Journal of Early Adolescence

The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal investigation of a diverse sample of 1,700 fifth graders and 1,117 of their parents, tests developmental contextual ideas linking PYD, youth contributions, and participation in community youth development (YD) programs, representing a key ecological asset. Using data from Wave 1 of the study, structural equation modeling procedures provided evidence for five firstorder latent factors representing the “Five Cs” of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) and for their convergence on a second-order PYD latent construct. A theoretical construct, youth contribution, was also created and examined. Both PYD and YD program participation independently related to contribution. The importance of longitudinal analyses for extending the present results is discussed.

The purpose for this study was to examine the structure and construct validity of a measure of ethnic identity among young adolescents from diverse ethnic groups. Students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades (N = 5,423) from diverse ethnic groups completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), measures of psychological well-being and a measure of salience of ethnicity. Factor analyses of data for the three largest ethnic groups (European American, African American, Mexican American) yielded a two-factor structure that corresponded to two theoretical approaches to ethnic identity, as hypothesized. Similar patterns in magnitude of loadings were observed across groups, indicating that the MEIM could be used as a global composite index of ethnic identity. Ethnic identity was related positively to measures of psychological well-being such as coping ability, mastery, self-esteem and optimism, and negatively to measures of loneliness and depression. MEIM scores also were moderately strong and positive with salience (the importance of a person’s own ethnic background in his or her life), across ethnic groups.

Sociometric popularity is computed based on peer liking and dislike. The relation between sociometric popularity and perceived popularity, based on peer identification of school associates considered popular, was investigated in a sample of 727 middle school students (7th and 8th grades). Most sociometrically popular students were not high on perceived popularity. Most students high on perceived popularity were not sociometrically popular Perceived popularity was correlated more highly with a measure of dominance than was sociometric popularity. Sociometrically popular students who were not high on perceived popularity were characterized by peers as kind and trustworthy but not as dominant, aggressive, or stuck-up. Students who were high on perceived popularity but not sociometrically popular were characterized as dominant, aggressive, and stuck-up but not as kind and trustworthy. Sociometrically popular students who also were high on perceived popularity were characterized as kind, trustworthy, and dominant but not as aggressive or as stuck-up.

The early adolescent years are characterized by a negative shift in motivational orientation for a number of children. It has been suggested that this change is related to differences between the learning environments in elementary and middle level schools. In particular, some goal theorists have suggested that middle level schools stress performance goals more and task goals less than do elementary schools. In this study, comparisons based on survey data indicated that middle school teachers and students perceive the school culture as more performance-focused and less task-focused than do elementary teachers and students. In addition, elementary school teachers use instructional practices that emphasize task goals, and endorse task-focused achievement goals for their students, more than do middle school teachers. A perceived stress, in the school, on task goals predicted self-efficacy both for teachers and students, whereas a perceived stress on performance goals was unrelated to self-efficacy.

In this 3-year prospective study (N = 458) spanning a transition to middle school, bidirectional associations between children’s relations with schoolmates (social preference andimpact)and behaviors (physical and relational aggression, prosocial behavior) were examined using structural equation modeling. Gender moderation of all estimated paths was examined. There was no gender difference in relational aggression in Grade 3; girls were more relationally aggressive than boys in Grade 6. Males were more physically aggressive than females; females were more prosocial and preferred by peers. Longitudinal and bidirectional associations between relations with peers and behaviors were found. Compared to one-group models of social preference and impact, gender moderation models improved model fit significantly. With regard to social preference and children’s behaviors, gender moderated concurrent, but not longitudinal, associations. With regards to social impact and children’s behaviors, gender moderated both concurrent and longitudinal associations. There was moderate stability of behaviors, including relational aggression.

In this short-term longitudinal study, Canadian young adolescents’ peer relationships were assessed as students moved from Grade 6 in small elementary schools to Grade 7 in a middle-level school offering Grades 7 through 12. Sociometric nominations were conducted in May of Grade 6, monthly during the fall term, and in May of Grade 7. Peer rejection was stable; peer acceptance was less stable during the transition than subsequently. Girls experienced greater instability in reciprocated friendships than did boys, although girls and boys had similar numbers of reciprocated friendships overall. During the fall term of Grade 7, students lost old reciprocated friendships and formed new reciprocated friendships with previously unfamiliar peers. Girls were more likely than boys to nominate previously unfamiliar peers as friends. Girls from the large elementary school, as compared with other girls, established reciprocated friendships with peers who were unfamiliar from elementary school earlier in the fall term.

The relationship of daily uplifts and hassles to adaptational outcomes has gained increasing attention in recent years. However, investigators have focused considerably more on hassles than uplifts. In an attempt to rectify this trend, the present study examines the relationship of uplifts and hassles to anxiety, depression, distress, self-restraint, perceived sup-port from friends, perceived social competence, and general self-worth in a sample of 23 sixth graders (141 girls). Results indicate that both hassles and uplifts are substantially related to these outcomes in the expected direction, with the exception of a modest positive association between uplift and anxiety for girls. Moreover, in most cases uplifts add significantly to the relationship between hassles and outcomes, thus high-lighting the importance of uplifts. Other findings idicate that uplifts/hassles patterns vary as a function of gender and the particular outcome being considered. Similarities to and differences from adult findings are discussed in regard to gender-role and general development.

Investigated in this study was the contribution of peer acceptance, perceived support from peers, and family cohesion to prosocial behavior in young adolescents. Based on theories of peer socialization, it was hypothesized that being accepted by peers would have a direct relation to prosocial behavior. In addition, emotional distress was examined as a possible mediator between adolescents’ perceptions of family and peer relationships and prosocial outcomes. In a sample of 167 sixth-grade students, hypotheses were supported in that peer acceptance was related directly to prosocial behavior and emotional distress mediated relations between perceived support from peers and prosocial behavior. Family cohesion was related negatively to distress but not to prosocial outcomes. The roles of parents and peers in promoting young adolescents’ social competence, as well as the importance of emotional well-being for positive social adjustment in middle school are discussed.

Following suggestions from prior research, this 2-wave longitudinal study examined whether parental solicitation and control influenced adolescents' later perceptions of privacy invasion. Data from 307 Dutch adolescents were tested with structural equation modeling (SEM). Differences in adolescents' invasion perceptions were examined in terms of gender and the quality of interactions with parents. Parental control influenced later invasion perceptions among adolescents reporting higher quality interactions with parents, particularly among males. Parental solicitation also predicted perceptions of invasion. Results are discussed in terms of Kerr and Stattin's (2000) reinterpretation of parental monitoring, gender differences, the dialectical tension between openness and closedness in family relationships, and implications for adolescent-parent privacy negotiations.

Little is known about the early childhood indicators of adolescent risk. The link between trajectories of externalizing behavioral problems and early adolescent risk behavior was examined in a longitudinal sample of 875 child participants in the LONGSCAN studies. Five trajectory groups of children defined by externalizing behavior problems were identified: Low, Low-Medium, Moderate, Increasing-High, and High. After controlling for demographics and maltreatment, violent/delinquent behavior was significantly predicted by membership in the Moderate and Increasing-High problem behavior groups. Substance use in early adolescence was significantly predicted by membership in the High behavior problem group. These findings suggest that there is a great deal of continuity between patterns of externalizing behavior in childhood and risk-taking in early adolescence. Understanding the course of externalizing behavior in childhood can help identify children at particular risk for more serious behavioral problems in early adolescence.