The development of compulsive internet use and mental health: A four-year study of adolescence.

Is compulsive Internet use (CIU) an antecedent to poor mental health, a consequence, or both? Study 1 used a longitudinal design to track the development of CIU and mental health in Grade 8 (N = 1030 males, 1038 females, Mage = 13.7), 9, 10, and 11. Study 2 extended Study 1 by examining the kinds of Internet behaviors most strongly associated with CIU within males and females. Structural equation modeling revealed that CIU predicted the development of poor mental health, whereas poor mental health did not predict CIU development. Latent growth analyses showed that both females and males increased in CIU and mental health problems across the high school years. Females had higher CIU and worse mental health than males, and tended to engage in more social forms of Internet use. We discuss future directions for CIU intervention research.

Empathy and nonattachment independently predict peer nominations of prosocial behavior of adolescents.

There is a plethora of research showing that empathy promotes prosocial behavior among young people. We examined a relatively new construct in the mindfulness literature, nonattachment, defined as a flexible way of relating to one's experiences without clinging to or suppressing them. We tested whether nonattachment could predict prosociality above and beyond empathy. Nonattachment implies high cognitive flexibility and sufficient mental resources to step out of excessive self-cherishing to be there for others in need. Multilevel Poisson models using a sample of 15-year olds (N = 1831) showed that empathy and nonattachment independently predicted prosocial behaviors of helpfulness and kindness, as judged by same-sex and opposite-sex peers, except for when boys nominated girls. The effects of nonattachment remained substantial in more conservative models including self-esteem and peer nominations of liking.

Hope, friends, and subjective well-being: a social network approach to peer group contextual effects.

Research on adolescence has previously shown that factors like depression and burnout are influenced by friendship groups. Little research, however, has considered whether similar effects are present for variables such as hope and subjective well-being. Furthermore, there is no research that considers whether the degree of hope of an adolescent's friends is associated with well-being over the individual's level of hope. Data were collected in 2012 from a sample of 15-year-olds (N = 1,972; 62% Caucasian; 46% identified as Catholic; 25% had professional parents) from the East Coast of Australia. Findings suggest that individuals from the same friendship group were somewhat similar in hope and well-being. Multilevel structural equation modeling indicated that friendship group hope was significantly related to psychological and social well-being.

The role of emotion identification skill in the formation of male and female friendships: a longitudinal study.

The present study explored the relationship between emotion identification skill (EIS) and friendships in adolescence. Students from five Australian high schools completed questionnaires annually from Grade 8 to Grade 12 including subjective measures of EIS and a peer-based objective measure of social functioning (e.g., friendship nominations). The total sample of participants was 795 (406 males; 389 females) with 468 (225 males; 243 females) completing questionnaires in Grade 12. EIS in early adolescence was predictive of friendships for females in late adolescence. Specifically, girls starting out with low EIS in Grade 8 tended to have fewer female friendships and more male friendships in Grade 12. There were no effects for males. Lower initial EIS was associated with significant improvements in awareness over time, but these improvements had no effect on friendships in Grade 12. The EIS that girls enter high school with may influence their friendship composition into late adolescence.

Is self-esteem a cause or consequence of social support? A 4-year longitudinal study.

Considerable research has been devoted to examining the relations between self-esteem and social support. However, the exact nature and direction of these relations are not well understood. Measures of self-esteem, and social support quantity and quality were administered to 961 adolescents across five yearly time points (M(age) = 13.41 years). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test between a self-esteem antecedent model (self-esteem precedes changes in social support), self-esteem consequence model (social support precedes change in self-esteem), and a reciprocal influence model. Self-esteem reliably predicted increasing levels of social support quality and network size across time. In contrast, the consequence model was not supported. The implications of this for helping adolescents to develop higher quality social support structures are discussed.

Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and psychoticism: distinctive influences of three personality dimensions in adolescence.

