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Adolescent depression is a major concern for public health and is associated with negative consequences and outcomes. Identifying adolescent characteristics that might relate to the risk for developing depression is crucial. This study investigated bidirectional associations between coping strategies and depressive symptoms over time. The participants were 1,341 secondary school students from the Netherlands (X-bar = 13.91, SD = 0.55, 47.5% girls) who completed self-report questionnaires at six waves over 2.5 years. Cross-lagged models were used to investigate the associations between coping strategies and depressive symptoms. Coping strategies did not predict depressive symptoms over time. However, there was an indication of the reverse relationship. When adolescents experienced elevated depressive symptoms, they used fewer adaptive techniques to target stress. Gender differences were found in the use of avoidance. The inconsistencies of these findings with earlier studies are discussed and provide new directions for future research on working mechanisms underlying depression prevention programs.

In this study, the effects of peer acceptance and rejection on global self-esteem and emotional school engagement in adolescents were investigated. Moreover, in line with the differential susceptibility hypothesis, we examined the potential moderating effect of a polymorphism in the serotonin receptor gene (i.e., 5-HTTLPR). The sample consisted of 1,111 Flemish adolescents (49% girls; M[superscript age] = 13.79, SD = 0.94) in Grades 7-9. Self-report questionnaires, peer nominations, and saliva sampling were used to collect data. Peer rejection was associated with lower global self-esteem and less emotional school engagement. Contrary to our hypotheses, peer acceptance was not associated with emotional school engagement or global self-esteem. In addition, no significant moderating effects were found. These results indicate that only the negative experience of peer rejection plays a role in adolescents' self-esteem and emotional school engagement. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The present study evaluated long-term effects of a home-based smoking prevention program targeting smoking-specific parenting in families with children with and without asthma. A total of 1398 non-smoking children ("mean age" 10.1) participated, of which 197 (14.1%) were diagnosed with asthma. Families were blinded to group assignment. The intervention group (n = 684) received booklets with assignments that actively encouraged parents to engage in smoking-specific parenting strategies. Control families (n = 714) received booklets containing basic information about youth smoking. Latent growth curve modeling was used to calculate intercepts and slopes to examine whether there was change in the different parenting aspects over the study period. Regression analyses were used to examine whether a possible change was different for intervention and control condition families with and without a child with asthma. For those smoking-specific parenting aspects that changed over time, families in the intervention and control condition increased similarly. Families with a child with asthma did not engage in parenting at higher levels due to the intervention program than parents of non-asthmatic children. This prevention program did not affect smoking-specific parenting in the Netherlands. Future prevention research could focus on other risk factors for smoking initiation among adolescents with asthma.

The main aim of the present study was to examine state levels of loneliness in adolescence. Both concurrent associations and temporal dynamics between social contexts and state levels of loneliness were examined. Data were collected from 286 adolescents (M[subscript age] = 14.19 years, 59% girls) by using the Experience Sampling Method. Results showed that adolescents had higher levels of state loneliness when they were alone, compared with being with company. When adolescents were with others, they were most lonely at school and with classmates. Adolescents showed a relief effect when they entered the company of friends after being alone, whereas a spillover effect of solitude was found when adolescents entered the company of family after being alone. Our findings show the dynamics of state loneliness, in that being with classmates increases state loneliness, whereas being with friends reduces loneliness after being alone.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between adolescents' body mass index (BMI) z-scores and their subsequent level of schooling, extending previous longitudinal research by using objectively measured weight and height data. Methods: A longitudinal study with 3 study waves (1-year intervals) involving 1248 Dutch adolescents (49% girls; mean age = 13.7 years) at schools providing different educational levels was used to determine adolescents who moved and did not move to a lower educational level in the first year, or in the second year, and to examine whether this movement could be predicted by BMI z-scores (zBMI), after controlling for a large range of potential confounding factors. Results: A total of 1164 Dutch adolescents continued in the same level of education, whereas 84 adolescents moved to a lower educational level (43 moved in the first and 41 in the second year). A higher zBMI significantly increased the risk of a general transition to a lower educational level, and of a transition in the first year, but not in the second year, after controlling for potential demographic, behavioral, and psychological confounds. Conclusions: Findings suggest that a higher zBMI during adolescence immediately lowers educational achievement level during general secondary education.

During adolescence, teenagers try a range of risk behaviors including smoking, drinking, and the use of soft drugs. Because substance use contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle of teenagers on the short term and can lead to serious health problems on the longer term, prevention in this target group is important. This chapter provides an overview of the determinants of substance use on the one hand, and primary and secondary prevention opportunities on the other hand, especially in the school context. At the end, future directions and recommendations for school, youth, and family are discussed.

