Purpose: Poor sleep is associated with short-term dysregulation of mood and is a risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD). This study examines whether objectively measured sleep in late adolescence prospectively predicts major depressive episode (MDE) onset in early adulthood as well as whether daily affect mediates this association.…

In this study, we applied an evolutionary perspective to analyze the relationship between aggressiveness, academic performance, and sociality in a population of 528 adolescents of both sexes. In men, we expect physical aggression (PA) and sociality to be negative predictors of academic performance. However, in women, PA would be a negative…

Over several years, first-year pre-service education students regularly experienced difficulty with engineering graphics activities. Research has already established that these activities require the use of well-developed spatial visualisation which is, for the most part, determined by a persons' spatial experience. The importance of this study…

Increasing public knowledge remains one of the key aims of skin cancer awareness campaigns, yet diagnosis rates continue to rise. It is essential we measure skin cancer knowledge adequately so as to determine the nature of its relationship to sun-related behaviors. This study investigated the psychometric properties of a new measure of skin cancer…

In this longitudinal study, we tested whether the association between oppositional defiance to parental authority (i.e., adolescents' tendency to bluntly reject parental rules) and autonomy would depend upon the specific conceptualization of autonomy. Whereas oppositional defiance would yield more interpersonal distance from parents, because…

By far, most research on the behavior of socially anxious individuals has focused on the "flight" rather than the "fight" response described in the traditional conceptualization of anxiety. More recently, however, there has been some speculation and emerging evidence suggesting that social anxiety and aggression may be related. The present study…

Using a sample of 982 late adolescents and tracking them throughout young adulthood, this study investigated whether marital attitudes held during the last year of high school were predictive of union transitions to both cohabitation and marriage during young adulthood. Results using both logistic regression and discrete event history models found…

Religious faith has been instrumental in fostering positive mental health outcomes for historically disenfranchised populations, such as Black Americans. However, the religious institutional devaluing of same-sex behavior and identity fuels internalized homonegativity (i.e., negative thoughts regarding one's same-sex sexual behavior) for…

Objective: There is increasing interest regarding the risk and overlap of executive function deficits (EFDs) in stable cigarette smoking and substance use disorders (SUD). Therefore, we examined whether earlier EFD was a risk factor for subsequent cigarette smoking and SUD and further explored the relationship between EFD and SUD. Method: We…

This study examined alcohol use development from ages 13-20 years. The sample comprised 256 youth (50.4% female; 51.2% White, 48.8% African American) assessed annually for 6 years. A cohort-sequential latent growth model was used to model categorical alcohol use (non-use vs. use). Covariates included gender, race, income, parent marital status,…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between student traits represented by data currently stored in a Mississippi community college's administrative software system and a student's propensity to miss class excessively. A basic literature review showed that both students and their college benefit when students attend…

This study examined the nature of the relationship between adolescents' subjective age (how old they feel) and chronological age, and explored whether dating, sex, and substance use predicted increases in adolescents' subjective age across a two-year period. The participants were 570 adolescents who were interviewed when they were first ages 12-19…

Adolescent delinquency and academic underachievement are both linked with child and adolescent behavior problems. However, little is known about behavioral pathways leading to these adverse outcomes. Children's aggression, opposition, status violations, and property violations scores were collected at ages 5, 10, and 18. Delinquency and academic…

Background: Sexual risk taking during adolescence such as failure to use contraception or condoms is associated with premature parenthood and high rates of sexually transmitted infection. The relation of childhood personality to sexual risk taking during adolescence has been largely unexplored. Methods: Using data collected from participants in…

Background: Previous theory and research suggest links between substance use and externalizing behavior problems, but links between substance use and internalizing problems are less clear. The present study sought to understand concurrent links among diagnoses of substance use disorders, internalizing disorders, and behavior disorders at age 18 as…