Youth participation in community-based, structured out-of-school time programs (OST) has been found to promote positive developmental outcomes by providing youth with resources to build interpersonal relationships and essential life skills. The increasing prevalence and multiplicity of youth participation in these activities leads us to expand the…

The current study investigates how and under what conditions family obligation benefits Mexican American adolescents' adjustment. The study used two waves of data from 604 Mexican American adolescents (54.3% female, Mage.wave1 = 12.41 years, SD = 0.97) and their parents. Structural equation modeling revealed that both adolescents' and parents'…

This paper addresses a validation study focusing on the process of adapting the EPOCH measure of adolescent well-being (Kern et al. in Psychol Assess 28(5):586-597. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000201, 2016) to the school context and translating it into German--resulting in the EPOCH-School model (EPOCH-S) with the corresponding measure EPOCH-G-S…

Self-esteem has always been a hot research object in the field of adolescent mental health. But in longitudinal research, using a single slope to describe the trajectory of adolescent self-esteem is unrealistic. The piecewise growth mixture model (PGMM) was used to fit the data in this study. Selecting from China Family Panel Studies database, a…

Character strengths are an important foundation for positive development and thriving in adolescence. Most research on character strengths has been conducted with youths in Western cultures. We examined character strengths in relation to positive and negative well-being indicators in a sample of Iranian youths. We investigated the reliability and…

This study focused on early adolescents' stress of language brokering and examined the moderating role of family cumulative risk in the relation of language brokering to adjustment problems. Data came from self-reports of 604 low-income Mexican American adolescent language brokers (54% female; X[bar] [subscript age]= 12.4; SD = 0.97; 75% born in…

This research initiative aimed to describe and analyze U.S. youth participation in tennis. The major goal was to better understand how tennis and other popular youth sports impact teen well-being. The findings discussed in this report provide evidence that tennis participation positively influences the lives of U.S. adolescents. Overall, the data…

This is the executive summary for the report, "How Tennis Influences Youth Development." This research initiative aimed to describe and analyze U.S. youth participation in tennis. The major goal was to better understand how tennis and other popular youth sports impact teen well-being. The findings discussed in this report provide…

One way to avert negative influences on well-being when confronted with blocked goals is the flexible adjustment of one's goals to the given situation. This study examines developmental differences in flexible goal adjustment (FGA) regarding age and gender in a sample of N = 815 participants (10 to 20 years; M = 13.63, SD = 2.60, 48.5% male).…

Purpose: Adult relationships provide critical support for adolescents because of their potential to foster positive development and provide protective influences. Few studies examine multiple ecological layers of adult relationships in connection with well-being and depression. This study examines the influence of relationships from multiple…

The current study used developmental trajectories to examine the relationship between internalising and externalising behaviours and victimisation over the transition period from primary to secondary school. Data were collected using a self-completion questionnaire four times over 3 years from 3,459 students aged 11-14 years. Students were tracked…

The transition period from primary to secondary school is a critical time in adolescent development. The high prevalence of adolescent mental health problems makes understanding the causal pathways between peer victimisation and internalising symptoms an important priority during this time. This article utilises data collected from self-completion…

Existing research suggests that sexual minority youth experience lower levels of well-being, in part because they perceive less social support than heterosexual youth. Sexual minority youth with strong family relationships may demonstrate resilience and increased well-being; however, it is also possible that the experience of sexual stigma may…

Establishing a sense of life meaning is a primary facet of well-being, yet is understudied in adolescent development. Using data from 579 adolescents (53% female) from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds, demographic differences in meaning in life, links with psychological and academic adjustment, and the role of meaning in explaining…

Theories of positive youth development (PYD) regard such development as bases of both community contributions and lessened likelihood of risk/problem behaviors. Using data from the 4-H Study of PYD, we tested these expectations by examining if PYD in Grade 5 predicted both youth contributions and risk behaviors and depression in Grade 6. Results…