In scientific literature, early pubertal timing emerges as a risk factor of adolescents' drinking, whereas alcohol-specific rules (the degree to which parents permit their children to consume alcohol in various situations) showed to protect against adolescents' drinking. This study investigated whether alcohol-specific rules mediate and/or moderate the effect that early pubertal and psychosocial timing (personal, relational, socio-institutional) has on adolescents' alcohol use. Mediation and moderation models were tested conducting ordinal logistic structural equation modeling in a cross-sectional sample of 1,893 Dutch adolescents (49% males), aged 13-15 years. Findings showed that early pubertal, relational and socio-institutional timers were at greater risk to initiate alcohol use and for heavy episodic drinking. Alcohol-specific rules more often mediated, rather than moderated, the effect of early timing on alcohol use. Alcohol-specific rules are mostly relaxed when adolescents mature, rather than reinforced, indicating that parents partly facilitate adolescents' drinking.

Parental support and parental depressive feelings are found to be associated with depressive feelings in adolescent boys and girls, but results are inconsistent. In addition, the "5-HTTLPR" genotype has been found to interact with environmental stressors in predicting adolescents' depressive feelings, but this has not been examined longitudinally. Therefore, the present study examined the relationships between parental support, parental depressive feelings, and adolescent depressive feelings. In addition, the relationships between the "5-HTTLPR" genotype and adolescent depressive feelings were explored, as well as gene-environment interactions. Adolescents (N = 306; Girls = 53.3%; M[subscript age T1] = 13.4) filled out questionnaires at five annual waves and provided saliva samples for DNA. Latent growth curve modelling (LGCM) was used to examine the baseline level and the change in depressive feelings over time. Maternal support was related to baseline levels of depressive feelings in girls, whereas paternal support was related to baseline levels in boys. Paternal depressive feelings were only related to boys' depressive feelings at baseline, and maternal depressive feelings were not related to any outcome measures. Furthermore, no associations were found between "5-HTTLPR" genotype and adolescent depressive feelings, and no gene-environment interactions emerged. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Sibling relationships and parental support are important for adolescents' development and well-being, yet both are likely to change during adolescence. Since adolescents participate in both the sibling relationship and the parent-child relationship, we can expect sibling relationships and parental support to be associated with each other. Theoretically, it can be expected that there is either a spillover from one relationship to another (congruence hypothesis) or that one relationship can compensate for the other (compensation hypothesis). However, research examining these associations in adolescence is limited. The present study longitudinally investigated the bidirectional associations between sibling relationships and parental support during adolescence. For five consecutive years, data were collected using self-reports of 428 families, consisting of a father, a mother, and two adolescent siblings. The mean ages of the first-born (52.8% males) and second-born (47.7% males) were 15 and 13 years at T1, respectively. For the second-born siblings, prospective associations were found between sibling relationships and adolescent-reported parental support in early adolescence, with no differences between same-sex and mixed-sex dyads. These associations were not found for first-born siblings or for parents' reports of support. The findings suggest a spillover from the sibling relationship to adolescent-reported parental support only in early adolescence. Findings and implications are discussed in terms of the congruence/spillover and the compensation hypothesis. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Sun protection is not commonly perceived as an important issue by adolescents yet this behaviour would, if adopted, confer significant lifelong protection against skin cancer. Despite the world's highest skin cancer rates, Australia remains a culture which values sun seeking, tanning and outdoor activities. This qualitative study used ethnographic methods to produce insights into sun protection behaviours and attitudes of Australian adolescents aged 15 and 16 years. Applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour to the analysis, the study involving 51 adolescents revealed the complexity of the factors that influence sun protection behaviours, such as peers, lifestyle, environments, social norms and fashion. Sun protection was imbued with associations of negativity, dullness and irritation which was dissonant with adolescents' buoyant, dynamic and "fun filled" experience of the sun. Key barriers to sun protection were found to stem from the perceived impact of sun protection behaviour on the peer dynamic, negative perceptions around what sun protection communicates about the user, the tone of existing sun protection communications and the spontaneous unplanned nature of the adolescent lifestyle. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for health promotion with this hard to reach group. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

