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Contains fulltext : 228604.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Increased levels of psychological stress during adolescence have been associated with a decline in academic performance, school dropout and increased risk of mental health problems. Intervening during this developmental period may prevent these problems. The school environment seems particularly suitable for interventions and over the past decade, various school-based stress reduction programs have been developed. The present study aims to evaluate the results of (quasi-)experimental studies on the effectiveness of school-based intervention programs targeting adolescent psychological stress and to investigate moderators of effectiveness. A three-level random effects meta-analytic model was conducted. The search resulted in the inclusion of k = 54 studies, reporting on analyses in 61 independent samples, yielding 123 effect sizes (N = 16,475 individuals). The results indicated a moderate overall effect on psychological stress. Yet, significant effects were only found in selected student samples. School-based intervention programs targeting selected adolescents have the potential to reduce psychological stress. Recommendations for practice, policy and future research are discussed. 19 p.

Romantic development is a distinctive characteristic of puberty. However, a significant proportion of adolescents present with avoidant romantic attachment (ARA) tendencies, which have significant impact on their general adaptation. ARA variations have been suggested in relation to age, gender, engagement with a romantic partner and Excessive Internet Use (EIU) behaviours. In this longitudinal, two-wave study of a normative sample of 515 Greek adolescents at 16 and 18 years, ARA was assessed with the relevant subscale of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised and EIU with the Internet Addiction Test. A three-level hierarchical linear model found ARA tendencies to decrease between 16 and 18 while engagement in a romantic relationship and EIU were associated with lower and higher ARA tendencies respectively. Gender did not differentiate ARA severity either at the age of 16 or its changes over time. Results highlight the need of adopting a longitudinal-contextualized approach and provide implications for prevention and intervention initiatives in relation to the romantic development of adolescents.

‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who do I want to become?’ are critical questions adolescents ask themselves. This search for a personal identity can be very stressful and can strongly impact adolescents’ well-being. Hence, it is vital to gain insight into how adolescents explore and develop their identity and to find out why some adolescents are able to develop a clear sense of who they are whereas others remain highly uncertain about their identity. This dissertation aimed to provide more insight into how adolescents form their identity on a day-to-day basis as well as across years. We examined identity processes from ages 13 through 24 years. Given that identity development does not take place in a void, the longitudinal studies in this dissertation also examined how key neurobiological, psychological, and social processes contributed to identity formation processes over time. Findings in this dissertation reveal that establishing a strong identity is a complex developmental task that is embedded in adolescents’ daily lives. Also, results indicate that the adolescent brain is involved in the development of a strong identity over time. Finally, findings highlight that establishing a strong identity can buffer against the development of psychopathology and improves social relationships. Hence, a strong identity serves as an important psychological resource that guides adolescents in their daily lives.

Although the age of leaving home has increased during the past few decades, senior year in high school remains a significant period during which many adolescents consider moving out, especially to attend university. However, the role of personal, practical and familial factors on adolescents’ motivation to leave home prior to the actual transition are still unknown. The current study investigated adolescents’ motivation to leave home while they still lived with their parents and its association with adolescent-reported personal and practical circumstances, and parent–child relationship quality. Participants were 558 Turkish senior high school students (62% female), all living with their parents in Istanbul, Turkey. Results showed that just above one third of the adolescents (38%) wanted to leave home after high school. Boys, adolescents from high SES and nonintact families were more likely to be motivated to leave home. Satisfaction with living situation, parental support for home-leaving, and importance of practical and personal circumstances influenced adolescents’ motivation to leave home. The adolescent-mother relationship was differently related to adolescents’ motivation compared to the adolescent-father relationship. Conflict with both parents, but only fathers’ warmth was associated with motivation to leave home above and beyond all practical and personal circumstances.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether adolescents of Moroccan and Dutch origin differ concerning sibling relationship quality and to examine whether the associations between quality of the sibling relationship and level and change in externalizing and internalizing problem behavior are comparable for Moroccan and Dutch adolescents. Five annual waves of questionnaire data on sibling support and conflict as well as externalizing problems, anxiety and depression were collected from 159 ethnic Moroccan adolescents (Mage = 13.3 years) and from 159 ethnic Dutch adolescents (Mage = 13.0 years). Our findings demonstrated significant mean level differences between the Moroccan and Dutch sample in sibling relationship quality, externalizing problems, and depression, with Moroccan adolescents reporting higher sibling relationship quality and less problem behavior. However, effects of sibling relationship quality on externalizing problems, anxiety, and depression were similar for the Moroccan and Dutch samples. Sibling support was not related to level of externalizing problems, nor to changes in externalizing problems, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, more sibling conflict was related to a higher starting level of and faster decreases in problem behaviors. Our results support the ethnic equivalence model, which holds that the influence of family relationships is similar for different ethnic groups. Moreover, sibling support and conflict affect both the level and the fluctuations in problem behavior over time in specific ethnic groups similarly. Implications for future studies and interventions are subsequently discussed.

We examined whether the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980Davis, M. H. 1980. A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10: 85 [Google Scholar] ), consisting of Perspective Taking (PT), Empathic Concern (EC), Personal Distress (PD), and Fantasy (FN), is a psychometrically invariant empathy measure for early and late adolescents and their mothers. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated adequate properties and psychometric invariance across 2 Dutch samples (269 early adolescents, 232 late adolescents). Females scored higher than males on each subscale. Early adolescents scored lower than late adolescents on PT and FN, and higher on PD. The different groups showed similar subscale associations with psychosocial health indexes, and similar subscale contributions to a higher order empathy dimension. Most dimensions showed positive correlations between adolescents and mothers. The IRI appears adequate for examining empathy across the span of adolescence, as well as patterns between youths and mothers.

