This four-wave longitudinal study among 698 Chinese early adolescents explored (1) how personal identity coherence and confusion develop; and (2) whether parenting style and peer relationships (i.e., close friend relationships and peer preference) were related to personal identity development. Participants (M[subscript age] = 11.39 yrs.,…

Urban adolescents experience high rates of exposure to community violence, which is associated with sleep problems. However, less is known about the prospective relationships between community violence exposure and sleep problems across adolescence. This study investigated reciprocal relationships between community violence exposure and sleep…

Empathy and executive functions (EFs) are multimodal constructs that enable individuals to cope with their environment. Both abilities develop throughout childhood and are known to contribute to social behavior and academic performance in young adolescents. Notably, mentalizing and EF activate shared frontotemporal brain areas, which in previous…

Background: Despite extensive research examining features of adolescents' ego-identity development, little research has demonstrated patterns of ego-identity development and its relationship with various individual and environmental factors that are theoretically important for identity development. Objective: The current study investigated…

Adolescent mental health has implications for current and future wellbeing. While a link exists between poverty and mental health, little is known about how experiencing material hardship, such as insecurity of food, housing, utilities, and medical care, throughout early childhood affects adolescent mental health. We examine the relationship…

In this study, we explored the longitudinal linkages among Chinese early adolescents' unsociability, peer rejection, and loneliness. Participants were N = 445 primary school students in Shanghai, P.R. China followed over 3 years from Grades 6 and 7 to Grades 8 and 9. Measures of adolescents' unsociability, peer rejection, and loneliness were…

We used latent growth curve analysis to extend research on associations between early puberty and adverse peer relations by examining the role of pubertal timing in the developmental trajectories of peer victimization and offending from early- to mid-adolescence. We made use of three-wave longitudinal data collected annually from a cohort of…

Early life adversity influences the diurnal cortisol rhythm, yet the relative influence of different characteristics of adversity remains unknown. In this study, we examine how developmental timing (childhood vs. adolescence), severity (major vs. minor), and domain of early life adversity relate to diurnal cortisol rhythms in late adolescence. We…

Family factors and adolescent life satisfaction have profound effects on later behavior. The present study examined the effects of family cohesion and life satisfaction on internalizing (depression and self-esteem) and externalizing (deviance) outcomes among adolescents. Moreover, this study also viewed internalizing outcomes as conduits that…

Many prosocial behaviors involve social risks such as speaking out against a popular opinion, bias, group norm, or authority. However, little is known about whether adolescents' prosocial tendencies develop over time with their perceptions of social risks. This accelerated longitudinal study used within-subject growth-curve analyses to test the…

Adolescence is important for the development of achievement motivation, including achievement goal pursuit. Longitudinal research is scarce on adolescents' goal development and its implications for academic outcomes. In our research, we first present a systematic review of findings on achievement goals in adolescence. Then we report 2 longitudinal…

Sleep spindles are related to sleep-dependent memory consolidation and general cognitive abilities. However, they undergo drastic maturational changes during adolescence. Here we used a longitudinal approach (across 7 years) to explore whether developmental changes in sleep spindle density can explain individual differences in sleep-dependent…

Few longitudinal studies examine how "changes" in parent-child relationships are associated with changes in youth internalizing problems. In this longitudinal study, we investigated how developmental trends (linear change) and year-to-year lability (within-person fluctuations) in parental warmth and hostility across Grades 6 to 8 predict…

In the current study, we investigated the developmental dynamics between positive youth development, being bullied in adolescence, gender, and sociocultural risk factors. Participants were 3,509 males (49%) and 3,656 females (51%) studied longitudinally across the ages of 9, 13, and 17 years in the Growing Up in Ireland study. Using structural…

Research shows greater mindfulness is associated with less negative affect and more positive affect. Fewer studies have examined the mediating psychological processes linking mindfulness to these outcomes in adolescents. This three-wave, prospective longitudinal study examines rumination--the tendency to engage in repetitive and negative…