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…

Background: Personal characteristics of troubled adolescents are affected by psychological deprivation, which contributes to the manifestation of deviant and delinquent behavior in individuals. Aim: This study comprehensively examines structural units of self-consciousness, higher mental functions, and the emotional sphere of troubled adolescents…

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…

This study investigated attitudes toward restrictive gender norms among adolescents in Côte d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone (pooled N = 1,793, M[subscript age(baseline)] = 10.3, M[subscript age(follow-up)] = 11.6, 50% boys/girls). We examined individual and contextual predictors of gender attitudes, assessed change in gender attitudes over 2 years, and…

As researchers and school stakeholders determine ways to best support Black and Latino adolescent boys from low-income communities in actualizing their postsecondary future ambitions, more attention is needed on the types of futures these boys imagine and how family members influence this process. Guided by "future orientations" and…

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…

Over the last 20 years, we have learned much about the extent to which early-life deprivation affects the mental health of children and adolescents. This body of evidence comes predominantly from studies of children raised in institutional care. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) is the only randomized controlled trial designed to…

Wealth ownership is a critical component of economic well-being, and wealth in early adulthood provides important clues about the trajectories along which individuals move throughout their lives. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we find an association between growing up rural and adult wealth that…

A meaningful curriculum is one that is individualized, inclusive of the individual's unique needs and interests, and focused on building independence in current and future environments. A meaningful curriculum addresses an individual's needs and prioritizes instructional programs based on what is, potentially, most important to their lives and not…

This commentary engages the three elements of a social justice framework in the study of African American Boys and Men's (AABM) positive development, proposed by Barbarin, Tolan, and Gaylord-Harden (2019). In agreement with the importance of and in support of employing a social justice framework in developmental science, we offer theoretical and…

Differentiation of intelligence refers to changes in the structure of intelligence that depend on individuals' level of general cognitive ability (ability differentiation hypothesis) or age (developmental differentiation hypothesis). The present article aimed to investigate ability differentiation, developmental differentiation, and their…

School lunch is a universal experience for students everywhere and yet remains largely understudied by educational researchers. This dissertation explores school lunch through the lens of adolescent identity theory, with the purpose of investigating the unarticulated and overlooked complexities inherent in the lunch block, from issues of the…

Background: The negative impact of institutionalization on children's development and well-being has led to a global recommendation for deinstitutionalization. In countries with weak infrastructure and family support, some children in institutional care have been found to have better outcomes, which may be due in part to the family-like…

Introduction: While transitioning to adulthood presents challenges for youth with developmental disabilities (DD), opportunities to develop adult social roles and communication skills may foster more optimal outcomes. One such opportunity is developing conflict resolution skills within parent-adolescent relationships. Methods: We examined how…

Youth who form bonds with supportive, nonparent adults within their existing social networks (i.e., natural mentors) experience a range of positive outcomes, but a relatively minimal amount is known regarding the psychosocial factors that prospectively predict the formation of natural mentoring relationships. Analyzing longitudinal youth data from…