Researchers have suggested that the psychoticism (P) personality dimension of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire may be largely redundant with the agreeableness (A) and conscientiousness (C) constructs of the five-factor model. Little research has examined the distinctiveness of these constructs. We utilized a multi-wave, multi-method design to examine the ability of C, A, and P to uniquely predict a number of important outcomes amongst high school students. A total of 778 students (391 males, 387 females; mean age 15.41 years.) completed personality measures in Grade 10. Self-reported self-esteem, social support, health-related behaviours, religious values as well as teachers' assessments of students, were collected 1 and 2 years later. A, C, and P were distinctive in their ability to predict these outcomes, after controlling for gender and socio-economic status as well as Grade 10 extraversion, openness, and neuroticism. The individual P items explained unique variance over and above that explained by A and C. It was concluded that P is not merely the opposite of A and C. Implications for interventions are raised.

The Interrelations among the Perception of Parental Styles and Psychological Well-Being in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study.

BACKGROUND: This longitudinal study aims to examine the relationships between the perception of parental style, hope, self-esteem and Eysenck's psychoticism dimension throughout the span of four years. METHODS: The sample was composed of 884 students from the Wollongong Youth Study, which commenced when students entered high school. During the course of the 4 years of the study, each participant completed the test booklets each time data was collected. Data was analyzed using one way ANOVA, Post-hoc test, Repeated Measurement, Pearson and Partial Correlation and General Linear Model in order to provide the aims of the study. RESULTS: The mean score of hope and self-esteem among adolescents from authoritative parents were higher from permissive and authoritarian families while the hope with a permissive perception were lower than those with authoritarian, and self-esteem was lower in the authoritarian group compared to the permissive group. Children with a permissive perception reported higher psychoticism compared to the two other. Significant correlations were found between authoritative perception and hope, self-esteem and psychoticism. Finally, hope, self-esteem and psychoticism showed a significant inter correlation in all of the parental styles. CONCLUSION: Adolescents with the perception of each kind of parental style showed significant between group differences in psychological well-being throughout the four years of the study.

Personality change predicts self-reported mental and physical health.

OBJECTIVE: Personality dimensions are known to predict mortality and other health outcomes, but almost no research has assessed the effects of changes in personality traits on physical and mental health outcomes. In this article, we examined the effects of changes in the Big Five personality dimensions on health as assessed by the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). METHOD: Respondents were 11,105 Australian adults aged 20-79 years (52.7% female). Latent difference score modeling was used to examine whether personality change over a 4-year period was associated with mental and physical health, and whether these effects were moderated by birth cohort. RESULTS: Increases in Conscientiousness and Extraversion were found to be associated with improved mental and physical health, whereas increased Neuroticism was linked with poorer health. The nature of these associations varied significantly by birth cohort. CONCLUSION: The findings have implications for understanding how changes in personality traits over time are related to health, and could be used to aid the development of effective health promotion strategies targeted to specific personality traits and birth cohorts.

Inflexible parents, inflexible kids: a 6-year longitudinal study of parenting style and the development of psychological flexibility in adolescents.

Parenting behaviors have been linked to children's self regulation, but it is less clear how they relate to adolescent psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is a broad construct that describes an individual's ability to respond appropriately to environmental demands and internal experiences in the service of their goals. We examined the longitudinal relationships between perceived parenting style and psychological flexibility among students at five Australian schools (N= 749) over 6 years, beginning in Grade 7 (50.3% female, mean age 12.39 years). Parenting style was measured in Grades 7 and 12, and psychological flexibility from Grade 9 through 12. Psychological flexibility decreased, on average, with age. Multi-level modelling indicated that authoritarian parenting (low warmth, high control) in Grade 7 predicted later (low) psychological flexibility. Moreover, increases in authoritarian parenting and decreases in authoritative parenting (high warmth and control) were associated with adolescent psychological flexibility across the high school years. Change in parenting predicted future psychological flexibility but did not predict change over time. Structural Equation Modelling revealed that adolescent psychological flexibility in Grade 9 predicted later decreases in authoritarian and increases in authoritative parenting. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding how parenting changes and the consequences of such change for the development of psychological flexibility.

