The dimensionality of the Conflict Resolution Styles Inventory across age and relationships.

Close interpersonal conflicts between parents and children, marital or romantic partners, and between friends are common, and adjustment in youth and adults depends on how these conflicts are managed. While conflict management is important for relationships and adjustment, the structure of conflict management in adults or in youths has rarely been examined. Knowing how conflict management is structured, and whether this structure changes with age and relationships, is important to understanding what factors influence the development of conflict management skills, and how to intervene. In the current study, we explored the unidimensional vs. multidimensional structure of conflict management in family relationships, friendships and romantic relationships across adolescence and adulthood. The sample consisted of 497 Dutch adolescents (57% boys, Mage = 13.03, SD = 0.46, 11-15 years old) who were followed over 11 years in 9 measurement waves, and their parents, siblings, best friends (six waves), and romantic partner (three waves). First-order factor analyses (CFA) showed that the structure of conflict management is similar for adolescents and adults, across relationships. The results of second-order models, including the theoretical higher dimensions positive/negative conflict management and engagement/disengagement, showed no support for these higher dimensions. The results of bifactor models showed differences between adults and youths: while positive problem solving was part of the general factor of conflict management in adults, it was not part of this general factor in adolescents. The general factor was linked to increases in internalizing and externalizing problems, and with decreases in prosocial behavior. Overall, the bifactor models increased the interpretability and validity of the conflict management measure.

Longitudinal Associations Between Support and Prosocial Behavior Across Adolescence: The Roles of Fathers, Mothers, Siblings, and Friends.

Family members and friends can play an important role in adolescents' prosocial behavior. To better understand the relation between support and prosocial behavior in adolescence, it's important to conduct longitudinal studies that distinguish between within-dyad variance and between-dyad variance. The current study investigated longitudinal associations between adolescents' prosocial behavior, autonomy support, and emotional support from family and friends across adolescence. Across six annual years, 497 Dutch adolescents (284 boys; mean age T1 = 13.03 years, SDage = 0.46), fathers, mothers, siblings, and friends reported on their prosocial behavior. Adolescents also reported on perceived autonomy and emotional support. Between-dyads almost all associations of support and prosocial behavior of family members and friends with adolescents' prosocial behavior were significant, with higher levels of adolescents' prosocial behavior being associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior and support from fathers, mothers and friends. Within-dyads, several concurrent associations were significant, but within-dyads links between prosocial behavior and autonomy support are particularly driven by adolescent-mother or adolescent-sibling effects. This study highlights processes that occurred either at the between-dyad level or at the within-dyad level, but that varied per relationship type and that adolescents are the main catalysts in within-dyads changes in prosocial behavior and support. Preregistration: This study was preregistered on 20 January 2020 at https://osf.io/vxkm3/?view_only=dca87fd1585c444ba5cd5a00c22280ae .

Within-family linkages between parental monitoring and adolescents externalizing problems with autonomy support as a moderator.

Parents' monitoring efforts are thought to be effective in reducing children's future externalizing problems. Empirical evidence for this claim, however, is limited, as only few studies have unraveled the temporal ordering of these constructs. The present six-wave longitudinal study contributed to the existing literature by examining within-family linkages between monitoring efforts (behavioral control and solicitation) and adolescents' externalizing behaviors while controlling for between-family differences. In addition, it was assessed whether these associations differed when using child versus parent reports, differed for less versus more autonomy-supportive parents, and differed for fathers' versus mothers' monitoring efforts. Longitudinal data (six annual waves) of 497 adolescents (56.9% boys, Mage at T1 = 13.03, SD = 0.46), their mothers (N = 495, Mage at T1 = 44.41, SD = 4.45), and their fathers (N = 446, Mage at T1 = 46.74, SD = 5.10) of the Dutch study Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR) were used. Results showed no evidence for the claim that parents' monitoring efforts predict future externalizing problems. In contrast, we found some evidence for the idea that parents' monitoring efforts change in reaction to changes in externalizing problems; when adolescents reported higher levels of externalizing problems than usual in 1 year, this predicted less behavioral control from mothers in the next year. Linkages between monitoring efforts and externalizing problems did not differ between less or more autonomy-supportive parents. Overall, our findings suggest that monitoring efforts are not effective, but also not damaging, in relation to adolescents' externalizing problems.

