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The current study had three aims: (1) to explore whether there is over-time change in adolescent delinquency and negativity in the parent–adolescent, sibling and marital relationships during adolescence; (2) to examine the interactions of negativity across subsystems; and (3) to examine whether levels and changes in adolescent delinquency are predicted by levels and changes in negativity in all family subsystems. Data of 497 families participating in the RADAR-young study were used. Ratings of all family members were used to measure negativity in family relationships, and adolescent self-report was used for delinquency. Multivariate latent growth curve models showed over-time increases in mother-adolescent negativity and over-time decreases in sibling negativity, as well as significant individual differences in these changes. Second, evidence for both social contagion and compensatory processes in family negativity was found. Third, initial levels of parent–adolescent negativity were related to initial levels but not over-time changes of adolescent delinquency, whereas initial levels of sibling negativity were related to over-time changes but not initial levels of adolescent delinquency. Finally, increases in parent–adolescent negativity were related to faster increases in adolescent delinquency, and decreases in sibling negativity were related to slower increases in adolescent delinquency. Implications of these results are discussed.

There appear to be contradicting theories and empirical findings on the association between adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) symptoms and cannabis use, suggesting potential risk as well as protective pathways. The aim of this six-year longitudinal study was to further examine associations between SAD symptoms and cannabis use over time in adolescents from the general population, specifically focusing on the potential role that adolescents’ involvement with their peers may have in these associations. Participants were 497 Dutch adolescents (57 % boys; Mage = 13.03 at T1), who completed annual self-report questionnaires for 6 successive years. Cross-lagged panel analysis suggested that adolescent SAD symptoms were associated with less peer involvement 1 year later. Less adolescent peer involvement was in turn associated with lower probabilities of cannabis use as well as lower frequency of cannabis use 1 year later. Most importantly, results suggested significant longitudinal indirect paths from adolescent SAD symptoms to cannabis use via adolescents’ peer involvement. Overall, these results provide support for a protective function of SAD symptoms in association with cannabis use in adolescents from the general population. This association is partially explained by less peer involvement (suggesting increased social isolation) for those adolescents with higher levels of SAD symptoms. Future research should aim to gain more insight into the exact nature of the relationship between anxiety and cannabis use in adolescents from the general population, especially regarding potential risk and protective processes that may explain this relationship.

This study examined reciprocal associations between adolescents' self-concept clarity (SCC) and their relationship quality with parents and best friends in a five-wave longitudinal study from age 13 to 18years. In all, 497 adolescents (57% boys) reported on their SCC and all informants (i.e., adolescents, both parents, and adolescents' best friends) reported on support and negative interaction. Within-person cross-lagged analyses provided systematic evidence for both parent effects and child effects, with the direction of effects being strongly dependent on the relational context. For example, higher maternal support predicted higher adolescent SCC, supporting a parent effects perspective, whereas higher SCC predicted lower paternal negative interaction, supporting a child effects perspective. Peer effects on adolescent SCC were not consistently found across adolescent and best friend reports.The title for this Special Section is Origins of Children's Self-Views, edited by Eddie Brummelman and Sander Thomaes

Adolescents’ developing empathy may be associated with the frequency of conflict with parents, as well as the level of agreement between adolescent and parental perceptions of the frequency of such conflicts. This 6-year longitudinal study investigated the link between adolescent empathy development and perceptions of the frequency of parent–child conflict, as reported by 467 adolescents (43 % female, from age 13) and both parents. First, we investigated heterogeneity in empathy development by identifying classes of individuals with similar developmental trajectories. Adolescents were categorized into high-, average-, and low-empathy classes. Initial differences between these classes further increased from age 13 to 16, particularly for cognitive empathy. To assess the association between empathy and the frequency of conflict, we compared these empathy classes in terms of initial levels and over-time changes in the frequency of adolescent- and parent-reported conflict. Compared to the average- and high-empathy classes, the low-empathy class evidenced elevated conflict throughout adolescence. Furthermore, the low- and average-empathy classes demonstrated temporary divergence between adolescent- and parent-reported conflict from early- to mid-adolescence, with adolescents underreporting conflict compared to both parents. Adolescents’ agreement with parents was moderated by empathy class, while parents were always in agreement with one another. This may suggest that these discrepancies are related to distortions in adolescents’ perceptions, as opposed to biased parental reports. These findings highlight the potential importance of early detection and intervention in empathy deficiencies, and suggest that lower adolescent empathy may indicate elevated family conflict, even if a failure to consider parents’ perspective leads adolescents to underreport it.Keywords: Empathy, Conflict, Adolescence, Reporter discrepancies, Longitudinal

