Role of Parent and Peer Relationships and Individual Characteristics in Middle School Children's Behavioral Outcomes in the Face of Community Violence

This study examines processes linking inner‐city community violence exposure to subsequent internalizing and externalizing problems. Hypothesized risk and protective factors from 3 ecological domains—children's parent and peer relationships and individual characteristics—were examined for mediating, moderating, or independent roles in predicting problem behavior among 667 children over 3 years of middle school. Mediation was not found. However, parent and peer variables moderated the association between exposure and internalizing problems. Under high exposure, normally protective factors (e.g., attachment to parents) were less effective in mitigating exposure's effects than under low exposure; attachment to friends was more effective. Individual competence was independently associated with decreased internalizing problems. Variables from all domains, and exposure, were independently associated with externalizing problems. Protective factors (e.g., parent attachment) predicted decreased problems; risk factors (e.g., friends' delinquency) predicted increased problems. Results indicate community violence reduction as essential in averting inner‐city adolescents' poor behavioral outcomes.     

Friendship Quality,Peer Group Affiliation,and Peer Antisocial Behavior as Moderators of the Link Between Negative Parenting and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

Quality of peer relationships and perceived peer antisocial behavior were examined as moderators of the link between negative parenting and externalizing behavior problems in school from middle childhood to early adolescence. Data on negative parenting (i.e., unilateral parental decision making, low supervision and awareness, and harsh discipline) were collected from 362 parents in the summer preceding the adolescents' entry into Grade 6. Adolescent reports of positive peer relationships and peer antisocial behavior were assessed in the winter of Grade 7. The outcome measure was teacher report of adolescent externalizing behavior in the spring of Grade 7, controlling for externalizing behavior in Grade 5. High levels of friendship quality and peer group affiliation attenuated the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior in school; this was particularly true when adolescents associated with peers perceived to be low in antisocial behavior. In addition, having low‐quality peer relationships and having peers perceived to be highly antisocial further amplified the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior problems. Finally, high levels of friend and peer group antisocial behavior exacerbated the predictiveness of harsh discipline for adolescents' externalizing behavior.     

Patterns of Sensitivity to Parenting and Peer Environments: Early Temperament and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

Although parenting behavior and friendship quality predict adolescent externalizing behaviors (EBs), individual differences in temperament may differentially affect susceptibility to these factors over time. In a multi‐method and multi‐informant study of 141 children followed prospectively from toddlerhood to adolescence, we tested the independent and interactive associations of age 3 reactive temperament (e.g., negative emotionality) and age 13 observed parenting (i.e., positive and negative behavior) and friendship (i.e., conflict and warmth), with multi‐informant ratings of age 15 aggression and rule‐breaking behavior. Negative parenting predicted growth in parent‐rated EB, but only for adolescents with early reactive temperament. Temperament did not affect sensitivity to positive parenting or friendship. Results are discussed in the context of differential susceptibility theory and intervention implications for adolescents.     

Adolescents' Emotional Experiences of Mother–Adolescent Conflict Predict Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Research on adolescent emotion has generally focused on expressions of emotion; however, there are reasons to believe that adolescents' experiences of emotion may be related to adolescent development in unique and important ways. This study examined the relation of adolescents' emotional experiences of conflict with their mothers to their internalizing and externalizing symptoms at three time points, each a year apart. After participating in videotaped conflict negotiation tasks with their mothers, adolescents (N=80) watched the videotape of their interactions and used a joystick to make continuous ratings of how negative, positive, or neutral they felt during the discussions. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to assess relations among their continuous emotion ratings and their internalizing and externalizing symptoms 1 year before the interaction task, at the time of the interaction task, and 1 year later. Adolescents' externalizing symptoms at the time of the conflict task were associated with negative emotion that decreased across the conflict discussion. Relations between emotional experience and internalizing symptoms a year later were moderated by adolescent gender, revealing that a tolerance for increasing negative emotion predicts fewer future internalizing symptoms for girls. The importance of adolescents' ability to tolerate negative emotion during normal developmental conflicts is discussed.     

