Childhood Peer Rejection and Aggression as Predictors of Adolescent Girls' Externalizing and Health Risk Behaviors: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study.

This 6-year longitudinal study examined girls' peer-nominated social preference and aggression in childhood as predictors of self- and parent-reported externalizing symptoms, substance use (i.e.. cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use), and sexual risk behavior in adolescence. Participants were 148 girls from diverse ethnic backgrounds, who were initially assessed in Grades 4-6 and again in Grades 10-12. Results supported a moderator model, indicating that social preference changed the nature of the association between childhood aggression and adolescent outcomes. When accompanied by peer rejection, aggressive behavior was moderately stable over time and significantly associated with adolescent girls' substance use and sexual risk behavior. However, under conditions of peer acceptance, no significant association between childhood aggression and adolescent outcomes emerged. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transactional analysis of the reciprocal links between peer experiences and academic achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence.

This study tested a transactional model of reciprocal influences regarding students' peer experiences (peer acceptance, peer rejection, and friends' academic achievement) and students' academic achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence. This longitudinal model was tested on 452 students (198 girls), mostly Caucasian and French speaking, who were assessed yearly from Grades 2 through 7. Structural equation models revealed that, for boys and for girls, higher academic achievement predicted (a) increases in peer acceptance from Grades 2 through 6, (b) decreases in peer rejection from Grades 2 through 4 (through Grade 5 for girls), and (c) increases in friends' achievement from Grades 4 through 7. Also, rejection predicted decreases in academic achievement from Grades 3 through 5. These results suggest that academic achievement is a good predictor of peer group status in middle childhood and that high-achieving students start selecting each other as friends as they enter early adolescence. These data also suggest that peer rejection in childhood may disrupt future academic achievement. Possible mediating mechanisms, as well as peer selection and influences in the context of social development, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of friendship characteristics and problem behaviors among middle adolescents

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used with a 15-item adolescent self-report measure to identify 4 salient friendship characteristics--Reciprocity of Relations, Overt Hostility, Covert Hostility, and Self-Disclosure--with a sample of about 1,100 middle adolescents. Higher levels of Overt and Covert Hostility and lower levels of Reciprocity of Relations with one's closest friend were associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption, percentage of friends who drink, delinquent activity, depressive symptoms, and suicidal behaviors. Self-Disclosure was positively correlated with some adolescent problem behaviors, possibly reflecting developmental changes toward greater interpersonal involvement with friends in concert with age normative tasks such as increased alcohol use. Longitudinal, prospective analyses indicated that delinquent activity and depressive symptoms were significant lagged predictors of Overt and Covert Hostility, but that friendship characteristics were not significant lagged predictors of adolescent problem behaviors.     

Adolescent Girls' Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Examination of Reassurance-Seeking and Peer Relationships.

A transactional, interpersonal framework involving adolescents' reassurance-seeking and peer experiences may be useful for understanding the emergence of gender differences in depression prevalence during the adolescent transition. Sociometric nominations of peer acceptance/rejection and ratings of friendship quality provided by adolescents and their friends were used to measure peer experiences among 6th-8th-grade adolescents (N = 520) over 3 annual time points. After controlling for age and pubertal development, significant but small prospective effects offered mixed support for hypotheses: (a) depressive symptoms and negative peer relations predicted increasing levels of girls' reassurance-seeking; (b) initial levels of reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms predicted deteriorating friendship quality among girls and low friendship stability, respectively; and (c) reassurance-seeking combined with poor peer experiences predicted increases in girls' depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood predictors of adolescent substance use in a longitudinal study of children with ADHD.

Children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n=142) were prospectively monitored into adolescence (13-18 years old) to evaluate their risk for elevated substance use relative to same-aged adolescents without ADHD (n=100). Probands reported higher levels of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use than did controls. Group differences were apparent for alcohol symptom scores but not for alcohol or marijuana disorder diagnoses. Within probands, severity of childhood inattention symptoms predicted multiple substance use outcomes; childhood oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) symptoms predicted illicit drug use and CD symptoms. Persistence of ADHD and adolescent CD were each associated with elevated substance use behaviors relative to controls. Further study of the mediating mechanisms that explain risk for early substance use and abuse in children with ADHD is warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The co-occurrence of depression and substance abuse in late adolescence

