This study investigated the changing relation between emotion and inhibitory control during adolescence. One hundred participants between 11 and 25 years of age performed a go-nogo task in which task-relevant stimuli (letters) were presented at the center of large task-irrelevant images depicting negative, positive, or neutral scenes selected from…

The interactionist model (IM) of human development (R. D. Conger & M. B. Donellan, 2007) proposes that the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and human development involves a dynamic interplay that includes both social causation (SES influences human development) and social selection (individual characteristics affect SES). Using a…

Finds support for the global trend hypothesis which posits that cognitive processing speed changes as a function of age and all component processes change at the same rate. (PCB)

Although the identity formation model is widely used to assess adolescent ethnic identity development, the model propositions have rarely been tested. The existence of the identity statuses (diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, achieved), the proposed developmental trajectories, and whether youth in the achieved status report higher levels of…

Interview responses of 72 fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-graders revealed developmental changes in the scope and nature of perceived peer influence and in the extent to which peer group reactions have an impact on self-evaluations. Developmental changes in the apparent reference-group functions of peer groups for adolescent identity formation are…

Fifth through eighth graders completed self-reports in response to pager signals received over one week and again four years later. Responses indicated that thinking about the opposite sex occurs earlier than spending time with the opposite sex alone and that both increase over time. Girls spent more time with opposite sex and more time thinking…

To characterize cognitive maturation through adolescence, processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and spatial working memory were measured in 8- to 30-year-old (N=245) healthy participants using oculomotor tasks. Development progressed with a steep initial improvement in performance followed by stabilization in adolescence. Adult-level…

The impact of experiencing multiple life changes in early adolescence was studied. Subjects were students followed from sixth to seventh grade and variables analyzed were self-esteem, academic grade-point average, and participation in extra-curricular activities. (PCB)

Examined consistency in prosocial dispositions, using longitudinal data from preschool through early adulthood. Found that spontaneous prosocial behavior observed in preschools predicted actual prosocial behavior, other- and self-reported prosocial behavior, self-reported sympathy, and perspective taking in childhood to early adulthood. Prosocial…

Examines the development of, and interrelations among, three types of autonomy during the transition from childhood into adolescence: emotional autonomy in relationships with parents, resistance to peer pressure, and the subjective sense of self-reliance. (HOD)

Examined the self-understanding and moral judgment of 15 African American and Hispanic American adolescents nominated by community leaders for their exemplary caring behavior. These "care exemplars" were more likely than comparison adolescents to describe themselves in terms of moral personality traits and goals and to view themselves as…

Maintains that the preceding studies extend a long line of research demonstrating the coherence of individual development in attachment security. Notes that the studies clarify that attachment security can be stable from infancy through early adulthood and that changes in security are meaningfully related to changes in the family environment.…

Examined development of child and adolescent self-concept in two overlapping age cohorts as a function of the self-concept domain, social/developmental/educational transitions, and gender. Structural equation modeling addressed questions about stability of individual differences over time. Multilevel modeling addressed questions about mean-level…

Examined adjustment problems from late childhood to early adulthood among 500 Swedish girls. Found a diversified pattern of multisyndrome formation in late childhood. The syndrome structure in early adolescence identified externalizing adjustment problems and peer problems. An externalizing syndrome was stable between late childhood and early…

Examined changes in prosocial moral reasoning and gender differences in prosocial reasoning over 15 years. Found that hedonistic reasoning declined and then increased somewhat; needs-oriented and stereotypic reasoning increased and then declined with age. Direct reciprocity and approval reasoning showed no decline into early adulthood, contrary to…