Negative parenting, epigenetic age, and psychological problems: prospective associations from adolescence to young adulthood.

BACKGROUND: Epigenetic clocks are based on DNA methylation levels of several genomic loci and have been developed as indices of biological aging. Studies examining the effects of stressful environmental exposures have shown that stress is associated with differences between epigenetic age and chronological age (i.e., Epigenetic Age acceleration, EA). This pre-registered longitudinal study examined the long-term effects of negative parenting and psychological problems throughout adolescence (ages 13-17 years) on EA in late adolescence (age 17 years) and EA changes from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 25 years). Further, it examined how (change in) EA is related to changes in psychological problems from adolescence to young adulthood. METHODS: We used data from a sample of 434 participants followed from age 13 to age 25, with saliva collected at ages 17 and 25. We estimated EA using four commonly used epigenetic clocks and analyzed the data using Structural Equation Modeling. RESULTS: While negative parenting was not related to EA nor change in EA, (change in) EA was related to developmental indices such as externalizing problems and self-concept clarity. CONCLUSIONS: Declining psychological well-being during young adulthood was preceded by EA.

Using machine learning to identify early predictors of adolescent emotion regulation development.

As 20% of adolescents develop emotion regulation difficulties, it is important to identify important early predictors thereof. Using the machine learning algorithm SEM-forests, we ranked the importance of (87) candidate variables assessed at age 13 in predicting quadratic latent trajectory models of emotion regulation development from age 14 to 18. Participants were 497 Dutch families. Results indicated that the most important predictors were individual differences (e.g., in personality), aspects of relationship quality and conflict behaviors with parents and peers, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Relatively less important were demographics, bullying, delinquency, substance use, and specific parenting practices-although negative parenting practices ranked higher than positive ones. We discuss implications for theory and interventions, and present an open source risk assessment tool, ERRATA.

Neurobiological correlates of antisociality across adolescence and young adulthood: a multi-sample, multi-method study.

BACKGROUND: Antisociality across adolescence and young adulthood puts individuals at high risk of developing a variety of problems. Prior research has linked antisociality to autonomic nervous system and endocrinological functioning. However, there is large heterogeneity in antisocial behaviors, and these neurobiological measures are rarely studied conjointly, limited to small specific studies with narrow age ranges, and yield mixed findings due to the type of behavior examined. METHODS: We harmonized data from 1489 participants (9-27 years, 67% male), from six heterogeneous samples. In the resulting dataset, we tested relations between distinct dimensions of antisociality and heart rate, pre-ejection period (PEP), respiratory sinus arrhythmia, respiration rate, skin conductance levels, testosterone, basal cortisol, and the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and test the role of age throughout adolescence and young adulthood. RESULTS: Three dimensions of antisociality were uncovered: 'callous-unemotional (CU)/manipulative traits', 'intentional aggression/conduct', and 'reactivity/impulsivity/irritability'. Shorter PEPs and higher testosterone were related to CU/manipulative traits, and a higher CAR is related to both CU/manipulative traits and intentional aggression/conduct. These effects were stable across age. CONCLUSIONS: Across a heterogeneous sample and consistent across development, the CAR may be a valuable measure to link to CU/manipulative traits and intentional aggression, while sympathetic arousal and testosterone are additionally valuable to understand CU/manipulative traits. Together, these findings deepen our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying different components of antisociality. Finally, we illustrate the potential of using current statistical techniques for combining multiple datasets to draw robust conclusions about biobehavioral associations.

Do You See What I See? Longitudinal Associations Between Mothers' and Adolescents' Perceptions of Their Relationship and Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms.

