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This study takes a life course perspective to examine the long-term effect of negative school experiences during early adolescence on depressive affect in middle adulthood. The study uses a prospective longitudinal panel dataset that spanned nearly three decades with three waves: when respondents were at 7th grade (Time 1, mostly 12–13 years of age), young adulthood (Time 2, in their 20 s), and middle adulthood (Time 3, in their mid-30 s to early 40 s). The OLS regression models yielded results demonstrating that early negative school experiences were contemporaneously associated with depressive affect at Time 1, which endured through Time 2 and Time 3. Furthermore, independently of Time 1 control variables and the stability effects of depressive affect at Time 1 and Time 2, early negative school experiences still exerted a direct effect on depressive affect in middle adulthood. Ad hoc analysis demonstrated that this significant direct effect was mediated by the economic attainment of the respondents in middle adulthood net of the stability effects of depressive affect. Apparently, part of the influences of early negative school experiences on depressive affect in middle adulthood may be explained by its impeding economic attainment in adulthood, which in turn was associated with depressive affect.

This study uses a large and representative sample of adolescents to test the theoretically informed hypotheses comparing adolescent singletons with those who have siblings. The results found that, for academic related outcomes (educational expectations, time spent on homework, and self-reported grades), there are no differences between singletons and firstborns who have any number of younger siblings. Singletons are also not different from laterborns from two-child families. In contrast, singletons are more advantageous compared to laterborns who have two or more siblings on educational expectations and grades. Singletons also spend more time on homework than laterborns who have three or more siblings. For psychosocial outcomes (psychological distress, susceptibility to negative peer pressure, and problem behaviors), singletons are not different from both firstborns and laterborns with any number of siblings. The findings suggest that singletons are not at any disadvantage compared to their peers who have siblings and they enjoy some advantages over laterborns from medium to large families on academic related outcomes.

Background: Attachment to grandparents has been deemed important for the healthy development of adolescents. Objectives : This study tests three competing arguments in regard to how gender may modify adolescent attachment to grandparents in Chinese context. Materials and Methods: Data used for testing hypotheses are drawn from survey responses of over 500 middle school students from Fuzhou city, China. Regression models assess the alternative hypotheses. Results: The results are in support of son preference claim showing greater attachment to both paternal grandfather and grandmother among boys than girls, while no gender differences are found in attachment to maternal grandparents. Further, gender differences sustain in sample containing all respondents as well as among singleton students only after controlling for grade level, parent education, family’s financial status, parent divorce, co-residence with grandparents, and respondents’ psychological and behavioral adjustments. Conclusions: Findings are discussed in light of gender inequality embedded in the cultural tradition and family dynamics of mainland China.

We assessed the differences in psychological distress and delinquent participation between singleton and non-singleton Chinese adolescents and the extent to which parental responsiveness (mother’s vs. father’s) might account for such differences. Using survey reports of 1,924 7th and 8th graders from three middle schools in the outskirts of Fuzhou, China, we observed small but significant differences between singleton and non-singleton adolescents. Singletons reported lower levels of psychological distress and delinquent participation than non-singleton adolescents. Furthermore, singletons received higher levels of parental responsiveness, which was inversely related to psychological distress and delinquent participation, respectively. The difference in psychological distress between singletons and non-singletons was completely mediated by both maternal and paternal responsiveness. Paternal responsiveness alone fully mediated the difference in delinquent participation between singleton and non-singleton adolescents. We discussed these results in light of both theoretical literature and empirical implications.

We test theoretically informed hypotheses using survey reports of adolescents attending three middle schools in the outskirts of Fuzhou, Fujian, China. Results yielded by regression analyses are quite consistent with the hypothesized relationships, that is, Chinese singleton adolescents are more likely to anticipate going to college than non-singleton adolescents. Further, singletons are more associated with conventional peers and they report better adjustments both psychologically and behaviorally than non-singleton adolescents. Singletons and non-singletons, however, are not different in their self-reported performance in four school subjects, namely, Chinese, Math, English, and Political Studies. These results are discussed in light of the theoretical literature, especially related to attachment theory, resource dilution theory as well as confluence model.

We investigated the direct and indirect pathways through which parental constructive behavior may influence the adolescent’s affiliation with achievement-oriented peers. Using a longitudinal survey data set from nine California and Wisconsin high schools (from 9th through 12th grades, with an approximate age range from 14 through 18) structural equation models were estimated. Our longitudinal analyses confirmed an indirect effect from Time 1 parental constructive behavior and a direct effect from Time 2 parental constructive behavior on an increase in the perceived achievement orientation of friends at Time 2, net of the stability effect from the prior values of the perceived achievement orientation of friends at Time 1. A point to be emphasized is that parental influence on peer affiliation in late adolescence remains significant even as parental involvement in adolescents’ lives diminishes. In addition, the direct effect from Time 2 parental constructive behavior on the perceived achievement-orientation of friends appears stronger for boys than for girls.

Objectives. We examine the independent and interactive effects of marital conflict and marital disruption on women's depressive affect and how these effects vary by family's poverty status. Methods. We use the OLS regression and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to test the hypothesized relationships. Results. The results showed that marital conflict and marital disruption each predicts subsequent depression after controlling for the initial level of depression and other antecedent variables. The effect of marital conflict on depression is stronger among women in poverty than those out of poverty. Furthermore, among women in poverty, marital conflict followed by marital breakup is related to a heightened level of depression, whereas among women financially better off, there is a reduction in the level of depressive affect. Conclusions. These findings point to the importance of a family's economic condition and its impact on the interrelationships among marital processes and women's psychological health.

