Perceived changes in peer relationships and behavioral health among college students during covid-19.

Objective: Covid-19 has resulted in changes to college students' daily lives due to recommendations to socially distance. Social distance is likely to affect youths' peer relationships at a time when these relationships remain important for development. Participants and Methods: The current study utilized survey data to examine perceived changes in peer relationships and the association with behavioral health among 275 college students (Mage = 18.69, SD =.72) during the fall/spring of 2020-2021. Results: Quantitative results indicated that participants reported significant perceived decreases in peer support but did not report significantly worse quality of closest friendships. Qualitative responses from an open-ended survey question supported these quantitative results suggesting that although many participants perceived decreases in quality of relationships, there was also the perception that friendships became closer. Participants who perceived decreased peer relationship support and quality were more likely to report depressive symptoms and loneliness when compared to participants who perceived no changes.

The Effect of Visual Stressors on Adolescents' Neural Response: A Review of Laboratory Research.

Laboratory models that help us understand the neural mechanisms associated with how stress, particularly interpersonal stress, affects children's and adolescents' emotions are paramount but are limited if that understanding lacks validity in adolescents' daily lives. There is a lack of research that addresses the ecological validity of visual stimuli to induce stress in participants while measuring participants' neural response to that stimuli. This approach is needed if we are to identify the neural mechanisms that underlie the effect of stressful events on individuals' emotional functioning. The current study conducted a systematic literature review to identify visual tasks that have been used in laboratory settings to induce stress in participants. The most frequent tasks identified were developed to induce peer rejection/exclusion in youth (e.g., Chatroom and Cyberball). These tasks were generally effective at bringing about a neural response in areas of the brain traditionally associated with social cognitive processing, such as the cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, insula, and striatum. In particular, the cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex are associated with the Social Information Processing Network. Almost entirely absent from the literature are systematic evaluations of ecological validity and parent-child based visual stimuli that approximate the stress that adolescents might experience in their relationships with parents. The present article highlights trends and gaps in the current research, and examines the ecological validity of current stimuli used as laboratory based stressors, which can be used to fuel further investigation into adolescent neural response to stimuli, and further evaluation of the ecological validity of tasks.

Affective and physiological response to a novel parent-adolescent conflict stressor.

Few laboratory paradigms exist that expose adolescents to conflict that might commonly be experienced in parent-adolescent relationships. Given the continued importance of parent-adolescent relationships on adolescent development, as well as the changing expectations in these relationships, we examined the effect of a novel parent-adolescent conflict paradigm on physiological and affective response in a sample of 52 adolescents. The parent-adolescent conflict stressor (PACS) involved adolescent participants (50% girls; M = 14.75, SD = 0.88) watching a 12-minute scripted video that asked youth to imagine that they were the teenager in the video, which consisted of parent and adolescent actors having discussions about conflict in their relationship and solving this conflict in either a positive, typical, or hostile manner. Cortisol, alpha amylase, and self-report of negative and positive affect were collected at baseline, following the video, and during a recovery period. Heart rate also was taken continuously while adolescents watched the videos. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses indicated significant linear change in alpha amylase and linear and quadratic change in negative affect to the PACS. There also was a significant linear and quadratic change in heart rate during the portion of the video where teens and parents discussed issues of personal responsibility. The PACS marks a preliminary but important first step in developing a parent-adolescent conflict paradigm that can be used across studies to understand the impact of parent-adolescent conflict on affective and physiological markers associated with stress response.

The role of stress response in the association between autonomy and adjustment in adolescents.

Developing autonomy is an important developmental task that has implications for adolescent adjustment and may be impacted by adolescents' response to stress. This study examined whether stress reactivity (i.e., cortisol and heart rate reactivity) to a parent-adolescent conflict interaction moderates the effect of autonomy on adjustment assessed one year later in 100 adolescents (M age = 15.09; 68% girls). Multiple group models suggested that youth who evidenced higher stress reactivity when compared to those with lower stress reactivity were more likely to report decreased externalizing problems and internalizing problems when their parents granted more autonomy. In contrast, youth who evidenced higher stress reactivity who experienced undermining of autonomy were more likely to report increased externalizing and internalizing problems than youth who evidenced lower stress reactivity. Results support biological sensitivity to context theory and highlight the importance of considering individual differences in the effect of developmental milestones on adolescents' adjustment.

