Journal of Research on Adolescence

Adolescents' romantic relationships have attracted popular interest, but, until recently, little scientific curiosity. Research has been impeded by erroneous assumptions that adolescent relationships are trivial and transitory, that they provide little information beyond measures of the influence of parent‐child and peer relationships, and that their impact is primarily associated with problems of behavior and adjustment. This article proposes that distinguishing five features of romantic relationships (involvement, partner selection, relationship content, quality, and cognitive and emotional processes) is essential to describing adolescents' relationships and their developmental significance. These distinctions also help to clarify the role of context, age‐related variations, and individual differences in the impact of romantic experiences. Research is needed to illuminate questions of how and under what conditions romantic relationships affect individual development and how romantic and other close relationships jointly influence developmental trajectories during adolescence.

Một vài nghiên cứu đã khám phá các yếu tố liên quan đến trường học ảnh hưởng đến sự biến đổi trong tình trạng bị bắt nạt và sức khỏe của thanh niên đồng tính, song tính, chuyển giới và không xác định giới tính (LGBTQ). Trong số 15,965 học sinh tại 45 trường học ở Wisconsin, chúng tôi đã xác định sự khác biệt dựa trên sự hiện diện của Liên Minh Đồng Tính – Dị Tính (GSA). Thanh niên trong các trường có GSA báo cáo ít tình trạng trốn học, hút thuốc, uống rượu, cố gắng tự sát, và quan hệ tình dục với bạn tình không quen thuộc hơn so với những học sinh tại các trường không có GSA, với sự khác biệt này lớn hơn đối với thanh niên LGBTQ so với thanh niên dị tính. Sự khác biệt dựa trên GSA lớn nhất ở các thiếu nữ thuộc nhóm thiểu số giới tính về việc quan hệ tình dục khi sử dụng ma túy. Hiệu ứng của GSA không có ý nghĩa thống kê đối với sự bắt nạt nói chung hoặc sự bắt nạt do kỳ thị giới tính, điểm số, và cảm giác thuộc về trường. Các phát hiện này cho thấy GSA có thể đóng góp vào việc giảm nhẹ một loạt các nguy cơ sức khỏe, đặc biệt là đối với thanh niên LGBTQ.

Members of the Society for Research on Adolescents COVID‐19 Response Team offer this commentary to accompany this special issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence regarding the impact of the pandemic on adolescents’ social, emotional, and academic functioning. In addition to outlining the critical need for scholarly collaboration to address the global impact of this crisis on adolescent development, we argue that a broad investigative lens is needed to guide research and recovery efforts targeting youth development. We then use this broad lens to consider dimensions of the pandemic impact relative to developmental implications within community and policy contexts, educational contexts, social contexts, and family contexts. Finally, we describe guideposts for setting a global, shared research agenda that can hasten research to recovery efforts surrounding the pandemic and youth development.

The developmental period of adolescence is characterized by increasing incidence of health risk behaviors (HRBs). Based on theoretical models that emphasize the moderating role of cognitive control, this study examined how neural correlates of cognitive control and risk sensitivity interact to predict HRBs among late adolescents (17–20 years). Neuroimaging data indicate that risk‐related hemodynamic activity in the anterior insula during anticipation of uncertain outcomes predicts HRBs among late adolescents exhibiting greater dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity during a cognitive interference task but not among late adolescents requiring less dACC activity. These results present neural evidence for a significant moderating effect of cognitive control on the link between risk sensitivity and HRBs among late adolescents.

This study examined 7‐year follow‐up data from the Yonkers Project, a study of a 1985 court‐ordered neighborhood desegregation program in Yonkers, NY. Low‐income Black and Latino families residing in impoverished neighborhoods who were randomly selected to relocate to publicly funded townhouses in middle‐class communities and demographically similar families who were not selected to move were interviewed. Self‐ and parent‐report data on 8–18‐year‐old children and youth's educational outcomes, problem behavior, and parent–child relations were examined (N=221). Youth 15–18 years of age who relocated to more advantaged neighborhoods reported lower school performance and more hyperactive behavior problems and substance use than peers who remained in impoverished neighborhoods. Program effects on parenting also emerged, with mover parents reporting less stringent monitoring and harsh disciplinary techniques than stayers. Family economic resources and neighborhood conditions, assessed approximately 5 years before, accounted for some of the program effects at 7 years.

Supportive relationships with parents and friends reduce adolescent risk for depression; however, whether and how the strength of these associations changes across adolescence remains less clear. Age‐varying associations of mother–adolescent and father–adolescent closeness and friend support with depressive symptoms were examined across ages 12.5–19.5 using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 4,819). Positive relationships with mothers, fathers, and friends were associated with lower depressive symptoms across adolescence, and the associations were generally stable across age. The association between father–adolescent closeness and depressive symptoms was stronger for girls than for boys during mid‐adolescence. Mother–adolescent closeness was more strongly negatively associated with depressive symptoms in the context of higher friend support during mid‐adolescence.

Researchers have suggested that good‐quality school climates foster a sense of connection to the school and in this way contribute to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. However, few studies have directly assessed the role of school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Using path analysis, this brief report examined whether four aspects of student perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, competition among students, and overall satisfaction with classes) were indirectly associated with subsequent early adolescent conduct problems and depressive symptoms through school connectedness. Participants were four hundred and eighty‐nine 10‐ to 14‐year old middle school students involved in two waves of a study. The results showed that school connectedness mediated the relations between perceived cohesion, perceived friction, and overall satisfaction with classes and subsequent student conduct problems 1 year later. School connectedness was not, however, predictive of subsequent depressive symptoms and thus did not mediate the school climate effects on early adolescent emotional problems.

The current study examined the unique and interactive relations of 4 aspects of student‐perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, and competition among students, and overall satisfaction with classes) and adolescent effortful control in the conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 868 ten‐ to fourteen‐year‐old adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that each of the school climate variables was uniquely associated with at least 1 outcome beyond effortful control. Two‐way interactions between effortful control and school climate variables showed that among boys low in effortful control, those perceiving high levels of cohesion among students, low levels of friction among students, or high levels of satisfaction with classes reported fewer depressive symptoms. Among females, 2‐way interactions indicated that girls low in effortful control reported fewer conduct problems when their perceptions of friction or competition among students were low. Implications for perceptions of good quality school climates are discussed.

The present study of 150 adolescents (M age = 13.05 years) examined the associations between appearance‐based rejection sensitivity (Appearance‐RS) and psychological adjustment during early adolescence, and evaluated three types of other‐gender peer experiences (other‐gender friendship, peer acceptance, and romantic relationships) as moderators. Appearance‐RS was found to be uniquely related to two types of social anxiety, but not to self‐esteem. Other‐gender friendship emerged as a protective factor, whereas high other‐gender peer acceptance emerged as a risk factor (especially for boys), after controlling for same‐gender mutual best friendship involvement and peer acceptance. Results highlight the importance of distinguishing between different types of other‐gender peer experiences during early adolescence and suggest that Appearance‐RS during adolescence warrants further investigation.