The present study examined whether a sample of 214 (52.8% male, M age = 15.76, SD = 1.29) institutionalized adolescents could be classified into subgroups based on psychopathic traits. Confirmatory Factor Analyses revealed a relationship between the subscales of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI) and the three latent constructs of the original model on which it is based. Latent Class Analyses showed that adolescents showing psychopathic traits could be classified into three subgroups. The first group showed low scores on the grandiose/manipulative dimension, the callous/unemotional dimension, and the impulsive/irresponsible dimension (normal group). The second group scored moderate on the grandiose/manipulative dimension and the callous/unemotional dimension and high on the impulsive/irresponsible dimension (impulsive, non-psychopathic-like group). The third group scored high on all three dimensions (psychopathy-like group). The findings revealed that the impulsive, non-psychopathic like group scored significantly higher on internalizing problem behavior compared to the normal group, while the psychopathy-like and the impulsive, non-psychopathic-like group both scored higher on externalizing problem behavior compared to the normal group. Based on a self-report delinquency measure, it appeared that the psychopathy-like group had the highest delinquency rates, except for vandalism. Both the impulsive and psychopathy-like group had the highest scores on the use of soft drugs. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures, and 1 footnote.)

In this three-wave longitudinal survey, we investigated bi-directional longitudinal associations between best friends and adolescents' alcohol consumption. Additionally, since the relation between best friends and adolescents' drinking may be stronger if adolescents have not consumed alcohol yet, we examined this relation not only with regard to continuation but also with regard to the initiation of adolescent drinking. We also hypothesized that low levels of self-esteem and self-control in youths would be related to a higher susceptibility to the impact of their best friends' drinking. Data were used from 433 adolescents and their best friends. Results of SEM analyses did not provide evidence for bi-directional associations between best friends and adolescents' alcohol use over time. Nevertheless, the results of additional growth curve analyses indicated that adolescents and best friends' drinking does seem to develop in a similar fashion over time. Adolescents' self-esteem, self-control, and gender did not moderate longitudinal associations between best friends and adolescents' drinking. The discussion focuses on methodological and theoretical explanations for the absence of significant longitudinal relations between best friends and adolescents' drinking. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Since parental personality traits are assumed to play a role in parenting behaviors, the current study examined the relation between parental personality and parenting style among 688 Dutch parents of adolescents in the SMILE study. The study assessed Big Five personality traits and derived parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and uninvolved) from scores on the underlying dimensions of support and strict control. Regression analyses were used to determine which personality traits were associated with parenting dimensions and styles. As regards dimensions, the two aspects of personality reflecting interpersonal interactions (extroversion and agreeableness) were related to supportiveness. Emotional stability was associated with lower strict control. As regards parenting styles, extroverted, agreeable, and less emotionally stable individuals were most likely to be authoritative parents. Conscientiousness and openness did not relate to general parenting, but might be associated with more content-specific acts of parenting. (Contains 4 tables.)

The present study examined whether the associations between general parenting practices (i.e., support, behavioral control, and psychological control) and parental smoking on the one hand and older and younger siblings' smoking on the other were mediated by parental smoking communication (i.e., frequency and quality of parent-adolescent communication concerning smoking-related issues). The focus of this paper was on examining whether these associations of parental actions and adolescents' smoking were different in older and younger siblings within the family. Participants were 428 Dutch families (mother, father, and their 2 adolescent siblings aged 13-17). The results of parent and adolescent reports indicated that general parenting practices and parental smoking were associated with parental smoking communication, which, in turn, was related with adolescent smoking. The magnitude of the associations between parenting and adolescent smoking did not differ between older and younger siblings. Supportive parents were generally more likely to engage in a high quality communication about smoking with their adolescent children; this was related to a lower likelihood to smoke. Parents who exerted psychological control were more likely to talk more frequently with their adolescents on smoking matters, which in turn, relates to a higher likelihood to smoke. Also, smoking parents were less likely to have high-quality parent-adolescent communication that relates to higher likelihoods to smoke. In general, the findings were similar across reporters. Implications for prevention are addressed. (Contains 3 footnotes, 3 tables, and 2 figures.)