Individual Differences in Adolescents' Emotional Reactivity across Relationship Contexts.

Understanding individual differences in adolescents' ability to regulate emotions within interpersonal relationships is paramount for healthy development. Thus, the effect of individual vulnerabilities (depressive affect, social anxiety, self-blame, and coping efficacy problems) on the transmission of emotional reactivity in response to conflict from family to peers (friends and romantic partners) was prospectively examined across six waves of data in a community-based sample of 416 adolescents (Mage Wave 1 = 11.90, 51% girls). Multiple-group models estimated in structural equation modeling suggested that youth who were higher in social anxiety or coping efficacy problems were more likely to transmit emotional reactivity developed in the family-of-origin to emotional reactivity in response to conflict in close friendships. Additionally, those youth higher in self-blame and depressive affect were more likely to transmit emotional reactivity from friendships to romantic relationships.

The Interactive Effects of Stressful Family Life Events and Cortisol Reactivity on Adolescent Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors.

This study investigated the associations between stressful family life events and adolescent externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and the interactive effects of family life events and cortisol reactivity on problem behaviors. In a sample of 100 mothers and their adolescents (M age = 15.09; SD age = .98; 68 % girls), adolescent cortisol reactivity was measured in response to a mother-adolescent conflict interaction task designed to elicit a stress response. Mothers reported on measures of family life events and adolescent problem behaviors. Results indicated that a heightened adolescent cortisol response moderated the relations between stressful family life events and both externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Results support context-dependent theoretical models, suggesting that for adolescents with higher cortisol reactivity (compared to those with lower cortisol reactivity), higher levels of stressful family life events were associated with greater problem behaviors, whereas lower levels of stressful family life events were related to fewer problem behaviors.

Trajectories of Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Effect of Individual and Social Risk Factors by Race.

This study examined racial differences across African American, Hispanic, and White participants in the impact that individualand social risk factorshave on drinking behaviortrajectories.Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was usedfrom 7-9th graders (N = 4,372).Participants reported on frequency of drinking across the four waves and risk factors at wave 1. Growth mixture modeling revealed four trajectories for alcohol use that includedAbstainers, Early Starters, Late Starters, and De-Escalators. Social and individual indicators of risk were differently predictive of group membership to the problematic drinking trajectories. Differences across racial groups suggested that a lack of future orientation may be a salient risk factor for African Americanand Hispanicyouth's alcohol use, and peer alcohol use may be a salient risk factor for White youth's alcohol use. The findings of this study suggest that there may be individual differences in risk factors that provide insight for prevention efforts.

The Relationship Between Autonomy and Relatedness and Adolescents' Adrenocortical and Cardiovascular Stress Response.

Developing autonomy and maintaining relatedness within the parent-adolescent relationship marks a realignment process that shifts adolescents' decision making and regulation from parents to youth. This process may be stressful for some adolescents, particularly those who perceive their daily lives as stressful. This study examined the associations of autonomy, relatedness and perceived stress with adolescents' cortisol and blood pressure response to conflict in a mother-adolescent interaction task among 100 adolescents (M age = 15.09; 68 % girls, 78 % Caucasian). Few direct associations were found, but results indicated that perceived stress moderated the effect of autonomy and relatedness such that youth who reported more perceived stress and whose mothers' restricted their autonomy and undermined their relatedness evidenced increased cortisol and systolic blood pressure when compared to youth lower in perceived stress. The results highlight the importance of examining individual differences in the association between normative developmental transitions and adolescents' neurobiological response to stress.

A person-centered approach to adolescent emotion regulation: Associations with psychopathology and parenting.

