring need for maintaining and revising regional identity throughout the lifespan, we incorporated regional identity into existing developmental identity concepts (Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008).
Design and Research Questions
Using the longitudinal KOMPASS Study on Career Trajectories and Individual Development of German Post-Secondary Graduates (KOMPASS), we had a prospective design comparing 1,795 individuals (71% female, mean age of 24.54 years) who relocated and others who stayed--movers and non-movers, respectively.
The present study pursued to major goals: We first aimed to test whether region is a relevant identity domain and therefore investigated the pattern of regional identity statuses. We second wanted to clarify the adaptive development of regional identity. To do so, we investigated meaningful associations with personality traits and life satisfaction. In addition, to explore how and why regional identity changes, we studied the stability of regional identity statuses across time, analyzing transitions between statuses and examining the impact of a life transition on identity development.
Results and Discussion
First, four regional identity statuses emerged—moratorium, searching moratorium, closure, and achievement. This pattern is similar to previous results on job identity statuses (Crocetti et al., 2014). The absence of a fifth status (i.e., diffusion) points to the salience of region as a core domain of identity. Second, the emergent statuses showed meaningful associations with personality traits and life satisfaction. These associations illustrate the adaptive function of regional identity as a more established regional identity coincided with higher life satisfaction and higher scores on personality traits related with maturity (Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). This further implies that regional identity shows as similar developmental trajectory as other identity domains (Crocetti, Schwartz, Fermani, Klimstra, & Meeus, 2012; Luyckx et al., 2014). Third, the stability of identity status membership across a period of six months was highest for the non-movers group. Comparatively less stability across time was found for the movers, underscoring the relevance of transitions for identity development.
Conclusion
We conclude that in a mobile world the placing of the self in geographical spaces, and thus, regional identity, matters. This is due to sociocultural changes that have made it necessary for individuals to fulfill their developmental tasks in a broader geographical context. This study is also, to the best of our knowledge, the first to link life transitions to identity status transitions. We hope that future research will continue to explore the trajectories of regional identity.
Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/per.2048/abstract
Contact: Elisabeth Schubach ([email protected]), http://www.psychologie.uni-jena.de/en/Departments/Personality+Psychology+_+Psychological+Diagnostics/staff/Elisabeth+Schubach.html
March 2016
On the Interplay between Academic Achievement and Educational Identity:
A Longitudinal Study
By: Eleonora Ioana Pop, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Oana Negru-Subtirica, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Elisabetta Crocetti, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Adrian Opre, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, the Netherlands
In adolescence, the construction of a synthesized sense of identity becomes a prominent developmental task with important implications for personal and social adjustment (Erikson, 1968). As adolescents spend most of their time in school settings and learning activities, it raises the question: What role academic achievement plays in identity development? Some studies (e.g., Leary, 2005) supported the idea that academic achievement represents the gauge of students’ success or failure, which might foster or threaten adolescents’ social acceptance and implicitly strengthen or weaken their educational identity (Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006). Other studies highlighted that a strong educational commitment enhance students’ motivation, which in turn might lead to improvements in academic achievement (Oyserman & Destin, 2010; Roeser, Peck, & Nasir, 2012).
Using a longitudinal design with three measurement points spaced 3-to-4 months apart, in the present study we first analyzed the developmental patterns of educational identity (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment; Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008) and academic achievement (i.e., GPA, Grade Point Average). Then, we examined the directionality of effects between these two constructs: Does GPA drive relative changes in identity or is it the other way around?
The longitudinal sample consisted of 1,151 adolescents (58.7% female) recruited at seven theoretical and vocational schools (Grades 8-12), with a mean age of 16.45 years at Time 1. The total sample was divided into an early-to-middle adolescent cohort (n = 462, M age = 15.04, SD age = 0.62, age range = 13-15 years) and a middle-to-late adolescent cohort (n = 689, M age = 17.39, SD age = 0.89, age range = 16-19 years).
Findings revealed that adolescents started the academic year with positive identity configurations (i.e., high levels of commitment and in-depth exploration, and low levels of reconsideration of commitment) and relatively high levels of academic achievement. However, by the end of the academic year adolescents registered slightly increases of identity uncertainty/ confusion and decreases of academic achievement levels, especially boys and students from vocational schools. Findings also pointed out that academic achievement predicts the manner in which adolescents deal with their identity issues in the academic context and not the other way around. Thus, high academic achievement leads to high levels of educational commitment (identity synthesis), while low academic achievement leads to high levels of reconsideration of educational commitment (identity confusion). With one exception (i.e., educational commitment at Time 2 was found to be a positive and significant predictor for GPA at Time 3 for boys (β= .05, p<.05), but not for girls), this unidirectional pattern of effects applied equally to adolescent boys and girls, early-to-middle and middle-to-late adolescents, and to adolescents attending theoretical and vocational schools.
In conclusion, the present study revealed that in academic context commitment and in-depth exploration represent the bright side of identity development, while reconsideration of commitment represents the dark side. Thus, according to our findings, developing a healthy educational identity in adolescence implies choosing and strengthening educational commitments through high academic achievement levels.
Link to the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197115002754
Contact information: Eleonora Ioana Pop, [email protected]
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eleonora_Pop
A Longitudinal Study
By: Eleonora Ioana Pop, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Oana Negru-Subtirica, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Elisabetta Crocetti, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Adrian Opre, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Wim Meeus, Utrecht University and Tilburg University, the Netherlands
In adolescence, the construction of a synthesized sense of identity becomes a prominent developmental task with important implications for personal and social adjustment (Erikson, 1968). As adolescents spend most of their time in school settings and learning activities, it raises the question: What role academic achievement plays in identity development? Some studies (e.g., Leary, 2005) supported the idea that academic achievement represents the gauge of students’ success or failure, which might foster or threaten adolescents’ social acceptance and implicitly strengthen or weaken their educational identity (Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006). Other studies highlighted that a strong educational commitment enhance students’ motivation, which in turn might lead to improvements in academic achievement (Oyserman & Destin, 2010; Roeser, Peck, & Nasir, 2012).
Using a longitudinal design with three measurement points spaced 3-to-4 months apart, in the present study we first analyzed the developmental patterns of educational identity (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment; Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008) and academic achievement (i.e., GPA, Grade Point Average). Then, we examined the directionality of effects between these two constructs: Does GPA drive relative changes in identity or is it the other way around?
The longitudinal sample consisted of 1,151 adolescents (58.7% female) recruited at seven theoretical and vocational schools (Grades 8-12), with a mean age of 16.45 years at Time 1. The total sample was divided into an early-to-middle adolescent cohort (n = 462, M age = 15.04, SD age = 0.62, age range = 13-15 years) and a middle-to-late adolescent cohort (n = 689, M age = 17.39, SD age = 0.89, age range = 16-19 years).
Findings revealed that adolescents started the academic year with positive identity configurations (i.e., high levels of commitment and in-depth exploration, and low levels of reconsideration of commitment) and relatively high levels of academic achievement. However, by the end of the academic year adolescents registered slightly increases of identity uncertainty/ confusion and decreases of academic achievement levels, especially boys and students from vocational schools. Findings also pointed out that academic achievement predicts the manner in which adolescents deal with their identity issues in the academic context and not the other way around. Thus, high academic achievement leads to high levels of educational commitment (identity synthesis), while low academic achievement leads to high levels of reconsideration of educational commitment (identity confusion). With one exception (i.e., educational commitment at Time 2 was found to be a positive and significant predictor for GPA at Time 3 for boys (β= .05, p<.05), but not for girls), this unidirectional pattern of effects applied equally to adolescent boys and girls, early-to-middle and middle-to-late adolescents, and to adolescents attending theoretical and vocational schools.
In conclusion, the present study revealed that in academic context commitment and in-depth exploration represent the bright side of identity development, while reconsideration of commitment represents the dark side. Thus, according to our findings, developing a healthy educational identity in adolescence implies choosing and strengthening educational commitments through high academic achievement levels.
Link to the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197115002754
Contact information: Eleonora Ioana Pop, [email protected]
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eleonora_Pop
February 2016
Life on Hold: Staying in Identity Diffusion in the Late Twenties
By: Johanna Carlsson, Maria Wängqvist, & Ann Frisén
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Experience of a long-term identity crisis has been suggested to result in symptoms of identity diffusion, such as lethargy and intimacy problems (Erikson, 1968). This study explored this issue in detail, by investigating what it means to experience identity diffusion across time. The investigations were guided by three research questions:
The study is based on the eighth and ninth wave of GoLD (Gothenburg Longitudinal study of Development; Lamb et al., 1988) when participants were approximately 25 (M = 24.9, SD = 0.7) and 29 (M = 29.3, SD = 0.6) years old. A total of 124 (63 women) participants took part in both these waves. This study involved an in-depth investigation of the seven participants (all male) who were assigned to identity diffusion at both ages 25 and 29 (Carlsson, Wängqvist, & Frisén, 2015), based on Identity Status Interviews (Marcia et al., 1993; Frisén & Wängqvist, 2011).
Change and stability in participants’ identity narratives were examined through Identity Status Interviews. The interview narratives were analyzed in three steps: (1) The participants were treated as singular case studies, in which differences and similarities between their interview narrative from ages 25 and 29 were summarized for each participant separately. (2) The seven case summaries were analyzed with thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). A combination of inductive and deductive approaches was used. The deductive parts were based on a model derived from previous analyses of individuals assigned to the same identity status, with established commitments, at both ages 25 and 29 (Carlsson et al., 2015). (3) The final step was to make sure that the thematic model (developed in Step 2) represented the data, and to determine individual patterns across the model. First, a coding scheme was developed based on the model. Then, the seven case summaries were coded according to this coding scheme.
At both ages 25 and 29 experiences of identity distress was measured with the Identity Distress Survey (IDS; Berman, Montgomery, & Kurtines, 2004). At age 25, psychological symptoms were measured with the SCL-90. At age 29, a short version of the same measure, BSI-18, was used.
Results
The longitudinal analysis of the identity narratives showed that long-term experiences of identity diffusion may be described through a model including three dimensional themes: (1) Individuals’ approach to changing life conditions, spanning from decreased activity and lack of initiative in relation to changing life conditions to increased haphazard activity in relation to changing life condition (without desire to make commitments); (2) The extent to which individuals engage in meaning making, spanning from decrease in elements of meaning making to substantial increase in elements of meaning making; And (3) how individuals develop their personal life direction, spanning from dissolving of personal life direction to further development of personal life direction.
Participants’ individual patterns across the model showed that most approached changing life conditions either with decreased activity or increased haphazard activity, unwilling or unable to explore alternatives or make identity commitments. Most of them also showed no or little increase in meaning making and either no change in or a dissolving of their development of personal life direction. Two participants differed from this general trend: One by showing little change in the identity narrative between the interview occasions (i.e., his case summary was consistently coded to the middle of the model), and one by showing some signs of identity development (i.e. substantial increase in meaning making and further development of personal life direction), but still this participant approached changing life conditions with increased haphazard activity.
Participants generally reported few signs of psychological distress. They reported low levels of identity distress, but sometimes specific identity issues were rated higher. Most participants also reported normative levels of psychological symptoms at both interview occasions (within one standard division of the Swedish norm mean value for the SCL-90), with a tendency toward less severe symptoms than normative at age 29.
Conclusion
This study furthers the understanding of the dark side of identity development by showing how experiences of identity diffusion may change across time. Although no participants reported severe levels of psychological distress, qualitative analyses showed a general trend among participants to keep commitments on hold through decreased activity or increased haphazard activity in relation to changing life conditions, to make little new meaning, and in some cases to dissolve their personal life direction. Thus, this in-depth investigation of long-term identity diffusion suggests that individuals who appear ‘carefree diffused’ (e.g., Luyckx et al., 2005), in terms of psychological distress, may still become increasingly disengaged with time.
Access to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197115002560
Contact information: Johanna Carlsson, [email protected]
By: Johanna Carlsson, Maria Wängqvist, & Ann Frisén
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Experience of a long-term identity crisis has been suggested to result in symptoms of identity diffusion, such as lethargy and intimacy problems (Erikson, 1968). This study explored this issue in detail, by investigating what it means to experience identity diffusion across time. The investigations were guided by three research questions:
- How do identity narratives from individuals assigned to identity diffusion at both ages 25 and 29 change and remain stable over time?
- What do individual patterns of narrative change and stability reveal about experiences of identity diffusion in the late twenties?
- Do individuals who are assigned to identity diffusion at both ages 25 and 29 report identity distress or psychological symptoms at either age?
