This study examined patterns of peer affiliations and their associations with child maltreatment, substance use, and future expectations. This study focused on 844 adolescents from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect. We identified four distinct peer-affiliation patterns: (1) no affiliation with peers who engage in either prosocial…

John Bowlby's (1982) attachment theory can be applied to an existing therapeutic framework to enhance the effectiveness of therapy. Using the Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI), a therapist can identify the type of attachment the client formed with his/her caregivers, and use this to navigate an authentic attachment between client and therapist.…

Today's adolescents have unprecedented access to modern technology and use them in expected and unexpected ways. Adolescents spend many hours a day using the technology, and the vast majority of them have access to Internet, cell phones, smart phone, video games and many other forms of modern technology. With the increased role of modern…

While theories on the etiology of sexually problematic and offending behavior have become increasingly developmental in their perspective, treatment approaches that are utilized to address these issues have not significantly changed to address this thinking. Adolescent behavioral problems are especially linked to a wide range of personal and…

Integration of adult attachment and psychosocial development theories suggests that adolescence is a time when capacities for romantic intimacy and identity formation are co-evolving. The current study addressed direct, indirect and moderated associations among identity and romantic attachment constructs with a diverse sample of 2178 middle…

Background: The popularity of communication technologies such as text messaging, e-mail, instant messaging, and social networking sites has grown exponentially, especially among adolescents. At the scale of growth along with the pressures and normative use of communication technology, psychological effects of these technologies need to be further…

This study tested the developmental trajectories of career maturity (CM) and parental attachment (PA), the longitudinal influence of both, and gender as a moderator. Findings showed developmental progressions in adolescents' PA and CM over 4 years. The change in PA was positively related to the developmental change in CM. For gender, there was a…

We examined aspects of adolescent girls' parasocial interactions in the context of typical development. Parasocial interactions are defined as symbolic, one-sided quasi-interactions between a viewer and a media figure. In total, 107 adolescent girls were examined; 94% reported engaging in parasocial interactions to some degree. Preoccupied…

Investigation of the role of adolescents' patterns of close relationships with significant adults may be of particular interest in populations with learning disabilities ("LD") during adolescence, because attachment relationship variables may act as risk or protective factors during this developmental period when trajectories are set that can lead…

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of sudden parental bereavement on subsequent attainment of developmental competencies. This longitudinal study reports on 126 youth bereaved by sudden parental death (suicide, accident, or natural death) and 116 demographically similar nonbereaved controls assessed at 9, 21, 33, and 62 months after…

A relatively new area of research suggests that naturally occurring mentoring relationships may influence the development of adolescents by protecting against risk behaviors. Few studies have explored how these relationships function to reduce risk behavior among youth, especially in the school context. Based on previous research and theory, we…

This study compared early parenting practices and adolescent behavior to determine whether parental attachment-promoting behaviors in the first year of life were associated with psychosocial adjustment in teenagers. The mothers of 22 adolescents completed a behavioral assessment of their teenager and an inventory of their recollected parenting…

This paper gives an account of The Oasis, which is a nurture group provision for Key Stage 3 pupils in a mainstream high school. A brief account of the underlying theory and principles of nurture groups is given, followed by a discussion of the applicability of these to meeting the emotional needs of adolescents. The account includes discussion of…

Three models of attachment relationships--the hierarchy model, the integrative model and the independent model--were compared in order to elucidate which best described the relationship between attachments to fathers versus mothers and its developmental consequences among 1,289 eighth grade students in Taiwan. These consequences included…

Examines two core assumptions of attachment theory: internal working models of attachment should increase in stability during development, and attachment is related to the adaptive solution of stage-salient issues, in adolescence, specifically to identity formation. Results show secure attachment representation was positively associated with the…