Five–year longitudinal data on a cohort of early to middle adolescents ( N = 923) and a cohort of middle to late adolescents ( N = 390) were used to examine the correlates of hypermaturity (i.e. 12–year–olds with a personality profile resembling the profile of an average 20–year–old) and immaturity (i.e. 20–year–olds with a personality profile resembling the profile of an average 12–year–old) of personality. Analyses revealed that girls with high levels of hypermaturity exhibited high levels of internalizing problem behaviour and conflict with parents, while hypermaturity in boys was only associated with internalizing problems. Immature girls had low levels of anxiety and high levels of minor delinquency, whereas immature boys reported low levels of anxiety and high levels of physical maturity. These findings suggest that off–time personality development is an interesting concept deserving further exploration. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this study, we examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of a 12-item short version of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) in two 4-year longitudinal community samples ( Nsample 1 = 815, Mage T1 = 13.38 years; Nsample 2 = 551, Mage T1 = 14.82 years). Using confirmatory factor analyses, we found strict longitudinal measurement invariance for the three-factor structure of the SAS-A across adolescence, across samples, and across gender. Some developmental changes in social anxiety were found from early to mid-adolescence, as well as gender differences across adolescence. These findings suggest that the short version of the SAS-A is a developmentally appropriate instrument that can be used effectively to examine adolescent social anxiety development.

Most researchers have specific expectations concerning their research questions. These may be derived from theory, empirical evidence, or both. Yet despite these expectations, most investigators still use null hypothesis testing to evaluate their data, that is, when analysing their data they ignore the expectations they have. In the present article, Bayesian model selection is presented as a means to evaluate the expectations researchers have, that is, to evaluate so called informative hypotheses. Although the methodology to do this has been described in previous articles, these are rather technical and have mainly been published in statistical journals. The main objective of the present article is to provide a basic introduction to the evaluation of informative hypotheses using Bayesian model selection. Moreover, what is new in comparison to previous publications on this topic is that we provide guidelines on how to interpret the results. Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses is illustrated using an example concerning psychosocial functioning and the interplay between personality and support from family.

Background It is well documented that friends' externalizing problems and negative parent-child interactions predict externalizing problems in adolescence, but relatively little is known about the role of siblings. This four-wave, multi-informant study investigated linkages of siblings' externalizing problems and sibling-adolescent negative interactions on adolescents' externalizing problems, while examining and controlling for similar linkages with friends and parents. Methods Questionnaire data on externalizing problems and negative interactions were annually collected from 497 Dutch adolescents (M = 13.03 years, SD = 0.52, at baseline), as well as their siblings, mothers, fathers, and friends. Results Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed modest unique longitudinal paths from sibling externalizing problems to adolescent externalizing problems, for male and female adolescents, and for same-sex and mixed-sex sibling dyads, but only from older to younger siblings. Moreover, these paths were above and beyond significant paths from mother-adolescent negative interaction and friend externalizing problems to adolescent externalizing problems, 1 year later. No cross-lagged paths existed between sibling-adolescent negative interaction and adolescent externalizing problems. Conclusions Taken together, it appears that especially older sibling externalizing problems may be a unique social risk factor for adolescent externalizing problems, equal in strength to significant parents' and friends' risk factors. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2013 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

In deze studie hebben we onderzocht of adolescenten conflictoplossingsstijlen in de relatie met ouders drie jaar later ook gaan hanteren bij vrienden en/of vice versa. Adolescenten uit twee leeftijdscohorten (cohort 1:n = 559; gemiddelde leeftijd 13.4 jaar en cohort 2:n = 327; gemiddelde leeftijd 17.7 jaar) vulden op twee meetmomenten vragen in over het gebruik van drie conflictoplossingsstijlen met hun vader, moeder en beste vriend. Padanalyses lieten zien dat in het jonge cohort de stijlen positief probleem oplossen en ruzie maken werden overgedragen van de adolescent-ouderrelatie naar de adolescent-vriendrelatie, maar niet andersom. In het oude cohort vonden we overdracht van deze stijlen in beide richtingen, dus zowel van ouders naar vrienden als van vrienden naar ouders. Voor de stijl terugtrekken vonden we dat de overdracht zowel in het jonge als in het oude cohort beide richtingen opging. Deze studie laat zien dat de relatie met zowel ouders als vrienden belangrijk is, als het gaat om het aanleren en oefenen van conflictoplossingsstijlen en dat beide relaties het toekomstig conflictgedrag van de adolescent beïnvloeden. Als ouders zich bewust zijn van hun mogelijke invloed op het gedrag van adolescenten, kan een negatieve spiraal van gedrag in zowel de ouder-adolescentrelatie als met vrienden voorkomen worden.