The study is based on the eighth and ninth wave of GoLD (Gothenburg Longitudinal study of Development; Lamb et al., 1988) when participants were approximately 25 (M = 24.9, SD = 0.7) and 29 (M = 29.3, SD = 0.6) years old. A total of 124 (63 women) participants took part in both these waves. This study involved an in-depth investigation of the seven participants (all male) who were assigned to identity diffusion at both ages 25 and 29 (Carlsson, Wängqvist, & Frisén, 2015), based on Identity Status Interviews (Marcia et al., 1993; Frisén & Wängqvist, 2011).
Change and stability in participants’ identity narratives were examined through Identity Status Interviews. The interview narratives were analyzed in three steps: (1) The participants were treated as singular case studies, in which differences and similarities between their interview narrative from ages 25 and 29 were summarized for each participant separately. (2) The seven case summaries were analyzed with thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). A combination of inductive and deductive approaches was used. The deductive parts were based on a model derived from previous analyses of individuals assigned to the same identity status, with established commitments, at both ages 25 and 29 (Carlsson et al., 2015). (3) The final step was to make sure that the thematic model (developed in Step 2) represented the data, and to determine individual patterns across the model. First, a coding scheme was developed based on the model. Then, the seven case summaries were coded according to this coding scheme.
At both ages 25 and 29 experiences of identity distress was measured with the Identity Distress Survey (IDS; Berman, Montgomery, & Kurtines, 2004). At age 25, psychological symptoms were measured with the SCL-90. At age 29, a short version of the same measure, BSI-18, was used.
Results
The longitudinal analysis of the identity narratives showed that long-term experiences of identity diffusion may be described through a model including three dimensional themes: (1) Individuals’ approach to changing life conditions, spanning from decreased activity and lack of initiative in relation to changing life conditions to increased haphazard activity in relation to changing life condition (without desire to make commitments); (2) The extent to which individuals engage in meaning making, spanning from decrease in elements of meaning making to substantial increase in elements of meaning making; And (3) how individuals develop their personal life direction, spanning from dissolving of personal life direction to further development of personal life direction.
Participants’ individual patterns across the model showed that most approached changing life conditions either with decreased activity or increased haphazard activity, unwilling or unable to explore alternatives or make identity commitments. Most of them also showed no or little increase in meaning making and either no change in or a dissolving of their development of personal life direction. Two participants differed from this general trend: One by showing little change in the identity narrative between the interview occasions (i.e., his case summary was consistently coded to the middle of the model), and one by showing some signs of identity development (i.e. substantial increase in meaning making and further development of personal life direction), but still this participant approached changing life conditions with increased haphazard activity.
Participants generally reported few signs of psychological distress. They reported low levels of identity distress, but sometimes specific identity issues were rated higher. Most participants also reported normative levels of psychological symptoms at both interview occasions (within one standard division of the Swedish norm mean value for the SCL-90), with a tendency toward less severe symptoms than normative at age 29.
Conclusion
This study furthers the understanding of the dark side of identity development by showing how experiences of identity diffusion may change across time. Although no participants reported severe levels of psychological distress, qualitative analyses showed a general trend among participants to keep commitments on hold through decreased activity or increased haphazard activity in relation to changing life conditions, to make little new meaning, and in some cases to dissolve their personal life direction. Thus, this in-depth investigation of long-term identity diffusion suggests that individuals who appear ‘carefree diffused’ (e.g., Luyckx et al., 2005), in terms of psychological distress, may still become increasingly disengaged with time.
Access to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197115002560
Contact information: Johanna Carlsson, [email protected]
January 2016
Looking at the Dark and Bright Sides of Identity Formation: New Insights from Adolescents and Emerging Adults in Japan
by Kai Hatano (Osaka Prefecture University, Japan)
Kazumi Sugimura (Hiroshima University, Japan) &
Elisabetta Crocetti (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
Background
Meeus, Crocetti, and colleagues proposed a process identity model that comprises three identity dimensions, namely, commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. This model was validated across a variety of cross-cultural samples, as well as across gender, age, and ethnic groups from the same cultural context. In addition, each of the three identity processes was found to be associated with a specific set of personality traits (i.e., Big Five) and psychosocial problems (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors). Furthermore, this model can be used to classify individuals into five identity statuses (i.e., achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, diffusion, and searching moratorium), by means of empirically based methods of classification. However, previous studies have mostly been done with young people in North American and European nations, and it is not entirely clear whether these findings are consistent across different national contexts, particularly in Eastern countries. Among youth in Eastern countries, Japanese youth reveal some remarkable and unique features with respect to the transition to adulthood (e.g., the length period of education, the timing of marriage, and parenthood). In order to improve the understandings of identity formation in adolescence and emerging adulthood, we examined the association of the identity statuses with personality traits and psychosocial problems in Japanese adolescents and emerging adults. For this purpose, we first established the factorial validation of Japanese version of the U-MICS. Second, we examined the associations between identity dimensions and personality traits and psychosocial problems to test convergent validity of the U-MICS. Third, to address the main study goal, we empirically assigned participants to the identity clusters, and we compared age distributions across the five identity statuses and examined the profile of each status in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
We hypothesized that the fit indices of three-factor model would be better than one- or two- factor model across age and gender groups, and commitment and in depth exploration would be positively associated with adaptive personality traits; on the other hand, reconsideration of commitment would be negatively associated with adaptive personality traits and positively associated with psychosocial problems (hypothesis 1). We also hypothesized that five identity clusters were expected to be extracted in Japan, and the percentage of participants in the moratorium status would be high in both age groups (hypothesis 2). Finally, we hypothesized that the high commitment statuses (i.e., achievement and foreclosure) would score high on adaptive personality traits, and low on neuroticism and psychosocial problems; on the other hand, low commitment statuses (i.e., moratorium and diffusion) would show the opposite results, and the searching moratorium status would score high on adaptive personality traits, and low on neuroticism and internalizing problem behaviors; specifically, the emerging adults in this status would score higher on externalizing problem behaviors than the other four traditional identity statuses (hypothesis 3).
Method
Participants were 1,233 thirteen and sixteen-year-olds adolescents (51.2% females), and 618 nineteen-year-olds emerging adults (69.9% females). In addition, we included adolescents’ parents (N = 1,233; 51.6% females) to measure internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors of their children.
Results
The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the U-MICS three-factor model fit the data significantly better than the one- and the two-factor models, and the results of measurement invariance tests demonstrated the establishment of measurement equivalence across gender and age groups. Moreover, the three identity dimensions were meaningfully associated with personality traits and psychosocial problems. These results supported our hypothesis 1. In addition, five identity statuses found in European samples were also extracted in the Japanese sample by means of cluster analysis, and the results of chi-square tests indicated that adolescents were more likely to be classified into the foreclosure, moratorium, or diffusion clusters than emerging adults, whereas emerging adults were more strongly represented in the achievement and searching moratorium clusters. These results were consistent with our hypothesis 2. Furthermore, the results of MANOVAs showed that participants in the identity statuses with high commitment (i.e., achievement and foreclosure) had high adaptive personality traits and few psychosocial problems; on the other hand, those in the identity statuses with low commitment (i.e., moratorium and diffusion) displayed the opposite features in both age groups. With respect to the searching moratorium status, adolescents in this status scored high on adaptive personality traits and low on internalizing problem behaviors, whereas emerging adults in the same status scored high on extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness, but also high on externalizing problem behaviors. These results supported our hypothesis 3.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that the three-factor model can be applied to study identity formation in Japanese adolescents and emerging adults. Moreover, not only moratorium and diffusion but also the searching moratorium status point to a dark-side of identity formation. This was particularly evident in the emerging adults group, suggesting that the meaning of searching moratorium differs across age groups. These differences were interpreted in relation to the postponement of adolescence in Japan and the clinical implications for adolescents and emerging adults were discussed.
by Kai Hatano (Osaka Prefecture University, Japan)
Kazumi Sugimura (Hiroshima University, Japan) &
Elisabetta Crocetti (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
Background
Meeus, Crocetti, and colleagues proposed a process identity model that comprises three identity dimensions, namely, commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. This model was validated across a variety of cross-cultural samples, as well as across gender, age, and ethnic groups from the same cultural context. In addition, each of the three identity processes was found to be associated with a specific set of personality traits (i.e., Big Five) and psychosocial problems (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors). Furthermore, this model can be used to classify individuals into five identity statuses (i.e., achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, diffusion, and searching moratorium), by means of empirically based methods of classification. However, previous studies have mostly been done with young people in North American and European nations, and it is not entirely clear whether these findings are consistent across different national contexts, particularly in Eastern countries. Among youth in Eastern countries, Japanese youth reveal some remarkable and unique features with respect to the transition to adulthood (e.g., the length period of education, the timing of marriage, and parenthood). In order to improve the understandings of identity formation in adolescence and emerging adulthood, we examined the association of the identity statuses with personality traits and psychosocial problems in Japanese adolescents and emerging adults. For this purpose, we first established the factorial validation of Japanese version of the U-MICS. Second, we examined the associations between identity dimensions and personality traits and psychosocial problems to test convergent validity of the U-MICS. Third, to address the main study goal, we empirically assigned participants to the identity clusters, and we compared age distributions across the five identity statuses and examined the profile of each status in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
We hypothesized that the fit indices of three-factor model would be better than one- or two- factor model across age and gender groups, and commitment and in depth exploration would be positively associated with adaptive personality traits; on the other hand, reconsideration of commitment would be negatively associated with adaptive personality traits and positively associated with psychosocial problems (hypothesis 1). We also hypothesized that five identity clusters were expected to be extracted in Japan, and the percentage of participants in the moratorium status would be high in both age groups (hypothesis 2). Finally, we hypothesized that the high commitment statuses (i.e., achievement and foreclosure) would score high on adaptive personality traits, and low on neuroticism and psychosocial problems; on the other hand, low commitment statuses (i.e., moratorium and diffusion) would show the opposite results, and the searching moratorium status would score high on adaptive personality traits, and low on neuroticism and internalizing problem behaviors; specifically, the emerging adults in this status would score higher on externalizing problem behaviors than the other four traditional identity statuses (hypothesis 3).
Method
Participants were 1,233 thirteen and sixteen-year-olds adolescents (51.2% females), and 618 nineteen-year-olds emerging adults (69.9% females). In addition, we included adolescents’ parents (N = 1,233; 51.6% females) to measure internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors of their children.
Results
The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the U-MICS three-factor model fit the data significantly better than the one- and the two-factor models, and the results of measurement invariance tests demonstrated the establishment of measurement equivalence across gender and age groups. Moreover, the three identity dimensions were meaningfully associated with personality traits and psychosocial problems. These results supported our hypothesis 1. In addition, five identity statuses found in European samples were also extracted in the Japanese sample by means of cluster analysis, and the results of chi-square tests indicated that adolescents were more likely to be classified into the foreclosure, moratorium, or diffusion clusters than emerging adults, whereas emerging adults were more strongly represented in the achievement and searching moratorium clusters. These results were consistent with our hypothesis 2. Furthermore, the results of MANOVAs showed that participants in the identity statuses with high commitment (i.e., achievement and foreclosure) had high adaptive personality traits and few psychosocial problems; on the other hand, those in the identity statuses with low commitment (i.e., moratorium and diffusion) displayed the opposite features in both age groups. With respect to the searching moratorium status, adolescents in this status scored high on adaptive personality traits and low on internalizing problem behaviors, whereas emerging adults in the same status scored high on extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness, but also high on externalizing problem behaviors. These results supported our hypothesis 3.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that the three-factor model can be applied to study identity formation in Japanese adolescents and emerging adults. Moreover, not only moratorium and diffusion but also the searching moratorium status point to a dark-side of identity formation. This was particularly evident in the emerging adults group, suggesting that the meaning of searching moratorium differs across age groups. These differences were interpreted in relation to the postponement of adolescence in Japan and the clinical implications for adolescents and emerging adults were discussed.
November 2015
Childhood Predictors and Adult Life Success of Adolescent Delinquency Abstainers
by Natalie Mercer, David Farrington, Maria Ttofi, Loes Keijsers, Susan Branje and Wim Meeus
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Cambridge University, Cambridge, The Netherlands
Background & Hypotheses
Research suggests that between 6-25% of adolescents abstain from delinquency (e.g., Barnes, Beaver, & Piquero, 2011; Chen & Adams, 2010; Moffitt, Caspi, Harrington & Milne, 2002). Understanding how or why some adolescents abstain from delinquency is helpful for understanding and preventing adolescent (minor) delinquency. Additionally, studying how or why some adolescents abstain may be most informative when abstainers are compared to different types of delinquent adolescents.