Caregiver–Adolescent Dyadic Disagreement and Problem Behaviors of Adolescents in the Child Welfare System

Parents and adolescents often provide different ratings of youths' behavior problems, yet few studies have examined such disagreement and its effect on later adjustment, especially among at‐risk adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate, among a sample of adolescents in foster care, whether the degree of caregiver–adolescent disagreement on adolescents' internalizing problems would be associated with adolescent externalizing problem behaviors over time. Two measures of adolescent caregiver agreement, the Pearson's r and intraclass correlations, were used with data drawn from a nationally representative study of children on foster care. Growth curve analyses of 180 adolescents revealed that the higher adolescent and caregiver agreement on adolescents' internalizing problems at Wave I, the slower the increase in externalizing problems over time.     

Parenting stress and parenting behavior among foster mothers of foster children with externalizing problems

Foster children often have externalizing problems. Since foster parents are selected and trained, they are often expected to be able to handle the externalizing problems of these children. Very little is, however, known about foster parents' parenting stress and parenting behavior in the context of challenging foster caregiving. In this study, the parenting stress and parenting behavior of 39 foster mothers of recently placed foster children with externalizing problems were studied. By using standardized measures with normative data, foster mothers' scores on different parenting stress and parenting behavior subscales were compared to published norms. Foster mothers of children with externalizing problems experienced more parenting stress than the norm group. The parenting context, provided by these foster mothers, was similar to the parenting context provided by the norm group. The prevalence of specific dysfunctional parenting behaviors (e.g., less involvement in positive parenting) was small to moderate, but nearly half of the foster mothers could be classified as making dysfunctional adaptations to their parenting environment. Moreover, only the minority of foster mothers provided an adaptive parenting context (e.g., more than average involvement in positive parenting). The implications of these results for pre-service training and on-going support for foster parents are discussed.     

The Role of Socialization,Effortful Control,and Ego Resiliency in French Adolescents' Social Functioning

The relations among effortful control, ego resiliency, socialization, and social functioning were examined with a sample of 182 French adolescents (14–20 years old). Adolescents, their parents, and/or teachers completed questionnaires on these constructs. Effortful control and ego resiliency were correlated with adolescents' social functioning, especially with low externalizing and internalizing behaviors and sometimes with high peer competence. Furthermore, aspects of socialization (parenting practices more than family expressiveness) were associated with adolescents' effortful control, ego resiliency, and social functioning. Effortful control and ego resiliency mediated the relations between parental socialization and adolescents' peer competence and internalizing problems. Furthermore, effortful control mediated the relations between socialization and adolescents' externalizing behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of cultural and developmental variation.     

Protective and Promotive Effects of Latino Early Adolescents' Cultural Assets Against Multiple Types of Discrimination

Given adversity associated with discrimination, it is important to identify culturally relevant factors that may protect against its harmful effects. Using latent variable interactions, this study examined the moderating effects of cultural assets on the association between multiple types of discrimination and adolescents' adjustment. Participants included 174 seventh‐ and eighth‐grade Latino adolescents (51% girls); majority were of Mexican origin. Peer discrimination was associated with higher internalizing symptoms, whereas cultural assets predicted higher academic motivation above and beyond racial–ethnic discrimination, demonstrating a promotive effect. Adolescents' Latino cultural assets also protected against higher levels of externalizing symptoms in the context of high peer discrimination and foreigner objectification. The discussion focuses on the conceptual and applied implications of these findings.     

A Longitudinal Examination of Support,Self‐Esteem,and Mexican‐Origin Adolescent Mothers' Parenting Efficacy

Guided by a risk and resilience framework, this study used a prospective longitudinal, multiple‐reporter design to examine how social support from a mother figure during pregnancy interacted with Mexican‐origin adolescent mothers' self‐esteem to inform their parenting efficacy when their children were 10 months old. Using reports of perceived social support by adolescent mothers (M_age = 16.24, SD = 0.99) and their mother figures (M_age = 40.84, SD = 7.04) in 205 dyads, and controlling for demographic factors (i.e., adolescent age, adolescent nativity, family income, mothers' educational attainment, adolescent – mother coresidence) and adolescents' social support from a significant other, the findings indicated that social support during pregnancy was positively associated with adolescent mothers' future parenting efficacy when adolescent mothers had relatively lower self‐esteem. The findings were consistent for adolescents' and mothers' reports and emphasize the value of social support from a mother figure among adolescent mothers with lower self‐esteem. Implications for interventions are presented.     