Background In previous studies, it has been demonstrated that high parental expressed emotion (EE) is predictive of depressive, aggressive and delinquency symptoms of adolescents. Two issues have received much less prominence in EE research, these being studies of adolescent perceived EE and the measurement of the EE as a dynamic, developmental construct. This 4-year, three-wave, longitudinal study of perceived EE of adolescents from the general community examines if adolescent perceived EE measured with the traditional, one-measurement EE approach as well as adolescent perceived EE measured with a repeated measured, dynamic EE approach can predict adolescent depressive, aggressive and delinquency symptoms. Methods Dutch adolescents (N = 285; 51% girls; M = 13 years) from the general community were prospectively studied annually for 4 years. At all waves, the adolescents completed the Level of Expressed Emotion (LEE) questionnaire and at the final wave also completed self-rated measures of depressive, aggressive and delinquent symptoms. Growth models were used to predict adolescent symptoms from adolescent perceived EE. Results Growth models significantly predicted adolescent depressive, aggressive and delinquency symptoms from adolescent perceived EE. Conclusions This study of the LEE demonstrates that developmental characteristics of EE are predictive of adolescents’ symptoms. These findings hold implications for current EE intervention therapies and the conceptualization of EE.

Adolescence and young adulthood are characterized by important changes in personality, changes toward a more stable identity, and the establishment of intimate relationships. We examined the role of personality traits in establishing intimate relationships, the interplay between personality traits and interpersonal identity processes during these relationships, and the role of interpersonal identity processes and personality traits in the dissolution thereof. For this purpose, we used longitudinal data on 424 female college students (mean age at T1 = 18.6 years; Sample 1) and 390 late adolescents drawn from a community sample (56.7 % female; mean age at T1 = 19.7 years; Sample 2). Especially highly extraverted individuals were likely to become involved in a relationship. Neuroticism was associated negatively, and Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were associated positively with a stronger sense of interpersonal identity within intimate relationships. Finally, the importance of interpersonal identity processes was underscored by the fact that these processes, and not so much personality traits, predicted relational breakups. Overall, the present study provides important insights into the role of personality and identity in the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of intimate relationships in late adolescence and young adulthood.Keywords: Personality, Identity formation, Relationships, Big five, Adolescence, Longitudinal

Introduction Aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms co-occur frequently during adolescence. The failure model argues that the onset of aggressive behavior is more likely to precede the onset of depressive symptoms, whereas the acting-out model states that depressed mood predicts subsequent aggressive behavior. However, few longitudinal studies have examined with fully recursive models the temporal ordering of aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms during early adolescence. Objective Therefore, this study examined the bidirectional associations between aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms during early adolescence, using a multi-informant cross-lagged panel model. Gender differences were also investigated. Method We used data from three waves of questionnaire data that were annually collected among 497 early adolescents (56.9% boys) and their parents, thereby covering an age range from 12 to 15. Adolescents reported on their depressive symptoms and the parents reported on the adolescents’ aggressive behavior. Results Cross-lagged path analyses showed that early adolescents’ aggressive behavior predicted subsequent depressive symptoms, but early adolescents’ depressive symptoms did not predict aggressive behavior. Findings were similar for boys and girls. Conclusion Thus, our results provide support for the failure model and suggest that reducing aggressive behavior at the start of adolescence might reduce the risk for subsequent depressive symptoms. Résumé Introduction Les conduites agressives et les symptômes dépressifs apparaissent souvent simultanément à l’adolescence. Le modèle « échec » soutient que l’apparition des conduites agressives précède l’apparition de symptômes dépressifs, tandis que le modèle « acting-out » stipule que les symptômes dépressifs prédisent les conduites agressives subséquentes. Peu d’études longitudinales ont toutefois examiné la séquence temporelle de ces phénomènes à l’adolescence, en utilisant des modèles récursifs acheminatoires. Objectif Cette étude examine les relations bidirectionnelles entre les conduites agressives et les symptômes dépressifs à l’adolescence, à l’aide de données longitudinales provenant de diverses sources d’informations. Des différences de genre sont également vérifiées. Méthode Les données proviennent de questionnaires, colligées sur trois années consécutives, de 497 adolescents (56,9 % garçons ; âgés de 12 à 15 ans) et de leurs parents. Les symptômes dépressifs étaient évalués par l’adolescent lui-même, alors que les conduites agressives étaient évaluées par les parents. Résultats Des analyses acheminatoires ont montré que les conduites agressives des adolescents prédisent significativement les symptômes dépressifs ultérieurs. La relation inverse n’est toutefois pas significative. Les modèles ne semblent pas différer selon le sexe. Discussion Ces résultats apportent du soutien au modèle « échec ». Le fait de réduire les comportements agressifs au début de l’adolescence pourrait aider à réduire le risque de symptômes dépressifs subséquents.

Dyadic variability is considered to be a key mechanism in the development of mother-adolescent relationships, and low levels of dyadic flexibility are thought to be associated with behavior and relationship problems. The present observational study examined heterogeneity in the development of dyadic variability in mother-adolescent interactions and associations with psychosocial functioning. Dyadic variability refers to the range of emotional states during interactions of mother-adolescent dyads. During five annual home visits, 92 mother-adolescent dyads (M age T1 = 13; 65.2 % boys) were videotaped while discussing a conflict, and they completed several questionnaires on adolescents’ aggressive behavior and adolescents’ and mothers’ perceived relationship quality. Two types of dyads were distinguished: low variability dyads (52 %) and high decreasing variability dyads (48 %). Over time, high decreasing variability dyads were characterized by a broader emotional repertoire than low variability dyads. Moreover, these two dyad types had distinct developmental patterns of psychosocial adjustment. Over time, high decreasing variability dyads showed lower levels of adolescents’ aggressive behavior, and higher levels of perceived relationship quality than low variability dyads. These findings suggest that over time more dyadic variability is associated with less adjustment problems and a more constructive development of the mother-adolescent relationship. Adaptive interactions seem to be characterized by a wider range of emotional states and mothers should guide adolescents during interactions to express both positive and negative affect. Observing the dyadic variability during mother-adolescent interactions can help clinicians to distinguish adaptive from maladaptive mother-adolescent dyads.Keywords: Mother-adolescent interactions, Dyadic variability, State space grids, Psychosocial functioning