This 6-year community study examined how discrepancies in mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of their relationship were longitudinally associated with adolescent internalizing symptoms, and vice versa. 497 adolescents (57% boys, Mage T1 = 13.03, SDage = 0.46) and their mothers reported in 6 annual waves on conflict and warmth in the mother-adolescent relationship and adolescents reported on their depressive and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptoms. Latent Congruence Models suggested that both adolescent depressive and GAD symptoms significantly predicted higher levels of conflict as well as stronger discrepancies in perceptions of conflict 1-year later. In turn, higher levels of conflict significantly predicted both adolescent depressive and GAD symptoms 1-year later. For warmth, lower levels significantly predicted adolescent depressive symptoms 1-year later. Concluding, these findings suggest (1) more systematic evidence for longitudinal associations between conflict than warmth in the mother-adolescent relationship and adolescent internalizing symptoms; (2) support for a transactional model, including support for both interpersonal scar or symptom-driven effects (concerning both levels of and mother-adolescent discrepancies in conflict) and interpersonal risk or relationship-driven effects (concerning levels of both conflict and warmth); (3) longitudinal effects from adolescent internalizing symptoms to mother-adolescent discrepancies, but not vice versa; and (4) strong consistency in patterns of findings across both adolescent depressive and GAD symptoms, with few differential longitudinal associations with aspects of mother-adolescent relationship quality. Thereby, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of the direction of effects between adolescent internalizing symptoms and both levels of and discrepancies in mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of their relationship.

Perceived Support from Best Friends and Depressive Symptoms During Adolescence: Disentangling Personal from Dyadic Level Effects.

Support from best friends is an important interpersonal factor in adolescent depression development but is often studied from an individual perspective in which dyadic effects are overlooked. This study aims to a) test whether differences in support vary at the individual level and are related to individual differences in the development of depressive symptoms, whether these differences vary at the dyadic level and are related to dyadic depression symptom development, or both, b) explore whether these associations are moderated by initial levels of depressive symptoms on the individual and/or dyadic level. Data from 452 adolescents (Mage = 13.03), nested in 226 same-gender friendship dyads (60.6% boy-dyads) who participated in the RADAR-Y project were included. Best friends self-reported annually (2006-2008; 3 waves) on their own depressive symptoms and perceived support from their friend. Multilevel models showed no direct association between support and depression development on the individual or dyadic level. However, the initial level of dyads' depressive symptoms moderated the association between dyadic support and dyads' subsequent depression symptom development. When dyads experienced relatively more initial depressive symptoms, higher levels of dyadic support were associated with relative increasing dyadic depressive symptoms. When dyads experienced relatively few initial depressive symptoms, higher levels of dyadic support were associated with relative decreasing dyadic depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that support from best friends can either protect against or exacerbate the development of depressive symptoms for friends, depending on the initial level of depressive symptoms of the dyad.

The future is present in the past: A meta-analysis on the longitudinal associations of parent-adolescent relationships with peer and romantic relationships.

Positive peer and romantic relationships are crucial for adolescents' positive adjustment and relationships with parents lay the foundation for these relationships. This longitudinal meta-analysis examined how parent-adolescent relationships continue into later peer and romantic relationships. Included longitudinal studies (k = 54 involving peer relationships, k = 38 involving romantic relationships) contained demographically diverse samples from predominantly Western cultural contexts. Multilevel meta-regressions indicated that supportive and negative parent-adolescent relationships were associated with supportive and negative future peer and romantic relationships. Meta-analytic structural equation modeling (k = 54) indicated that supportive parent-adolescent relationships unidirectionally predicted supportive and negative peer relationships, while negative parent-adolescent relationships were bidirectionally associated with supportive and negative peer relationships. Maintaining mutually supportive relationships with parents may help adolescents to develop positive social relationships.

Identities: A developmental social-psychological perspective.

