This study explored how contact with gay and lesbian persons affects adolescents' attitudes toward them, and whether this association is mediated or moderated by one's acceptance of gender non-conformity. We analyzed survey responses from 456 Dutch adolescents aged 12-15 who reported having no same-sex attractions. Data were collected in 2008 at 8…

This systematic review investigated the relationship between peer and/or friend variables and physical activity among adolescents by synthesising cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental research conducted in the US. Seven electronic databases were searched to identify related articles published within the last 10 years and the articles…

Previous research suggests that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrate success in forming friendships, yet these friendships tend to be of lesser quality. Drawing on Selman's (1980) theory of interpersonal understanding, we compared levels of friendship understanding between anxiously withdrawn preadolescents and a sample of non-withdrawn…

Although drinking motives have been largely studied, research taking into account the Mediterranean drinking culture and focusing on motives specifically associated to adolescents' developmental tasks is lacking. For these reasons the study investigates drinking motives in a group of Italian adolescents and their relationships with drunkenness and…

This study examined the levels and growth of specific and general normative beliefs about nonviolence (called norms for nonviolence). The sample consisted of 1254 middle school students from four metropolitan areas who participated in the control condition of the Multisite Violence Prevention Project. We predicted that the association and…

Previous research on adolescent romantic relationships has been largely based on self-reports and interview data; as a result, relatively little is known about the interpersonal-behavioral dynamics of adolescent couples. In an attempt to address this gap in the previous literature on young couples, the present study used observational methods to…

The impact of countervailing social network influences (i.e., pro-social, anti-social or HIV risk peers) on problem behaviors (i.e., HIV drug risk, HIV sex risk or anti-social behaviors) among 696 homeless youth was assessed using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that older youth were less likely to report having pro-social peers and…

Adolescents' agreement with parental standards and beliefs about the legitimacy of parental authority and their own obligation to obey were used to predict adolescents' obedience, controlling for parental monitoring, rules, and rule enforcement. Hierarchical linear models were used to predict both between-adolescent and within-adolescent,…

The present study assessed agreement between student self-report and teacher ratings of bullying and victimization relative to psychological, behavioral, and academic correlates. Middle school students (N=1442) and teachers completed surveys evaluating peer relationships and psychosocial adjustment. Analyses of variance and logistic regressions…

The current study attempts to improve on the methodology of a previous study by allowing participants to give unprimed, open-ended responses to scenarios involving first time intercourse with a new partner. It was hypothesized that such an approach would afford insight into the actual, shared representations of the participants and have the…

This investigation describes what smoking means to adolescents, and attempts to better understand it as a rite of passage. Applying a social ontology to an often-individualized issue, interviews were conducted with 20 adolescent smokers between the ages of 13 and 19. Results show that adolescents possess detailed information about the risks of…

Questionnaires, as well as an inventory of cost and likelihood appraisal of negative social and non-social events, were filled in by 184 adolescents. It was expected, and supported by the results, that social anxiety would be related to low perceived social competence and threat appraisal, whereas depression would be related to more general…

Compared interaction patterns of 100 adolescent mothers and 29 nonadolescent mothers with their infants. During feeding, adolescent mothers demonstrated less expressiveness, less positive attitude, less delight, less positive regard, fewer vocalizations, and lower quality of vocalizations than nonadolescent mothers. During play, adolescent mothers…

Study provides one of the first investigations of adolescent dating aggression in Britain. Determined that almost half of sampled boys, and more than half of sampled girls experienced psychological, physical, and/or sexual aggression. In considering "symmetry of violence" theory, the study concluded that when meaning and context of…

The research investigated the associations of social and affective factors with risk-taking in male and female adolescents. A sample of 269 Israeli adolescents completed questionnaires measuring frequency of involvement in risk-taking behaviours, relationships with parents, orientation towards peer group, depressive mood, and aggressive behaviour.…