Neighbourhood research hitherto has suggested that the neighbourhood in which youth grow up affects their educational achievement. However, the mechanisms though which the neighbourhood reaches these effects are still unclear. Family and individual characteristics seem important in explaining educational outcomes. We therefore propose two related mediating factors: parenting strategies and problematic behaviour. We test this mediation using the 2009 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children data for the Netherlands ( N = 2683), in which adolescents are surveyed about their behaviour and relationships and, additionally, their parents are interviewed about their child and their parenting. These data are combined with data from Statistics Netherlands, which include neighbourhood-level information about real-estate value and ethnic variation of the neighbourhood population. The results show that the effects of the proportion of immigrant groups and the mean property values in the neighbourhood are unlikely to be mediated by parenting behaviours and problematic behaviour. The results also show that parents are likely to adapt their parenting behaviours to demographic neighbourhood characteristics. For example, parents in neighbourhoods with higher ethnic heterogeneity apply more protective parenting strategies. Keywords: neighbourhood effects, education, parenting, problem behaviour, adolescents

Only a limited number of effectiveness studies have been performed to study the benefits of efficacious behavior problems prevention programs for children when implemented through national health service systems. This study uses a quasi-experimental design to test the effectiveness of the school-based PATHS prevention program (Providing Alternative THinking Strategies) when implemented through Dutch municipal health services by health promotion professionals. A sample of 1,294 children was followed for two years: 674 children attending nine schools providing PATHS and 620 children in nine comparison schools. We hypothesized finding an intervention effect of PATHS in terms of a significant reduction in teacher- and student-rated externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors, and a significant improvement in teacher-, student-, and peer-rated social skills and emotional skills. In fact, the results show low levels of program implementation and no intervention effects on problem behavior or social and emotional skills, suggesting that it is hard to reproduce positive intervention effects where an efficacious social-emotional prevention program is implemented through a national health service. More research is needed on the specific conditions required to implement efficacious programs effectively., International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV), Vol 6, No 2: Evidence-Based Developmental Prevention of Youth Violence and Bullying - European Perspectives

Researchers often have expectations about the research outcomes in regard to inequality constraints between, e.g., group means. Consider the example of researchers who investigated the effects of inducing a negative emotional state in aggressive boys. It was expected that highly aggressive boys would, on average, score higher on aggressive responses toward other peers than moderately aggressive boys, who would in turn score higher than nonaggressive boys. In most cases, null hypothesis testing is used to evaluate such hypotheses. We show, however, that hypotheses formulated using inequality constraints between the group means are generally not evaluated properly. The wrong hypotheses are tested, i.e.. the null hypothesis that group means are equal. In this article, we propose an innovative solution to these above-mentioned issues using Bayesian model selection, which we illustrate using a case study.

The aim of the study was to determine whether there are differences in patterns of negativity between families with and without an adolescent with externalizing problem behavior. We used a structured means Social Relations Model in order to examine negativity in multiple levels of the family system. The sample consisted of 120 problematic and 153 nonproblematic families (two parents, two children), who rated the level of negativity in the relationship with each family member. Although a simple mean differences test would lead us to believe that differences in negativity between groups of families can be ascribed to the interaction between parent and adolescent, the results of the present study indicate that these differences are actually related to the characteristics of a problematic child. © 2011 American Psychological Association.