Reflection impulsivity in adolescent cannabis users: a comparison with alcohol-using and non-substance-using adolescents.

RATIONALE: Reflection impulsivity-a failure to gather and evaluate information before making a decision-is a critical component of risk-taking and substance use behaviours, which are highly prevalent during adolescence. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: The Information Sampling Test was used to assess reflection impulsivity in 175 adolescents (mean age 18.3, range 16.5-20; 55% female)-48 cannabis users (2.3 years use, 10.8 days/month), 65 alcohol users, and 62 non-substance-using controls-recruited from a longitudinal cohort and from the general community and matched for education and IQ. Cannabis and alcohol users were matched on levels of alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Cannabis users sampled to the lowest degree of certainty before making a decision on the task. Group differences remained significant after controlling for relevant substance use and clinical confounds (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms, alcohol, and ecstasy use). Poor performance on multiple IST indices was associated with an earlier age of onset of regular cannabis use and greater duration of exposure to cannabis, after controlling for recent use. Alcohol users did not differ from controls on any IST measure. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to cannabis during adolescence is associated with increased risky and impulsive decision making, with users adopting strategies with higher levels of uncertainty and inefficient utilisation of information. The young cannabis users did show sensitivity to losses, suggesting that greater impulsivity early in their drug using career is more evident when there is a lack of negative consequences. This provides a window of opportunity for intervention before the onset of cannabis dependence.

Verbal learning and memory in adolescent cannabis users, alcohol users and non-users.

RATIONALE: Long-term heavy cannabis use can result in memory impairment. Adolescent users may be especially vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effects of cannabis. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional and prospective neuropsychological study of 181 adolescents aged 16-20 (mean 18.3 years), we compared performance indices from one of the most widely used measures of learning and memory--the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test--between cannabis users (n=52; mean 2.4 years of use, 14 days/month, median abstinence 20.3 h), alcohol users (n=67) and non-user controls (n=62) matched for age, education and premorbid intellectual ability (assessed prospectively), and alcohol consumption for cannabis and alcohol users. RESULTS: Cannabis users performed significantly worse than alcohol users and non-users on all performance indices. They recalled significantly fewer words overall (p<0.001), demonstrating impaired learning (p<0.001), retention (p<0.001) and retrieval (p<0.05) (Cohen's d 0.43-0.84). The degree of impairment was associated with the duration, quantity, frequency and age of onset of cannabis use, but was unrelated to alcohol exposure or other drug use. No gender effects were detected and the findings remained after controlling for premorbid intellectual ability. An earlier age of onset of regular cannabis use was associated with worse memory performance after controlling for extent of exposure to cannabis. CONCLUSIONS: Despite relatively brief exposure, adolescent cannabis users relative to their age-matched counterparts demonstrated similar memory deficits to those reported in adult long-term heavy users. The results indicate that cannabis adversely affects the developing brain and reinforce concerns regarding the impact of early exposure.

On being aware and accepting: a one-year longitudinal study into adolescent well-being.

The nature and potential benefit of awareness and experiential acceptance in adolescence remains neglected and understudied. To address this gap in the literature, 776 students (50% female) in Grade 10 completed measures of mindfulness, emotional awareness, and experiential acceptance, as well as measures of major personality traits. To study prospective changes, assessments of emotional well-being were completed across a 1-year interval. Analyses revealed that "Acting with Awareness" (engaging fully in one's current activity with undivided attention), emotional awareness, and experiential acceptance where all linked to prosocial tendencies and uniquely predicted increases in well-being across the year. Observing experience (noticing, observing, and attending to a variety of stimuli) was correlated with positive and negative aspects of personality and did not predict changes in well-being. We discuss the implications for understanding awareness and acceptance in youth.

