Continuity and Change in the Family System Across the Transition from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

As adolescents move into emerging adulthood, their social networks shift toward a focus on peers and romantic partners, yet parents and siblings remain important sources of support. The present review takes a family systems approach to integrate the growing body of literature examining longitudinal continuity and change in both positive (e.g., intimacy, support) and negative (e.g., conflict, rivalry) qualities of parent–child and sibling relationships as adolescents transition to emerging adulthood. In general, contact with family members decreases, yet the quality of family relationships appears to improve or, at the very least, stabilize across this transition. These pathways are interpreted within the lens of several prominent theories, and a discussion of the limitations of the current literature and ideas for future research are presented.     

Transition secured? A follow-up study of adolescents who have left secure residential care

Many adolescents who make the transition to adulthood experience problems after their departure from secure residential care. Research suggests that these young people are often in need of support after they have left secure care. Little is known about the experiences and perceptions of adolescents during and after this transition. The aim of this article is to assess these experiences for a group of 24 adolescents in the Netherlands that have left secure residential care. The results show, in line with previous studies, that many adolescents experience problems during their transition from secure care, especially with regard to finances, school and employment, and living arrangements. In contrast to other studies, a majority of the adolescents reports to have received support in the year following their departure. Relatively few adolescents move to independence after their departure, which suggests that many adolescents are not ready for making a true transition into adulthood yet.     

Globalization,Societal Change,and New Technologies: What They Mean for the Future of Adolescence

Nations around the world are undergoing rapid changes that are altering the nature of adolescence in their societies. This volume examines current trends in adolescent experience across nations, with the objective of identifying emerging problems and opportunities in adolescents' preparation for adulthood. This introduction reviews methods used by futurists and how these methods are applicable to adolescence, and provides an overview of some of the macrochanges that are shaping the societies in which adolescents of the future will live. The macrochanges considered include demographic trends, globalization, trends in government, and changes in technology. Subsequent articles in this volume examine how these and other changes are altering adolescents' transition to adult work, preparation for adult interpersonal lives, civic and community engagement, and health and well‐being. The final article focuses on social policy and is followed by a conclusion with the main points and trends in the volume.     

An empirical test of a model of academic expectations among youth in residential care

In the last decade accumulating evidence across many countries points to the poor educational outcomes of youth formerly placed in care and their under-representation in higher education. Academic expectations in late adolescence are considered a key marker for educational attainments in young adulthood. Although these expectations were studied extensively, they have seldom been examined among youth in substitute care. The goal of the present research was to develop and test a model to predict academic expectations of Israeli adolescents placed in residential facilities. The study sample consisted of 1360 adolescents from 34 youth villages who responded to self-report questionnaires tapping their academic expectations, current academic achievements and various aspects of their family, school and facility's environment, expected to be associated with their academic expectations.Structural equation modeling indicated that parents' level of education was indirectly related to youths' expectations, an association mediated by youth's current academic achievements and parents' aspirations for their children's educational success. Higher levels of teacher and staff support were also found to contribute to higher academic expectations; however, whereas teacher support effects were mediated by youth achievements, staff support was found to have direct, as well as moderating effects, on achievement-expectations relationship.The findings suggest the importance of an integrative approach in the efforts to promote educational expectations among adolescents in residential facilities. Such an approach, encompassing the multiple adult functions responsible for youth development within such settings, could be an important step in enhancing the chances for future academic success of this vulnerable group.     

Social Policy Supports for Adolescence in the Twenty‐First Century: Framing Questions

Worldwide changes are altering the conditions under which adolescents prepare for adulthood and are increasing the need for thoughtful, tailored, youth policies and programs. This article offers a set of “framing questions” aimed at helping countries and communities create policies that are adapted to the particulars of a given context. These questions are presented as a means for policy makers, advocates, practitioners, researchers, community members, parents, and adolescents to formulate services, supports, and opportunities that will help adolescents become adults who are problem free, fully prepared, and fully engaged in their communities.     

Child care: A mirror of human history

Child care in any period of history can be understood best as a reflection of society itself during that era. When children are treated cruelly or indifferently we are likely to find that people of all ages and most classes were treated similarly. When greater benevolence seems to be the order of the day children are more highly regarded and efforts are made to develop systems of care which are kinder and which will lead children more gently toward useful adulthood. The study of the development of child care in this country documents this assertion. From the Elizabethan Poor Law, transplanted to these shores by the earliest settlers, through efforts to save souls as well as bodies, to current disagreements about the relative efficacy of institutionalization and foster care we see the reflections of our society's view of itself. When saving money becomes more important than saving the distressed, services suffer. Only by becoming aware of this entanglement of child care with societal attitudes in general can those who work with children learn to exert that influence on developments in their field now largely in the hands of persons who have neither knowledge nor interest in the subject.     