In this contribution, we review research that uses a cross-fertilisation approach to integrate developmental and social-psychological perspectives on how identities are formed and changed over time and how identity processes are genuinely social, being embedded in social contexts and fed by social contents. First, we outline the three-factor identity model as a parsimonious approach to understanding the dynamics of identity development. Second, we review empirical studies with longitudinal approaches to shed light on how identity processes are embedded in key contexts such as family, friendships and society at large through behaviours such as civic engagement. Third, we discuss the interplay between personal and social identities. We conclude by highlighting how adopting a cross-fertilisation approach that combines social-psychological and developmental perspective can significantly advance the theoretical understanding of identity dynamics. Finally, we address similarities and differences between personal identity and social identity approaches, and we provide an agenda for future research.

Quality over quantity: A transactional model of social withdrawal and friendship development in late adolescence.

The aim of this study was to test a longitudinal, transactional model that describes how social withdrawal and friendship development are interrelated in late adolescence, and to investigate if post-secondary transitions are catalysts of change for highly withdrawn adolescents' friendships. Unilateral friendship data of 1,019 adolescents (61.3% female, 91% Dutch-origin) from the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohort were collected five times from ages 17 to 18 years. Social withdrawal was assessed at 16 and 19 years. The transactional model was tested within a Structural Equation Modeling framework, with intercepts and slopes of friendship quantity, quality, and stability as mediators and residential transitions, education transitions, and sex as moderators. The results confirmed the presence of a transactional relation between withdrawal and friendship quality. Whereas higher age 16 withdrawal predicted having fewer, lower-quality, and less-stable friendships, only having lower-quality friendships, in turn, predicted higher age 19 withdrawal, especially in girls. Residential transitions were catalysts of change for highly withdrawn youth's number of friends: higher withdrawal predicted a moderate increase in number of friends for adolescents who relocated, and no change for those who made an educational transition or did not transition. Taken together, these results indicate that the quality of friendships-over and above number of friends and the stability of those friendships-is particularly important for entrenching or diminishing withdrawal in late adolescence, and that relocating provides an opportunity for withdrawn late adolescents to expand their friendship networks.

Stable Anxiety and Depression Trajectories in Late Adolescence for Oral Contraceptive Users.

Background: The use of oral contraceptives (OCs) has been associated with increased incidences of anxiety and depression, for which adolescents seem to be particularly vulnerable. Rather than looking at singular outcomes, we examined whether OC use is associated with depressive and anxiety symptom trajectories from early adolescence into early adulthood. Materials and Methods: Data from 178 girls were drawn from the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR-Y) younger cohort study. We used assessments on 9 waves from age 13 until 24. Developmental trajectories of ratings on the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS-2) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) were compared between never and ever users of OCs. Results: Never users showed increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms in late adolescence, whereas OC users showed a stable level of symptoms throughout adolescence. This effect remained after adjusting for baseline differences between groups in romantic relationships, sexual debut, educational level, smoking, drinking, and drug use. Age of OC use onset did not significantly predict symptom development. Conclusions: OC use in adolescence was related to an altered developmental trajectory of internalizing symptoms, in which OC users did not show an increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms in late adolescence, whereas never users did. The question remains whether this altered symptom trajectory can be considered a protective effect of OC use on psychopathology. Additional research is needed to improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of OC use on mental health.

Peer Victimization, Internalizing Problems, and the Buffering Role of Friendship Quality: Disaggregating Between- and Within-Person Associations.

Although many studies have shown an association between peer victimization and internalizing problems, which may be buffered by friendship quality, it is unclear whether these associations apply to within-person processes as well. This would mean that at times when adolescents experience more victimization than they usually do, they also experience more internalizing problems. The current study disaggregated between- and within-person variation to examine the association between peer victimization and symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the protective effect of friend support and conflict. Participants were 497 Dutch adolescents (56% boys) with a mean age of 13.03 (SDage = 0.45, ranging from 11.68 to 15.56 at Wave 1). They participated in a 6-wave questionnaire study, with each wave taking place approximately one year after the previous. The results showed that peer victimization was associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety across adolescence, both between and within persons. Friend support buffered this association at the between-person level, but not the within-person level. This study highlights the impact of peer victimization and suggests that friend support may partly protect adolescents from the effects of peer victimization.

