[Identity Development, Family Relations, and Symptomatology in Adolescents from Seven Countries]. / Identitätsentwicklung, Familienbeziehungen und Symptombelastung bei Jugendlichen aus sieben Ländern.

Identity Development, Family Relations, and Symptomatology in Adolescents from Seven Countries This study analyzed identity development and parental rearing in adolescents from seven countries. In a sample of 2,259 adolescents (M = 15 years; 54 % female) from France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Peru, Pakistan, and Poland, maternal parenting (support, psychological control, anxious rearing), identity development (exploration, commitment and ruminative exploration) and psychopathology was assessed. Adolescents from central Europe (France and Germany) were characterized by quite low scores in most identity dimensions, compared to adolescents from all other countries. Particular high were scores in exploration and commitment among adolescents from Turkey, Greece, Peru and Pakistan. In some countries, adolescents described the family relations as characterized by high levels of anxious rearing and psychological control, which was, however, not associated with elevated levels of total symptomatology. The findings show that what is adaptive in one cultural context is depending on cultural norms and family traditions. This information is helpful in designing interventions.

Culture beats gender? The importance of controlling for identity- and parenting-related risk factors in adolescent psychopathology.

This study analyzed the unique effects of gender and culture on psychopathology in adolescents from seven countries after controlling for factors which might have contributed to variations in psychopathology. In a sample 2259 adolescents (M = 15 years; 54% female) from France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Peru, Pakistan, and Poland identity stress, coping with identity stress, maternal parenting (support, psychological control, anxious rearing) and psychopathology (internalizing, externalizing and total symptomatology) were assessed. Due to variations in stress perception, coping style and maternal behavior, these covariates were partialed out before the psychopathology scores were subjected to analyses of variance with gender and country as factors. These analyses leveled out the main effect of country and revealed country-specific gender effects. In four countries, males reported higher internalizing and total symptomatology than females. Partialing out the covariates resulted in a clearer picture of culture-specific and gender-dependent effects on psychopathology, which is helpful in designing interventions.