In this study examination is given to the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a large community sample of adolescents. Additionally, a comparison was made between the anxiety scores of this Italian adolescent cohort (N = 1975) and a comparative Dutch adolescent cohort (N = 1115). Findings revealed that a five-factor structure of the SCARED applied not only to the Italian adolescents from the general community, but also to boys and girls, and to early and middle adolescents. Moreover, sex and age differences on anxiety scores within the Italian sample were found to be consistent with previous studies of adolescent anxiety disorders. Finally, Italian adolescents reported higher anxiety scores than their Dutch peers. Findings of this study highlight that the SCARED is a valid screening instrument to rate anxiety symptoms of Italian adolescents. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adolescence is a developmental phase that is marked by profound transformations in parent-adolescent relationships and it is a rather sensitive period for the development of psychosocial problems. The purpose of the current dissertation was to understand longitudinal associations between parent-adolescents relationships and adolescents’ psychosocial problems over the course of adolescence. We employed two distinct levels of conceptualization. A macro-level perspective was used to describe rather stable aspects of parent-adolescent relationship quality and adolescents’ psychosocial problems across a longer period of time. A micro-level perspective was used to describe the variability of emotional patterns displayed by parent-adolescent dyads during real-time interactions. Our first aim was to examine on a macro-level bidirectional associations between aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms from early to middle adolescence. Results revealed that aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms were concurrently and longitudinally linked for boys and girls during early adolescence. Over time, early adolescents’ aggressive behavior predicted subsequent higher levels of depressive symptoms. It may be recommended to consider cross-domain associations between aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms for prevention and intervention efforts. Our second aim was to examine on a macro-level bidirectional associations between perceived autonomy support from both parents and friends and adolescents’ depressive symptoms from early to late adolescence. Findings showed that only perceived parental autonomy support was negatively associated with the existence and development of early and middle adolescent boys’ and girls’ depressive symptoms. Longitudinal associations were bidirectional, yet paths from depressive symptoms to parental autonomy support (child effect) tended to be stronger than paths from parental autonomy support to adolescents’ depressive symptoms (parent effect). As such, prevention and treatment programs should focus on the mutual interplay between adolescents’ depressive symptoms and their perceptions of parental autonomy support. Our third aim was to investigate the role of emotional variability in mother-adolescent conflict interactions on a micro-level for mother-adolescent relationship quality and adolescents’ psychosocial problems on a macro-level. Emotional variability reflects the ability of mother-adolescent dyads to flexibly switch among a broad range of emotional states from moment-to-moment during conflict interactions. The current dissertation revealed that higher levels of emotional variability in early adolescence were associated with less aggressive behavior of adolescents, fewer internalizing problems of adolescents and mothers, more perceived autonomy support and adolescent disclosure, and less perceived conflict frequency and maternal control. These associations were irrespective of the types of emotions expressed during the conflict interactions. Altogether, more emotional variability of mother-adolescent dyads during conflict interactions in early adolescence seems to be adaptive for dealing with psychosocial and relational challenges that arise during adolescence. As such, prevention and treatment efforts should focus on teaching mother-adolescent dyads to learn to express, share, modulate and shift out of a wide variety of positive and negative emotions during conflict interactions. In sum, we demonstrated longitudinal associations between parent-adolescent relationships and adolescents’ psychosocial problems during adolescence. In particular, how mother-adolescent dyads handle emotions from moment-to-moment during conflict interactions can provide important information about the development of adolescents’ relationships and well-being.

We examined the potential moderating role of Block's personality types (i.e., overcontrollers, undercontrollers, and resilients) on the longitudinal associations between adolescents’ and their best friends’ delinquency. Across three annual waves, 497 Dutch adolescents (283 boys, MAge = 13 years at Wave 1) and their best friends reported on their delinquent behaviors. Adolescents’ three personality types were obtained by latent class growth analysis on their annual reports on Big Five personality. A three‐group cross‐lagged panel analysis was performed on three waves of data. Delinquency of overcontrollers was predicted by their best friends’ delinquency, whereas delinquency of undercontrollers and resilients was not. Delinquency of undercontrollers and resilients predicted their best friends’ delinquency, but overcontrollers’ delinquency did not. These findings suggest that personality may play an important role in adolescents’ susceptibility to the influence of friends’ delinquency, as well as in youths’ ability to influence friends through their own delinquency.

This 3-year, multi-informant study examined whether youths’ perceptions of parental privacy invasion predicted lower parental knowledge over time, as a function of increased adolescent secrecy. Participants were 497 Dutch adolescents (Time 1 M = 13 years, SD = 0.5; 57% boys) and both parents. Higher youth-reported invasion predicted lower father- and mother-reported knowledge 1 year later. A link between privacy invasion and youths’ increased secrecy mediated the association between privacy invasion and mothers’ lower knowledge. Further, mothers’ perceptions of adolescent secrecy mediated the association between adolescent-reported secrecy and mothers’ knowledge. No mediation existed for father-report models. The results suggest that privacy invasion is counterproductive to parents’ efforts to remain knowledgeable about youths, due to increased adolescent secrecy. We discuss the implications for family communication processes and successful privacy negotiations during adolescence.

In deze longitudinale studie werd onderzocht of het verbieden van vriendschappen door ouders een effectieve strategie is om de invloed van delinquente vrienden tegen te gaan. 497 Nederlandse adolescenten (283 jongens, dertien jaar bij de eerste meting), hun beste vrienden en hun beide ouders vulden vragenlijsten in. Longitudinale ‘kruispad’-modellen toonden sterke effecten van omgang met delinquente vrienden op delinquentie van de adolescenten zelf. Het verbieden van vriendschappen door vaders of moeders hing samen met een toename in de omgang met delinquente vrienden, en hing indirect samen met meer delinquentie bij adolescenten. Deze resultaten suggereren dat verboden vrienden ‘verboden vruchten’ zouden kunnen worden, die bijdragen aan kleine criminaliteit bij adolescenten.

Samenvatting Deze longitudinale studie onderzocht bidirectionele verbanden tussen waargenomen kwaliteit van ouder-adolescent relaties en depressieve symptomen en de modererende rol van sekse, leeftijd en persoonlijkheidstype op deze verbanden. Hiervoor beantwoordden 1313 Nederlandse adolescenten (51% meisjes; 923 12-jarigen en 390 16-jarigen) vragen over hun persoonlijkheid, depressieve symptomen en waargenomen ouder-kind relatiekwaliteit in vier meetrondes. Resultaten toonden een negatief verband tussen depressieve symptomen en later gemeten waargenomen relatiekwaliteit. Kwaliteit van de relatie met moeders voorspelde depressieve symptomen voor jongens en meisjes, maar relatiekwaliteit met vaders voorspelde alleen voor jongens depressieve symptomen. Persoonlijkheidstype modereerde alleen initiële associaties tussen de relatiekwaliteit met moeders en depressieve symptomen. Deze verbanden waren sterker voor overcontrollers en ondercontrollers dan voor veerkrachtigen. Resultaten geven dus een patroon weer van een wederzijdse invloed tussen waargenomen relatiekwaliteit en depressieve symptomen, die gemodereerd wordt door sekse