Parent-child personality similarity and differential autonomy support toward siblings.

Since parental differential treatment is related to more adjustment difficulties over and above main effects of parental treatment, it is important to understand under what conditions differential parenting is likely to occur. Using a within-family design, this study focused on between-sibling differences in parent-child personality similarity as a potential predictor of differential autonomy support from fathers and mothers. Longitudinal data (6 annual waves) of 497 target adolescents (56.9% boys, Mage at T1 = 13.03), one of their siblings (N = 416, Mage at T1 = 14.92), their fathers (N = 446, Mage at T1 = 46.74), and their mothers (N = 495, Mage at T1 = 44.41) were used. Parent-child personality similarity was determined based on distinctive profile correlations using the Big Five personality inventory. Structural Equation Modeling showed that the association between sibling differences in mother-child similarity and maternal autonomy support was positive and significant at the between-family level, and not at the within-family level. This means that, in families where one sibling was relatively more similar to the mother, the sibling with closer resemblance to the mother received relatively more autonomy support. No significant effects were found for fathers' differential autonomy support. The present study highlights the importance of considering parent-child similarity in personality for understanding differences between siblings in maternal autonomy support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Explaining Heterogeneity of Daily Conflict Spillover in the Family: The Role of Dyadic Marital Conflict Patterns.

In this multi-informant, longitudinal, daily diary study, we investigated whether long-term dyadic patterns of marital conflict resolution explain the heterogeneity in short-term day-to-day cross-lagged associations between marital conflict intensity and mother-adolescent conflict intensity. The sample consisted of 419 adolescents (44.6% girls, Mage = 13.02, SD = 0.44, at T1; Mage = 17.02, SD = 0.44, at T5), their mothers (N = 419, Mage = 44.48, SD = 4.17, at T1), and their fathers (N = 419, Mage = 46.76, SD = 4.99, at T1). Mothers and fathers reported on their marital conflict resolution strategies annually across 5 years. Mother-father daily conflict intensity (mother-reported) and mother-adolescent daily conflict intensity (mother- and adolescent-reported) were assessed for 75 days across 5 years. We hypothesized that long-term marital conflict resolution patterns would moderate the short-term daily dynamics of conflict between the marital and the mother-adolescent dyads. Latent Class Growth Analysis revealed four types of families based on long-term dyadic marital conflict resolution, including families where mostly constructive or mostly destructive conflict resolution was used. Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling was used to investigate the daily levels and short-term daily dynamics of conflict, revealing that for most families there were no day-to-day lagged associations between marital conflict and mother-adolescent conflict. Results showed that long-term conflict resolution patterns did not moderate the short-term dynamics of daily conflict. However, differences among long-term marital conflict resolution patterns were found in the levels of daily conflict, such that in families with long-term destructive conflict resolution patterns, daily conflict intensity was higher.