The present study examined the associations of alcohol-specific socialization practices and heavy parental drinking with alcohol use in early adolescents. Cross-sectional nationwide survey data from 2599 parent-adolescent (mean age = 12.16) dyads were used to conduct logistic regression analyses. Onset of alcohol use as well as infrequent and regular drinking were associated with tolerant rules and attitude as reported by adolescents, and by a tolerant attitude as reported by parents. In contrast to former studies including middle and late adolescents, parental alcohol use was not found to be associated with early adolescent alcohol use, nor did parental alcohol use influence the impact of parental rules. Restrictive alcohol-specific socialization was, independent of parental alcohol use, related to absence of (regular) early adolescent drinking. Thus, this study demonstrated that in early adolescence alcohol-specific parenting is more important for adolescent drinking than parental alcohol use. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study examined how the quality of relationships with parents and friends were related to intimacy, commitment, and passion in adolescents' romantic relationships for indigenous Dutch and ethnic Dutch adolescents. Self-report survey data were used from 444 (88.9%) indigenous Dutch and 55 (11.1%) ethnic Dutch adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age (M = 15.34, SD = 1.14), all of whom were involved in a romantic relationship. About 61.6% (n = 307) were girls. For both indigenous and ethnic Dutch youths, the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship was positively associated with romantic relationship intimacy, whereas the quality of one's best friendship was related to higher commitment to one's romantic partner. Significant interactions in hierarchical regression analyses revealed that only ethnic Dutch adolescents who experienced low-quality parent-adolescent relationships showed more commitment to their romantic relationships. Additionally, ethnic Dutch adolescents who experienced low-quality best friendships showed more passion in their romantic relationships as compared to indigenous Dutch adolescents. These findings are indicative of ethnic differences in the roles that parents and friends play in the romantic lives of Dutch adolescents. (Contains 3 tables and 3 notes.)

Although parents experience growing concerns about their children's excessive internet use, little is known about the role parents can play to prevent their children from developing Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). The present study addresses associations between internet-specific parenting practices and CIU among adolescents, as well as the bidirectionality of these associations. Two studies were conducted: a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 4,483 Dutch students and a longitudinal study using a self-selected sample of 510 Dutch adolescents. Results suggest that qualitatively good communication regarding internet use is a promising tool for parents to prevent their teenage children from developing CIU. Besides, parental reactions to excessive internet use and parental rules regarding the content of internet use may help prevent CIU. Strict rules about time of internet use, however, may promote compulsive tendencies. Finally, one opposite link was found whereby CIU predicted a decrease in frequency of parental communication regarding internet use.

Facial attractiveness has been associated with many (social) advantages in life, like greater popularity, acceptance, and social competence. Because social evaluations and acceptance are important factors contributing to self-esteem (SE), we hypothesized that high levels of attractiveness would be related to increased levels of SE. To test this assumption, 230 adolescents from two age groups (13 and 15 years) were surveyed annually for 5 years. A latent growth curve model was used to model the influence of facial attractiveness on the development of SE over time. Results showed that younger adolescents with higher levels of attractiveness had lower levels of SE at baseline. Attractiveness was not found to be a significant predictor in explaining the development of SE over time. These findings indicate that attractive children are more likely to have lower levels of SE when they enter early adolescence compared to their less attractive counterparts. (Contains 2 figures, 4 tables and 2 footnotes.)

In research on value similarity and transmission between parents and adolescents, no consensus exists on the level of value similarity. Reports of high-value similarities coexist with reports of low-value similarities within the family. The present study shows that different conclusions may be explained by the use of different measurement strategies. In addition, we demonstrate that measured value similarities may be biased by a "cultural stereotype," that is, an indirectly measurable phenomenon outside the family most likely attributed to shared cultural experiences. We examined similarities in 8 social-cultural value orientations among fathers, mothers, and adolescents from 433 Dutch families. Results revealed different outcomes when using ordinary correlations (r), absolute difference scores (d), or profile correlations (q). Similarly, different influences of a cultural stereotype were found when applying different measurement strategies. We discuss which measurement strategies are best used under which circumstances and which role the cultural stereotype plays.

This study examined the associations between adolescents' daily Internet use and low well-being (i.e., loneliness, low self-esteem, and depressive moods). We hypothesized that (a) linkages between high levels of daily Internet use and low well-being would be mediated by compulsive Internet use (CIU), and (b) that adolescents with low levels of agreeableness and emotional stability, and high levels of introversion would be more likely to develop CIU and lower well-being. Data were used from a sample of 7888 Dutch adolescents (11-21 years). Results from structural equation modeling analyses showed that daily Internet use was indirectly related to low well-being through CIU. In addition, daily Internet use was found to be more strongly related to CIU in introverted, low-agreeable, and emotionally less-stable adolescents. In turn, again, CIU was more strongly linked to loneliness in introverted, emotionally less-stable, and less agreeable adolescents.

The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of early and mid-adolescents with different drinking trajectories. In addition, we examined whether gender, parental, and peer factors predicted adolescents' membership of these drinking trajectories. We used longitudinal data of 428 families (fathers, mothers, mid-adolescents, and their younger siblings). Latent Class Growth Analyses were performed to identify drinking trajectories. Four drinking trajectories emerged for early adolescents: abstainers, light drinkers, increasers, and heavy drinkers. For mid-adolescents, we identified a fifth group (stable drinkers) in addition to the four trajectories identified for early adolescents. Our results showed that being a boy, having a best friend or father who drinks heavily, and having parents who are permissive toward adolescents' alcohol creates increased risk for both siblings to attend the more heavy drinking trajectories. (Contains 6 footnotes, 3 tables, and 2 figures.)