With this in mind, our study aimed to test three hypotheses regarding the nature of adolescent delinquency abstention: First, the linear hypothesis expected that the factors that predict adolescent delinquency abstention would be the inverse of factors known to predict serious delinquency. For example, if poor parent-child relationships predicted delinquency, the most serious delinquents would have the poorest parent-child relationships and abstainers would have the strongest parent child relationships, with the majority of adolescents falling somewhere in between abstainers and serious delinquents. Alternatively, the discrete group hypothesis expected that abstention would be the result of unique factors unrelated to the distinction between different groups of delinquents. For example, abstainers may be shy adolescents, socially withdrawn and excluded from their peer groups, whereas we have no such expectations for these characteristics to distinguish between who will be a serious delinquent compared to the majority of adolescents who experiment with delinquency and rule-breaking. Finally, we tested a third two-group hypothesis that the linear and discrete hypotheses may actually represent two different groups of abstainers.
Method
This study made use of longitudinal, multi-informant data spanning from age 8 to age 48 from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (100% male) to compare adolescent abstainers (n = 49), self-report delinquents (n = 239) and convicted delinquents (n = 117). First, we tested our linear and discrete hypotheses using binary logistic regressions to examine which individual and environmental childhood factors (ages 8-10) would predict adolescent delinquency abstention (ages 10-18) from self-reported delinquency. We also examined which childhood factors would predict convicted delinquency from self-reported delinquency. Second, to test our two-group hypothesis, we conducted a latent class analysis on the significant childhood predictors of abstention.
Results
We found that there were five predictors of adolescent delinquency abstention. Consistent with the linear hypothesis, adolescent abstainers reported characteristics opposite to those of convicted delinquents (namely, abstainers were high on honesty, conformity and family income). However, unexpectedly, we also found that abstainers also shared some childhood characteristics with convicted delinquents (namely, low popularity and low school achievement). Consistent with our two-group hypothesis, a latent class analysis indicated that the mixed factors predicting abstention can be accounted for by two groups of abstainers: an adaptive group (n = 27) characterized by high honesty and a maladaptive group (n = 22) characterized by low popularity and low school achievement. To validate these two groups, we examined potential differences on adult outcomes. We found that at age 48, adaptive abstainers outperformed all other adolescents in general life success, as indicated by the obtainment of major developmental tasks (e.g., having satisfactory employment, accommodation, intimate relationship), whereas maladaptive abstainers only fared better than delinquent adolescents in terms of substance use and self-reported delinquency.
Conclusion
The results of this study question the validity of generalization from single behavioral outcomes (i.e., delinquent versus non-delinquent) to general development (i.e., unhealthy versus healthy). Overall, results suggest that abstainers can be either conformists with protective factors or adolescents who may be excluded from delinquent behavior due to impairments (i.e., social or cognitive) that require further attention.
Access to article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10802-015-0061-4
Contact information: Natalie Mercer, [email protected]
by Natalie Mercer, David Farrington, Maria Ttofi, Loes Keijsers, Susan Branje and Wim Meeus
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Cambridge University, Cambridge, The Netherlands
Background & Hypotheses
Research suggests that between 6-25% of adolescents abstain from delinquency (e.g., Barnes, Beaver, & Piquero, 2011; Chen & Adams, 2010; Moffitt, Caspi, Harrington & Milne, 2002). Understanding how or why some adolescents abstain from delinquency is helpful for understanding and preventing adolescent (minor) delinquency. Additionally, studying how or why some adolescents abstain may be most informative when abstainers are compared to different types of delinquent adolescents.
With this in mind, our study aimed to test three hypotheses regarding the nature of adolescent delinquency abstention: First, the linear hypothesis expected that the factors that predict adolescent delinquency abstention would be the inverse of factors known to predict serious delinquency. For example, if poor parent-child relationships predicted delinquency, the most serious delinquents would have the poorest parent-child relationships and abstainers would have the strongest parent child relationships, with the majority of adolescents falling somewhere in between abstainers and serious delinquents. Alternatively, the discrete group hypothesis expected that abstention would be the result of unique factors unrelated to the distinction between different groups of delinquents. For example, abstainers may be shy adolescents, socially withdrawn and excluded from their peer groups, whereas we have no such expectations for these characteristics to distinguish between who will be a serious delinquent compared to the majority of adolescents who experiment with delinquency and rule-breaking. Finally, we tested a third two-group hypothesis that the linear and discrete hypotheses may actually represent two different groups of abstainers.
Method
This study made use of longitudinal, multi-informant data spanning from age 8 to age 48 from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (100% male) to compare adolescent abstainers (n = 49), self-report delinquents (n = 239) and convicted delinquents (n = 117). First, we tested our linear and discrete hypotheses using binary logistic regressions to examine which individual and environmental childhood factors (ages 8-10) would predict adolescent delinquency abstention (ages 10-18) from self-reported delinquency. We also examined which childhood factors would predict convicted delinquency from self-reported delinquency. Second, to test our two-group hypothesis, we conducted a latent class analysis on the significant childhood predictors of abstention.
Results
We found that there were five predictors of adolescent delinquency abstention. Consistent with the linear hypothesis, adolescent abstainers reported characteristics opposite to those of convicted delinquents (namely, abstainers were high on honesty, conformity and family income). However, unexpectedly, we also found that abstainers also shared some childhood characteristics with convicted delinquents (namely, low popularity and low school achievement). Consistent with our two-group hypothesis, a latent class analysis indicated that the mixed factors predicting abstention can be accounted for by two groups of abstainers: an adaptive group (n = 27) characterized by high honesty and a maladaptive group (n = 22) characterized by low popularity and low school achievement. To validate these two groups, we examined potential differences on adult outcomes. We found that at age 48, adaptive abstainers outperformed all other adolescents in general life success, as indicated by the obtainment of major developmental tasks (e.g., having satisfactory employment, accommodation, intimate relationship), whereas maladaptive abstainers only fared better than delinquent adolescents in terms of substance use and self-reported delinquency.
Conclusion
The results of this study question the validity of generalization from single behavioral outcomes (i.e., delinquent versus non-delinquent) to general development (i.e., unhealthy versus healthy). Overall, results suggest that abstainers can be either conformists with protective factors or adolescents who may be excluded from delinquent behavior due to impairments (i.e., social or cognitive) that require further attention.
Access to article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10802-015-0061-4
Contact information: Natalie Mercer, [email protected]
October 2015
The temporal structure of state self-esteem variability during parent–adolescent interactions: more than random fluctuations
By: Naomi de Ruiter, Ruud den Hartigh, Ralf Cox, Paul van Geert, & Saskia Kunnen
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Background
Self-esteem is conceptualized as having both a trait element (characterized as relatively stable and predictable across time), as well as a state element (characterized by fluctuations from moment to moment and a high level of variability) (Donnellan, Kenny, Trzesniewski, Lucas, & Conger, 2012). While the number of theoretical and empirical studies focusing on state self-esteem is increasingly growing, these studies tend to focus on the magnitude of state self-esteem variability (e.g., Leary & Downs, 1995). To date, very little theoretical or empirical research has been done concerning the nature of the moment-to-moment fluctuations that occur in state self-esteem, which we refer to as the temporal structure of state self-esteem variability.
The common conceptualization of state self-esteem stems from the notion that state self-esteem is the “barometric” element of self-esteem, which is variable across time and contexts and fluctuates around the relatively stable “baseline” level of self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1986a). State self-esteem is therefore approached as the “error” around (and independent from) – what is thought to be – a more meaningful baseline level that is trait self-esteem, where the “error” is contextually-based error. Following this basic theory, state self-esteem represents a short-lived experience, which – given the absence of a new contextual cue – will return back to the baseline level (Alessandri & Caprara, 2012). Given this conceptualization, the variability of state self-esteem should resemble white noise (Diniz et al., 2011; Gilden, 2001; Stadnitski, 2012; Van Orden, Holden, & Turvey, 2003, 2005), which is temporally random variability that is created when there is no carry-over effect from one state to the next.
We question the assumption that state self-esteem variability is purely a function of exogenous events, as well as the assumption that the temporal structure of the resulting variability is random (i.e., white noise). We examine this in the developmental context of adolescence, as a pivotal period for self-esteem development. Alternatively, we posit that each state self-esteem event is in itself a process, and that this process interacts with neighboring (i.e., future) state self-esteem processes. These dynamics are defined as interaction-dominant dynamics, where the coordination of the process at large is a function of the internal dynamics, which occur within a context, but which are not a function of the context alone (Van Orden et al., 2003). From this conceptualization, state self-esteem exhibits both short-term and long-term carry-over effects. We suggest, therefore, that state self-esteem is a self-coordinating process, rather than a passively reactive (i.e., stimulus-response like) and random process. Many human processes that have recently been conceptualized as depending on interaction-dominant dynamics have been found to exhibit pink noise, which is structured variability characterized by correlated activity across many time scales (Van Orden et al., 2003; Wijnants, Cox, Hasselman, Bosman & Van Orden, 2012). Moreover, the presence of pink noise is indicative of normative developmental processes, as its presence is exclusively found in healthy and well-coordinated systems (Herman, Giladi, Gurevich, & Hausdorff, 2005; Wijnants, Hasselman, Cox, Bosman, & Van Orden, 2012).
Design and Research Questions
We adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach to state self-esteem across real time, where adolescents’ (N = 13) positive and negative emotional and behavioral self-experiences that are expressed during interaction with their parent are observed and coded from moment-to-moment. Adolescent-parent dyads were video-recorded in their home environment during a semi-naturalistic interaction, including a neutral-conflict-neutral discussion, consecutively.
The observational videos were subsequently coded. Adolescents’ emotional and behavioural expressions of state self-esteem were coded for every action or utterance. State self-esteem was calculated based on the self-esteem related emotions/behaviour for each second of the interaction, resulting in a state self-esteem time series for every adolescent. Furthermore, static and context-independent levels of autonomy were gathered by means of a questionnaire administered before the filmed interaction took place; and static and context-dependent measures of state self-esteem and trait self-esteem were gathered before and after the filmed-interaction took place.
Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA; Peng, Havlin, Stanley, & Goldberger, 1995) was applied to each state self-esteem time series. The DFA reveals a relation between different window sizes of data and the average fluctuation of the windowed data. The DFA produces a DFA exponent, which indicates whether the structure of variability resembles white noise (i.e., a highly random structure) or pink noise (i.e., long-range correlations; Hasselman, 2013; Wijnants et al., 2012). The DFA exponents of the time series were then compared to randomized surrogate time series (i.e. shuffled within-individuals) that functioned as a control group.
We hypothesized that the temporal structure of state self-esteem variability would be structured, rather than random, thereby resulting in long-range correlations as indicated by the presence of pink noise (Hypothesis 1). We also hypothesized that the temporal structure of state self-esteem would be a distinct concept from the level of self-esteem, such that there are no significant correlations between the temporal structure of state self-esteem (i.e. the DFA exponent) and the static measures of self-esteem levels (hypothesis 2). Finally, we hypothesized that the presence of pink noise would correspond with an indicator of healthy adolescent development, i.e. static and context-independent autonomy levels (hypothesis 3).
Results
We found that the variability of adolescents’ state self-esteem during a parent-child interaction can be characterized by ‘pink noise’, and that the structure of state self-esteem variability is significantly different from the structure of variability that would be exhibited if state self-esteem was characterized by random fluctuations with no carry-over effect from one moment to the next, i.e., white noise (hypothesis 1). In addition, we found that the temporal structure of state self-esteem is a distinct concept from the valence level of (state and trait) self-esteem (hypothesis 2), and that the closer that state self-esteem came to approaching pure pink noise, the higher the adolescents’ scores for autonomy (hypothesis 3).
Conclusion
These results show that the temporal structure of adolescent state self-esteem variability has been unnecessarily disregarded (as ‘random’) in empirical studies of state self-esteem. Our results bring the passive and random nature of state self-esteem into question, and provide evidence that state self-esteem, as a real-time process, might be better conceptualized as an intrinsically dynamic and active process. This is an important shift in the theoretical conceptualization of the nature of state self-esteem. Moreover, these results indicate that this type of state self-esteem structure is a signature of healthy, efficient, and well-coordinated behavior during parent-child interactions.
