Forms and Functions of Adolescent Peer Aggression Associated With High Levels of Peer Status

Concurrent (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) associations between adolescents’ aggression, victimization, and high status were examined to test the hypothesis that forms and functions of aggression most likely to affect the status hierarchy will be associated with reputation-based measures of popularity. In Study 1, 235 10th-grade adolescents’ overt, relational, and reputational forms of aggression and victimization were assessed. Functions of aggression (instrumental, reactive, bullying) within each form were also examined. Results supported the general prediction that aggression is associated with high peer-perceived popularity, but low likability (i.e., social preference) among peers. Significant curvilinear trends revealed a subtle association between aggression and low levels of popularity as well. Regarding forms and functions, results indicated that both the provocateurs and targets of reputational aggression had high levels of peer-perceived popularity; proactive uses of aggression were also associated with high popularity among adolescents, while reactive aggression was associated with low social preference. Longitudinal analyses of the same participants in Study 2 indicated that high peer-perceived popularity and low social preference predicted all forms of aggressive behavior over a 17-month interval. Overall, the results reveal complex associations between aggression and status that help to explain possible social reinforcement associated with aggression and clarify the pattern of heterogeneous aggressive behaviors exhibited by adolescents at various points along the status continuum

Forms and Functions of Adolescent Peer Aggression Associated with High Levels of Peer Status.

Concurrent (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) associations between adolescents' aggression, victimization, and high status were examined to test the hypothesis that forms and functions of aggression most likely to affect the status hierarchy will be associated with reputation-based measures of popularity. In Study 1, 235 10 th -grade adolescents' overt, relational, and reputational forms of aggression and victimization were assessed. Functions of aggression (instrumental, reactive, bullying) within each form were also examined. Results supported the general prediction that aggression is associated with high peer-perceived popularity, but low likability (i.e., social preference) among peers. Significant curvilinear trends revealed a subtle association between aggression and low levels of popularity as well. Regarding forms and functions, results indicated that both the provocateurs and targets of reputational aggression had high levels of peer-perceived popularity; proactive uses of aggression were also associated with high popularity among adolescents, while reactive aggression was associated with low social preference. Longitudinal analyses of the same participants in Study 2 indicated that high peer-perceived popularity and low social preference predicted all forms of aggressive behavior over a 17-month interval. Overall, the results reveal complex associations between aggression and status that help to explain possible social reinforcement associated with aggression and clarify the pattern of heterogeneous aggressive behaviors exhibited by adolescents at various points along the status continuum

Revealing the Form and Function of Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors: A Real-Time Ecological Assessment Study among Adolescents and Young Adults

Self-injurious behaviors are among the leading causes of death worldwide. However, the basic nature of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) is not well understood because prior studies have relied on long-term, retrospective, aggregate, self-report assessment methods. The authors used ecological momentary assessment methods to measure suicidal and nonsuicidal SITBs as they naturally occur in real time. Participants were 30 adolescents and young adults with a recent history of self-injury who completed signal- and event-contingent assessments on handheld computers over a 14-day period, resulting in the collection of data on 1,262 thought and behavior episodes. Participants reported an average of 5.0 thoughts of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) per week, most often of moderate intensity and short duration (1–30 min), and 1.6 episodes of NSSI per week. Suicidal thoughts occurred less frequently (1.1 per week), were of longer duration, and led to self-injurious behavior (i.e., suicide attempts) less often. Details are reported about the contexts in which SITBs most often occur (e.g., what participants were doing, who they were with, and what they were feeling before and after each episode). This study provides a first glimpse of how SITBs are experienced in everyday life and has significant implications for scientific and clinical work on self-injurious behaviors.Psycholog

Technology-Based Communication and the Development of Interpersonal Competencies Within Adolescent Romantic Relationships: A Preliminary Investigation

This study investigated longitudinal associations between adolescents’ technology-based communication and the development of interpersonal competencies within romantic relationships. A school-based sample of 487 adolescents (58% girls; Mage = 14.1) participated at two time points, one year apart. Participants reported (1) proportions of daily communication with romantic partners via traditional modes (in person, on the phone) versus technological modes (text messaging, social networking sites) and (2) competence in the romantic relationship skill domains of negative assertion and conflict management. Results of cross-lagged panel models indicated that adolescents who engaged in greater proportions of technology-based communication with romantic partners reported lower levels of interpersonal competencies one year later, but not vice versa; associations were particularly strong for boys

Beyond Homophily: A Decade of Advances in Understanding Peer Influence Processes

This article reviews empirical and theoretical contributions to a multidisciplinary understanding of peer influence processes in adolescence over the past decade. Five themes of peer influence research from this decade were identified, including a broadening of the range of behaviors for which peer influence occurs, distinguishing the sources of influence, probing the conditions under which influence is amplified/attenuated (moderators), testing theoretically based models of peer influence processes (mechanisms), and preliminary exploration of behavioral neuroscience perspectives on peer influence. This review highlights advances in each of these areas, underscores gaps in current knowledge of peer influence processes, and outlines important challenges for future research