The aim of this study was to examine relations of emotional variability during mother–adolescent conflict interactions in early adolescence with adolescent disclosure and maternal control in early and late adolescence. Data were used from 92 mother–adolescent dyads (M age T1 = 13.05; 65.20% boys) that were videotaped at T1 while discussing a conflict. Emotional variability was derived from these conflict interactions. Mothers also completed questionnaires at the start of the study (T1) and five years later (T6) on adolescent disclosure and maternal control. Path analysis showed that more emotional variability during conflict interactions in early adolescence was associated with higher levels of adolescent disclosure in early adolescence and with relative decreases in maternal control from early to late adolescence. More emotional variability of mother–adolescent dyads serves an important function in adaptively dealing with relational challenges that arise during adolescence.Keywords: Emotional variability, Mother–adolescent interactions, Conflicts, Adolescent disclosure, Maternal control

This study explored the influence of adolescent mood variability on the symptom development of generalized anxiety and depression in the context of parent-adolescent negative interactions. Participants were 456 adolescents (55.7 % male) from a community sample, who were followed from age 13 to 16 years. During 4 annual assessments, adolescents reported on their generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms, and both parents and adolescents on levels of negative interactions with each other. Within each study year, adolescents rated their daily mood states during 5 consecutive days for 3 times per year (total of 9 weeks). The absolute differences between mood states on consecutive days were summed to construct a mood variability score. Results showed that high levels of adolescent mood variability predicted increases in generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms across the studied period. No influence of negative interactions on anxiety and depression development was found, but positive predictive links from mood variability to negative interactions at age 14 and 15 appeared. The study underscores the role of adolescent mood variability in the development of symptoms of generalized anxiety and depression during adolescence, but found little evidence for an influence of parent-adolescent negative interactions on internalizing problem development.Keywords: Generalized anxiety, Depression, Mood variability, Negative interactions, Adolescence, Longitudinal

An atypical Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) has been related to adult anxiety and depression, but little is known about the association between long-term atypical CAR and adolescent anxiety and depression. This study aimed to longitudinally identify subgroups of adolescents with distinct levels of CAR (i.e., adolescents with and without persistent atypical CAR) and to examine their development of anxiety and depressive symptoms over 3 successive years. A community sample of 184 Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.99 at T1, 57 % boys) completed annual salivary cortisol assessments at home at time of awakening, and 30 and 60 min post-awakening (i.e., CAR) for 3 successive years. Adolescents also reported annually on their anxiety and depressive disorder symptoms. Latent Class Growth Analysis suggested two subgroups of adolescents with respect to CAR: a “low” group with stable low levels of AUCg (Area Under the Curve with respect to the ground) over time and a “high” group with high and increasing levels of AUCg over time. Controlling for sex, the high and low CAR groups significantly differed in depressive symptoms only, but none of the anxiety disorder symptoms. More specifically, adolescents in the high CAR group showed significantly higher mean levels of depressive symptoms over time compared to adolescents in the low CAR group. These results suggest that persistent heightened CAR is a more consistent, yet modest, correlate of adolescent depressive symptoms than anxiety disorder symptoms.Keywords: Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), Area under the curve with respect to the ground (AUCg), Anxiety, Depression, Longitudinal, Adolescence

This study examined interrelations of trait and state empathy in an adolescent sample. Self-reported affective trait empathy and cognitive trait empathy were assessed during a home visit. During a test session at the university, motor empathy (facial electromyography), and self-reported affective and cognitive state empathy were assessed in response to empathy-inducing film clips portraying happiness and sadness. Adolescents who responded with stronger motor empathy consistently reported higher affective state empathy. Adolescents' motor empathy was also positively related to cognitive state empathy, either directly or indirectly via affective state empathy. Whereas trait empathy was consistently, but modestly, related to state empathy with sadness, for state empathy with happiness few trait–state associations were found. Together, the findings provide support for the notion that empathy is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Motor, affective and cognitive empathy seem to be related processes, each playing a different role in the ability to understand and share others' feelings.Keywords: Trait empathy, State empathy, Motor mimicry, Facial EMG, Emotion

This study examined the moderating role of teachers’ relationship with students and their self-efficacy in the association between classroom-level disruptive behaviors and emotional exhaustion. Two measurement occasions were completed by 98 teachers from fourteen Dutch special education schools for adolescent students with psychiatric disabilities. Results show that by the end of the school year, teachers with high levels of closeness and self-efficacy reported increases in emotional exhaustion as a function of classroom-level disruptive behaviors, which is in line with research conducted in general education studies. Unexpectedly, emotional exhaustion decreased in low-involved teachers experiencing more classroom disruption.