Associations Between Adolescents' Antisocial Behavior,Conflict Management Styles,and Romantic Relationship Breakup: An Observational Study

Adolescents' antisocial behavior and negative conflict management styles are each associated with adverse romantic relationship outcomes, yet little research exists on their associations. We investigated whether adolescents' antisocial behavior was associated with conflict management styles, and whether it predicted breakup 3 months later. In total, 91 adolescent couples (M_age = 16.43, SD = 0.99; 41.2% Hispanic/Latinx) participated in videotaped conflict discussions coded for negotiation, coercion, and avoidance. Actor–partner interdependence models suggest adolescents' antisocial behavior is associated with decreased use of negotiation (couple pattern) and increased use of coercion (actor pattern). No significant associations were found for avoidance. Neither antisocial behavior nor conflict management styles predicted breakup. Findings are discussed in light of the unique developmental importance of adolescents' romantic relationships.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescents' Bullying‐Related Indirect Defending,Outsider Behavior,and Peer‐Group Status

During adolescence, youth become more likely to avoid involvement in witnessed bullying and less likely to support victims. It is unknown whether—and how—these bystander behaviors (i.e., outsider behavior and indirect defending) are associated with adolescents' peer‐group status (i.e., popularity and social acceptance) over time. Cross‐lagged path modeling was used to examine these longitudinal associations in a sample of 313 Dutch adolescents (M_age‐T1 = 10.3 years). The results showed that status longitudinally predicted behavior, rather than that behavior predicted status. Specifically, unpopularity predicted outsider behavior and social acceptance predicted indirect defending. These findings suggest that a positive peer‐group status can trigger adolescents' provictim stance. However, adolescents may also strategically avoid involvement in witnessed bullying to keep a low social profile.     

Patterns of Competence and Adjustment Among Adolescents from Authoritative,Authoritarian, Indulgent,and Neglectful Homes: A Replication in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders

The correlates of authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful parenting were examined within a sample of 1,355 14‐ to 18‐year‐olds adjudicated of serious criminal offenses. The sample is composed primarily of poor, ethnic‐minority youth living in impoverished urban neighborhoods. As has been found in community samples, juvenile offenders who describe their parents as authoritative are more psychosocially mature, more academically competent, less prone to internalized distress, and less prone to externalizing problems than their peers, whereas those who describe their parents as neglectful are less mature, less competent, and more troubled. Juvenile offenders who characterize their parents as either authoritarian or indulgent typically score somewhere between the two extremes, although those from authoritarian homes are consistently better functioning than those from indulgent homes. These patterns did not vary as a function of adolescents' ethnicity or gender.     

Beliefs About Parents' Right to Know: Domain Differences and Associations With Change in Concealment

Parent and adolescent (M = 15.7 years) beliefs regarding parents' right to know (RTK) about adolescents' activities were examined in 174 middle‐class U.S. families. Mean differences and associations with latent changes in teens' concealment were assessed. RTK was greatest about risky prudential activities, least for personal activities for parents and romantic activities for teens, and higher for mothers' ratings of girls' than boys' romantic behavior. Adolescents' stronger RTK beliefs predicted lower concealment 6 months later and less increase in concealment over time, although less so for romantic issues. In contrast, mothers' stronger RTK beliefs predicted more concealment over time. For personal issues, greater teen RTK beliefs slowed increases in concealment only when parents' RTK beliefs were low.     

A transactional model of infant still‐face response and maternal behavior during the first year

The present study takes a transactional approach to extend understanding of temporal relations between parenting behaviors and infant response to the face‐to‐face still‐face, a widely used method assessing infants’ affective and behavioral response to a violation of social expectations. A low‐income, urban sample of 180 mothers and infants participated when infants were 4 and 6 months old. Directional relations between infants’ still‐face response (i.e., change in affect and gaze from interaction to still face) and three parenting dimensions were examined using cross‐lagged structural equation models. Infant still‐face response predicted later parenting behavior, while the reverse association was not significant. Specifically, infants with a greater reduction in positive affect from interaction to still face had parents with more positive parenting and less negative parenting behaviors 2 months later, controlling for prior parenting and concurrent infant behavior. Furthermore, infants who increased gaze to mother from interaction to still face had mothers who used more mental state talk 2 months later. Findings underscore the importance of examining transactional relations between infant and parent behaviors, and in particular highlight the influence of infants on parents. Acknowledging these infant‐effects is critical to the development and implementation of interventions targeting parent‐infant interactions.     