Attachments to Family and Community and the Young Adult Transition of Rural Youth

Rural youth in economically troubled regions develop plans for their future in a context in which opportunities for educational and occupational success generally lie elsewhere, prompting the need to migrate. This study investigates the links between rural adolescents' residential preferences and their plans for the future, perceptions of local opportunity, and ties to family and community. We examine whether residential preferences shape the pathways to adulthood through decisions about where to live as well as educational and occupational attainments. Residential preferences are indeed related to adolescents' academic achievements and future educational plans, their relationships with parents, and perceptions of local job opportunities, but they are not associated with family socioeconomic background and social ties to the community. For the most part, residential preferences are linked to where young people live and pursue higher education in the years after high school, but generally not to their socioeconomic attainment.     

Figuring It Out: How Late Adolescent and Young Adult Men and Women Perceive and Address Problems in Sexual Functioning

Although there are high rates of sexual problems and sexual dysfunction in adulthood (Mitchell et al., 2013), little is known about the circumstances under which problems are first experienced. A growing body of research addresses prevalence of problems in sexual functioning among adolescents and young adults, yet little is known about the meanings that young people give to these experiences or how they deal with them. We used content analysis of qualitative interviews with 53 heterosexual, sexually active Canadian adolescents (ages 18 to 21) to explore their perceptions of the sexual problems in functioning they had experienced and the strategies (if any) they used to address them over time. Problems among most young people originated early in their partnered sexual life. Figuring it out emerged as an intentional process directed toward improving sexual experiences, although certainly not all young people were successful. Strategies for figuring it out included informational or material help seeking, experimentation to inform future actions, mutual sharing and problem solving, and building emotional connection to improve sexual functioning. Implications for understanding the development of sexual dysfunctions in adulthood are discussed.     

Longitudinal Links Between Discrimination and Civic Development Among Latino and Asian Adolescents

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is formative for civic development. Unfortunately, many adolescents from Latino and Asian backgrounds experience discrimination, which can alienate them from civic life. This study employed cross‐lagged structural equation modeling to test the bidirectional links between perceived discrimination and civic beliefs and activism among Latino and Asian late adolescents (N = 400, M_age = 17.34, 61% female). Civic beliefs (i.e., believing that the government is unresponsive) and civic activism (i.e., protesting and expressing political opinions) in high school predicted increased perceptions of discrimination over time. Perceiving high levels of discrimination in high school predicted a decrease in the belief that society is fair over time.     

Adolescent Health and Well‐Being in the Twenty‐First Century: A Global Perspective

Adolescence is a critical developmental period with long‐term implications for the health and well‐being of the individual and for society as a whole. The most significant factors to adolescents' health are found in their environments, and in the choices and opportunities for health‐enhancing or health‐compromising behaviors that these contexts present (e.g., exposure to violence, supportive families). Inadequate contexts represent a failure to invest in and protect adolescents, a choice to alienate rather than integrate them into society. This article describes a number of societal trends, including growing poverty and income disparities, government instability, the changing health‐care system, the spread of HIV/AIDS, increased migration and urbanization, changing family and cultural contexts, and new information technology. The health implications of these trends for the well‐being of adolescents in the 21st century are contemplated.     

Transnational youth transitions: becoming adults between Vancouver and Hong Kong

In the context of the academic interest shown in the enduring transnationalism of contemporary migrants and in the modes of transitions to adulthood in different global settings, in this article we examine the transnational lives of adolescents moving between Vancouver (Canada) and Hong Kong. While there is a lot of literature on the parents' political and economic calculations, there is very little on how adolescents in these situations articulate their geographical sensibilities. We draw on three periods of fieldwork undertaken in 2002, 2008 and 2010 during which we employed a transnational methodology to interview young people in Vancouver and Hong Kong. We argue that becoming an adult involves a process in which, in their discussions about the geographical and emotional distance between themselves and their families, young people articulate their own complex emotions towards specific places in their transnational social field. Their families sporadically interrupt the adolescents' otherwise independent lives with fragmented modes of supervision. By examining the complex intentions and emotions behind circular migration from the perspective of transnational youth in a community of split families, we advance the discussion on transnational geographies, particularly of the family in the context of a flexible global economy.     

Future-oriented or present-focused? The role of social support and identity styles on ‘futuring’ in Italian late adolescents and emerging adults

Late adolescence and emerging adulthood are periods in the life cycle when individuals are involved in anticipating and planning for the future (futuring). However, in the last five or six years, as the effects of the recession have made themselves felt in Southern Europe, the situation that young people face has deteriorated dramatically. As a consequence, contemporary young people’s relationship with the future is strongly marked by these social difficulties, and family support becomes essential to their survival. The present study was interested in how futuring could be influenced by identity styles and perceptions of social support. Participants were 1201 Italian late adolescents and emerging adults attending the last year of high school and first years of university. We used three self-report measures: Functions of Identity Scale, Identity Style Inventory, and Social Support Scale. Findings indicate that futuring was influenced by the normative style and the diffuse-avoidant style and by the interactions between both normative identity style and diffuse/avoidant identity styles with peer support. Gender and age differences are discussed.     