Link to paper: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2014.994026
Contact: Naomi de Ruiter ([email protected])
Website: http://www.rug.nl/staff/n.m.p.de.ruiter-wilcox/
AUgust & September 2015
Comparing Correlates of Civic Engagement Between Immigrant and Majority Youth in Belgium, Germany, and Turkey
By: Katharina Eckstein, University of Jena, Germany
Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
Peter Noack, University of Jena, Germany
Michel Born, University of Liège, Belgium
Tulin Sener, Ankara University, Turkey
Background
Participation in civic life is an important developmental task in youth. So far, however, it still remains a largely unanswered question in how far predictors of civic engagement differ between immigrant and majority youth. This question is of particular importance as immigrants’ civic participation is not only an indicator of successful integration into their host society, but also a fundamental pillar of a democratic society.
One prominent theoretical approach that allows for a thorough investigation of factors underlying civic participation was introduced by the civic voluntarism model (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). According to the civic voluntarism model, three main factors underlie civic behaviors: Resources (e.g., education, money), social networks (e.g., being involved in voluntary associations), and psychological engagement (e.g., political efficacy).
Previous research suggests that people from ethnic minority and majority groups may be motivated to engage civically for different reasons. Yet, as most research has focused on US samples, there is need for a more contextualized understanding of the predictors of civic engagement in other cultural groups and countries. Drawing on data from a large-scale, pan-European project, this study aims to narrow these gaps in the literature.
Design and Research Questions
Our research was based on adolescents and young adults from Belgium (N = 483), Germany (N = 648), and Turkey (N = 495). We chose these three countries deliberately because they all include Turkish immigrants as minority group (i.e., the immigrant group in Turkey was made up of ethnic Turks who repatriated from Bulgaria). This provides for the unique opportunity to examine whether differences between majority and immigrant youth are due to ethnic-cultural reasons (e.g., properties of a certain cultural group) or due to migration-specific factors (e.g., experiences that all immigrants have in common).
We first examined whether there are differences in mean levels of engagement by ethnic background (Research Question 1). We then examined whether predictors of civic engagement differed by ethnic background (Research Question 2). Using the theoretical framework of the civic voluntarism model, we assessed the effects of resources, social networks, and psychological engagement (i.e., internal political efficacy).
Results
Contrary to our expectations, young immigrants were more civically engaged than their majority peers in all three countries. Since this pattern remained the same when background variables were taken into account, it is unlikely that this finding can be exclusively attributed to demographic differences between the groups (e.g., in age, gender, or SES).
We then examined whether predictors of civic engagement differed according to ethnic background. Multi-group structural equation modeling indicated that being involved in social networks was more important for immigrant than for majority youth. Internal political efficacy beliefs, in turn, were only found to be a significant predictor of civic engagement among majority youth. We found this pattern in all three countries which indicates that it was caused by experiences that all immigrant groups had in common (i.e., migration-specific experiences).
Concerning the effects of resources (educational level & parental SES), contrary to the assumptions of the civic voluntarism model and prior empirical findings, only few effects reached statistical significance.
Conclusion
Overall, the civic voluntarism model has shown to be a useful framework to better understand the factors that promote youth civic involvement. At the same time, our findings indicate possible group differences (e.g., by ethnic background) that need to be taken into account. These theoretical considerations also have an impact on the practical implications of our results. After all, democracies require the support of all citizens, regardless of their ethnic, cultural, or social backgrounds. The measures to promote civic behaviors therefore need to be more differentiated. Instead of applying a uniform approach, interventions to encourage youth civic engagement should be tailored to specific groups’ characteristics. As our results indicate networks of social support are of particular importance for young immigrants, while majority youth might also benefit from approaches that strengthen confidence in their political abilities.
Link to paper: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15427609.2015.1010346#.VcH3w3hrWlU
Contact: Katharina Eckstein ([email protected])
http://www.psychologie.uni-jena.de/en/Dr_Katharina_Eckstein.html
By: Katharina Eckstein, University of Jena, Germany
Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
Peter Noack, University of Jena, Germany
Michel Born, University of Liège, Belgium
Tulin Sener, Ankara University, Turkey
Background
Participation in civic life is an important developmental task in youth. So far, however, it still remains a largely unanswered question in how far predictors of civic engagement differ between immigrant and majority youth. This question is of particular importance as immigrants’ civic participation is not only an indicator of successful integration into their host society, but also a fundamental pillar of a democratic society.
One prominent theoretical approach that allows for a thorough investigation of factors underlying civic participation was introduced by the civic voluntarism model (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). According to the civic voluntarism model, three main factors underlie civic behaviors: Resources (e.g., education, money), social networks (e.g., being involved in voluntary associations), and psychological engagement (e.g., political efficacy).
Previous research suggests that people from ethnic minority and majority groups may be motivated to engage civically for different reasons. Yet, as most research has focused on US samples, there is need for a more contextualized understanding of the predictors of civic engagement in other cultural groups and countries. Drawing on data from a large-scale, pan-European project, this study aims to narrow these gaps in the literature.
Design and Research Questions
Our research was based on adolescents and young adults from Belgium (N = 483), Germany (N = 648), and Turkey (N = 495). We chose these three countries deliberately because they all include Turkish immigrants as minority group (i.e., the immigrant group in Turkey was made up of ethnic Turks who repatriated from Bulgaria). This provides for the unique opportunity to examine whether differences between majority and immigrant youth are due to ethnic-cultural reasons (e.g., properties of a certain cultural group) or due to migration-specific factors (e.g., experiences that all immigrants have in common).
We first examined whether there are differences in mean levels of engagement by ethnic background (Research Question 1). We then examined whether predictors of civic engagement differed by ethnic background (Research Question 2). Using the theoretical framework of the civic voluntarism model, we assessed the effects of resources, social networks, and psychological engagement (i.e., internal political efficacy).
Results
Contrary to our expectations, young immigrants were more civically engaged than their majority peers in all three countries. Since this pattern remained the same when background variables were taken into account, it is unlikely that this finding can be exclusively attributed to demographic differences between the groups (e.g., in age, gender, or SES).
We then examined whether predictors of civic engagement differed according to ethnic background. Multi-group structural equation modeling indicated that being involved in social networks was more important for immigrant than for majority youth. Internal political efficacy beliefs, in turn, were only found to be a significant predictor of civic engagement among majority youth. We found this pattern in all three countries which indicates that it was caused by experiences that all immigrant groups had in common (i.e., migration-specific experiences).
Concerning the effects of resources (educational level & parental SES), contrary to the assumptions of the civic voluntarism model and prior empirical findings, only few effects reached statistical significance.
Conclusion
Overall, the civic voluntarism model has shown to be a useful framework to better understand the factors that promote youth civic involvement. At the same time, our findings indicate possible group differences (e.g., by ethnic background) that need to be taken into account. These theoretical considerations also have an impact on the practical implications of our results. After all, democracies require the support of all citizens, regardless of their ethnic, cultural, or social backgrounds. The measures to promote civic behaviors therefore need to be more differentiated. Instead of applying a uniform approach, interventions to encourage youth civic engagement should be tailored to specific groups’ characteristics. As our results indicate networks of social support are of particular importance for young immigrants, while majority youth might also benefit from approaches that strengthen confidence in their political abilities.
Link to paper: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15427609.2015.1010346#.VcH3w3hrWlU
Contact: Katharina Eckstein ([email protected])
http://www.psychologie.uni-jena.de/en/Dr_Katharina_Eckstein.html
June & July 2015
Developmental Trajectories and Reciprocal Associations between Career Adaptability and Vocational Identity: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study with Adolescents
By: Oana Negru-Subtirica, Lecturer at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Eleonora Ioana Pop, Ph.D. Student at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Elisabetta Crocetti, Researcher at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands
The vocational domain represents a key component of adolescent development, with career adaptability and vocational identity standing as pillars in the facilitation of vocational decision-making (Savickas, 2005; Skorikov & Vondracek, 2011). More longitudinal research is needed for an in-depth understanding of how these dimensions evolve in adolescence and how they are related to each other across time. Existing literature brought forward the need to analyze career adaptability and vocational identity in more detail, as both are multi-dimensional constructs (Hartung, Porfeli, & Vondracek, 2005; Savickas, 1997, 2005). Therefore, we conducted a three-wave longitudinal study that investigated intra- and inter- individual changes in and reciprocal associations between adolescent career adaptability and vocational identity, during the course of one academic year.
Our study used data from the ongoing longitudinal study Transylvania Adolescent Identity Development Study (TRAIDES). A total of 1,151 adolescents (58.7% females) participated in the study, of which 40.1% were early-to-middle adolescents (age range 13-15 years) and 59.9% were middle-to-late adolescents (age range 16-19 years). Mean age was 16.45 years (SDage = 1.40; range = 13-19 years). We tapped into career adaptability through the four career adapt-abilities (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012a). Vocational identity was unpacked into six dimensions referring to specific commitment, exploration, and reconsideration of commitment facets (Porfeli et al., 2011). Hence, for this construct we analyzed for the first time from a longitudinal standpoint the dynamics of reconsideration of vocational commitments.
Findings showed significant longitudinal changes in career adaptability dimensions and identity processes, partly moderated by adolescents’ gender, the type of school they attended, and their age. We depicted multiple longitudinal associations between career adaptability dimensions and vocational identity processes, which were independent of adolescents’ gender, type of school, and age-group. Our study brought numerous additions to a growing literature on adolescent vocational development. In line with existing evidence (Hartung, at al., 2005), we pointed out that the vocational domain is an important life domain for adolescents, as in one academic year students were involved in significant adaptability and identity work. Hence, from a theoretical perspective, we brought additional information on how these two core vocational development dimensions fluctuate in a time-frame that is quite normative for adolescents: a school year. It seems that the “high hopes” (high levels in career adapt-abilities, high levels in the vocational commitment evaluation cycle) that students had at the beginning of the school year became more moderate as time passed. Also, they pondered more on their current vocational commitments (i.e., increases in reconsideration of vocational commitments). From an applied perspective, our findings can aid educational interventions aimed at fostering vocational and academic achievement. Namely, we highlighted the dimensions that were more “vulnerable” to slight decreases or increases across the school year. These dimensions can be included in classroom-based interventions aimed at strengthening career adaptability and/or vocational identity.
Link to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879115000299
Contact information: [email protected], http://psychology.psiedu.ubbcluj.ro/en/13-departament/lectori/12-lect-univ-dr-oana-negru-subtirica
By: Oana Negru-Subtirica, Lecturer at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Eleonora Ioana Pop, Ph.D. Student at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Elisabetta Crocetti, Researcher at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands
The vocational domain represents a key component of adolescent development, with career adaptability and vocational identity standing as pillars in the facilitation of vocational decision-making (Savickas, 2005; Skorikov & Vondracek, 2011). More longitudinal research is needed for an in-depth understanding of how these dimensions evolve in adolescence and how they are related to each other across time. Existing literature brought forward the need to analyze career adaptability and vocational identity in more detail, as both are multi-dimensional constructs (Hartung, Porfeli, & Vondracek, 2005; Savickas, 1997, 2005). Therefore, we conducted a three-wave longitudinal study that investigated intra- and inter- individual changes in and reciprocal associations between adolescent career adaptability and vocational identity, during the course of one academic year.
Our study used data from the ongoing longitudinal study Transylvania Adolescent Identity Development Study (TRAIDES). A total of 1,151 adolescents (58.7% females) participated in the study, of which 40.1% were early-to-middle adolescents (age range 13-15 years) and 59.9% were middle-to-late adolescents (age range 16-19 years). Mean age was 16.45 years (SDage = 1.40; range = 13-19 years). We tapped into career adaptability through the four career adapt-abilities (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012a). Vocational identity was unpacked into six dimensions referring to specific commitment, exploration, and reconsideration of commitment facets (Porfeli et al., 2011). Hence, for this construct we analyzed for the first time from a longitudinal standpoint the dynamics of reconsideration of vocational commitments.
Findings showed significant longitudinal changes in career adaptability dimensions and identity processes, partly moderated by adolescents’ gender, the type of school they attended, and their age. We depicted multiple longitudinal associations between career adaptability dimensions and vocational identity processes, which were independent of adolescents’ gender, type of school, and age-group. Our study brought numerous additions to a growing literature on adolescent vocational development. In line with existing evidence (Hartung, at al., 2005), we pointed out that the vocational domain is an important life domain for adolescents, as in one academic year students were involved in significant adaptability and identity work. Hence, from a theoretical perspective, we brought additional information on how these two core vocational development dimensions fluctuate in a time-frame that is quite normative for adolescents: a school year. It seems that the “high hopes” (high levels in career adapt-abilities, high levels in the vocational commitment evaluation cycle) that students had at the beginning of the school year became more moderate as time passed. Also, they pondered more on their current vocational commitments (i.e., increases in reconsideration of vocational commitments). From an applied perspective, our findings can aid educational interventions aimed at fostering vocational and academic achievement. Namely, we highlighted the dimensions that were more “vulnerable” to slight decreases or increases across the school year. These dimensions can be included in classroom-based interventions aimed at strengthening career adaptability and/or vocational identity.