In this longitudinal study, the authors investigated short-term criminal pathways of children and early adolescents starting under the age of 14 years and the extent to which characteristics of the 1st crime influenced criminal pathways. Participants were 387 juvenile offenders with a mean age of 12.1 years (SD = 2.05 years). The authors followed all participants in the police systems for 2 years to get insight into the crimes that they committed. Then, 2 years after the 1st police contact, 46.5% of these offenders were still considered 1st offenders, and 53.5% had become recidivists. Most of the children began their criminal pathway with less serious covert crimes. Further analyses showed that when the 1st crime was a serious overt crime, the risk of recidivism within 1 year increased. The likelihood of committing a serious overt crime increased with age. The results supported the authors' hypotheses in that juvenile offenders who committed both overt and covert delinquent acts had the highest rates of offense, were more aggressive, and committed more serious offenses. Furthermore, children who committed only overt crimes developed even more serious criminal pathways. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables and 2 notes.)

In this study, we investigated whether parental smoking-specific communication is related to adolescents' friendship-selection processes. Furthermore, we investigated whether adolescents and their best friends influence each other over time, and what role parents play in this process. In the present study we used data from the Family and Health project in which at baseline 428 full families participated. In this 2-year, three-wave longitudinal study data were available from fathers, mothers, early adolescents (aged M = 13.4 years, SD = 0.50), and middle adolescents (aged M = 15.2 years, SD = 0.60). The majority of the participating adolescents were of Dutch origin (greater than 95%). There was an almost equal distribution of boys and girls, and adolescents with lower, middle, and higher educational levels were equally represented. Analyses were conducted by means of Structural Equation Modeling. Results demonstrate that a high quality of the smoking-specific communication is related to a lower likelihood of adolescent smoking, whereas the frequency is positively associated with adolescent smoking. Both the quality and frequency of parental smoking-specific communication were related to adolescents' selective affiliation with (non-)smoking friends. The findings suggest that parental smoking-specific communication is associated with adolescent smoking directly but also indirectly by influencing the friends the adolescents will associate with.

Although the stability and changeability of personality has long been debated, many studies now agree that personality changes over the life course. Although the changes in rank-order and mean-level stability are well established, the stability in personality type membership during adolescence is not yet clear. Little research has been conducted on the associations between change in personality type membership and anxiety. A total of 827 adolescents (10-20 years) completed personality and anxiety questionnaires on 2 waves of the CONflict And Management Of RElationships study (CONAMORE). We found that the stability in personality type membership was moderate. The change from undercontroller to overcontroller was the most frequently occurring change. Furthermore, the stability in type membership was related to stability in anxiety level and change in type membership was related to anxiety change. More specifically, the resilient-overcontroller group demonstrated an increase in anxiety level, whereas the overcontroller-resilient group demonstrated a decrease.

The present study examined the moderating effect of the quality of the sibling relationship on the longitudinal association of parental treatment with theft, vandalism, and violence in adolescence. Participants were 416 sibling pairs which were studied over a one-year period. The younger siblings were aged 13 to 15, the older siblings 14 to 17 at Time 1. No significant effects were found for mixed-sex dyads. For same-sex dyads, the results suggested that when the relationship was of poor quality, younger boys who felt treated less favorably by their mothers were most likely to show high levels of vandalism and violence, while younger girls who felt treated less favorably were most likely to show high levels of theft. No such effects were found for older siblings. These findings indicate that differential parental treatment and the quality of the sibling relationship have gender-specific effects on adolescents' delinquency and have a different meaning for younger than for older siblings.

This study examined the psychometric properties of an adolescent version of the "triangular love scale" (TLS), which assesses three components of romantic relationships: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Using data from 435 Dutch adolescents aged 12-18 years, we found evidence for convergent validity, showing that dimensions of intimacy, passion, and commitment were all positively correlated with relationship satisfaction and duration. Evidence was also found for divergent validity, as adolescents' perceptions of the main (dis)advantages of being involved in romantic relationships showed a specific pattern of associations with intimacy, passion, and commitment. Finally, CFA analyses in LISREL showed that a model in which all separate questionnaire items were specified to load on three underlying, correlated factors (intimacy, passion, commitment) fit the data adequately. Overall, this measure seems appropriate for use with adolescents.