Adolescence is a unique period of heightened emotional arousal and still-developing regulatory abilities. Adolescent emotion regulation patterns may be critically involved in adolescents' psychosocial development, but patterns of emotion regulation in youths are not well understood. The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to elucidate patterns of emotion expression, experience, and emotion-related physiological arousal in adolescents. A sample of 198 adolescents and their primary caregivers participated in an emotionally arousing parent-adolescent conflict interaction. Adolescents' observed emotion expressions, emotion experiences, and heart rate (HR) and caregiver parenting behaviors were assessed during and/or after the interaction. Parents reported on adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and youths reported on depressive symptoms. The LPA revealed four emotion regulation profiles: a moderate HR and high expression profile, a suppression profile (with low negative emotion expression and high emotion experience), a low reactive profile, and a high reactive profile. The moderate HR and high expression profile was associated with lower conduct disorder symptoms, the suppression profile was related to lower anxiety symptoms, and the high reactive profile was associated with higher adolescent depressive symptoms. The high reactive profile and moderate HR and high expression profile were associated with more negative/critical parenting behaviors. Findings suggest that profiles of adolescent emotion regulation can be empirically identified and may be significant risk factors for psychopathology.

Do specific transitional patterns of antisocial behavior during adolescence increase risk for problems in young adulthood?

Latent transition analysis was used to identify patterns and trajectories of antisocial behavior (ASB) and their association with young adult outcomes in a nationally representative sample of adolescents (N = 5,422; 53.9% female). Participants were on average 13.96 years of age (SD = 1.06) at wave 1 of the study. Latent class analysis identified four classes of ASB including a non-ASB class, an aggressive class, a petty theft class, and a serious ASB class. In general, youth who were classified as serious stable ASB were the most at risk for problematic functioning in young adulthood. Youth who escalated to more serious patterns of ASB or reduced involvement also were at greater risk of negative outcomes in young adulthood compared to stable non-ASB youth, although they generally fared better than youth involved in stable patterns of more serious ASB. Gender differences indicated that involvement in ASB was a greater risk factor for alcohol use among boys and a greater risk factor for depression among girls in young adulthood. Results are discussed in terms of the predictive validity of classes of ASB to functioning in young adulthood and the implications of this research for prevention efforts.

Racial/ethnic differences in patterns of sexual risk behavior and rates of sexually transmitted infections among female young adults.

OBJECTIVES: We examined patterns of sexual behavior and risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in young adulthood for Black, Hispanic, and White females. METHODS: We used a nationally representative sample of 7015 female young adults from wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Sexual risk items assessed behaviors occurring in the previous 6 years and past year to determine classes of sexual risk and links to STIs in young adulthood. RESULTS: Latent class analysis revealed 3 sexual risk classes for Black and Hispanic youths and 4 sexual risk classes for White youths. The moderate and high risk classes had the highest probabilities of risky sexual partners, inconsistent condom use, and early age of sexual initiation, which significantly increased odds for STIs compared with recent abstainers. CONCLUSIONS: We found different classes of sexual behavior by race/ethnicity, with Black and Hispanic young women most at risk for STIs in young adulthood. Preventive efforts should target younger adolescents and focus on sexual partner behavior.

Adolescents' emotional reactivity across relationship contexts.

Adolescents' emotional reactivity in family, close friendships, and romantic relationships was examined in a community-based sample of 416 two-parent families. Six waves of annual data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Emotional reactivity to interparental conflict during early adolescence was associated prospectively with adolescents' reactivity to conflict in friendships and romantic relationships during middle adolescence. Close friendship reactivity partially explained the prospective association between reactivity to interparental conflict and romantic relationship reactivity. The association between perceived emotional reactivity and relationship conflict was stronger for girls than boys. Results have important developmental implications regarding adolescents' emotional reactivity across salient interpersonal contexts during adolescence.

The stress response and adolescents' adjustment: the impact of child maltreatment.

Experience with and management of stress has implications for adolescents' behavioral and socioemotional development. This study examined the relationship between adolescents' physiological response to an acute laboratory stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Test; TSST) and anger regulation and interpersonal competence in a sample of 175 low-income urban adolescents (51.8% girls). Findings suggested that heightened reactivity as indicated by cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure was associated with increased interpersonal competence and anger regulation. However, these findings were context dependent such that, for youth high in self-reported child maltreatment, heightened reactivity was associated with decreased interpersonal competence and anger regulation. Results highlight the importance of considering how context may condition the effect of stress reactivity on functioning during adolescence.