Adolescent Susceptibility to Peer Influence in Sexual Situations

One consistent predictor of adolescents’ engagement in sexual risk behavior is their belief that peers are engaging in similar behavior; however, not all youth are equally susceptible to these peer influence effects. Understanding individual differences in susceptibility to peer influence is critical to identifying adolescents at risk for negative health outcomes. The purpose of this project was to identify predictors of susceptibility to peer influence using a novel performance-based measure of sexual risk-taking

Longitudinal Prediction of Adolescent Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Examination of a Cognitive Vulnerability-Stress Model

Virtually no longitudinal research has examined psychological characteristics or events that may lead to adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). This study tested a cognitive vulnerability-stress model as a predictor of NSSI trajectories. Clinically-referred adolescents (n =143; 72% girls) completed measures of NSSI, depression, attributional style, and interpersonal stressors during baseline hospitalization. Levels of NSSI were reassessed 3, 6, 9, 15, and 18 months later. Latent growth curve analyses suggested that a cognitive vulnerability-stress interaction significantly predicted increases in NSSI between 9 and 18 months post-baseline. This association remained significant while considering the longitudinal association between depressive symptoms and NSSI; results were not significantly mediated by depressive symptoms at 9 months

Experimentally measured susceptibility to peer influence and adolescent sexual behavior trajectories: A preliminary study.

A performance-based measure of peer influence susceptibility was examined as a moderator of the longitudinal association between peer norms and trajectories of adolescents' number of sexual intercourse partners. Seventy-one 9th grade adolescents (52% female) participated in an experimental “chat room” paradigm involving “e-confederates” who endorsed sexual risk behaviors. Changes in participants' responses to risk scenarios before versus during the “chat room” were used as a performance-based measure of peer influence susceptibility. Participants reported their perceptions of popular peers' number of sexual intercourse partner sat baseline, and self-reported their number of sexual intercourse partners at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months later. Susceptibility was examined as a moderator of the longitudinal association between perceptions of popular peers' number of sexual intercourse partners and trajectories of adolescents' own numbers of partners. High perceptions of the number of popular peers' sexual intercourse partners combined with high peer influence susceptibility predicted steeper longitudinal trajectories of adolescents' number of partners. Results provide novel preliminary evidence regarding the importance of peer influence susceptibility in adolescents' development of sexual behaviors

Randomized Trial of a Single-Session Growth Mind-Set Intervention for Rural Adolescents’ Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

Objective. Adolescents living in rural regions of the United States face substantial barriers to accessing mental health services, creating needs for more accessible, non-stigmatizing, briefer interventions. Research suggests that single-session “growth mindset” interventions (GM-SSIs)—which teach the belief that personal traits are malleable through effort—may reduce internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. However, GM-SSIs have not been evaluated among rural youth, and their effects on internalizing and externalizing problems have not been assessed within a single trial, rendering their relative benefits for different problem types unclear. We examined whether a computerized GM-SSI could reduce depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and conduct problems in adolescent girls from rural areas of the U.S. Method. Tenth-grade girls (N=222, M age=15.2, 38% white, 25% Black, 29% Hispanic) from four rural, low-income high schools in the Southeastern United States were randomized to receive a 45-minute GM-SSI or a computer-based, active control program, teaching healthy sexual behaviors. Girls self-reported depression symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and conduct problem behaviors at baseline and four-month follow-up. Results. Relative to girls in the control group, girls receiving the GM-SSI reported modest but significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms (d=.23) and likelihood of reporting elevated depressive symptoms (d=.29) from baseline to follow-up. GM-SSI effects were nonsignificant for social anxiety symptoms, although a small effect size emerged in the hypothesized direction (d=.21), and nonsignificant for change in conduct problems (d=.01). Conclusions. A free-of-charge, 45-minute GM-SSI may help reduce internalizing distress, especially depression—but not conduct problems—in rural adolescent girls

Revealing the form and function of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors: A real-time ecological assessment study among adolescents and young adults.

Self-injurious behaviors are among the leading causes of death worldwide. However, the basic nature of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) is not well-understood because prior studies have relied on long-term, retrospective, aggregate, self-report assessment methods. We used ecological momentary assessment methods to measure suicidal and non-suicidal SITBs as they naturally occur in real-time. Participants were 30 adolescents and young adults with a recent history of self-injury who completed signal- and event-contingent assessments on handheld computers over a 14-day period, resulting in the collection of data on 1262 thought and behavior episodes. Participants reported an average of 5.0 thoughts of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) per week, most often of moderate intensity and short duration (1–30 minutes), and 1.6 episodes of NSSI per week. Suicidal thoughts occurred less frequently (1.1 per week), were of longer duration, and led to self-injurious behavior (i.e., suicide attempts) less often. Details are reported about the contexts in which SITBs most often occur (e.g., what participants were doing, who they were with, and what they were feeling before and after each episode). This study provides a first glimpse of how SITBs are experienced in everyday life and has significant implications for scientific and clinical work on self-injurious behaviors