This article examines the role of adolescent social relationships in fostering the occurrence and co-occurrence of depression and substance abuse, using two waves of data from a community sample of adolescents (N = 900). Multinomial logistic response models were estimated to identify the extent to which risk and protective features of youths' family and peer relations were differentially linked with depressive symptoms, substance abuse, and their co-occurrence. Taking a within-person, configurational approach to adolescent adaptation, contrasts involved four subgroups of adolescents: those high on both depressed mood and substance abuse, those who experience neither problem, those evidencing high levels of depressive symptoms only, and those high on substance abuse only. Risk for depressive symptoms was differentiated by its association with conflict and lack of support in the friendship domain. Substance abuse was associated with negative peer pressure, but these youth were otherwise little different from youths with no problems. Whereas co-occurrence of depression and substance use was associated with more difficulties in both the family and peer environments, the most distinctive risk was that of low family support. Discussion centers on the developmental antecedents of co-occurring problems and family relations during adolescence.     

Relational benefits of relational aggression: Adaptive and maladaptive associations with adolescent friendship quality.

Two longitudinal studies examined associations between relational aggression and friendship quality during adolescence. In Study 1, 62 adolescents in Grades 6 (25.8%), 7 (32.3%), and 8 (41.9%) completed assessments of friendship affiliations, relational and overt aggression, and friendship quality at 2 time points, 1 year apart. Results using actor partner interdependence modeling indicated that high levels of relational aggression predicted increases in self-reported positive friendship quality 1 year later. In Study 2, 56 adolescents in Grades 9 (66.7%) and 10 (33.3%) attended a laboratory session with a friend in which their conversations were videotaped and coded for relationally aggressive talk. Target adolescents completed measures of positive and negative friendship quality during the laboratory session and during a follow-up phone call 6 months later. Analyses revealed that high levels of relationally aggressive talk at Time 1 predicted increases in negative friendship quality 6 months later. In addition, among adolescents involved in a reciprocal best friendship, high levels of observed relationally aggressive talk predicted increases in positive friendship quality over time. Taken together, these studies provide support for the idea that relational aggression may be associated with adaptive as well as maladaptive outcomes within the dyadic context of adolescent friendship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early predictors of sexually intimate behaviors in an urban sample of young girls.

In recent years, concern has been raised about girls’ involvement in sexual activity at progressively younger ages. Little is known about the prevalence of emerging intimate behaviors, the psychosocial factors associated with these behaviors, or the moderating effects of ethnicity on these associations in early adolescence. In the current prospective study, we examined the prevalence and predictors of sexually intimate behaviors at age 12 years in an urban community sample of 1,116 ethnically diverse girls. Cluster analysis revealed 3 groups at age 12: no sexual behavior, mild behavior (e.g., holding hands), and moderate behavior (e.g., laying together). Minority status girls reported higher rates of both mild and moderate sexually intimate behaviors compared with European American girls. After controlling for the significant effects of age 11 intimate behaviors, lifetime alcohol use, poor parent–child communication, deviant peer behavior, onset of menarche, and interactions between ethnicity and impulsivity, social self-worth and depression uniquely increased the odds of engaging in moderately intimate behaviors at age 12 years. Parenting characteristics increased the likelihood of moderate, relative to mild, behaviors. For European American girls only, high levels of impulsivity and low social self-worth were associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in moderate intimate behaviors, whereas high levels of depressive symptoms reduced the odds. The results suggest that early prevention efforts need to incorporate awareness of different social norms relating to sexual behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting adolescent peer problems and antisocial activities: The relative roles of aggression and dysregulation.

This study examined the relative roles of aggression and other dysregulated behaviors in the prediction of adolescent peer problems and antisocial behavior. The social adjustment of 145 boys studied first in Grades 3–6 was assessed again 4 years later in Grades 7–10. At each time, peer ratings of aggressive, hyperactive-disruptive, withdrawn, and irritable-inattentive behaviors were collected. Aggression and withdrawal showed stability and were linked to peer difficulties in elementary school and in adolescence, but these behaviors indicated significant risk for adolescent rejection, victimization, and antisocial activity primarily when accompanied by irritable-inattentive behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of the potential role that difficulties regulating negative affect may play in the genesis of the particular constellation of irritable-inattentive behaviors studied here and the developmental significance of aggressive or withdrawn problem profiles that are or are not accompanied by these behavioral indicators of dysregulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent–child acculturation, parenting, and adolescent depressive symptoms in Chinese immigrant families.