The present paper examined the underlying structure of Dutch adolescents' peer crowd identification and its relations with delinquency, aggression, depression, and anxiety. Questionnaire data were gathered from 2,334 adolescents between ages 12 and 19. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed four clearly interpretable crowd-identification dimensions: Alternative, Urban, Conventional, and Achievement Oriented. Identification with the Alternative and Urban dimensions was found to be positively related to depression, delinquency, and aggression. With regard to the Urban dimension, also a positive association was found with anxiety. Identification with the Conventional- and Achievement Oriented dimensions was found to be negatively related to delinquency. A negative associations was also found between the Achievement Oriented dimension and aggression. Roughly the same pattern of associations was found for boys and girls, and younger and older adolescents. Our results generally confirm findings from studies relating adolescent crowd identification to adjustment performed in the United States and Australia.

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations between stability in bullying and victimization, and social adjustment in childhood and adolescence. Participants were 189 girls and 328 boys who were studied in primary school and in secondary school. The mean age of the participants was 11.1 years in primary school and 14.1 years in secondary school. The measures consisted of peer reported social and personal characteristics. Children who bullied in childhood and adolescence were less liked and more disliked in childhood, and more aggressive and disruptive both in childhood and adolescence, than children who bullied only in childhood or adolescence. Children who bullied or who were victimized only in childhood did not differ largely in adolescence from the children that were never bullies or victims. Children who were victimized in adolescence closely resembled those who were victimized in childhood and adolescence in terms of being liked or disliked, being nominated as a friend, and shyness. The study stresses the need to distinguish between stable and transient bullies and victims.

The present study concerns the feasibility of the Families in Transition (FIT) program, a family-focused intervention for the prevention of problem behavior in early adolescents. To date, family-focused intervention has been under-used and insufficiently studied in Europe. The aims of the study are threefold-first, to test the feasibility of recruiting and retaining at-risk families in a family-focused preventive intervention; second, to monitor the implementation of the program parameters and techniques; and, third, to assess participants' satisfaction. The results are promising in that 21 at-risk families could be recruited, 13 of whom completed the intervention. The eight dropout families reported clinical levels of problem behavior, indicating a need for more intensive interventions. The program parameters and techniques were largely implemented as intended and the participants reported high satisfaction levels. Potential areas of improvement are discussed.

Background: An instrument assessing smoking-cessation-specific parenting was developed and tested in relation to a) the pros of smoking and quitting and self-efficacy to resist smoking, and b) adolescent readiness to quit. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data from 998 Dutch adolescents who smoked regularly were used to perform structural equation analyses. Results: Adolescents who perceived relatively few advantages of smoking and many benefits of quitting reported a high readiness to quit. Self-efficacy was not related to readiness to quit. Smoking-cessation-specific parenting was both directly related to a high readiness to quit, and indirectly through the perceived pros of quitting. Also, if one or both parents were smokers, adolescents reported experiencing less smoking-cessation-specific parenting and a lower readiness to quit. However, in general, differences in paths were not found between adolescents with two parents who did not smoke and adolescents with one or two parents who smoked. Conclusions: Given that anti-smoking socialisation has not yet been operationalised in terms of smoking-cessation-specific parenting, the present results will warrant further research into smoking-cessation-specific parenting in relation to adolescent smoking cessation. Further, parental smoking should not discourage parents from engaging in smoking-cessation-specific parenting as its relations with smoking cognitions and readiness to quit were highly similar in both the group with two parents who did not smoke and the group with one or two parents who smoked.

Background: The present study explores the role of having rules about alcohol, parental norms about early alcohol use, and parental alcohol use in the development of adolescents' drinking behavior. It is assumed that parental norms and alcohol use affect the rules parents have about alcohol, which in turn prevents alcohol use by adolescent children. Methods: Longitudinal data collected from 416 families consisting of both parents and two adolescents (aged 13 to 16 years) were used for the analyses. Results: Results of structural equation modeling show that having clear rules decreases the likelihood of drinking in adolescence. However, longitudinally alcohol-specific rules have only an indirect effect on adolescents' alcohol use, namely through earlier drinking. Analyses focusing on explaining the onset of drinking revealed that having strict rules was related to the postponement of drinking initiation of older and younger adolescents. Further, parental norms about adolescents' early drinking and parental alcohol use were associated with having alcohol-specific rules. Parental norms were also related to adolescents' alcohol use. Conclusions: The current study is one of the first using a full family design to provide insight into the role of alcohol-specific rules on adolescents' drinking. It was shown that having strict rules is related to postponement of drinking, and that having alcohol-specific rules depends on other factors, thus underlining the complexity of the influence of parenting on the development of adolescents' alcohol use.