Time-varying associations between parental closeness,self-esteem,and sexual behavior across adolescence and emerging adulthood

This study applied the time-varying effect model (TVEM) to data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to explore how self-esteem mediated age-varying associations of closeness to mother and father and their child's sexual behavior through adolescence and emerging adulthood. Paternal closeness is associated with lesser odds of sexual behaviors for both female and male adolescents until age 20, whereas maternal closeness only predicts for female adolescents between ages 13 and 15. Self-esteem mediated the association between mother closeness and multiple partners in male adolescents between ages 14.5 and 16.5. Fathers have an impact on adolescent sexual behavior across adolescence and emerging adulthood, while mothers' roles are more important for female adolescents in early adolescence.     

Minority Adolescents' Future Orientation: The Case of Arabs Living in Israel

This study examines Arab adolescents' future orientation toward their education, family plans, economic status, and social adjustment. Arab adolescents' future orientation is of interest since, presently, Israel is experiencing major internal and external political changes. The Arabs in Israel are a non-assimilating minority. They differ from the Jewish majority in language, religion, and nationality. Previous research has shown that Arab adolescents express hope for peace and fear of war between the two peoples living in Israel. With the new peace initiatives in Israel, the future is being painted in different colors, and it is interesting to explore how Arab adolescents perceive their future, both as adolescents and as Arabs. The sample consists of 662 twelfth-grade students from seven high schools throughout Israel. The questionnaire used is a version of the Offer Self-image Questionnaire (Offer, Ostrov, & Howard, 1981), but only the findings on future orientation are analyzed in the present study. These findings show significant differences in Arab adolescents' future orientation across gender, family size, level of religiosity, and father's education. The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to the literature pertaining to adolescents' future orientation, particularly among minority groups, as well as the social, cultural, and educational transformation which the Arab population living in Israel is currently undergoing.     

Consequences of Casual Sex Relationships and Experiences on Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being: A Prospective Study

Casual sexual relationships and experiences (CSREs) are still considered to be detrimental to the psychological well-being of youth even though findings remain inconclusive. Most studies have focused on emerging adulthood. Using a prospective design based on a representative sample of high school students in the province of Québec, we measured sexually active adolescents’ (N = 2,304) psychological well-being six months after engaging in these relationships while controlling for prior well-being. We analyzed two forms of CSREs, friends with benefits (FWB) and one-night stand (ONS) relationships, as well as levels of sexual intimacy. The results show that CSREs had a small impact (small effect sizes) on subsequent psychological well-being, especially among girls; FWB relationships involving penetrative contact increased girls’ psychological distress and both their alcohol and drug consumption. ONSs including sexual touching increased girls’ psychological distress and their drug use. None of the CSREs influenced boys’ psychological well-being. The findings underscored the importance of using caution when arguing that CSREs are detrimental or harmless to the psychological well-being of adolescents. The results also highlight the importance of taking into account gender and forms of CSREs in prevention and health interventions.     

RELIGIOUS PARTICIPATION, ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION, AND ADAPTATION OF VIETNAMESE ADOLESCENTS IN AN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY

This article addresses the role of religion in immigrant adaptation through the case of Vietnamese adolescents. Our results show that religious participation consistently makes a significant contribution to ethnic identification, which, in turn, facilitates positive adaptation of immigrant adolescents to American society by increasing the probability that adolescents will do well in school, set their sights on future education, and avoid some of the dangers that confront contemporary young people. These results suggest that an immigrant congregation does not function simply as a means of maintaining a psychologically comforting sense of ethnicity while group members drop ethnic traits in their day-to-day lives. Nor does identification with an ethnic group appear to limit life chances by binding group members to ethnic traits. On the contrary, the ethnic religious participation examined here, to a large extent, facilitates adjustment to the host society precisely because it promotes the cultivation of a distinctive ethnicity, that, in turn, helps young people to reach higher levels of academic achievement and to avoid dangerous and destructive forms of behavior.     

Psychological adaptation among second-generation Moroccan adolescents: associations with sense of community and country of residence

ABSTRACT

Increasing evidence suggests that immigrant youths’ social integration varies widely across national contexts, but the factors explaining this variation at the individual and societal levels are still under debate. Drawing upon developmental and community psychology approaches, the current study aimed to investigate psychological adaptation in terms of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and psychological problems among second-generation Moroccan adolescents and their national peers in the Netherlands and Italy. Furthermore, we examined the role of sense of community (SoC) in these youths’ outcomes. Participants were 90 Moroccan-origin and 208 national adolescents aged between 17 and 20 years, who completed a questionnaire survey. Results indicated that life satisfaction was overall higher in the Netherlands than in Italy. Moreover, Moroccan and Dutch youth reported similar levels of self-esteem and psychological problems, whereas Italian youths fared less well than their Moroccan peers. The positive association between SoC and life satisfaction was stronger for Moroccan adolescents in both countries; SoC was related to higher self-esteem and fewer psychological problems, but only in Italy. The findings suggest that characteristics of the host society are crucial for the psychological adjustment of second-generation Moroccan adolescents, and that programs targeting SoC may boost these youths’ positive adaptation and social integration.