Stressful life events and identity development in early and mid-adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: In the past, stressful life events have been consistently linked to developmental outcomes such as well-being and psychopathological problems. Theory on identity postulates that stressful life events may also predict a regression in identity development. While some support for this link has been found in adult populations, it is important to examine this in adolescence, a time marked by identity development as well as stressful transitions and experiences. METHODS: In the present study, we examined whether having to repeat a grade and death of a family member or friend were related to regressive change in educational and relational identity in a sample of 840 Dutch adolescents (49% female, Mage W1 = 12.4) drawn from a large ongoing longitudinal study. We also investigated whether the impact of the events was moderated by neuroticism, and parental and peer support. All analyses were controlled for age, educational level, and sex. RESULTS: Results of latent difference score models indicated that experiencing an event did not predict regressions in identity. Congruence between the domain of the event and identity (i.e., educational or relational) did not affect the strength of the effects. Neuroticism and parental and peer support did not significantly moderate this link. However, social support was related to relational and educational identity. CONCLUSIONS: The link between stressful events and identity may not be as straightforward as would be expected based on identity theory, as our results did not show evidence for a link between these events and change in identity for all adolescents.

Clear Self, Better Relationships: Adolescents' Self-Concept Clarity and Relationship Quality With Parents and Peers Across 5 Years.

This study examined reciprocal associations between adolescents' self-concept clarity (SCC) and their relationship quality with parents and best friends in a five-wave longitudinal study from age 13 to 18 years. In all, 497 adolescents (57% boys) reported on their SCC and all informants (i.e., adolescents, both parents, and adolescents' best friends) reported on support and negative interaction. Within-person cross-lagged analyses provided systematic evidence for both parent effects and child effects, with the direction of effects being strongly dependent on the relational context. For example, higher maternal support predicted higher adolescent SCC, supporting a parent effects perspective, whereas higher SCC predicted lower paternal negative interaction, supporting a child effects perspective. Peer effects on adolescent SCC were not consistently found across adolescent and best friend reports.

Self-concept clarity across adolescence: longitudinal associations with open communication with parents and internalizing symptoms.

Higher self-concept clarity is related to several adjustment indices and may be promoted by open communication with parents, while problems with self-concept clarity development could enhance internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms) in adolescence. This longitudinal study examined linkages between self-concept clarity, adolescents' open communication with parents, and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms. Dutch youths (N = 323; 51.1 % girls; mean age Time 1 = 13.3 years) reported on these constructs over four consecutive annual measurements. Concurrent positive links between open communication and self-concept clarity were found at Time 1. Over time, higher levels of open communication with parents predicted higher self-concept clarity only in middle adolescence (mean age between 14 and 15 years). We also found concurrent associations between self-concept clarity and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Longitudinally, lower self-concept clarity predicted relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms across all waves, and also higher anxiety levels from Time 1 to Time 2. Conversely, higher levels of anxiety also predicted lower levels of self-concept clarity during the first three waves. Self-concept clarity did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms. This study is one of the first to investigate self-concept clarity across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety symptoms and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower self-concept clarity and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.