This study examined the relationship between how adolescents perceived parenting behaviours and adolescent Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptom scores. The 1,106 junior high and high school students (12-19 years old; 49.6% males and 50.4% females) completed questionnaires regarding their perception of parenting behaviours and self-rated symptoms of GAD. The findings of this study demonstrate that adolescent perceptions of parental alienation and rejection are strongly associated with adolescent GAD symptom scores. Additionally, mid-adolescence females perceive more parental alienation in relation to their GAD symptom scores than both early and mid-adolescent males. And early adolescent males perceive more parental rejection in relation to their GAD symptom scores than mid-adolescent males.

The aim of this study was to explain the effects of anti-smoking parenting practices on adolescent smoking cognitions and behavior by showing the mediating effects of cognitions. Data were gathered among Dutch high school students in the control condition of the European Smoking prevention Framework Approach (ESFA). Anti-smoking parenting practices were measured by parental reactions to smoking, house rules, and frequency and content of communication about smoking. Attitudes, perceived social influences and self-efficacy made up for smoking cognitions. Additionally, intention to smoke was measured. Relations between practices and cognitions were mostly significant. While some practices were associated with less smoking (communication about health risks of smoking, health risks of breathing in smoke, addictive qualities of smoking and attention for smoking in school), others were related to increased chances of smoking (rewards for not smoking, frequency of communication about smoking, communication about being allowed to smoke, price of cigarettes and friends smoking). The effects of parenting hardly varied by parental smoking status or adolescent gender. Several practices operated through cognitions, which was more pronounced in older adolescents. Counter-productive effects of practices and the few effects in the longitudinal analyses indicate that the order in which parents and adolescents influence each other should be examined more closely.

This study examined the co-occurrence of depression and delinquency in early adolescents, focusing on longitudinal associations with failure expectations and manipulativeness, and on perceptions of relationships with parents, school and teachers, and peers. Data were used from 1,059 Swedish adolescents aged 13 to 15, who participated in 2 waves (T1-1998; T2-2000) of an ongoing longitudinal research. Results showed that depression and delinquency co-occurred in about 9% of respondents, and that depression and delinquency followed separate developments throughout early adolescence. Development of co-occurring depression and delinquency was positively linked to a later constellation of high failure expectations and manipulativeness across a 2-year period. Additionally, the development of combined failure expectations and manipulativeness was positively linked to a later co-occurrence of depression and delinquency across a 2-year period. Further, the co-occurrence of depression and delinquency was predicted by lower-quality relationships with parents and negative attitudes towards school and teachers, whereas a constellation of high failure expectations and manipulativeness was linked to earlier negative interactions with parents and feeling isolated from peers. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

A 2-wave survey study among 1173 10-14-year-olds tested the longitudinal contribution of secrecy from parents to psychosocial and behavioral problems in adolescence. Additionally, it investigated a hypothesized contribution of secrecy from parents to adolescent development by examining its relation with self-control. Results showed that keeping secrets from parents is associated with substantial psychosocial and behavioral disadvantages in adolescence even after controlling for possible confounding variables, including communication with parents, trust in parents, and perceived parental supportiveness. Contrary to prediction, secrecy was also negatively associated with feelings of self-control. Secrecy from parents thus appears to be an important risk factor for adolescent psychosocial well-being and behavioral adjustment.KEY WORDS: secrecy; psychosocial problems; well-being; adjustment.

The objective of this study was to test our alternative interpretation of the separation-individuation hypothesis. This interpretation states that separation from the parents is not a precondition for individuation, but rather separation and individuation are two parallel processes of development during adolescence. We investigated our interpretation in two ways. Firstly, we looked at descriptive age differences in parental support and development of relational and societal identity. Secondly, we investigated the variation with age of the associations between parental support and emotional adjustment, and identity and emotional adjustment. Data of a representative Dutch sample of 2814 adolescents, aged 12-24 were used. In both cases, the findings supported our interpretation of the separation-individuation hypothesis and similar results were found in the descriptive analyses and the structural equation models. Parental support decreased with age, and so too did its association with emotional adjustment. In other words, as adolescents become older, they experience less parental support, while its importance for their emotional adjustment also declines. The opposite pattern was observed with respect to identity development: as adolescents become older, their relational and societal identity commitments develop, and the degree to which these commitments are developed also becomes more important for their emotional adjustment.