Using a sample of 388 father–adolescent and 399 mother–adolescent dyads in Chinese immigrant families, the current investigation tested Portes and Rumbaut’s (1996) assertion that generational dissonance may indicate a family context that places children at increased risk for adverse outcomes. Study findings suggest that a high discrepancy in father–adolescent acculturation levels relates significantly to more adolescent depressive symptoms. The study further demonstrates that the quality of the parenting relationship between fathers and adolescents operates as a mediator between father–adolescent acculturation discrepancy and adolescent depressive symptoms. Specifically, a high level of discrepancy in American orientation between fathers and adolescents is associated with unsupportive parenting practices, which, in turn, are linked to more adolescent depressive symptoms. These relationships are significant even after controlling for the influence of family socioeconomic status and parents’ and adolescents’ sense of discrimination within the larger society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Co-occurring delinquency and depressive symptoms of adolescent boys and girls: A dual trajectory modeling approach.

Co-occurring trajectories of delinquent behavior and depressive symptoms and their correlates were examined in a longitudinal sample of 985 middle-adolescent boys and girls (mean age = 15.54 years at Time 1). Dual trajectory analysis was used to identify the co-occurring trajectories. For boys (n = 472), 4 delinquency and 4 depression trajectory groups were found. For girls (n = 513), 3 delinquency and 3 depression trajectory groups were identified. The linkage between co-occurring trajectories was higher for girls than for boys. Stressful life events and childhood precursors of the outcomes predicted trajectory group membership for both genders fairly consistently. Findings suggest heterogeneity in developmental courses of delinquent behavior and depressive symptoms across adolescent boys and girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking among middle adolescents: Prospective associations and intrapersonal and interpersonal influences.

Using data from a 4-wave longitudinal study with a school-based sample of 1,218 middle adolescents, the authors investigated the directionality (e.g., unidirectionality and bidirectionality) of the prospective relationship between depressive symptoms and cigarette use within the context of potential confounding variables and common and unique intrapersonal and interpersonal predictors. Findings indicated that serious and persistent depressive symptoms were prospective predictors of increased cigarette use across time, after controlling for baseline levels of smoking. Similarly. heavy and persistent smoking prospectively predicted increases in depressive symptoms. Intrapersonal and interpersonal predictors of crosstemporal changes in depressive symptoms and cigarette use were more unique than common. Latent growth curve modeling indicated a quadratic trend in adolescent cigarette smoking across time with an initial acceleration followed by a deceleration, though there was substantial intraindividual variation in individual trajectories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent girls' and boys' weight-related health behaviors and cognitions: Associations with reputation- and preference-based peer status.

In this study, the authors examined associations between preference- and reputation-based peer status and weight-related behaviors and cognitions for both adolescent boys and girls. Sociometric measures of peer likability and peer-perceived popularity, as well as self-reported measures of body size, dieting behavior, and weight-related cognitions were collected from a sample of 441 adolescents in Grades 11 and 12. Results revealed weight-related cognitions for girls (concerning obesity) and boys (concerning musculature/fitness). Peer-perceived popularity, but not likability, was significantly associated with both boys' and girls' body size and dieting. Lower levels of popularity were associated with heavier body shapes for girls and with both thin and heavier body shapes for boys. Findings suggest that peer status is an important source of social reinforcement associated with weight-related behaviors and cognitions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions for adolescent behavior: An examination in families of depressed, subdiagnostic, and nondepressed youth.

This study examined whether parents of adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms or disorder make more negative and fewer positive attributions for their adolescents’ behavior than do parents of nondepressed adolescents, and whether parental attributions for adolescents’ behavior contribute to parenting behavior, above and beyond the adolescents’ behavior. Parents and adolescents (76 girls and 48 boys) participated in videotaped problem-solving interactions (PSIs). Each parent subsequently watched the videotape and offered attributions for their adolescent’s behavior. In addition, parent and adolescent behavior during the PSIs was coded. Mothers and fathers in families of nondepressed adolescents made significantly fewer negative attributions for their children’s behavior than did parents in families of adolescents with diagnostic or subdiagnostic levels of depressive symptoms. Moreover, mothers’ and fathers’ negative attributions were related to greater levels of observed aggressive behavior and lower levels of observed facilitative behavior during the PSIs controlling for both demographic characteristics and the relative level of adolescent aggressive and facilitative behavior during the PSI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitions, depressive symptoms, and development in adolescents.