En este estudio de informantes múltiples, longitudinal y de registro diario, investigamos si los patrones diádicos de resolución de conflictos conyugales a largo plazo explican la heterogeneidad en las asociaciones diarias de retardo cruzado a corto plazo entre la intensidad del conflicto conyugal y la intensidad del conflicto entre las madres y los adolescentes. La muestra estuvo integrada por 419 adolescentes (el 44.6 % niñas, edad promedio = 13.02, desviación típica = 0.44, en la T1; edad promedio = 17.02, desviación típica= 0.44, en la T5), sus madres (número = 419, edad promedio = 44.48, desviación típica = 4.17, en la T1), y sus padres (número = 419, edad promedio= 46.76, desviación típica = 4.99, en la T1). Las madres y los padres informaron sus estrategias de resolución de conflictos conyugales anualmente durante cinco años. Se evaluaron la intensidad del conflicto diario entre la madre y el padre (informado por la madre) y la intensidad del conflicto diario entre la madre y el adolescente (informado por la madre y el adolescente) durante 75 días a lo largo de cinco años. Planteamos la hipótesis de que los patrones de resolución de conflicto conyugal a largo plazo moderarían la dinámica diaria de conflicto a corto plazo entre la díada conyugal y la díada madre-adolescente. El análisis de crecimiento de clases latentes reveló cuatro tipos de familias sobre la base de la resolución de conflictos conyugales diádicos a largo plazo, incluidas las familias donde se usó la resolución de conflictos principalmente constructiva o principalmente destructiva. Se utilizó el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales dinámicas para investigar los niveles diarios y la dinámica diaria de conflicto a corto plazo, el cual reveló que para la mayoría de las familias no hubo asociaciones diarias retardadas entre el conflicto conyugal y el conflicto entre madres y adolescentes. Los resultados indicaron que los patrones de resolución de conflictos a largo plazo no moderaron la dinámica a corto plazo del conflicto diario. Sin embargo, se encontraron diferencias entre los patrones de resolución de conflictos conyugales a largo plazo en los niveles de conflicto diario, de modo que, en las familias con patrones de resolución de conflictos destructivos a largo plazo, la intensidad del conflicto diario fue mayor.

Longitudinal Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Quality of Romantic Relationships in Late Adolescence.

While youth with higher levels of depressive symptoms appear to have lower quality romantic relationships, little is known about longitudinal associations for both men and women. Therefore, this study used longitudinal dyadic design to examine both concurrent and longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and positive as well as negative aspects of romantic relationship quality across two waves one- or two-years apart. The sample consisted of 149 Dutch stable heterosexual couples (149 females and 142 males participated at T1) in a stable romantic relationship in late adolescence with a mean age of 20.43 years old at the first wave. Actor-Partner Interdependence models were used to examine potential bidirectional associations over time between depressive symptoms and romantic relationship quality, above and beyond potential concurrent associations and stability of the constructs over time, from the perspective of both romantic partners. Results consistently indicated that men and women who reported higher levels of depressive symptoms perceived less positive aspects (intimacy and support) and more negative aspects (conflict) in their romantic relationship over time. In addition, unexpectedly, when men and women perceived more positive relationship aspects, their partners reported higher levels of depressive symptoms over time. These findings stress that depressive symptoms can interfere with the formation of high-quality romantic relationships.

Identity development across the transition from secondary to tertiary education: A 9-wave longitudinal study.

INTRODUCTION: The transition from secondary to tertiary education could be considered as an opportunity for psychological growth and might play a meaningful role in educational identity development during adolescence. In the present study, we aimed to examine how adolescents differ in their educational identity development across the normative transition from secondary to tertiary education in the Netherlands, and if differences between classes could be described at the socio-demographic, academic, individual, and relational level. METHOD: The present study conducted parallel process piecewise Latent Class Growth Analyses in a sample of 685 Dutch participants (47.0% girls, Mage = 17.29 years old at the time of transition). Longitudinal data from adolescent (bi)annual surveys were centered around the final year of secondary school, with 4 years before the final year and 4 years after. RESULTS: Heterogeneity in the development of identity commitment and reconsideration across the transition was best classified by a 4-class solution. These four classes were labelled Increasing Self-Certainty, Stable Self-Certainty, Post-Transition Uncertainty, and Enduring Uncertainty. Adolescents' patterns of identity development were meaningfully associated with sociodemographic, academic, individual, and relational characteristics. CONCLUSION: The present study discusses the merits of taking a person-centered approach, which indicated adaptive development for the majority of adolescents but also captured distinct patterns of struggles in educational identity development across the transition for a sizable minority.

Social Withdrawal and Romantic Relationships: A Longitudinal Study in Early Adulthood.

