Identification with peers as a strategy to muddle through the troubles of the adolescent years

Problematic Social-Networks-Use in German Children and Adolescents-The Interaction of Need to Belong, Online Self-Regulative Competences, and Age

Adolescents nowadays spend much time communicating via social networks. Recent investigations also report a noticeable proportion showing a problematic usage behavior, underlining the importance of better understanding its development and maintenance in young individuals. Theoretical views on Internet-use disorders assume that specific predispositions and needs can contribute to addictive behaviors in interaction with further aspects including Internet-related cognitive biases. This study focuses on vulnerable individuals due to their age and investigates interactions between possible risk (need to belong, NTB) and protective factors (online self-regulative competences, OSRC). Participants (N = 466) between 10 and 17 years answered questionnaires assessing social-networks-use disorder symptoms, NTB, and OSRC. Moderated regression analysis revealed significant effects of age, NTB, and OSRC. Three-way interaction was also significant (potentially mainly caused by females), with highest social-networks-use disorder symptoms found for individuals with high NTB and low OSRC, especially when older. With high OSRC, symptoms were significantly lower for both younger and older individuals having high NTB. However, even if NTB was low, older individuals showed high social-networks-use disorder symptoms if their OSRC were low. The results highlight the importance of improving specific competences to prevent problematic usage behaviors, which should be considered in youth-tailored prevention and intervention programs.

Perceived Leisure Freedom and Activity Involvement among Mexican American Adolescents

This study examined the influence of perceptions of freedom in leisure on Mexican American adolescents' activity involvement. Subjects, 121 boys and 169 girls, ranged in age from 14 to 17 years and were drawn from a predominantly Mexican American population located in South Texas. Data were gathered through a self-report survey instrument consisting of a perceived freedom in leisure scale and an activity index. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between less perceived freedom to choose and participation as well as gender differences in perception of freedom from constraints to participating. Among boys, inability to satisfy intrinsic needs emerged as the strongest explanation of nonparticipation, whereas for girls lack of competence was.

Relationships between adolescent prosocial problem-solving strategies, prosocial behaviour, and social acceptance

This study examined the relationship between adolescents’ prosocial problem-solving strategies and prosocial behaviour, and their associations with social acceptance among their peers. Age- and gender-related variance was also examined. The subjects were 777 14-year-old adolescents (381 girls and 396 boys) and 877 17-year-olds (464 girls and 413 boys). Prosocial problem-solving strategies were measured by means of a self-rating questionnaire, while prosocial behaviour and social acceptance were evaluated in terms of the dimensions of social popularity and rejection as well as the classification of adolescents into popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average status groups, on the basis of peer nominations. The results showed that prosocial problem-solving strategies and prosocial behaviour were only minimally related, but both predicted social acceptance among peers. The rejected adolescents had low levels and the controversial adolescents high levels of both prosocial strategies and behaviour, while the popular and neglected adolescents did not differ from the average ones in terms of strategies, but they did in their behaviour. The popular adolescents had a high level, and the neglected adolescents a low level of prosocial behaviour. As a dimension, social popularity correlated positively and rejection negatively with prosocial behaviour but not with strategies. Analysis of gender and age differences revealed that the girls and the 14-year-olds achieved higher scores on both prosocial strategies and behaviour than the boys or the 17-year-olds. The results extend our knowledge of adolescent social functioning.

Strengthening grief support for adolescents coping with a peer’s death

This article offers suggestions for strengthening school-based grief support following an adolescent’s death. Such interventions must be considered within the context of: (a) development during adolescence; (b) the role of peers in adolescent development; and (c) the fact that an adolescent peer’s death is a non-normative life crisis in developed countries. Review of those three topics leads to an overview of death during adolescence; an exploration of adolescent bereavement, grief, and mourning; consideration of disenfranchised grief in relation to an adolescent peer’s death; and an integration of this foundational knowledge in supporting bereaved adolescents within a school setting.

“Any Girls Want to Chat Press 911”: Partner Selection in Monitored and Unmonitored Teen Chat Rooms

We examined the search for partners by participants in two teen chat services having different ecologies. Over 12,000 utterances from monitored and unmonitored chat rooms were analyzed to assess online partner selection attempts and to see how such attempts may be influenced by the presence of an adult monitor. We found that the search for partners is ubiquitous in adolescents' online haunts, just as it is in their offline lives, and approximately two requests for a partner occur each minute. Although partner selection appears to be an important activity in online teen chat rooms, there are differences in frequency and format (e.g., the use of numerals, sexualized requests) as a function of participants' age and gender, and chat room ecology (monitored vs. unmonitored).

Close relationships and social competence of hospitalized and nonhospitalized adolescents

This study was designed to examine the social relationships of adolescents with severe disorders. The study sample consisted of 33 adolescent inpatients in a psychiatric unit, as well as 33 nonhospitalized adolescents. Participants completed the Network of Relationship Inventory for an assessment of the quality of their relationships with mother, father, close friend, and other significant adults. In addition, friendship intimacy was assessed. Results showed nonhospitalized adolescents describing a close relationship with their parents, as well as with their close friends. Their relationships with their friends were mature. Hospitalized adolescents described a less close relationship with their parents, whereas they were close to and valued their relationships with their friends and other significant adults. Though both groups described similar levels of emotional closeness, hospitalized adolescents tended more to exert control or to evince a penchant for similarity to the other in their friendships. Results are discussed within the framework of adolescent social tasks.

Intimacy and psychosocial adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

This study examined the association between 8 aspects of friend intimacy and 3 measures of psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem, deviant behavior, and purpose in life) among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The respondents were 289 students between 16 and 19 years of age from a cross-sectional study in Hong Kong. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed (a) friend intimacy was positively associated with self-esteem and purpose in life, and (b) friend intimacy was negatively correlated with deviant behavior. Results indicated that friend intimacy is an important variable that affects some aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Moreover, results of multiple regression analyses indicated that different measures of friend intimacy are related to deviant behavior and purpose in life. Therefore, it is crucial to study the relationship between different aspects of friend intimacy and different aspects of psychosocial adjustment among adolescents.

Parenting their adolescents: the experiences of Jordanian immigrant women in California

Having their children enter adolescence presents new demands on the role functions of Jordanian immigrant women in the United States. Such demands require modifications in traditional parenting approaches. The authors attempted to uncover and describe the experiences of Jordanian immigrant mothers (N = 30) in parenting their adolescents in the United States. Content and narrative analysis revealed the dynamic processes that the mothers used in raising their children. They continuously attempted to balance the need for their teens to maintain a Jordanian ethnic identity and the need for them to become integrated into the new community. Their parenting was driven by an attempt to avoid loss of honor and bad reputation. Four aspects of the maternal role emerged from the analysis: mothering through nurturing the adolescents and promoting cultural identity, disciplining for cultural adherence, advocacy and mediation, and vigilant parenting. The findings support a dynamic interplay between cultural and structural conditions in shaping the experiences of Jordanian immigrant women.