A Process Model of Parenting and Adolescents' Friendship Competence.

This study examined the prospective relationship between negative parenting behaviors and adolescents' friendship competence in a community sample of 416 two-parent families in the Southeastern USA. Adolescents' externalizing problems and their emotional insecurity with parents were examined as mediators. Parents' psychological control was uniquely associated with adolescents' friendship competence. When both mediators were included in the same model, adolescents' perceptions of emotional insecurity in the parent-adolescent relationship fully mediated the association between parents' psychological control and adolescents' friendship competence. Parental hostility was associated with friendship competence indirectly through adolescents' emotional insecurity. Results contribute to identifying the mechanisms by which parenting affects youths' friendship competence, which is important in informing theory and practice regarding interpersonal relationships in adolescence.

Risk and protective factors associated with patterns of antisocial behavior among nonmetropolitan adolescents.

This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify patterns of antisocial behavior (ASB) in a sample of 1,820 adolescents in a nonmetropolitan region of the Northeast. Self-reported ASBs including stealing, fighting, damaging property, and police contact were assessed. LCA identified four classes of ASB including a non-ASB class, a mild, a moderate, and a serious ASB class. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that parent-child relationships served as a protective factor against engaging in ASB and peer, school, and community risk and protective factors differentiated mild patterns of ASB from more intense patterns of involvment. These findings suggest utility in using the LCA to better understand predictors of adolescent ASB to inform more effective prevention and intervention efforts targeting youth who exhibit different patterns of behavior.

Parental Knowledge and Substance Use among African American Adolescents: Influence of Gender and Grade Level.

Parental knowledge is defined as parental awareness and information about a child's activities, whereabouts, and associations that is obtained through parental monitoring, parental solicitation, or self-disclosure. Increased parental knowledge is generally associated with lower adolescent substance use; however, the influence of various contextual factors, such as adolescent gender and grade level is not well understood, particularly for different racial or ethnic groups. In the present study, we used Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling (HGLM) analyses to examine the longitudinal relationship of parental knowledge to adolescent substance use in the context of adolescent gender and grade level among 207 urban African American adolescents in grades 6-11. Results indicated that increased parental knowledge is associated with a concurrent lower likelihood of substance use across all types of substances examined (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, other drug use, and any drug use), but it did not predict changes in substance use one year later for the entire sample. However, analyses by gender and grade level showed that for boys and middle school youth, parental knowledge was a protective factor for increases in substance use across one year. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and health promotion interventions for adolescent substance use among African American youth.

Parents and peers as social influences to deter antisocial behavior.

Growth curve analyses were used to investigate parents' and peers' influence on adolescents' choice to abstain from antisocial behavior in a community-based sample of 416 early adolescents living in the Southeastern United States. Participants were primarily European American (91%) and 51% were girls. Both parents and peers were important influences on the choice to abstain from antisocial behavior. Over the four-year period adolescents relied increasingly on parents as influences and relied less on peers as influences to deter antisocial behavior. Significant gender differences emerged and suggested that female adolescents relied more on social influences than did male adolescents but that as time progressed male adolescents increased the rate at which they relied on peers. Higher family income was associated with choosing peers as a social influence at wave 1, but no other significant income associations were found. Understanding influences on adolescents' abstinence choices is important for preventing antisocial behavior.

Residential wilderness programs: the role of social support in influencing self-evaluations of male adolescents.

This qualitative study explores the aspects of a residential wilderness experience that informed self-evaluations in male adolescents, ages 12-16. To assess change in self-evaluations and program factors associated with change, qualitative interviews were conducted with adolescents upon entry to the program and four months later. Participants' responses suggested that self-evaluation improved in relation to specific factors in the residential wilderness program. Specifically, increased levels of social support provided through cooperative experiences and opportunities for emotional expression helped participants develop a more positive sense of self. Findings contribute to our knowledge of specific program components offered by residential wilderness programs that are associated with positive adjustment in adolescents.