Involvement in romantic relationships is a salient developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood, and deviations from normative romantic development are linked to adverse outcomes. This study investigated to what extent social withdrawal contributed to deviations from normative romantic development, and vice versa, and the interplay between withdrawal and couples' relationship perceptions. The sample included 1710 young adults (55-61% female) from the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey cohort and their romantic partners. Data were collected across 4 waves, covering romantic relationships from ages 17 to 29 years. The results showed that higher withdrawal predicted a higher likelihood of romantic non-involvement by adulthood, consistently being single at subsequent waves, and entering one's first relationship when older. Withdrawal moderately decreased when youth entered their first relationship. Male's withdrawal in particular affected romantic relationship qualities and dynamics. These results provide new insights into the developmental sequelae of withdrawn young adults' romantic relationship development.

Systematically Defined Informative Priors in Bayesian Estimation: An Empirical Application on the Transmission of Internalizing Symptoms Through Mother-Adolescent Interaction Behavior.

BACKGROUND: Bayesian estimation with informative priors permits updating previous findings with new data, thus generating cumulative knowledge. To reduce subjectivity in the process, the present study emphasizes how to systematically weigh and specify informative priors and highlights the use of different aggregation methods using an empirical example that examined whether observed mother-adolescent positive and negative interaction behavior mediate the associations between maternal and adolescent internalizing symptoms across early to mid-adolescence in a 3-year longitudinal multi-method design. METHODS: The sample consisted of 102 mother-adolescent dyads (39.2% girls, M age T1 = 13.0). Mothers and adolescents reported on their internalizing symptoms and their interaction behaviors were observed during a conflict task. We systematically searched for previous studies and used an expert-informed weighting system to account for their relevance. Subsequently, we aggregated the (power) priors using three methods: linear pooling, logarithmic pooling, and fitting a normal distribution to the linear pool by means of maximum likelihood estimation. We compared the impact of the three differently specified informative priors and default priors on the prior predictive distribution, shrinkage, and the posterior estimates. RESULTS: The prior predictive distributions for the three informative priors were quite similar and centered around the observed data mean. The shrinkage results showed that the logarithmic pooled priors were least affected by the data. Most posterior estimates were similar across the different priors. Some previous studies contained extremely specific information, resulting in bimodal posterior distributions for the analyses with linear pooled prior distributions. The posteriors following the fitted normal priors and default priors were very similar. Overall, we found that maternal, but not adolescent, internalizing symptoms predicted subsequent mother-adolescent interaction behavior, whereas negative interaction behavior seemed to predict subsequent internalizing symptoms. Evidence regarding mediation effects remained limited. CONCLUSION: A systematic search for previous information and an expert-built weighting system contribute to a clear specification of power priors. How information from multiple previous studies should be included in the prior depends on theoretical considerations (e.g., the prior is an updated Bayesian distribution), and may also be affected by pragmatic considerations regarding the impact of the previous results at hand (e.g., extremely specific previous results).

On Imbalance of Impulse Control and Sensation Seeking and Adolescent Risk: An Intra-individual Developmental Test of the Dual Systems and Maturational Imbalance Models.

Heterogeneity in development of imbalance between impulse control and sensation seeking has not been studied until now. The present study scrutinized this heterogeneity and the link between imbalance and adolescent risk. Seven-wave data of 7,558 youth (50.71% males; age range from 12/13 until 24/25) were used. Three developmental trajectories were identified. The first trajectory, "sensation seeking to balanced sensation seeking", included participants with a higher level of sensation seeking than impulse control across all ages. The second trajectory, "moderate dominant control", included participants showing moderate and increasing impulse control relative to sensation seeking across all ages. The third trajectory, "strong late dominant control", included participants showing the highest level of impulse control which was about as strong as sensation seeking from early to middle adolescence and became substantially stronger from late adolescence to early adulthood. Although the systematic increase of impulse control in all subgroups is in line with both models, neither of these combined trajectories of control and sensation seeking was predicted by the Dual Systems Model or the Maturational Imbalance Model. Consistent with both models the "sensation seeking to balanced sensation seeking" trajectory showed the highest level of substance use. It can be concluded that, even though both theories adequately predict the link between imbalance and risk, neither the Dual Systems Model nor the Maturational Imbalance Model correctly predict the heterogeneity in development of imbalance between impulse control and sensation seeking.