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…

Perceived control is an important variable for various demands involved in successful aging. However, perceived control is not set in stone but rather changes throughout the life course. The aim of this study was to identify cross-sectional age differences and longitudinal mean-level changes as well as rank-order changes in perceived control with…

The purposes of this study were to conceptualize moral identity as moral ideal self, to develop a measure of this construct, to test for age and gender differences, to examine links between moral ideal self and adolescent outcomes, and to assess purpose and social responsibility as mediators of the relations between moral ideal self and outcomes.…

Various studies found personality to be related to substance use, but little attention is paid to the role of personality risk dimensions with regard to an early onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. Therefore, the current study used a variable-centered approach to examine whether anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, sensation seeking, and…

Nighttime sleep awakenings and infant and family characteristics were measured longitudinally in more than 1,200 infants when the infants were 6, 15, 24, and 36 months old. By 6 months of age, the majority of children slept through the night, awakening their mothers only about once or twice per week. However, not all children followed this…

Introduction: Due to a considerable lack in empirical efforts and appropriate instruments, and theoretically rooted in a cognitive-motivational perspective on academic personality development, the present study analyzes a questionnaire for measuring EFL learners' self-perceptions of oral narrative competencies and perceived anxiety concerning oral…

This study examines the mediating role of student-teacher relationship quality (conflict and closeness) in grades 4, 5, and 6 on the relation between background characteristics, difficult temperament at age 41/2 and risky behavior in 6th grade. The longitudinal sample of participants (N = 1156) was from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and…

This study attempted a hierarchical integration of several dispositional determinants of test anxiety (TA) [Sarason, I.G. (1984). "Stress, anxiety and cognitive interference: Reactions to tests." "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology," 46, 929-938.], namely the Big Five personality traits [Costa, P.T. Jr., & McCrae,…

The role of religious identity in positive youth development was examined in this study of personal meaning and prosocial concerns in adolescence. A structural equation model was tested on a sample of 801 urban public high school students. Participants responded to questionnaires assessing religious identity, personal meaning, and prosocial…