Risk Taking in Late Adolescence: Relations Between Sociomoral Reasoning,Risk Stance,and Behavior

This study explored relations among late adolescents' sociomoral reasoning about risk taking, risk stance, and behavior. One‐hundred and thirty‐two participants (18–20‐year‐olds) were surveyed about their own risk stance (Avoidant, Opportunistic, Curious, Risk Seeking) and behavior in three realms (Alcohol Use, Drug Use, Reckless Driving), and sociomoral reasoning about hypothetical risk taking in a baseline scenario with no social domain information and a final scenario that highlighted the moral (i.e., harmful consequences for others), conventional (i.e., sociolegal consequences), personal (i.e., personal prerogative), and prudential (i.e., harmful consequences for self) domains bearing on risk taking. The complex relations among sociomoral reasoning about risk taking, risk stance, and behavior are discussed in terms of social domain theory and dual‐process theories of risk taking.     

Predicting Adolescents' Organized Activity Involvement: The Role of Maternal Depression History,Family Relationship Quality,and Adolescent Cognitions

Although the potential benefits of organized activity involvement during high school have been documented, little is known about what familial and individual characteristics are associated with higher levels of participation. Using structural equation modeling, this longitudinal study examined the extent to which maternal depression history (i.e., risk), family relationship quality, and adolescents' cognitions (i.e., self‐worth and attributional style), predicted organized activity involvement during high school among 145 adolescents, controlling for socioeconomic status and adolescent depressive symptoms. Results showed that risk predicted less adolescent high school activity involvement, and this relation was mediated by family relationship quality. Family relationship quality indirectly affected activity involvement through adolescent cognitions. The overall predictive model generally supported the importance of the interplay between family and individual factors in predicting activity involvement during high school.     

Family and Religious Antecedents of Civic Involvement In Middle Class African American Late Adolescents

We examined family and religious/spiritual antecedents and correlates of current and intended civic involvement in 76 middle class African American late adolescents (M=18.43 years) who had been followed longitudinally for 3 years. Adolescents' spirituality/religiosity and mothers' current involvement influenced the overall ratings and more specifically, current church and community (but not political) involvement, as assessed on a 14‐item measure expanded from Youniss et al. (1997) . In addition, greater family income, earlier spirituality, and less receptivity to mothers in observed dyadic interactions led to more community involvement in late adolescence. Intended civic involvement was predicted by greater spirituality and mothers' (and in exploratory analyses, fathers') observed positive communication (but not mothers' warmth and prosocial behavior) in dyadic interactions 3 years earlier; the effect of middle adolescents' spirituality on late adolescents' ratings of future civic involvement was fully mediated by adolescents' current spirituality/religiosity.     

Mothers' Time,the Parenting Package,and Links to Healthy Child Development

Studies show that mothers' time in particular activities with children is positively associated with child well‐being, but results are mixed regarding associations between child outcomes and the sheer amount of time that mothers spend with children. Using data from three waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement (N = 2,622), the authors assess whether gains from mothers' total time with children vary by the quality of mothers' other investments in children or the “parenting package.” Mother–child shared time was associated with children's broad reading scores and adolescents' externalizing behavior, but mothers' other parenting investments did not moderate these associations. Results were robust to alternative measures of mothers' time and to the incorporation of earlier assessments of child academic and behavior problems. Parenting investments may be indicative of the quality of children's home environments, but do not magnify gains from mother–child shared time.     

Do Children's Behavior Problems Limit Poor Women's Labor Market Success?

Economically disadvantaged mothers face numerous barriers to stable, quality employment opportunities. One barrier that has received limited attention in previous research is having a child with significant psychological or behavioral problems. Using a representative sample of low‐income mothers and early adolescent children from the Three‐City Study (N = 717), we assessed whether adolescents' behavior problems prospectively predicted mothers' employment status, consistency, and quality. Lagged random‐effects regression models suggested that adolescents' psychological distress and delinquency inhibited the labor market success of disadvantaged mothers, although school problems were related to greater work effort among mothers. Links between labor market success and both psychological distress and delinquency differed across mothers with male and female adolescents.