Link to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879115000299
Contact information: [email protected], http://psychology.psiedu.ubbcluj.ro/en/13-departament/lectori/12-lect-univ-dr-oana-negru-subtirica
May 2015
A Reliability Generalization Study for a Multidimensional Loneliness Scale: The Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents
By: Marlies Maes, PhD Student, School Psychology and Child and Adolescent Development, KU Leuven, Belgium
Wim Van den Noortgate, Professor, Methodology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
Luc Goossens, Professor, School Psychology and Child and Adolescent Development, KU Leuven, Belgium
The reliability of an instrument’s test scores is important to examine and may vary across studies that administered the test with a certain protocol to certain participants on certain occasions (Thompson, 1992). However, to gain some insight in the degree of reliability that can be expected for a given instrument, a Reliability Generalization (RG; Vacha-Haase, 1998) study can be conducted. Using the meta-analytic RG methodology, researchers can examine the range of reliability scores of a particular instrument that have appeared in the literature, can compute an estimated mean reliability, and can examine whether characteristics of the instrument itself, the study, or the context of administration explains variation in the observed reliability scores. A high mean reliability score with low variability across studies would considerably increase our confidence in that particular instrument.
In the present study, we focused on loneliness, which is the unpleasant feeling that occurs when a discrepancy is perceived between the actual and desired levels of the quantity or quality of one’s relationships (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). More specifically, we focused on a multidimensional loneliness measure that distinguishes between loneliness in relationships with peers and with parents. The Loneliness and Aloneness scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA; Marcoen, Goossens, & Caes, 1987) is a 48-item scale intended for use in the age range of 10 to 19 years. In addition to measuring the two relation-specific types of loneliness, the LACA assesses a person’s attitudes towards aloneness, including aversion to being alone and affinity for being alone.
The analyses are based on 79 studies from 1987 to 2014, reporting Cronbach’s alphas for 92 samples (k). As the scale has been developed in Belgium, most studies (k = 65) came from this country, though data from 10 other countries (including Argentina, Canada, China, Greece, Spain, and The Netherlands) could also be included. In all, data from 41,076 children (k = 35) and adolescents (k = 57) were incorporated.
To account for dependency, as several studies included more than one sample and reported on more than one reliability estimate, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis (Van den Noortgate & Onghena, 2003). Results showed high estimated mean reliabilities (i.e., alphas of .80 or above), with minimal variability (i.e., SDs around .05) for the four subscales of the LACA. In the final model, few of the potential moderators selected proved to be significant predictors of the variation in reliability scores. For parent-related loneliness, samples with higher sampling quality tended to yield higher Cronbach’s alphas. In addition, alphas for three of the four LACA subscales were somewhat lower in adolescents as compared to children.
It is important to realize that the results of the RG work cannot be generalized beyond the kind of samples used in the analyses. More demanding challenges to the instrument under scrutiny should be applied by including groups that can be expected to have lower alphas, such as particular clinical groups or immigrant youth. Pending such future work, the present study seems to support the use of the multidimensional LACA in children and adolescents sampled from the general population.
Access to this article can be found at: http://psycontent.metapress.com/content/kn14l8156j828841/
Contact information: Marlies Maes, [email protected]
By: Marlies Maes, PhD Student, School Psychology and Child and Adolescent Development, KU Leuven, Belgium
Wim Van den Noortgate, Professor, Methodology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
Luc Goossens, Professor, School Psychology and Child and Adolescent Development, KU Leuven, Belgium
The reliability of an instrument’s test scores is important to examine and may vary across studies that administered the test with a certain protocol to certain participants on certain occasions (Thompson, 1992). However, to gain some insight in the degree of reliability that can be expected for a given instrument, a Reliability Generalization (RG; Vacha-Haase, 1998) study can be conducted. Using the meta-analytic RG methodology, researchers can examine the range of reliability scores of a particular instrument that have appeared in the literature, can compute an estimated mean reliability, and can examine whether characteristics of the instrument itself, the study, or the context of administration explains variation in the observed reliability scores. A high mean reliability score with low variability across studies would considerably increase our confidence in that particular instrument.
In the present study, we focused on loneliness, which is the unpleasant feeling that occurs when a discrepancy is perceived between the actual and desired levels of the quantity or quality of one’s relationships (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). More specifically, we focused on a multidimensional loneliness measure that distinguishes between loneliness in relationships with peers and with parents. The Loneliness and Aloneness scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA; Marcoen, Goossens, & Caes, 1987) is a 48-item scale intended for use in the age range of 10 to 19 years. In addition to measuring the two relation-specific types of loneliness, the LACA assesses a person’s attitudes towards aloneness, including aversion to being alone and affinity for being alone.
The analyses are based on 79 studies from 1987 to 2014, reporting Cronbach’s alphas for 92 samples (k). As the scale has been developed in Belgium, most studies (k = 65) came from this country, though data from 10 other countries (including Argentina, Canada, China, Greece, Spain, and The Netherlands) could also be included. In all, data from 41,076 children (k = 35) and adolescents (k = 57) were incorporated.
To account for dependency, as several studies included more than one sample and reported on more than one reliability estimate, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis (Van den Noortgate & Onghena, 2003). Results showed high estimated mean reliabilities (i.e., alphas of .80 or above), with minimal variability (i.e., SDs around .05) for the four subscales of the LACA. In the final model, few of the potential moderators selected proved to be significant predictors of the variation in reliability scores. For parent-related loneliness, samples with higher sampling quality tended to yield higher Cronbach’s alphas. In addition, alphas for three of the four LACA subscales were somewhat lower in adolescents as compared to children.
It is important to realize that the results of the RG work cannot be generalized beyond the kind of samples used in the analyses. More demanding challenges to the instrument under scrutiny should be applied by including groups that can be expected to have lower alphas, such as particular clinical groups or immigrant youth. Pending such future work, the present study seems to support the use of the multidimensional LACA in children and adolescents sampled from the general population.
Access to this article can be found at: http://psycontent.metapress.com/content/kn14l8156j828841/
Contact information: Marlies Maes, [email protected]
April 2015
Loneliness, Affect, and Adolescents’ Appraisals of Company: An Experience Sampling Method Study
By: Eeske van Roeckel, Luc Goossens, Maaike Verhagen, Sofie Wouters, Rutger C. M. E. Engels
& Ron H. J. Scholte
University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands
Loneliness is defined as the negative emotions that arise when a discrepancy is experienced between the desired and actual quantity or quality of social relationships (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). Chronic levels of loneliness can have severe health consequences and are found to increase chances of mortality by as much as 50% (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). Loneliness has been found to be particularly present in adolescents, likely because adolescence is a period in which the transition to high school takes place, peers become increasingly important, and adolescents grow to have greater expectations of their social relationships (Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, 1999), which may not always be fulfilled. Considering both the serious consequences of loneliness and the high prevalence in early adolescence, it is important to examine factors that can predict or maintain loneliness in adolescence specifically. The main aim of the present study was to test two characteristics of a socio-cognitive model of loneliness (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009) in the daily lives of early adolescents: (a) hypersensitivity to social threat and (b) hyposensitivity to social reward.
Data were collected among 278 early adolescents (Mage = 14.19, 59% female) by using the Experience Sampling Method. The sampling period consisted of 6 days, with 9 assessments per day at random time points. Multilevel analyses were conducted to examine whether loneliness moderated the relation between negative perceptions of company and positive and negative affect (i.e., hypersensitivity to social threat) and positive perceptions of company and affect (i.e., hyposensitivity to social reward).
Support was found for hypersensitivity to social threat, in that adolescents with higher levels of baseline loneliness were more negatively affected by negative perceptions of company. For the hyposensitivity to social reward, results were in contrast with our expectations: adolescents high in loneliness were more positively affected by positive perceptions of company than adolescents low in loneliness. Hence, our findings were indicative of hypersensitivity to both negative and positive environments.
A possible explanation for the difference in findings between the present study and the socio-cognitive model may be that the hyposensitivity to reward comes into play when individuals are chronically lonely or have severe levels of loneliness, which was the case in the study that found support for hyposensitivity (Cacioppo et al., 2009). Our findings are based on a continuous loneliness measure, which does not provide any information about the chronicity of loneliness. This could indicate that transient loneliness levels may serve as a motivational state that encourages people to restore their social relationships, which in turn leads to heightened sensitivity to both positive and negative social environments.
Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jora.12061/abstract, Link to thesis: http://repository.ubn.ru.nl/handle/2066/127135
Contact: [email protected]
By: Eeske van Roeckel, Luc Goossens, Maaike Verhagen, Sofie Wouters, Rutger C. M. E. Engels
& Ron H. J. Scholte
University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands
Loneliness is defined as the negative emotions that arise when a discrepancy is experienced between the desired and actual quantity or quality of social relationships (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). Chronic levels of loneliness can have severe health consequences and are found to increase chances of mortality by as much as 50% (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). Loneliness has been found to be particularly present in adolescents, likely because adolescence is a period in which the transition to high school takes place, peers become increasingly important, and adolescents grow to have greater expectations of their social relationships (Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, 1999), which may not always be fulfilled. Considering both the serious consequences of loneliness and the high prevalence in early adolescence, it is important to examine factors that can predict or maintain loneliness in adolescence specifically. The main aim of the present study was to test two characteristics of a socio-cognitive model of loneliness (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009) in the daily lives of early adolescents: (a) hypersensitivity to social threat and (b) hyposensitivity to social reward.
Data were collected among 278 early adolescents (Mage = 14.19, 59% female) by using the Experience Sampling Method. The sampling period consisted of 6 days, with 9 assessments per day at random time points. Multilevel analyses were conducted to examine whether loneliness moderated the relation between negative perceptions of company and positive and negative affect (i.e., hypersensitivity to social threat) and positive perceptions of company and affect (i.e., hyposensitivity to social reward).
Support was found for hypersensitivity to social threat, in that adolescents with higher levels of baseline loneliness were more negatively affected by negative perceptions of company. For the hyposensitivity to social reward, results were in contrast with our expectations: adolescents high in loneliness were more positively affected by positive perceptions of company than adolescents low in loneliness. Hence, our findings were indicative of hypersensitivity to both negative and positive environments.
A possible explanation for the difference in findings between the present study and the socio-cognitive model may be that the hyposensitivity to reward comes into play when individuals are chronically lonely or have severe levels of loneliness, which was the case in the study that found support for hyposensitivity (Cacioppo et al., 2009). Our findings are based on a continuous loneliness measure, which does not provide any information about the chronicity of loneliness. This could indicate that transient loneliness levels may serve as a motivational state that encourages people to restore their social relationships, which in turn leads to heightened sensitivity to both positive and negative social environments.
Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jora.12061/abstract, Link to thesis: http://repository.ubn.ru.nl/handle/2066/127135
Contact: [email protected]
March 2015
Are Adolescents’ Mutually Hostile Interactions at Home Reproduced in Other Everyday Life Contexts?
By: Tatiana Alina Trifan, PhD Student, Center for Developmental Research, Örebro University, Sweden
Håkan Stattin, Professor, Center for Developmental Research, Örebro University, Sweden
One of the central issues in parenting research concerns what children bring with them from the family to other interpersonal contexts. In most families, children learn to respect others and live in harmony, which are the skills they take with them elsewhere. In some families, however, interactions are not harmonious, but are characterized by mutual or reciprocated hostility. Extreme examples are the coercive cycles described by Patterson (1982), the association between parents’ low perceived power and their proneness to harshness when faced with a difficult child (Bugental, Lewis, Lin, Lyon, & Hopeikin, 1999), and the intimate connection in abusing families between children’s overt opposition and parents’ readiness to use severe punishment rather than reason (Trickett & Kuczynski, 1986). Some research has focused on what these kinds of parent-child interactions mean for children’s behaviors towards others at school and in other contexts, but little is known about the possible connections between mutually hostile parent-child interactions and mutually hostile interactions in other interpersonal contexts. Are these interaction patterns transferred from home to other settings?
In our study, we examined the extent to which individual configurations of exposing others to hostility and being exposed to hostility by others are transferred from the family to other everyday life contexts. We used hostility as a broad term to encompass verbal and physical aggression, defiance, and unfriendly behavior. We focused on adolescents, because adolescents spend much of their time in several interpersonal settings on a daily basis, which gives us an opportunity to compare patterns of behavior at home with those at school and in free-time. In order to study mutually hostile interactions, we differentiated them from interactions in which the person is only the target of others’ hostility or only the perpetrator of hostility towards others, in each of the studied contexts. We first examined whether there are naturally occurring groups of adolescents who are engaged in mutually hostile interactions with their parents, and in other everyday life contexts – school, and free-time. Second, we examined whether the adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions at home were the same adolescents who exposed others and were exposed to others’ hostility in the other contexts. We also examined whether being involved in mutually hostile interactions at home increases the likelihood of being involved in mutual hostility in the other contexts one year later.