Background: This study tested the theoretical assumption that transformations of parent‐child relationships in late childhood and adolescence would differ for boys following different offending trajectories. Methods: Using longitudinal multiinformant data of 503 boys (ages 7–19), we conducted Growth Mixture Modeling to extract offending trajectories. Developmental changes in child reports of parent‐child joint activities and relationship quality were examined using Latent Growth Curves. Results: Five offending trajectories were found: non‐offenders, moderate childhood offenders, adolescent‐limited offenders, serious childhood offenders, and serious persistent offenders. Non‐offenders reported high and stable levels of relationship quality between age 10 and 16. Adolescent‐limited offenders reported a similarly high relationship quality as non‐offenders at ages 7 and 10, but a lower and decreasing relationship quality in adolescence. Compared with non‐offenders, serious persistent offenders reported poorer parent‐child relationship quality at all ages, and a decreasing relationship quality in adolescence. Serious persistent offenders and adolescent‐limited offenders reported similar levels and changes in parent‐child relationship quality in adolescence. Although serious persistent offenders reported fewer joint activities at age 10 and 13 than non‐offenders, a similar linear decrease in joint activities in early to middle adolescence was found for boys in each trajectory. Conclusion: Developmental changes in parent‐child relationship quality differ for different types of offenders. This finding has scientific and practical implications.

The present two‐wave longitudinal study addressed the role of affective empathy and parental support in aggressive and delinquent behavior in a sample of 323 adolescents (158 boys, 165 girls). Self‐report questionnaires were used to assess affective empathy, perceived support from parents, delinquency, and aggression. Guided by theories on children's differential susceptibility to socialization, we expected adolescents with different levels of empathy to vary in their responsiveness to parental support. In agreement with our hypothesis, empathy moderated the relation of perceived parental support with aggressive and delinquent behavior. Controlling for the effect of gender and for the stability of aggression and delinquency, higher perceived parental support was predictive of lower levels of aggression at age 15, but only for adolescents high in empathy. Remarkably, adolescents low in empathy not only appeared to benefit less from parental support, but even showed more aggression and delinquency at age 15 when they perceived their parents to be more supportive at age 14. Aggr. Behav. 38:368‐377, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This five‐wave longitudinal study examines linkages between adolescents' perceptions of romantic relationship commitment and the development of adolescents' perceptions of commitment to parents and friends. A total of 218 early‐to‐middle adolescents (39.0 percent boys) and 185 middle‐to‐late adolescents (30.8 percent boys) participated. Multivariate growth curves showed that higher base levels of commitment and a stronger positive development of commitment to parents and friends were associated with higher levels of later commitment to romantic partners. The effects were equally strong in early‐to‐middle adolescence and middle‐to‐late adolescence. Also, commitment to parents and commitment to friends were associated equally strong to romantic relationship commitment. No gender differences were found regarding these linkages. Overall, this study shows the importance of parents and friends for boys and girls regarding committed romantic relationships. The results support the idea of one stable and general working model used in different types of relationships.

Alle Advies- en Meldpunten Kindermishandeling werken sinds 2008 met de werkwijze Onderzoek, Risicotaxatie en Besluitvorming AMK’s (ORBA), een werkwijze die medewerkers helpt zorgvuldig te beslissen over vermoedens van kindermishandeling. Het Nederlands Jeugdinstituut en de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen hebben onderzocht of ORBA leidt tot betere besluitvorming. Ze vonden positieve maar ook tegenvallende resultaten. ORBA zorgt ervoor dat medewerkers systematischer informatie verzamelen en vastleggen in hun dossiers en duidelijker rapporteren welke beslissingen zijn genomen. Maar ORBA zorgt er niet voor dat medewerkers het vaker eens zijn over de beslissingen. Hoewel niet op alle aspecten duidelijke verbetering is gevonden, kan ORBA ook in andere organisaties helpen de kwaliteit van besluitvorming te verbeteren. Zorgvuldig beslissen is een vaardigheid die elke hulpverlener zich eigen moet maken.