Childhood EEG as a predictor of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether EEG differences exist between children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) who later outgrow the disorder and those who continue to be symptomatic as adults. METHODS: Thirty-eight boys, diagnosed with AD/HD as children, were reassessed 11 years later to determine who met criteria for adult AD/HD. At the childhood assessment, an EEG was recorded from the AD/HD group and a control group, during an eyes-closed resting condition. This was analysed for absolute and relative power in the delta, theta, alpha and beta bands, and the theta/beta ratio. RESULTS: At the childhood assessment, the AD/HD group had an EEG profile typical of the disorder, with increased absolute and relative theta, reduced relative alpha, and increased theta/beta ratio. EEG differences were found between those who outgrew the disorder and those who did not - the adult AD/HD group had greater childhood global relative beta, reduced frontal relative theta, and increased frontal absolute and relative beta. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the existence of specific CNS differences in childhood AD/HD that may be used to predict the developmental course of the disorder. SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study to investigate childhood EEG markers of adult AD/HD.

Parental styles and religious values among teenagers: a 3-year prospective analysis.

The authors examined the effect of Grade 7 parental styles on Grade 10 religious values. The authors surveyed 784 participants (382 boys, 394 girls; 8 unreported) in Grade 7. The mean age of the group at Time 1 was 12.3 years (SD = 0.5 years). Time 2 occurred 3 years later when students were in Grade 10 (372 boys, 375 girls). In addition to assessing parental styles at Time 1, we also controlled for a number of Time 1 variables thought to possibly influence Time 2 religious values, namely, self-esteem, trait hope, and students' levels of conscientiousness. Time 1 measures (except self-esteem) were significantly correlated with Time 2 religious values, but only parental authoritativeness and hope significantly predicted religious values. The authors discuss these results with reference to the nature of parental styles and hope and their impact on religious values.

Event-related potentials in adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: an investigation using an inter-modal auditory/visual oddball task.

This study investigated whether ERPs from an inter-modal oddball task could distinguish between adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and controls. Two age-matched groups of young adult males (18 AD/HD, 18 controls) were presented with an inter-modal oddball task in which a counter-phasing checkerboard was the non-target visual stimulus (randomly presented on 80% of trials), and a 2000 Hz tone was the auditory target (20% of trials). Stimuli were presented at a fixed rate (stimulus-onset asynchrony 1.03 s) and participants were required to silently count all targets. The AD/HD group showed globally enhanced P2 and reduced N2 amplitudes to auditory targets, with no differences in target P3, together with topographic differences in N1 to auditory targets, and P1, N1, P2, N2 and P3 to visual non-targets, compared with controls. These results were interpreted in terms of early sensory-processing impairments in adults with AD/HD, which may be partially overcome through effortful processing, as reflected in the later endogenous ERP components.

EEG in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is the most common psychiatric disorder of childhood, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that more than half the childhood sufferers will continue to manifest symptoms of the disorder as adults. While the EEG of children with AD/HD has been extensively examined, comparatively little research has been conducted into the EEG of adults with the disorder. This study thus investigated the EEG of 20 adult males with AD/HD, and an age- and gender-matched control group, during an eyes-closed resting condition. The EEG was Fourier transformed to provide absolute and relative power estimates for the delta, theta, alpha and beta bands. The AD/HD group had significantly less absolute delta and more relative theta, across the entire scalp, than the control group. In absolute beta, the AD/HD group had less power at the midline, and an enhancement in power in the right posterior region. These results are similar to those found in children with AD/HD, and may suggest the presence of a processing deficit. A right posterior elevation in beta activity was also found, which could be related to the ongoing presence of reading disabilities in these subjects.

Parental styles, conscientiousness, and academic performance in high school: a three-wave longitudinal study.

