Journal of Adolescence

In light of differing findings regarding the relations between parenting and adolescent academic/behavioural outcomes and the dearth of such research in a Chinese context, we conducted research to examine the relationship between parental supervision/attachment and academic achievement/problem behaviour among mainland Chinese adolescents. In the study, 636 Grade 11 students completed a questionnaire comprising parenting and problem behaviour variables complemented by academic achievement (GPA) data drawn from school records. The study found that the relations between parenting (parental supervision and attachment) and Chinese adolescents' academic and behavioural outcomes are very weak.

Although numerous studies have established a link between substance use and adult partner violence, little research has examined the relationship during adolescence and most extant research has not examined multiple substance use types. The current study used hierarchical growth modeling to simultaneously examine proximal (between‐person) and time‐varying (within‐person) relations between cigarette, alcohol, marijuana and hard drug use and physical dating aggression across grades 8 through 12 while controlling for demographic covariates and shared risk factors. Proximal effects of marijuana use on dating aggression were found for girls and proximal effects of hard drug use on dating aggression were found for boys. Time‐varying effects were found for alcohol for both boys and girls and for hard drug use for boys only. Overall, findings suggest that alcohol, marijuana and hard drug use predict whether and when adolescents engage in dating aggression and should be targeted by prevention interventions.

While most prior research has focused on the frequency of family meals the issue of which elements of family mealtime are most salient for adolescents' well‐being has remained overlooked. The current study used the experience sampling method, a unique form of time diary, and survey data drawn from the 500 Family Study (N = 237 adolescents with 8122 observations) to examine the association between family mealtime communication and teens' emotional well‐being. Results showed that in approximately half of the time spent on family meals (3 h per week on average) adolescents reported talking to their parents. Hierarchical linear model analyses revealed that controlling for the quality of family relationships family mealtime communication was significantly associated with higher positive affect and engagement and with lower negative affect and stress. Findings suggest that family meals constitute an important site for communication between teens and parents that is beneficial to adolescents' emotional well‐being.

Stress‐related problems are increasing among Swedish adolescents, especially among females. The aims of this study were to survey the incidence of stress symptoms among 16‐year‐olds, to investigate the related gender differences, and to understand the factors that may contribute to stress symptoms. The study is questionnaire based, and the sample included 304 first‐year high school students from two comparable schools. More than 30% of the high school students reported serious stress symptoms. Almost every second girl and every fifth boy reported that they felt stressed to a high degree. 8.2% were found to have severe stress symptoms, which would be considered a sign of chronic stress in adults. Besides the perception of high demands, low levels of global self‐esteem, sleep disturbances, and poor social support played a crucial role in the prediction of stress symptoms. The findings highlight the need to develop and implement adequate stress prevention measures for adolescents.

Previous research has demonstrated that body satisfaction and self‐esteem are highly correlated in adolescence, but reasons are poorly understood. We tested three explanations: (i) the two constructs are actually one; (ii) the correlation is explained by a third factor; (iii) there are prospective relationships between body satisfaction and self‐esteem. A population based sample of Norwegian adolescents (n = 3251) was examined four times over a 13‐year period. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that body satisfaction and self‐esteem were separate constructs and the correlation between them was not attenuated when adjusting for 3rd variables. Autoregressive cross‐lagged analysis showed reciprocal relations between body satisfaction and self‐esteem. The prospective relationship between body satisfaction during adolescence and self‐esteem in late adolescence and emerging adulthood was stronger than at later stages.