This study explored the development of mood variability in 474 Dutch adolescents (56.8% male, 90.1% medium to high socioeconomic status) from a community sample, followed from ages 13 to 18 years. Three times per year, adolescents reported on daily happiness, anger, sadness, and anxiety for 5 days using Internet diaries (15 assessment weeks; from 2006 to 2010). Mood variability scores were calculated as means of absolute differences between consecutive days. Results showed that happiness, anger, and sadness variability continuously declined across adolescence, while anxiety variability increased initially, then decreased, and then increased toward late adolescence. Despite females experiencing higher happiness and sadness variability, the rate of change across adolescence was similar for both sexes. Implications for normative emotional development and future studies are discussed.

The aim of this study was to assess measurement invariance of adolescents' daily reports on identity across time and sex. Adolescents (N = 497; mean age = 13.32 years at Time 1, 56.7% boys) from the general population reported on their identity commitments, exploration in depth and reconsideration on a daily basis for 3 weeks within 1 year across 5 years. We used the single-item version of the Utrecht Management of Identity Commitments Scale (UMICS; Klimstra et al., 2010), a broad measure of identity-formation processes covering both interpersonal and educational identity domains. This study tested configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance across days within weeks, across sex, across weeks within years, and across years. Results indicated that daily diary reports show strict measurement invariance across days, across weeks within years, across years, and across boys and girls. These results support the use of daily diary methods to assess identity at various time intervals ranging from days to years and across sex. Results are discussed with regard to future implications to study identity processes, both on smaller and larger time intervals. (PsycINFO Database Record

Contains fulltext : 157470.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) The current study examined mean level and change in extraversion and neuroticism across adolescence in relation to physiological stress reactivity to social evaluation. Adolescents (n = 327) from the Dutch general population reported on personality measures at five annual assessments. At age 17 years, adolescents participated in a psychosocial stress procedure characterized by social evaluation during which cortisol, heart rate, pre-ejection period (PEP) and heart rate variability were assessed. Dual latent growth curve models were fitted in which the intercepts (mean level) and slopes (change) of personality across adolescence predicted the intercepts (baseline) and slopes (reactivity) of the physiological stress measures. Most comparisons revealed no relation between personality and stress reactivity. Adolescents with higher mean level scores on extraversion did show lower cortisol reactivity. Adolescents with higher mean level neuroticism scores showed higher PEP reactivity. Our findings lend partial support for a relation between personality and physiological stress reactivity. 13 p.

In this study, we prospectively examined developmental trajectories of five anxiety disorder symptom dimensions (generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, school anxiety, separation anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder) from early to late adolescence in a community sample of 239 adolescents, assessed annually over 8 years. Latent growth modeling indicated different developmental trajectories from early into late adolescence for the different anxiety disorder symptoms, with some symptoms decreasing and other symptoms increasing over time. Sex differences in developmental trajectories were found for some symptoms, but not all. Furthermore, latent class growth analysis identified a normal developmental profile (including a majority of adolescents reporting persistent low anxiety disorder symptoms over 8 years) and an at-risk developmental profile (including a minority of adolescents reporting persistent high anxiety disorder symptoms over 8 years) for all of the anxiety disorder symptom dimensions except panic disorder. Additional analyses longitudinally supported the validity of these normal and at-risk developmental profiles and suggested differential associations between different anxiety disorder symptom dimensions and developmental trajectories of substance use, parenting, and identity development. Taken together, our results emphasize the importance of examining separate dimensions of anxiety disorder symptoms in contrast to a using a global, one-dimensional approach to anxiety.

We examined the daily dynamics among self–concept clarity and identity processes, and their effects on distress, among a sample of 580 Dutch adolescents. Participants completed measures of identity, self–concept clarity, anxiety and depression at annual intervals; and daily single–item measures of self–concept clarity, identity commitments and reconsideration across three 5–day weeks. We examined (a) cross–lagged associations of self–concept clarity to identity commitment and reconsideration and (b) associations of daily fluctuations in self and identity processes to later anxiety and depression. Results indicated that self–concept clarity and identity commitments influence one another reciprocally across days, and that day–to–day fluctuations in identity predicted later anxiety and depression. Results are discussed in terms of self and identity processes and their effects on distress. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In expressed emotion (EE) theory, it is held that high EE household environments enhance adolescent psychopathological distress. However, no longitudinal study has been conducted to examine if either the mother's EE or the adolescent's perception of EE predicts adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions (an EE effect model) or vice versa (psychopathological effect model) together in one model. To unravel the reciprocal influences of maternal and adolescent perceived EE to adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions, we tested two (i.e., one for internalizing and one for externalizing) cross-lagged panel models. In this study, it was found that both internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions predicted the adolescent's perception of maternal EE as well as the mother's own rated EE criticism over time. The findings of this study should give both researchers and therapists a reason to reevaluate only using the EE effects model assumption in future EE studies.