In line with our hypotheses, we found profiles of adolescents who both exposed others and were exposed by others to hostility in each of the interpersonal contexts we analyzed (at home, at school, with peers and teachers, and in free-time). Cross-sectional analyses showed that the adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions at home tended to be the ones who were involved in mutually hostile interactions with school peers, with teachers, and in free-time. Also, longitudinal analyses showed that the adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions at home were more likely to be involved in mutually hostile interactions with peers at school and in free-time one year later, compared with adolescents not involved in mutual hostility. In agreement with our hypotheses, for the main contexts these high-conflict youths had greater impulsivity and anger dysregulation than their exposed-only counterparts across all the interpersonal contexts we considered. This study extends previous knowledge of mutually hostile interactions by showing that these patterns of mutual hostility are not specific to the home alone. They can be transmitted from the home to other interpersonal contexts.
Access to this article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-014-0204-x
Contact information: Tatiana Alina Trifan, [email protected]
By: Tatiana Alina Trifan, PhD Student, Center for Developmental Research, Örebro University, Sweden
Håkan Stattin, Professor, Center for Developmental Research, Örebro University, Sweden
One of the central issues in parenting research concerns what children bring with them from the family to other interpersonal contexts. In most families, children learn to respect others and live in harmony, which are the skills they take with them elsewhere. In some families, however, interactions are not harmonious, but are characterized by mutual or reciprocated hostility. Extreme examples are the coercive cycles described by Patterson (1982), the association between parents’ low perceived power and their proneness to harshness when faced with a difficult child (Bugental, Lewis, Lin, Lyon, & Hopeikin, 1999), and the intimate connection in abusing families between children’s overt opposition and parents’ readiness to use severe punishment rather than reason (Trickett & Kuczynski, 1986). Some research has focused on what these kinds of parent-child interactions mean for children’s behaviors towards others at school and in other contexts, but little is known about the possible connections between mutually hostile parent-child interactions and mutually hostile interactions in other interpersonal contexts. Are these interaction patterns transferred from home to other settings?
In our study, we examined the extent to which individual configurations of exposing others to hostility and being exposed to hostility by others are transferred from the family to other everyday life contexts. We used hostility as a broad term to encompass verbal and physical aggression, defiance, and unfriendly behavior. We focused on adolescents, because adolescents spend much of their time in several interpersonal settings on a daily basis, which gives us an opportunity to compare patterns of behavior at home with those at school and in free-time. In order to study mutually hostile interactions, we differentiated them from interactions in which the person is only the target of others’ hostility or only the perpetrator of hostility towards others, in each of the studied contexts. We first examined whether there are naturally occurring groups of adolescents who are engaged in mutually hostile interactions with their parents, and in other everyday life contexts – school, and free-time. Second, we examined whether the adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions at home were the same adolescents who exposed others and were exposed to others’ hostility in the other contexts. We also examined whether being involved in mutually hostile interactions at home increases the likelihood of being involved in mutual hostility in the other contexts one year later.
In line with our hypotheses, we found profiles of adolescents who both exposed others and were exposed by others to hostility in each of the interpersonal contexts we analyzed (at home, at school, with peers and teachers, and in free-time). Cross-sectional analyses showed that the adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions at home tended to be the ones who were involved in mutually hostile interactions with school peers, with teachers, and in free-time. Also, longitudinal analyses showed that the adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions at home were more likely to be involved in mutually hostile interactions with peers at school and in free-time one year later, compared with adolescents not involved in mutual hostility. In agreement with our hypotheses, for the main contexts these high-conflict youths had greater impulsivity and anger dysregulation than their exposed-only counterparts across all the interpersonal contexts we considered. This study extends previous knowledge of mutually hostile interactions by showing that these patterns of mutual hostility are not specific to the home alone. They can be transmitted from the home to other interpersonal contexts.
Access to this article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-014-0204-x
Contact information: Tatiana Alina Trifan, [email protected]
February 2015
A Person-Centred Analysis of the Time Use, Daily Activities, and Health-Related Quality of Life of Irish School-Going Late Adolescents
By: Eithne Hunt, E.A. McKay, D. Dahly, A.P. Fitzgerald, & I.J. Perry
Background: In the last 50 years, the health of the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents has improved to a lesser extent than that of younger children (Sawyer et al., 2012). In fact, worsening mental health outcomes have been noted in Ireland (Cannon, Coughlan, Clarke, Harley, & Kelleher, 2013; UNICEF Ireland, 2011) and internationally (Becker & Kleinman, 2013; Gore et al., 2011; Koh, Blakey, & Roper, 2014; Patel, Flischer, Hetrick, & McGorry, 2007). Moreover, the daily lived experience of young people internationally confronts them with “more complex worlds, with more contractions and challenges” than before (Larson & Tran, 2014, p. 1013). Against this backdrop, recent policies call for increased attention to non-communicable causes of disease burden and lifestyle risk factors in adolescence (Gore et al., 2011), not least because important determinants of health and well-being are imbedded in young people's daily behavior, as reflected in their time-use (Olds, Ferrar, Gomersall, Maher, & Walters, 2012; Zuzanek, 2005). Indeed, how one lives out one’s daily life is closely connected with health and quality of life (Erlandsson, 2013a; Harvey, 1993; Hocking, 2013). It is argued that “much of today’s ill-health is developed and caused by people’s doing; their lifestyle” (Hocking et al., 2014, p. 41). Given this, the promotion of healthy lifestyles amongst adolescents is now particularly important (Hagell, Coleman & Brooks, 2013; The Lancet 2012) to prevent the accelerating burden of non-communicable diseases in adulthood (Viner, 2013). To that end, research is needed on how “the quantities and qualities of experiences in different activities act in combination” (Larson, 2001, p. 163) to affect adolescent development, health, well-being and quality of life.
Aim: This cross-sectional study sought to establish whether distinct profiles of adolescent 24-hour time use exist and to examine the relationship of any identified profiles to self-reported HRQoL.
Method: Two 24-hour time diaries and the KIDSCREEN-52 (Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2005) were completed by a random sample of 731 adolescents (response rate 52%) from 28 schools (response rate 76%) across Cork city and county, Ireland. We used a model-based, person-centred approach, latent profile analysis, to examine adolescent 24-hour time use and relate the identified profiles to HRQoL as a distal outcome.
Results: Three male profiles emerged, namely productive, high leisure and all-rounder. Two female profiles, higher study/lower leisure and moderate study/higher leisure, were identified. The quantitative and qualitative differences in male and female profiles support the gendered nature of adolescent time use. No identifiable unifying trends emerged in the analysis of probable responses in the HRQoL domains across profiles, reinforcing the complex nature of HRQoL for this group of young people. Females in the moderate study/higher leisure group were twice as likely to have above average global HRQoL.
Conclusion: Distinct time use profiles can be identified among adolescents but their relationship with HRQoL is complex. As eminent adolescent developmental psychologist Reed Larson (2001) wrote, the “evaluation of [adolescents’] time allocation is a useful entry point for examining links between experience and development, but only one small piece of a much more complex inquiry” (p. 163). Moreover, it has been said that youth development is “not readily reducible to variables” (Larson & Tran, 2014, p. 1014). Increasingly, scholars are calling for a mix of variable-centred, person-centred and qualitative research (Agans et al., 2014; Hamilton, 2014; Masten, 2014) to create a more complete picture of the many systems that comprise the complex “disorderly world” (Larson, 2011, p. 317) of today’s adolescents. Equally, rich mixed-method research is required to illuminate our understanding of the time use and HRQoL of adolescents in the 21st century.
Access to this article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11136-014-0863-9
Contact information: Eithne Hunt, PhD, MSc., PgDipStat., BSc.(Hons.)OT
College Lecturer, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy,
University College Cork, Ireland.
[email protected]
By: Eithne Hunt, E.A. McKay, D. Dahly, A.P. Fitzgerald, & I.J. Perry
Background: In the last 50 years, the health of the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents has improved to a lesser extent than that of younger children (Sawyer et al., 2012). In fact, worsening mental health outcomes have been noted in Ireland (Cannon, Coughlan, Clarke, Harley, & Kelleher, 2013; UNICEF Ireland, 2011) and internationally (Becker & Kleinman, 2013; Gore et al., 2011; Koh, Blakey, & Roper, 2014; Patel, Flischer, Hetrick, & McGorry, 2007). Moreover, the daily lived experience of young people internationally confronts them with “more complex worlds, with more contractions and challenges” than before (Larson & Tran, 2014, p. 1013). Against this backdrop, recent policies call for increased attention to non-communicable causes of disease burden and lifestyle risk factors in adolescence (Gore et al., 2011), not least because important determinants of health and well-being are imbedded in young people's daily behavior, as reflected in their time-use (Olds, Ferrar, Gomersall, Maher, & Walters, 2012; Zuzanek, 2005). Indeed, how one lives out one’s daily life is closely connected with health and quality of life (Erlandsson, 2013a; Harvey, 1993; Hocking, 2013). It is argued that “much of today’s ill-health is developed and caused by people’s doing; their lifestyle” (Hocking et al., 2014, p. 41). Given this, the promotion of healthy lifestyles amongst adolescents is now particularly important (Hagell, Coleman & Brooks, 2013; The Lancet 2012) to prevent the accelerating burden of non-communicable diseases in adulthood (Viner, 2013). To that end, research is needed on how “the quantities and qualities of experiences in different activities act in combination” (Larson, 2001, p. 163) to affect adolescent development, health, well-being and quality of life.
Aim: This cross-sectional study sought to establish whether distinct profiles of adolescent 24-hour time use exist and to examine the relationship of any identified profiles to self-reported HRQoL.
Method: Two 24-hour time diaries and the KIDSCREEN-52 (Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2005) were completed by a random sample of 731 adolescents (response rate 52%) from 28 schools (response rate 76%) across Cork city and county, Ireland. We used a model-based, person-centred approach, latent profile analysis, to examine adolescent 24-hour time use and relate the identified profiles to HRQoL as a distal outcome.
Results: Three male profiles emerged, namely productive, high leisure and all-rounder. Two female profiles, higher study/lower leisure and moderate study/higher leisure, were identified. The quantitative and qualitative differences in male and female profiles support the gendered nature of adolescent time use. No identifiable unifying trends emerged in the analysis of probable responses in the HRQoL domains across profiles, reinforcing the complex nature of HRQoL for this group of young people. Females in the moderate study/higher leisure group were twice as likely to have above average global HRQoL.
Conclusion: Distinct time use profiles can be identified among adolescents but their relationship with HRQoL is complex. As eminent adolescent developmental psychologist Reed Larson (2001) wrote, the “evaluation of [adolescents’] time allocation is a useful entry point for examining links between experience and development, but only one small piece of a much more complex inquiry” (p. 163). Moreover, it has been said that youth development is “not readily reducible to variables” (Larson & Tran, 2014, p. 1014). Increasingly, scholars are calling for a mix of variable-centred, person-centred and qualitative research (Agans et al., 2014; Hamilton, 2014; Masten, 2014) to create a more complete picture of the many systems that comprise the complex “disorderly world” (Larson, 2011, p. 317) of today’s adolescents. Equally, rich mixed-method research is required to illuminate our understanding of the time use and HRQoL of adolescents in the 21st century.
Access to this article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11136-014-0863-9
Contact information: Eithne Hunt, PhD, MSc., PgDipStat., BSc.(Hons.)OT
College Lecturer, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy,
University College Cork, Ireland.
[email protected]
JANUary 2015
Self-Concept Clarity Across Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations With Open Communication With Parents and Internalizing Symptoms
By: Marloes van Dijk, PhD student at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Susan Branje, Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Loes Keijsers, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Skyler T. Hawk, Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong;
William W. Hale III, Associate Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Professor at Utrecht University and at Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
In adolescence, the development of the self is an important task (Erikson, 1963; Marcia, 1966; Meeus, Van de Schoot, Keijsers, Schwartz, & Branje, 2010). An essential aspect of the self is self-concept clarity (SCC; Bigler et al., 2001; Schwartz et al., 2010), the extent to which beliefs about the self are clearly and confidently defined, stable over time, and internally consistent (Campbell et al., 1996). In other words, SCC refers to the structure of the self-concept, and not to the content of the self-concept. The current longitudinal study investigated whether a more clear self-concept in adolescence may be predicted by higher levels of open communication with parents and lower levels of internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms), and whether a less clear self-concept may predict higher levels of depression and anxiety.