This article assesses whether perceived parental style influenced the extent to which adolescents became increasingly conscientious and whether changes in conscientiousness influenced academic grades 1 year later. Parental styles, conscientiousness, verbal, and numerical ability at Time 1 were measured. One year later conscientiousness was again assessed, and 1 year after that end-of-year exam results were obtained. More than 784 students (mean age=12.3 years, SD=0.49) participated in the 1st year. The data of 563 students were matched across the 3 years. Conscientiousness tended to decrease from Time 1 to Time 2. Structural equation modeling showed that adolescents with more authoritative parents experienced less of a decrease in conscientiousness at Time 2 than did students with less authoritative parents and the same baseline level of conscientiousness at Time 1. Additionally, the decrease in conscientiousness at Time 2 predicted worse grades at Time 3, even after controlling for baseline levels of academic achievement.

The link between emotion identification skills and socio-emotional functioning in early adolescence: a 1-year longitudinal study.

Amongst adults, low emotion identification skill (EIS) relates to poor emotion regulation strategies, higher rates of anxiety and depression, and higher rates of somatic illness and disease [Taylor, G. J., & Bagby, R. M. (2004). New trends in alexithymia research. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 73, 68-77]. Little research has examined EIS in adolescence and, in particular, the longitudinal impact of EIS on social support and affective experience. Six hundred and sixty-seven high school students completed measures of EIS, social support and positive and negative affects in Grade 8, and again in Grade 9. Repeated measure ANOVAS revealed that negative affect increased and positive affect decreased from Grades 8 to 9. Structural equation modelling revealed that low EIS predicted increases in fear, decreases in positive affect, and decreases in the quality and quantity of social support. Amongst boys, low EIS also predicted increases in sadness. We discuss the implications of these findings for early prevention programmes.

Learned social hopelessness: the role of explanatory style in predicting social support during adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Almost no research has examined the impact of explanatory style on social adjustment. We hypothesised that adolescents with a pessimistic style would be less likely to develop and maintain social support networks. METHODS: Seven hundred and nineteen students (351 males and 366 females; 2 unknown; M(AGE) = 12.28, SD = .49) completed an anonymous survey in Grades 7 through 10. Explanatory style was assessed in Grades 7 and 9, sadness was assessed in Grades 7 through 10, and quantity and quality of social support was assessed in Grades 8, 9, and 10. RESULTS: Structural equation modelling was used to conduct cross-lagged panel analyses of the four waves of data. Pessimistic explanatory style predicted lower levels of social support, and lower social support from the family predicted higher levels of pessimistic explanatory style. Additional analyses suggested that the effects could not be explained by sadness or by assuming that pessimistic adolescents where less liked by their peers. CONCLUSIONS: Pessimistic adolescents feel unable to influence their social worlds in positive ways and consequently may not take actions to develop and maintain social support networks.

EEG coherence in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is the most common psychiatric disorder of childhood, but it is becoming increasingly more apparent that more than half the childhood sufferers will continue to manifest symptoms of the disorder as adults. While EEG coherence in children with AD/HD has been examined extensively, no studies have investigated coherence in adults with the disorder. This study investigated EEG coherence in adults with AD/HD. EEG was recorded from 18 adult males with AD/HD, and an age- and gender-matched control group, during an eyes-closed resting condition. Waveshape coherence was calculated for 8 intrahemispheric electrode pairs (4 in each hemisphere), and 8 interhemispheric electrode pairs, within each of the delta, theta, alpha and beta bands. A laterality effect was found for intrahemispheric coherence at long inter-electrode distances, with the AD/HD group showing reduced hemispheric differences in the delta band compared to the control group. In the alpha band, at short-medium inter-electrode distances, the AD/HD group also had lower coherences than the control group. The results suggest that theta coherence differences reported in children with AD/HD may be associated with hyperactivity, which is reduced in adults with AD/HD, while reduced alpha coherence could be associated with inattention, which remains in adult with AD/HD. Reduced delta coherence also appears to be an aspect of the disorder which may develop from later childhood into adolescence and adulthood.