We estimated a structural equation model that specifies the intervening processes accounting for the modest but statistically significant relationship between family structure (intact family) and educational attainment. Using data from a panel ( N = 3,322) tested in the seventh grade, when the subjects were in their twenties, and when the subjects were in their mid-thirties, we observed the mediating processes in the relationship between intact family and educational attainment. Growing up in intact families was associated with a better financial situation in the parental home and a more positive early school experience, which led to a later entry into adult roles of labor force participation and marriage/cohabitation, and to continuation of post-secondary education. These intervening processes together accounted for the effects of intact family on higher educational attainment in middle adulthood.

This article examines gender differences in the relation between emotional autonomy and adolescent outcomes in educational expectations and self-esteem. “Individuation,” the subscale that reflected a parental lack of knowledge and understanding of the adolescent, was found to be associated with lower educational expectations and lower self-esteem for both boys and girls, with the effects being stronger among girls. On the other hand, “Deidealization” was related to higher educational expectations for both boys and girls, with the effect more salient among girls. The results supported the arguments that because girls were more socialized to value family closeness, and were facing more conflicting future roles in contemporary society, an emotional detachment from parents reflected by “individuation” appears to be more of a deprivation for their career expectations and sense of self-worth.

Explored in this study are the multidimensional characteristics associated with adolescent emotional autonomy from parents. Previous research using the Steinberg and Silverberg measure of emotional autonomy had reported inconsistent results in predicting adolescent outcomes. This study used a structural equation model with latent constructs to differentiate the domains of emotional autonomy and specify the intervening processes. The results supported the hypotheses that one subscale, represented by individuation as a reflection of perceived parental lack of knowledge and understanding, was associated with lower academic achievement and higher rates of deviant behaviors through the intervening effects of higher susceptibility to negative peer pressure, lower educational expectations, higher psychological distress, and lower self-esteem. Except for an association between Deidealization and psychological distress, the subscales of Nondependency and Deidealization showed relations to the intervening andfinal dependent variables that were either not significant statistically or in directions opposite to those associated with Individuation. Only Individuation was associated with poor adolescent functioning.

Using three waves of panel data (N = 2,931), the authors estimated a structural equation model to test the direct and indirect effect of family structure during early adolescence on forestalling deviance in early adulthood. Family structure is hypothesized to affect young adult deviance through four intervening processes during adolescence: parent‐child relationship, commitment to conventional values, association with deviant peers, and subjective distress. The direct effect from family structure on deviance in early adulthood was found to persist after the significant mediating processes during adolescence were taken into account. The results are consistent with the view that considers family disruption as a gradual disintegration process as opposed to a fatal accident with an immediate impact.

Based on a prospective longitudinal panel data set that was collected at three developmental stages—early adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood— this study investigates marital satisfaction and educational attainment as mediating mechanisms as well as gender's moderating effect for the intergenerational transmission of constructive parenting ( N = 1,560). The results show that perceived satisfying experiences with parents during early adolescence are positively related to marital satisfaction and educational attainment in young adulthood, which, in turn, are positively related to individuals' utilization of constructive parenting in middle adulthood. The two mediating mechanisms account for most of the direct effect of the intergenerational transmission of constructive parenting. Furthermore, the mediating effect of marital relationship is stronger for current fathers than for mothers because of a stronger association between marital satisfaction and constructive parenting for men. The implications are discussed.

This article reports the relation betweenfamily decision-making behaviors and academic performance as measured by student effort and grades among a sample of youths from diverse family structures and socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. Youths and a subset of their parents reported on how families made decisions on adolescent issues. Granting adolescents too-early autonomy in decision making was associated with lower levels of effort and lower grades, while joint decision making was associated with more effort and higher grades for youth of both sexes, regardless of ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Parents and youths had quite different perceptions of their roles in family decision making; greater disagreement was associated with lower school grades. The occasional departures from the general findings are explained in terms of the cognitive interpretations that shape youths'perceptions.

This study has conducted an ethnic comparison on the strength of the association between Individuation, a subscale from the Emotional Autonomy construct presented originally by Steinberg and Silverberg in 1986, and adolescent outcomes in terms of self-esteem and susceptibility to negative peer pressure. Consistent with what was expected, the association between Individuation and lowered self-esteem was more salient among 287 Asian-American adolescent boys than among 1,353 Euro-American adolescent boys. Contrary to what was hypothesized, the association between Individuation and susceptibility to negative peer pressure was more pronounced among 1,573 Euro-American adolescent girls than among 292 Asian-American adolescent girls.

Guided by a life-course perspective and using a longitudinal panel data set collected at three developmental stages (early adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood), structural equation analyses specify how early school failure influences status attainment at midlife. The results demonstrate that years of education completed in early adulthood is not the only mediating pathway. Lower levels of mental health and higher rates of deviant behaviors in early adulthood are additional mediating processes. A modest residual direct effect of school failure in adolescence on status attainment at midlife is interpretable in terms of inherited or acquired cognitive abilities and motivational dispositions manifested in early adolescence