Talking about the self and one’s life is thought to enhance self-understanding by forming links between elements of one’s life and the self (Habermas & Bluck, 2000; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals, 2007). Therefore, SCC might be promoted by open communication between adolescents and parents, in which parents are supportive of the adolescent’s viewpoints and are active listeners (McLean et al., 2007). Moreover, problems with SCC development could enhance depression and anxiety. Periods of heightened self-reflection in the development of SCC may go together with temporary declines in self-esteem and more internalizing problems because youths are struggling with problematic issues (Bell, Wieling, & Watson, 2004; Panayiotou & Kokkinos, 2006). Conversely, higher anxiety relates to more uncertainty and has been identified as a risk factor for identity development (Crocetti, Klimstra, Keijsers, Hale, & Meeus, 2009), so may predict lower SCC. Similar linkages could be expected for depressive symptoms.
Dutch youths reported on open communication, SCC, depressive and anxiety symptoms every year, from on average age 13 until 16 years old. As was expected, concurrent positive links were consistently found between open communication and SCC, and negative links between SCC and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. In middle adolescence, higher levels of open communication with parents preceded higher SCC. Lower SCC preceded higher levels of depression across all waves, and higher anxiety levels from age 13 to age 14. Conversely, higher anxiety levels predicted lower SCC between age 13 and 15. SCC did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms.
This study is one of the first to investigate SCC across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower SCC and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.
Access to this article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-013-0055-x
Contact information: Marloes van Dijk, [email protected]
By: Marloes van Dijk, PhD student at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Susan Branje, Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Loes Keijsers, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Skyler T. Hawk, Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong;
William W. Hale III, Associate Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Professor at Utrecht University and at Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
In adolescence, the development of the self is an important task (Erikson, 1963; Marcia, 1966; Meeus, Van de Schoot, Keijsers, Schwartz, & Branje, 2010). An essential aspect of the self is self-concept clarity (SCC; Bigler et al., 2001; Schwartz et al., 2010), the extent to which beliefs about the self are clearly and confidently defined, stable over time, and internally consistent (Campbell et al., 1996). In other words, SCC refers to the structure of the self-concept, and not to the content of the self-concept. The current longitudinal study investigated whether a more clear self-concept in adolescence may be predicted by higher levels of open communication with parents and lower levels of internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms), and whether a less clear self-concept may predict higher levels of depression and anxiety.
Talking about the self and one’s life is thought to enhance self-understanding by forming links between elements of one’s life and the self (Habermas & Bluck, 2000; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals, 2007). Therefore, SCC might be promoted by open communication between adolescents and parents, in which parents are supportive of the adolescent’s viewpoints and are active listeners (McLean et al., 2007). Moreover, problems with SCC development could enhance depression and anxiety. Periods of heightened self-reflection in the development of SCC may go together with temporary declines in self-esteem and more internalizing problems because youths are struggling with problematic issues (Bell, Wieling, & Watson, 2004; Panayiotou & Kokkinos, 2006). Conversely, higher anxiety relates to more uncertainty and has been identified as a risk factor for identity development (Crocetti, Klimstra, Keijsers, Hale, & Meeus, 2009), so may predict lower SCC. Similar linkages could be expected for depressive symptoms.
Dutch youths reported on open communication, SCC, depressive and anxiety symptoms every year, from on average age 13 until 16 years old. As was expected, concurrent positive links were consistently found between open communication and SCC, and negative links between SCC and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. In middle adolescence, higher levels of open communication with parents preceded higher SCC. Lower SCC preceded higher levels of depression across all waves, and higher anxiety levels from age 13 to age 14. Conversely, higher anxiety levels predicted lower SCC between age 13 and 15. SCC did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms.
This study is one of the first to investigate SCC across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower SCC and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.
Access to this article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-013-0055-x
Contact information: Marloes van Dijk, [email protected]
NOVEMBER 2014
Collective Identity and Well-Being of Bulgarian Roma Adolescents and Their Mothers
By: Radosveta Dimitrova, COFAS Marie Curie Fellow at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden;
Athanasios Chasiotis, Associate Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands:
Michael Bender , Assistant Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands:
Fons J. R. van de Vijver, Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands, North-West University, South Africa and The University of Queensland, Australia
In Europe and specifically in Bulgaria, Roma represent the largest and most disadvantaged ethnic minority historically exposed to severe discrimination, social exclusion and poverty. Therefore, identifying sources of psychological well-being for Roma is theoretically relevant and practically important.
We examined collective identity resources encompassing ethnic, familial, and religious identities among Roma adolescents and their mothers in Bulgaria. Ethnic identity refers to maintenance of positive attitudes and feelings that accompany a sense of group belonging (Erikson 1968; Ghavami et al. 2011; Phinney, 1989). Familial identity concerns the degree of identification with the familial group and commitment to the family and family relationships (Arends-Tóth and Van de Vijver 2008; Steidel and Contreras 2003). Religious identity reflects the salience of religious convictions for individual identity and self-concept (Furrow et al. 2004). Ethnic, religious and familial identities are important sources of strength for youth and their relatedness has been widely documented, specifically in indigenous minority groups (Kiang et al. 2008; Lopez et al. 2011).
We also considered ways in which collective identity is protective for well-being of Roma adolescents and their mothers. In so doing, we examined relations between adolescents and their mothers because maternal ethnic socialization is shaping youths’ identity processes in ethnic minority and Roma contexts. Hence, intergenerational transmission is a major source of culture maintenance among ethnic minority groups.
We found that 1) familial identity of both adolescents and mothers was stronger compared to their ethnic or religious identifications. Therefore, familial identity may protect individuals against the negative ethnic experiences that confront them in the Bulgarian society; 2) mothers’ ethnic, familial, and religious identities are positively associated with their children’s identifications and well-being; 3) there were significant relations of all collective identity components between mothers and children with the strongest relations among Roma and familial identities. This indicates that Roma mothers were particularly concerned with transmitting their commitment to the Roma culture as well as their family cohesion to their children.
In conclusion, we were able to show intergenerational continuities of collective identity among Roma mothers and their offspring and that strong ethnic, familial, and religious identities of the Roma are particularly important for their well-being.
Access to this article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-013-0043-1
Contact information: [email protected]; www.radosvetadimitrova.org; http://w3.psychology.su.se/staff/rdimi/
By: Radosveta Dimitrova, COFAS Marie Curie Fellow at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden;
Athanasios Chasiotis, Associate Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands:
Michael Bender , Assistant Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands:
Fons J. R. van de Vijver, Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands, North-West University, South Africa and The University of Queensland, Australia
In Europe and specifically in Bulgaria, Roma represent the largest and most disadvantaged ethnic minority historically exposed to severe discrimination, social exclusion and poverty. Therefore, identifying sources of psychological well-being for Roma is theoretically relevant and practically important.
We examined collective identity resources encompassing ethnic, familial, and religious identities among Roma adolescents and their mothers in Bulgaria. Ethnic identity refers to maintenance of positive attitudes and feelings that accompany a sense of group belonging (Erikson 1968; Ghavami et al. 2011; Phinney, 1989). Familial identity concerns the degree of identification with the familial group and commitment to the family and family relationships (Arends-Tóth and Van de Vijver 2008; Steidel and Contreras 2003). Religious identity reflects the salience of religious convictions for individual identity and self-concept (Furrow et al. 2004). Ethnic, religious and familial identities are important sources of strength for youth and their relatedness has been widely documented, specifically in indigenous minority groups (Kiang et al. 2008; Lopez et al. 2011).
We also considered ways in which collective identity is protective for well-being of Roma adolescents and their mothers. In so doing, we examined relations between adolescents and their mothers because maternal ethnic socialization is shaping youths’ identity processes in ethnic minority and Roma contexts. Hence, intergenerational transmission is a major source of culture maintenance among ethnic minority groups.
We found that 1) familial identity of both adolescents and mothers was stronger compared to their ethnic or religious identifications. Therefore, familial identity may protect individuals against the negative ethnic experiences that confront them in the Bulgarian society; 2) mothers’ ethnic, familial, and religious identities are positively associated with their children’s identifications and well-being; 3) there were significant relations of all collective identity components between mothers and children with the strongest relations among Roma and familial identities. This indicates that Roma mothers were particularly concerned with transmitting their commitment to the Roma culture as well as their family cohesion to their children.
In conclusion, we were able to show intergenerational continuities of collective identity among Roma mothers and their offspring and that strong ethnic, familial, and religious identities of the Roma are particularly important for their well-being.
Access to this article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-013-0043-1
Contact information: [email protected]; www.radosvetadimitrova.org; http://w3.psychology.su.se/staff/rdimi/
October 2014
Relationships Between Identity and Well-Being in Italian, Polish, and Romanian Emerging Adults
By: Dominika Karaś, PhD student at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
Jan Cieciuch, Professor at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
Oana Negru, Lecturer at Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
Elisabetta Crocetti, Elisabetta Crocetti, Researcher at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Identity is one of a core developmental tasks in human life (Erikson, 1950). Thus, among many possible predictors of well-being, identity processes may hold the important position, especially in the time of emerging adulthood – the period characterized by instability, and feeling in-between adolescence and adulthood, but also a time of taking new roles, highly important for identity development.
We adopted three-dimensional identity model proposed by Crocetti and colleagues (2008), where the three pivotal processes of identity are: commitment (the choice made in identity relevant domain, and the extent of identification with this choice), in-depth exploration (looking for new information about present commitments), and reconsideration of commitment (comparison between existing and other possible commitments, and efforts to change commitments, when they are not satisfactory for individual).
In presented study, we aimed on examining the relationships between three identity processes and positive well-being in emerging adulthood. We compared the data from three different countries: Italy, Poland, and Romania, and we paid attention to youth from two different groups: university students and workers. Moreover, we examined two identity domains that are particularly important for young people: education and work.
Our findings showed that identity processes are significantly related to positive well-being (including three aspects: emotional, psychological, and social). Committing into important life domains (such as education and work) and looking for new information about existing commitments was positively related to well-being, while reconsideration of commitment appeared to be troublesome aspect of identity formation, decreasing well-being.
Moreover, the pattern of presented associations was consistent across national and occupational groups, however in student group the identity processes explained higher part of well-being variance. The results highlights the role of identity formation for experiencing well-being.
Access to the article can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11205-014-0668-9#page-1
Contact information for this article: Dominika Karaś, [email protected]
July 2014
Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern in Adolescence: Gender Differences in Developmental Changes
By: Jolien Van der Graaff, PhD student at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Susan Branje, Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Minet De Wied, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Skyler Hawk, Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong;
Pol Van Lier, Professor at VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Professor at Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Empathy, the ability to understand and to share another’s emotional state, is seen as a fundamental social skill. Empathy may, for instance, foster prosocial behavior (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987) and inhibit aggression towards others (Feshbach & Feshbach, 2009; Miller & Eisenberg, 1988). Although an important basis of empathy is already established in early childhood, several cognitive, relational, and physical changes that take place during adolescence might still impact adolescents’ tendency to empathize with others.
In this study we longitudinally investigated the development of boys’ and girls’ tendency to take others’ perspectives (cognitive empathy) and to experience feelings of concern for others (affective empathy) longitudinally from age 13 to 18. We also addressed whether adolescents’ pubertal status was associated with this development.
We found an incline in perspective taking for both boys and girls. This was in line with theories assuming that adolescents’ perspective taking skills increase, because of advances in the awareness of factors beyond the immediate situations that may affect others’ emotions (Hoffman, 2000), and advances in the ability to consider self and other perspectives simultaneously from a third person view increases (Selman, 1980). Interestingly, the developmental pattern was strikingly different between boys and girls. Girls showed a steeper increase in perspective taking than did boys. Moreover, whereas girls’ perspective taking particularly increased between age 13 and 15, for boys it did not increase until age 15, and even showed a slight dip before that age. Thus, gender differences in perspective taking especially increased between early- and mid-adolescence.
