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Emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) is a period of identity exploration, particularly for young adults navigating the transition to post-secondary school. Little is known about how changes in identity exploration may be related to emerging adults' mental health, or the role of social support plays in identity-related processes. In the present study, associations among identity exploration, internalizing symptoms, and perceived social support were examined. Participants included a diverse group of emerging adults (N = 1,125, Mage = 17.96 years) studying at a Canadian university. Random-intercept cross-lagged modeling demonstrated that within-person increases in exploration in breadth predicted fewer depressive symptoms over time, whereas within-person increases in exploration in depth predicted more depressive and anxious symptoms over time. A mediation effect from perceived support from significant other to depressive symptoms via exploration in breadth was also evident. Findings suggest that identity exploratory processes may be developmentally relevant in emerging adulthood, but their implications for mental health may differ. Perceived social support is also meaningfully related to identity exploration and mental health., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Evidence of an atmospheric CO2-fertilization effect on radial growth rates was uncovered for open-grown white spruce in a mixed-grass prairie of southwestern Manitoba, Canada. Consistent upward trends of the residuals from dendroclimatic models indicated a decreased ability for climatic parameters to predict radial growth. Despite that a similar amount (61%) of the total variation in radial growth index was explained by climate for both young and old trees, residuals from young trees for the period of 1955–1999 demonstrated a stronger upward trend ( R2=0.551, P<0.0001) than old trees for the period of 1900–1996 ( R2=0.020, P=0.167). Similar to young trees, the residuals from the early growth period (1900–1929) of old trees also demonstrated a stronger upward trend ( R2=0.480, P<0.0001) than the period of 1900–1996. Likewise, a comparable period (1970–1999) of young trees also demonstrated a stronger upward trend ( R2=0.619, P<0.0001) than the early growth period (1900–1929) of old trees. In addition, postdrought growth response was much stronger for young trees (1970–1999) compared with old trees at the same development stage (1900–1929) ( P=0.011) or within the same time period (1970–1999) ( P=0.014). There was no difference ( P=0.221) in drought recovery between the early (1900–1929) period and the late (1970–1999) period within old trees. Together, our results suggest that (1) open-grown white spruce trees improved their growth with time at the early developmental stage, and (2) at the same developmental stage, a greater growth response occurred in the late period when atmospheric CO2 concentration, and the rate of atmospheric CO2 increase were both relatively high. While it is impossible to rule out other factors, these results are consistent with expectations for CO2-fertilization effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]