This article presents a longitudinal-sequential analysis of the developmental and reciprocal relationships between self-reported delinquency and moral reasoning (as measured with the Dutch version of the short form of the Defining Issues Test). Between 1991 and 1997 a large sample of 846 Dutch adolescents and young adults (15-23 years in 1991) was measured three times with an interval period of 3 years. Moral reasoning scores increased with age both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, while delinquency scores dropped sharply, "resulting in modest negative correlations between delinquency and moral reasoning". Structural equation modelling of the data delivered a satisfactory fit, "suggesting statistical reciprocal effects between delinquency and moral reasoning for the total sample". A multigroup analysis for three different age cohorts revealed a consistent negative effect of previous delinquency on moral reasoning between the ages of 21 to 23 years. Between the ages of 24 to 26 years, however, delinquency scores were, in turn, negatively affected by previous moral reasoning. Although substantial gender differences in delinquency were reported, no such differences were obtained for either moral reasoning or its relationship with delinquency. The results are discussed in view of the need for a multidimensional process approach of the relation between moral judgment and delinquency. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

The current study focused on the associations between drinking motives, alcohol expectancies, self-efficacy, and drinking behavior in a representative sample of 553 Dutch adolescents and adults. Data were gathered by means of self-report questionnaires and a 14-days drinking diary. A model was postulated in which negative expectancies and self-efficacy were directly associated with drinking, and in which drinking motives mediated the associations between positive expectancies, and drinking. The findings of multivariate analyses showed that drinking motives were related to general indicators of drinking and to drinking levels in specific situations. Furthermore, self-efficacy was moderately related to all drinking variables. Negative expectancies were related to general drinking variables but hardly to drinking in specific situations. Positive expectancies were hardly related to drinking in multivariate analyses and therefore mediation models could not be tested. No systematic moderator effects were apparent for age and gender on the associations between drinking motives, alcohol expectancies, self-efficacy, and drinking.

Concerning the role of parental smoking on development of adolescent smoking, most studies have exclusively focused on the direct effects of parents' smoking on youths' smoking. However, parental smoking may also play an indirect role by affecting youths' susceptibility to peer influences and by affecting friendship selection. Data were from a three-wave short-term longitudinal study of 1595 adolescents. Findings showed high similarities in smoking between reciprocal friends. Additionally, friend's smoking and parents' smoking were moderately related to adolescent smoking onset, but parents' smoking did not moderate the prospective association between best friend's smoking and adolescent smoking. Finally, parental smoking seemed to affect the selection of new friends: In particular, adolescents with smoking parents were most likely to become affiliated with smoking friends. There was no evidence that parental smoking affected termination of friendships.

Parents play an important role in the development of young people's smoking behavior, through the modeling effects of their own smoking status, through the ways they raise their children and through the ways they deal with smoking at home. The present study focused on anti-smoking socialization by, first, comparing the perspectives of both parents and an adolescent on eight indicators of anti-smoking socialization. In addition, we aimed to examine how these indicators of anti-smoking socialization are related to adolescent smoking-related cognitions (e.g. attitudes, self-efficacy, intentions to smoke). Data were collected from 116 Dutch families with fathers, mothers and adolescents (10-19 years old) included. Self-reports of these family members were used by means of questionnaires that were sent through the Internet. The findings showed that parents and adolescents differ in their reports on anti-smoking socialization. In general, mothers are more positive about anti-smoking socialization than adolescents and fathers. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that aspects of anti-smoking socialization, such as parental monitoring, norms on adolescents smoking and reactions on adolescent smoking, are related to smoking-related cognitions, such as negative attitudes to smoking, lower intentions to start smoking and higher self-efficacy. These findings are a first step in research on smoking-specific socialization that is considered to be of importance for the development of effective smoking prevention programmes focusing on parents. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies on large samples of families are needed to replicate the findings in this study. (Contains 4 tables.)

Studied the links between secrecy and psychosocial well-being and emotional autonomy among 227 younger (12-13 years) and older (16-18 years) adolescents. Results show that keeping secrets from parents is associated with physical and psychological disadvantages in adolescence. Secrecy, however, was also related to adolescents' emotional autonomy. Discusses findings in the context of adolescent development. (SLD)

Data from a national sample of 1,302 adolescents and young adults in the Netherlands who participated in a 6-year,3-wave longitudinal study show an increase in emotional disturbance and delinquency from early to middle adolescence, with emotional disturbance stabilizing and delinquency declining into young adulthood. (SLD)

Studied whether substance use, transgressive behavior, and delinquency were related to the quality of peer relations for 508 12- to 18-year-olds. Findings show that substance use and transgressive behavior are positively related to the quantity and quality of peer relations. (SLD)