Providers of youth care encounter problems with the implementation of interventions. This dissertation aimed to gain insight into factors that lead to successful and sustainable implementation of interventions in youth care. The first part of the dissertation provides a definition and a theoretical model that incorporates the main concepts related to implementation. Implementation is considered to be a systematic approach with the aim of a successful and sustainable implementation of an intervention. Regarding the success of implementation, specific attention is paid to the distinction between (1) implementation in the narrow sense – to carry out the intervention as intended, designated as program integrity - and (2) implementation in a broad sense - to achieve the intended outcomes. Through the following four steps a planned and phased approach is guaranteed: (1) define the desired outcome in a narrow and broad sense, (2) analyze the determinants (3) select strategies and (4) monitor, evaluate and adjust the process. Interviews with experts show that although various implementation activities were used in practice, these activities do not seem to be selected very systematically. The second part of the dissertation shows the ‘implementation monitor’, a schematic representation of an implementation process of a particular intervention in a specific organization. The monitor can be used to design, conduct, analyze and present research on implementation. This part also focuses on psychometric quality of two research instruments, the Decision Determinants Questionnaire (DDQ) and the questionnaire ‘Vragenlijst Kerncomponenten’. The DDQ measures readiness to change of employees in an organization. The ‘Vragenlijst Kerncomponenten’ is designed to gain insight into skills of youth care professionals and as a tool to discuss these skills between the professionals and their supervisors. In the third part of the dissertation contains two empirical studies on implementation. Firstly, the implementation of the intervention ‘Methodiek Ambulante Hulp’ within Jeugdformaat. Data were collected using questionnaires and structured interviews with 253 clients, 59 professionals and their supervisors. This study gave insight into the process of implementing an intervention. Furthermore, it shows relevant correlations between determinants of that implementation process and implementation in the narrow sense (program integrity) and in the broad sense (child outcomes). Secondly, a study on the implementation in the narrow sense of the intervention ‘Deltamethode Gezinsvoogdij’, a method for family guardianship at Bureau Jeugdzorg. The dissertation ends with a discussion, containing conclusions regarding the research questions, a summary of main findings for research and practice, limitations of the study and implications for further research and for the practice of youth care in the Netherlands. Amongst other findings, it is argued that the evidence for determinants of successful implementation is scarce, that this dissertation shows that implementation is a complex process in which various characteristics influence how the process proceeds and that an intervention can only help children and parents if it fits the needs of the client and if providers of the intervention are properly supervised. To conclude: implementation of an intervention should be well-thought

Spending leisure time with deviant peers may have strong influences on adolescents’ delinquency. The current 3‐wave multi‐informant study examined how parental control and parental prohibition of friendships relate to these undesirable peer influences. To this end, annual questionnaires were administered to 497 Dutch youths (283 boys, mean age = 13 years at baseline), their best friends, and both parents. Cross‐lagged panel analyses revealed strong longitudinal links from contacts with deviant peers to adolescent delinquency, but not vice versa. Parent‐reported prohibition of friendships positively predicted contacts with deviant peers and indirectly predicted higher adolescent delinquency. Similar indirect effects were not found for parental control. The results suggest that forbidden friends may become “forbidden fruit,” leading to unintended increases in adolescents’ own delinquency.

This 5-wave longitudinal study, which included 1,313 Dutch adolescents, examined the development of peer crowd identification in relation to changes in problem behaviors. Adolescents from 2 age cohorts annually reported their identification with 7 peer crowds and their levels of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Univariate latent growth curve analyses revealed declines (i.e., “Hip Hoppers” and “Metal Heads”) or declines followed by stabilization (i.e., “Nonconformists”) in identification with nonconventional crowds and increases (i.e., “Elites” and “Brains”) or declines followed by stabilization (i.e., “Normals” and “Jocks”) in identification with conventional crowds. Multivariate latent growth curve analyses indicated that stronger and more persistent identifications with nonconventional crowds were generally associated with more problem behaviors throughout adolescence. In contrast, stronger and more persistent identifications with conventional crowds were generally associated with fewer problem behaviors throughout adolescence with the notable exception of Brains, who showed a mixed pattern. Though characterized by fewer externalizing problems, this group did report more anxiety problems. These findings and their implications are discussed.

In recent onderzoek bestaat geen consensus over de vraag welk effectmodel verklarend is voor de wisselwerking tussen ouderlijke controle en angst bij adolescenten; een kind-effectmodel, een ouder-effectmodel of een bi-directioneel effectmodel. In deze studie wordt de richting van effecten onderzocht tussen door adolescenten waargenomen ouderlijke gedragscontrole en psychologische controle en door adolescenten gerapporteerde symptomen van een gegeneraliseerde angststoornis en separatieangststoornis. 1313 Nederlandse adolescenten uit de algemene adolescentenpopulatie vulden op drie meetmomenten vragenlijsten in over eigen probleemgedrag en ouderlijk gedrag. Structural equation modeling (SEM) werd gebruikt om de richting van effecten tussen waargenomen ouderlijke controle en angstsymptomen te analyseren. De resultaten passen binnen een uni-directioneel kind-effectmodel. Door adolescenten gerapporteerde angstsymptomen voorspelden de waarneming van ouderlijke controle twee jaar later. Adolescenten met angstsymptomen ervaren hun ouders twee jaar later als meer controlerend. De angstsymptomen bij adolescenten bleken sterker en systematischer samen te hangen met psychologische controle dan met gedragscontrole.

