Journal of Early Adolescence

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.

This study examined interactive relationships among ethnic identity, gender, time in the US, and changes in substance use outcomes among a school-based sample of 1,731 Mexican-heritage preadolescents (ages 9-13). Residual change multilevel models adjusting for school clustering and using multiply imputed data assessed changes from beginning to end of fifth grade in use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and inhalants, and four substance use antecedents. Effects of ethnic identity were conditional on time in the US, and in opposite directions by gender. Among males living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted desirable changes in all but one outcome (substance offers). Among females living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted undesirable changes in alcohol use, pro-drug norms, and peer substance use. Interpretations focus on differential exposure to substance use opportunities and the erosion of traditional gender role socialization among Mexican-heritage youth having lived longer in the US.

This study explores the link between peer problems in school and contextual variations in negative mood and state self-esteem over a 5-day period. Fifth-grade children completed measures of mood and state self-esteem while they were at home in the morning and while they were at school each day, allowing for an examination of whether psychological states change from context to context and whether these changes are influenced by types of peer events that children report experiencing at school. Results indicated that children who experienced more peer problems at school showed, on average, a shift toward more negative mood and lowered state self-esteem from mornings at home to afternoons at school during the week of data collection. Peer problems were also associated with higher levels of negative mood at school after controlling for academic problems but no longer predicted state self-esteem in school when academic problems were controlled.

This study examined how maximizing and minimizing responses to positive events were associated with sustained positive feelings about the events and adjustment in a community sample of 56 young adolescents (31 boys and 25 girls, 10-14 years of age). On daily reports, adolescents reported their positive emotional reactions to their best event each day. A week later, they reported their responses to their most intense positive event across the 4 days. Parents and adolescents reported on adolescents’ adjustment. The results indicated that maximizing responses were related to more intense feelings about the events 1 week later. Minimizing responses were associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors over and above coping with negative events. The findings indicated that adolescents can maximize or capitalize on positive events but that minimizing is linked to poorer adjustment. Our study parallels existing research with adults and offers new information about young adolescents’ responses to positive events.

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.

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.

Knowledge about the role of empathy, emotional self-efficacy, and loneliness on early adolescents’ depressive symptoms is scarce. The main aims of the study were to investigate the following: (a) the role of empathy and emotional self-efficacy (additive and interactive) on loneliness and depressive symptoms, taking into account gender differences and (b) the possible mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between emotional predictors and depressive symptoms. Three hundred forty-eight Italian early adolescents (48% girls; mean age, 13; SD = 0.3) completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire at two time points (1 year apart). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data. Results indicated the following: (a) high empathy and low emotional self-efficacy were related to higher subsequent loneliness and depressive symptoms; (b) emotional self-efficacy moderated the relationship between empathy and loneliness and, only for girls, between empathy and depressive symptoms; (c) no mediation role of loneliness between emotional predictors (empathy and emotional self-efficacy) and depressive symptoms was found. Results are discussed in relation to preventive interventions targeting early adolescents.

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.

Research suggests that the pubertal transition, particularly when experienced earlier than age-matched peers, is associated with heightened depression in girls but less depression in boys. This study examined whether stress within other-sex relationships serves as one process through which puberty differentially contributes to depression for girls and boys. Youth (51 girls, 34 boys; M age = 12.68) and their caregivers reported on pubertal status and age of menarche. Semistructured interviews were conducted to assess youths’ depression and exposure to chronic other-sex stress. As anticipated, more advanced status and earlier timing were associated with more depression in girls and less depression in boys. More advanced status and earlier timing were associated with less other-sex stress in boys; earlier age of menarche was associated with more other-sex stress in girls. Other-sex stress partially mediated the early menarche-depression association in girls, suggesting one process through which puberty promotes risk for depression in girls.

The goals of the present study were to (a) develop and validate a new self-report measure of social avoidance for use among early adolescents in mainland China and (b) explore the links between subtypes of social withdrawal (i.e., shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance) and indices of socio-emotional difficulties in this cultural context. Participants were 663 early adolescents (350 boys, 313 girls) attending elementary schools ([Formula: see text] = 10.25 years) and middle schools ([Formula: see text] = 12.53 years) in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Measures of social withdrawal subtypes and adjustment were collected using multi-source assessments, including self-reports, peer nominations, and teacher ratings. The results provided evidence in support of the reliability and validity of the new scale of self-reported social avoidance. Shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance were also all uniquely associated with emotion dysregulation and self-reported internalizing problems. However, only social avoidance was uniquely associated with teacher-rated emotion symptoms and peer problems (as rated by both peers and teachers). Results are discussed in terms of the reasons why social avoidance may have particularly negative implications for early adolescents in China.