Examined the generalizability of cognitive models of depression to adolescents and explored developmental differences with regard to depressotypic cognitions. Self-reported depressive symptoms and various hypothesized cognitive correlates (e.g., automatic thoughts, attributions, dysfunctional attitudes) were investigated in a sample of 688 adolescents in Grades 7–12. Measures of normative adolescent cognitions (e.g., egocentrism, self-consciousness) also were included. There was a strong association between negative thinking and depression in adolescents. There was no association between depressogenic thinking and age, nor did the strength of the association between negative cognitions and depression vary from early to middle adolescence. Finally, negative cognitions were associated with self-report measures of both depressive and anxious symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression socialization within friendship groups at the transition to adolescence: The roles of gender and group centrality as moderators of peer influence.

Tests of interpersonal theories of depression have established that elevated depression levels among peers portend increases in individuals' own depressive symptoms, a phenomenon known as depression socialization. Susceptibility to this socialization effect may be enhanced during the transition to adolescence as the strength of peer influence rises dramatically. Socialization of depressive symptoms among members of child and adolescent friendship groups was examined over a 1-year period among 648 youth in grades six through eight. Sociometric methods were utilized to identify friendship groups and ascertain the prospective effect of group-level depressive symptoms on youths' own depressive symptoms. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed a significant socialization effect and indicated that this effect was most potent for (a) girls and (b) individuals on the periphery of friendship groups. Future studies would benefit from incorporating child and adolescent peer groups as a developmentally salient context for interpersonal models of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do Behavioral Disturbances in Persons With Alzheimer's Disease Predict Caregiver Depression Over Time?

Random effects models were used to examine the association between behavioral disturbances in persons with Alzheimer's disease (N = 90) and caregiver depressive symptoms at 2-month intervals over an 18-month period. There was substantial variability in trajectories of change in caregiver depressive symptoms over time but no systematic increase in distress despite increased severity of dementia symptoms. Total behavioral disturbances were associated with higher levels of caregiver depressive symptoms: this effect was primarily attributable to aggressive behaviors. No consistent departure from linearity was evident in the relationship between behavior and depression over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms in adolescents

The relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and rates of adolescent (15-16 years) depressive symptoms was studied in a birth cohort of 934 New Zealand children. There was a clear correlation between maternal depressive symptoms and subsequent depressive symptoms in adolescent females (r = .44) but no association (r = -.01) between maternal depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms in adolescent males. Subsequent analysis suggested that the correlation between maternal depression and depressive symptoms in adolescent females was largely explained by the associations of both measures with a series of social and contextual factors including social disadvantage, marital discord and family adversity. It is concluded that maternal depression is only associated with depression in adolescence insofar as maternal depression is associated with social disadvantage, marital discord or family adversity.     

Developmental trajectories of adolescents' depressive symptoms: Predictors of change.

in a sample of 240 adolescents assessed annually in Grades 6 through 11, the developmental trajectories of their depressive symptoms were examined using latent factor growth modeling. Growth in mother-reported adolest.ent depressive symptoms was quadratic; growth in adolescent-reported symptoms was linear. In the model with gender and maternal depression, girls reported a greater increase in depressive symptoms over time than boys, and adolescents of mothers with histories of mood disorders had higher initial levels of depressive symptoms than offspring of never-depressed mothers. After gender and maternal depression were controlled, initial levels of negative attributions and stressors significantly predicted initial levels of adolescent- and mother-reported depressive symptoms. Attributional styles that were increasingly negative across time were associated with significantly higher initial levels (mother reported) and increasing growth (adolescent reported) of depressive symptoms. Reciprocal models in which development of depressive symptoms predicted the development of attributions and stress also were examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pubertal transition, stressful life events, and the emergence of gender differences in adolescent depressive symptoms.

This study examined the role of both pubertal and social transitions in the emergence of gender differences in depressive symptoms during adolescence. This study generated the following findings: (a) Gender differences in depressive symptoms emerged during 8th grade and remained significant through 12th grade. (b) Pubertal status in 7th grade was related to adolescent depressive symptoms over time. (c) Early-maturing girls represented the group with the highest rate of depressive symptoms. (d) Depressive symptoms measured in 7th grade predicted subsequent symptom levels throughout the secondary school years. (e) Recent stressful life events were associated with increased depressive symptoms. (f) Early-maturing girls with higher levels of initial symptoms and more recent stressful life events were most likely to be depressed subsequently. The findings demonstrate the importance of the interaction between the pubertal transition and psychosocial factors in increasing adolescent vulnerability to depressive experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)