Fifth through eighth graders completed self-reports in response to pager signals received over one week and again four years later. Responses indicated that thinking about the opposite sex occurs earlier than spending time with the opposite sex alone and that both increase over time. Girls spent more time with opposite sex and more time thinking…

Developmental change in self-esteem was assessed from early adolescence through early adulthood. Found that males tended to increase and females to decrease in self-esteem over time and that there was rank order consistency in self-esteem over time. Within each gender, individuals' differences in developmental trajectories were related to…

Hypothesized that parenting exhibits either a compensatory or buffering effect on age-related increases in adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Collected data for five years from mothers, fathers, and adolescent children. Found significant gender differences in growth trajectories of externalizing and internalizing problems.…

Examined gender differences and whether self-esteem and locus of control change during the high school years. Longitudinal analysis of students (N=174) indicated a significant main effect for gender, with lower self-esteem scores for girls. Locus of control was influenced by grade and an interaction between grade and gender. (RJM)

This 3-year longitudinal study examined depressed affect during early adolescence. Variable-centered analyses yielded general stability in depressed affect for both boys and girls. Person-centered analysis revealed five patterns of depressed affect, with gender differences only in smaller subgroups that showed patterns of change in depressed…

Examined role of pubertal and social transitions in emergence of gender differences in depressive symptoms. Found that differences emerged during eighth grade. Seventh-grade pubertal status related to depressive symptoms. Recent stressful life events related to increased depressive symptoms. Early-maturing girls with higher levels of initial…

A longitudinal study examined (1) development of relationship between physical maturation rate and cognitive performance as children become adolescent and (2) specific components of cognitive processing linked to physical maturation-related differences in performance on cognitive ability tasks. Differences were detected on cognitive process tasks.…

Observed adolescents' interaction with a same-gender friend in grades 9, 10, and 11. Found evidence of developmental changes for both boys and girls: intimacy based on discussion and self-disclosure increased between grades 9 and 10, and capacity for sustained intimate affect increased between grades 10 and 11. Boys were more likely than girls to…

Statistics suggest that the incidence of depression and suicide increase over the course of adolescence. Other research suggests that many indicators of well-being increase over the course of adolescence as well. This study investigated affective development during adolescence and examined the relationship of gender, normative developmental…

In families whose parents had never divorced, families with a single mother, and families whose mother had remarried, there were (1) some differences for child gender and family type in children's behavior toward siblings; (2) few effects of gender composition of sibling dyads; and (3) a decline in the level of sibling interaction over time. (BC)

Used a bio-psychosocial approach to examine predictors of onset of sexual intercourse among adolescents interviewed at ages 13-14, 16-17, and 22-23 years. Found that for girls, always-married parents and less dating alone predicted later first intercourse. Earlier timing of first intercourse for boys was related to associating with peers with…

Uses data from a nationally representative longitudinal sample to examine the relationship of marijuana use by high school seniors to occupational attainment ten years later. Analyses were conducted separately by gender, with and without controlling for other variables. Results indicate that the influence of marijuana use on occupational…

Evaluated the validity of Kohlberg's model and measure in a cross-cultural context and assessed the cultural uniqueness of social-moral reasoning among 92 Israeli kibbutz adolescents. Developmental findings strongly supported validity of Kohlberg's structural-developmental understanding of moral judgment. Stage change was found to be upward,…

Data from the National Survey of Children (Waves 1 and 3), a longitudinal survey of 2,000 children who were between the ages of 7 and 11 during the first wave in 1976 and between the ages of 16 and 20 during the third wave in 1987, were analyzed to examine the impact of paternal involvement during childhood as well as the ongoing father-child…

As a result of discussions at a 1983 Social Science Research Council meeting, a study group was convened to bring together all the professionals currently examining maturation timing. This interdisciplinary group reports findings in two issues of this journal, and its work is introduced in this paper. (LMO)