Research has shown that Generalized Anxiety Disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders found in adolescents today. Its main symptoms are disproportionate fear and anxiety (worrying) about work-related or school-related events or activities and social relations. Adolescents suffering from GAD symptoms have difficulty keeping fear and worries in check. This causes mounting stress and impairs their functioning. GAD sufferers tend to worry about issues stemming from social relationships in their immediate surroundings. This dissertation examined the relationship between adolescent GAD symptoms and problematic interactions in the family. The studies used data from longitudinal samples taken from the CONAMORE and RADAR-old projects. In CONAMORE, 1,313 adolescents filled out questionnaires for five consecutive years. In RADAR-old, 327 adolescents and their parents filled out questionnaires for three consecutive years. Chapter 2 examined the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire and evaluated its psychometric characteristics when applied to a general adolescent population in the Netherlands. The SCARED is a self-assessment questionnaire designed to measure five symptom-dimensions of anxiety, i.e. Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, GAD, Separation Anxiety Disorder and School Anxiety. The research findings supported the five symptom-dimensions for the group of adolescents as a whole and for different age, gender and ethnic subgroups. These research findings confirmed the SCARED's suitability for measuring anxiety symptoms such as those associated with GAD in adolescents. Chapter 3 focused on a longitudinal study into the interaction between GAD symptoms in adolescents on the one hand and perceived parental control on the other. A reliable child effect model was established: adolescent GAD symptoms predicted adolescent perception of parental control one year later. Adolescents with GAD symptoms perceived their parents as increasingly controlling during their adolescence. Chapters 4 and 5 investigated the relationship between GAD symptoms and problematic interactions in family relationships. The study in Chapter 4 focused on the relationship between GAD symptoms and the use of exiting statements as a conflict resolution style in parent-child conflicts. Exiting statements are statements that express the adolescent’s wish to minimize or cut off contact with his or her parents. In late adolescence, when the parent-child relationship becomes less hierarchical and more equal, girls in particular tend to use the ineffective and destructive conflict resolution strategy of exiting statements in arguments with their parents. Chapter 5 zoomed in on a longitudinal study into the mutual effects of parental marital conflict, the adolescent’s perception of those conflicts and the adolescent’s GAD symptoms. These effects can be explained using a bi-directional effect model. In short, the studies in this dissertation confirm the hypothesis that GAD symptoms in adolescents contribute to problematic interactions in families. An overarching theme in these studies is the importance of adolescent perception in the relationship between these GAD symptoms and problematic interactions. The child effects established by these studies confirm recent theories about the development of GAD symptoms in adolescents.

Background: In previous studies, maternal expressed emotion (EE) has been found to be a good predictor of the course of adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, these studies have been cross‐section as opposed to longitudinal. The goal of this study is to examine longitudinal data of perceived maternal EE and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms to determine if maternal EE affected the course of adolescent symptoms (a parent effect model), or if the course of adolescent symptoms affected maternal EE (a child effect model), or if maternal EE and adolescent symptoms affected one another bidirectionally. Methods: Dutch adolescents (N = 497; 57% boys; M = 13 years) from the general community and their mothers were prospectively studied annually for three years. At all waves the mothers completed the Level of Expressed Emotion (LEE) questionnaire and the adolescents completed self‐rated measures of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the longitudinal data. Results: The results of the SEM analyses clearly demonstrate that a child effect model best describes the relationship between maternal EE and the course of adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Conclusions: This longitudinal study of the mothers’ EE perceptions suggests that it is the course of the internalizing and externalizing symptoms of adolescents from the general community that affects maternal EE, and not the mothers’ perceived EE influencing the course of the adolescents’ symptoms. Since this study was based on adolescents from the general community, it is suggested that these findings should also be replicated in clinical samples of adolescents.

This study examined different types of longitudinal associations (i.e., directional links and overlapping developmental changes) between children's delinquency and the quality of parent-child relationships from middle childhood to late adolescence. We used 10-wave interview data of 503 boys, their primary caregivers, and their teachers. Our first aim was to unravel the direction of effects between parent-child relationships and children's offending. Cross-lagged panel models revealed bidirectional links over time between poorer quality parent-child relationships and boys' offending across late childhood (age 7-10), early adolescence (age 10-13) and middle adolescence (age 13-16). Second, we examined the associations between mean changes in delinquency, on the one hand, and mean changes in relationship quality, on the other hand. Although parent-child relationships improved during childhood, their quality decreased in early adolescence and remained stable in middle adolescence. Delinquency increased only in middle adolescence. In five out of six models, the slope factors of relationship quality and offending were strongly correlated, indicating that stronger increases in delinquency were associated with stronger decreases in parent-child relationship quality across childhood, early adolescence, and middle adolescence. The discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of these two types of longitudinal associations.

In deze studie wordt onderzocht of Blocks persoonlijkheidstypes (Veerkrachtigen, Ondercontrollers en Overcontrollers) repliceerbaar zijn als ontwikkelingstrajecten. Hiertoe is een latente klasse-analyse van groeicurves toegepast op Big Five persoonlijkheidsdata die verzameld zijn gedurende vijf achtereenvolgende jaarlijkse metingen onder een groep vroege tot middenadolescenten (n=923). Uit de resultaten blijkt dat Blocks persoonlijkheidstypes inderdaad ontwikkelingstrajecten vormden in de vroege tot middenadolescentie. Bovendien vertoonden deze ontwikkelingstypes gelijkaardige associaties met probleemgedrag als persoonlijkheidstypes die op grond van cross-sectionele data zijn geconstrueerd. Dit wil zeggen dat Veerkrachtigen weinig probleemgedrag vertoonden, Ondercontrollers hoge niveaus van delinquentie hadden en Overcontrollers relatief meer depressiesymptomen rapporteerden. Implicaties en suggesties voor verder onderzoek worden besproken.

The current study aimed to provide more insight into the role of online chatting in young adults’ emotional adjustment. A model was tested that takes into account (a) extraversion of individuals who communicate online, (b) the kind of peers these individuals communicate with online (i.e., online-exclusive peers vs. friends), and (c) the extent to which effects of online chatting on emotional adjustment are mediated by individuals’ ability to provide support to others. Young adults (age M = 18.9) filled out questionnaires about themselves and their fellow students at three measurements with a 4-month interval. Results showed that only for less extraverted individuals, chatting with peers found exclusively online directly predicted higher self-esteem and indirectly predicted less depressive symptoms through increases in supportiveness. Thus, results supported a model of social compensation where effects of online chatting with online-exclusive peers improved young adults’ emotional adjustment.