With regard to empathic concern, theorists have proposed that adolescents’ growing perspective taking abilities also facilitate the development of empathic concern (Batson, 2009; Hoffman, 2000), and therefore increases in empathic concern across adolescence are expected. However, we found that girls’ levels of empathic concern remained stable, whereas for boys, empathic concern declined between ages 13 and 16, with a rebound to the initial level thereafter. Pubertal processes appeared to play a small role in this dip; boys who were physically more mature reported lower levels of empathic concern than did their physically less mature peers at ages 15 and 16. This may partly result from the increase in testosterone during pubertal maturation (Buchanan et al., 1992), which could induce an increase in competitive behavior (Mazur & Booth, 1998), thereby reducing empathy (Lanzetta & Englis, 1989). Further, boys who are physically more mature likely adhere more strongly to stereotypically masculine behavior, and might therefore be more inclined to inhibit empathic concern.
In sum, this study extended the literature by empirically testing the longstanding assumption that both perspective taking and empathic concern increase during adolescence as a result of cognitive maturation. We found support for increases in perspective taking, but not empathic concern. Our study revealed striking differences in developmental patterns between boys and girls. Moreover, our findings with regard to empathic concern, raises the question whether adolescents’ changing motivations rather than their increasing cognitive abilities may affect this development.
Access to this article: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2013-32417-001/
Contact information: Jolien van der Graaff, [email protected]
By: Jolien Van der Graaff, PhD student at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Susan Branje, Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Minet De Wied, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
Skyler Hawk, Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong;
Pol Van Lier, Professor at VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Professor at Utrecht University and Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Empathy, the ability to understand and to share another’s emotional state, is seen as a fundamental social skill. Empathy may, for instance, foster prosocial behavior (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987) and inhibit aggression towards others (Feshbach & Feshbach, 2009; Miller & Eisenberg, 1988). Although an important basis of empathy is already established in early childhood, several cognitive, relational, and physical changes that take place during adolescence might still impact adolescents’ tendency to empathize with others.
In this study we longitudinally investigated the development of boys’ and girls’ tendency to take others’ perspectives (cognitive empathy) and to experience feelings of concern for others (affective empathy) longitudinally from age 13 to 18. We also addressed whether adolescents’ pubertal status was associated with this development.
We found an incline in perspective taking for both boys and girls. This was in line with theories assuming that adolescents’ perspective taking skills increase, because of advances in the awareness of factors beyond the immediate situations that may affect others’ emotions (Hoffman, 2000), and advances in the ability to consider self and other perspectives simultaneously from a third person view increases (Selman, 1980). Interestingly, the developmental pattern was strikingly different between boys and girls. Girls showed a steeper increase in perspective taking than did boys. Moreover, whereas girls’ perspective taking particularly increased between age 13 and 15, for boys it did not increase until age 15, and even showed a slight dip before that age. Thus, gender differences in perspective taking especially increased between early- and mid-adolescence.
With regard to empathic concern, theorists have proposed that adolescents’ growing perspective taking abilities also facilitate the development of empathic concern (Batson, 2009; Hoffman, 2000), and therefore increases in empathic concern across adolescence are expected. However, we found that girls’ levels of empathic concern remained stable, whereas for boys, empathic concern declined between ages 13 and 16, with a rebound to the initial level thereafter. Pubertal processes appeared to play a small role in this dip; boys who were physically more mature reported lower levels of empathic concern than did their physically less mature peers at ages 15 and 16. This may partly result from the increase in testosterone during pubertal maturation (Buchanan et al., 1992), which could induce an increase in competitive behavior (Mazur & Booth, 1998), thereby reducing empathy (Lanzetta & Englis, 1989). Further, boys who are physically more mature likely adhere more strongly to stereotypically masculine behavior, and might therefore be more inclined to inhibit empathic concern.
In sum, this study extended the literature by empirically testing the longstanding assumption that both perspective taking and empathic concern increase during adolescence as a result of cognitive maturation. We found support for increases in perspective taking, but not empathic concern. Our study revealed striking differences in developmental patterns between boys and girls. Moreover, our findings with regard to empathic concern, raises the question whether adolescents’ changing motivations rather than their increasing cognitive abilities may affect this development.
Access to this article: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2013-32417-001/
Contact information: Jolien van der Graaff, [email protected]
May 2014
Impact of Early Adolescent Externalizing Problem Behaviors on Identity Development in Middle to Late Adolescence: A Prospective 7-year Longitudinal Study
By: Elisabetta Crocetti, Researcher at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands;
Theo Klimstra, Assistant Professor at Tilburg University, the Netherlands;
William W. Hale III, Associate Professor at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands;
Hans M. Koot, Professor at VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Professor at Utrecht University and at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
Identity formation is the core developmental task of adolescence (Erikson, 1950, 1968). Since post-modern societies are seemingly characterized by increasing uncertainty, this task is particularly challenging because adolescents have to enact significant choices in multiple domains. Additionally, a number of factors can hamper adolescent identity formation. In particular, adolescents at a high-risk for problem behaviors may face more difficulties in defining a coherent and stable sense of identity.
In this study, we focused on the potential detrimental role that externalizing problem behaviors (e.g., aggressive and delinquent behaviors) can have on identity development. In particular, we sought to shed light on identity paths of both boy and girl early adolescents with either a low-risk or high-risk for externalizing problem behaviors. The distinction of the low-risk and high-risk groups was based on teacher reports provided when the respondents were 11 or 12 years old. Then, youth were followed over the course of adolescence from 14 to 18 years old, with a five-wave longitudinal design with annual assessments, to monitor their identity development.
Our results indicated that early adolescents who had been rated as a low-risk versus a high-risk for externalizing problem behaviors by their teachers reported significant differences in identity. Specifically, high-risk boys exhibited the most disorganized identity at age 14: they displayed a combination of low commitment, medium in-depth exploration, and high reconsideration of commitment. Furthermore, over the course of adolescence (ages 14-18) high-risk girls displayed a decrease in commitment, particularly sharp at the beginning of adolescence, which was combined with an increase in reconsideration that was the most pronounced toward the end of adolescence.
Thus, this study highlighted that boys and girls with a high-risk of externalizing symptoms reported more difficulties in developing a firm sense of identity over middle to late adolescence. Because externalizing problems behaviors and an incoherent sense of identity might reinforce each other in a negative spiral, it seems necessary to intervene promptly on the high-risk adolescents in order to promote positive youth development.
Access to the article can be found at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-013-9924-6 .
Contact information for this article:
Elisabetta Crocetti: [email protected]
By: Elisabetta Crocetti, Researcher at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands;
Theo Klimstra, Assistant Professor at Tilburg University, the Netherlands;
William W. Hale III, Associate Professor at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands;
Hans M. Koot, Professor at VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands;
Wim Meeus, Professor at Utrecht University and at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
Identity formation is the core developmental task of adolescence (Erikson, 1950, 1968). Since post-modern societies are seemingly characterized by increasing uncertainty, this task is particularly challenging because adolescents have to enact significant choices in multiple domains. Additionally, a number of factors can hamper adolescent identity formation. In particular, adolescents at a high-risk for problem behaviors may face more difficulties in defining a coherent and stable sense of identity.
In this study, we focused on the potential detrimental role that externalizing problem behaviors (e.g., aggressive and delinquent behaviors) can have on identity development. In particular, we sought to shed light on identity paths of both boy and girl early adolescents with either a low-risk or high-risk for externalizing problem behaviors. The distinction of the low-risk and high-risk groups was based on teacher reports provided when the respondents were 11 or 12 years old. Then, youth were followed over the course of adolescence from 14 to 18 years old, with a five-wave longitudinal design with annual assessments, to monitor their identity development.
Our results indicated that early adolescents who had been rated as a low-risk versus a high-risk for externalizing problem behaviors by their teachers reported significant differences in identity. Specifically, high-risk boys exhibited the most disorganized identity at age 14: they displayed a combination of low commitment, medium in-depth exploration, and high reconsideration of commitment. Furthermore, over the course of adolescence (ages 14-18) high-risk girls displayed a decrease in commitment, particularly sharp at the beginning of adolescence, which was combined with an increase in reconsideration that was the most pronounced toward the end of adolescence.
Thus, this study highlighted that boys and girls with a high-risk of externalizing symptoms reported more difficulties in developing a firm sense of identity over middle to late adolescence. Because externalizing problems behaviors and an incoherent sense of identity might reinforce each other in a negative spiral, it seems necessary to intervene promptly on the high-risk adolescents in order to promote positive youth development.
Access to the article can be found at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-013-9924-6 .
Contact information for this article:
Elisabetta Crocetti: [email protected]
March 2014
Peer Networks and the Development of Illegal Political Activity Among Adolescents
By: Viktor Dahl, PhD candidate at Örebro University, Sweden and,
Dr. Maarten van Zalk, Associate Professor at Örebro University, Sweden.
Illegal political actions have always been a political influence repertoire of citizens in democratic societies. Although involvement in these activities is uncommon, the public and media space devoted to them is often large. Despite this, there is little knowledge of how illegal political behavior emerges among individuals.
Using a social network approach, this study examined to what extent peer influence explains the development of illegal political behavior among adolescents. Because peer-adolescent similarities in illegal political behavior may not only be the result of influence processes, the current study controlled for a) adolescents’ tendencies to initiate peer relations with similar others (selection), b) influence from peers involved in legal political behavior, and c) gender.
Our findings supported the idea that adolescents adopt illegal political behavior of peers already involved in these behaviors. This finding remained controlling for selection, legal political peer influences on political behavior, and gender. Consequently, the influences of peers involved in illegal activism seem partially to explain adolescents’ escalations in these behaviors. Nevertheless, adolescents did not seek out peers with similar dispositions for illegal political behavior. Accordingly, adolescents’ illegal political behavior seems the product of socialization rather than selection.
One way to make theoretical sense of these findings is to turn to the pyramid model in the stage theory of radicalization (Moskalenko & McCauley, 2009). This theory states that a pyramid can illustrate the discrete levels of commitment to a political cause; the base comprise sympathizers with the cause, a higher level those who justify the actions of the activists, thereafter the activists, and at the top, radicals – prepared to use illegal and violent political means. Adolescents form politically active peer groups on the basis of similar legal political behavior. The development of illegal political behavior seems a subsequent step. In line with stage theory, it might be argued that illegal political behavior comprises something of a final step on a stairway of political commitment in pursuit of a political goal or cause.
Whether illegal political activities are more of a problem than an asset for democracies is a question of normative concern. Irrespective of the way in which we think about this kind of political action, the question of how illegal political behavior come about has previously been neglected. What we can say from this study is that peers have a crucial role to play for the development of alternative political outcomes such as illegal political behavior.
Access to the article can be found here.
Contact information of the authors of this article:
Viktor Dahl: [email protected]
Dr. Maarten van Zalk: [email protected]
By: Viktor Dahl, PhD candidate at Örebro University, Sweden and,
Dr. Maarten van Zalk, Associate Professor at Örebro University, Sweden.
Illegal political actions have always been a political influence repertoire of citizens in democratic societies. Although involvement in these activities is uncommon, the public and media space devoted to them is often large. Despite this, there is little knowledge of how illegal political behavior emerges among individuals.
Using a social network approach, this study examined to what extent peer influence explains the development of illegal political behavior among adolescents. Because peer-adolescent similarities in illegal political behavior may not only be the result of influence processes, the current study controlled for a) adolescents’ tendencies to initiate peer relations with similar others (selection), b) influence from peers involved in legal political behavior, and c) gender.
Our findings supported the idea that adolescents adopt illegal political behavior of peers already involved in these behaviors. This finding remained controlling for selection, legal political peer influences on political behavior, and gender. Consequently, the influences of peers involved in illegal activism seem partially to explain adolescents’ escalations in these behaviors. Nevertheless, adolescents did not seek out peers with similar dispositions for illegal political behavior. Accordingly, adolescents’ illegal political behavior seems the product of socialization rather than selection.
One way to make theoretical sense of these findings is to turn to the pyramid model in the stage theory of radicalization (Moskalenko & McCauley, 2009). This theory states that a pyramid can illustrate the discrete levels of commitment to a political cause; the base comprise sympathizers with the cause, a higher level those who justify the actions of the activists, thereafter the activists, and at the top, radicals – prepared to use illegal and violent political means. Adolescents form politically active peer groups on the basis of similar legal political behavior. The development of illegal political behavior seems a subsequent step. In line with stage theory, it might be argued that illegal political behavior comprises something of a final step on a stairway of political commitment in pursuit of a political goal or cause.
Whether illegal political activities are more of a problem than an asset for democracies is a question of normative concern. Irrespective of the way in which we think about this kind of political action, the question of how illegal political behavior come about has previously been neglected. What we can say from this study is that peers have a crucial role to play for the development of alternative political outcomes such as illegal political behavior.
Access to the article can be found here.
Contact information of the authors of this article:
Viktor Dahl: [email protected]
Dr. Maarten van Zalk: [email protected]