Importance of Digital Communication in Adolescents' Development: Theoretical and Empirical Advancements in the Last Decade.

The past decade saw a sharp increase in the use of smartphones and digital communication platforms. This manuscript reviews advancements in the study of digital communication and adolescent development over the last decade. We highlight theoretical models that seek to explain the power of digital media in adolescents' lives. We then examine research conducted over the last decade on five aspects of digital media: (1) potential to contribute to adolescent development, (2) associations with mental health, (3) differential impact of active versus passive social media use, (4) cyberbullying, and (5) sexting. We conclude with a discussion of potential opportunities and challenges for studying the role of digital communication in adolescents' development during the coming decade.

Gender Diversity in Peer Relations: Best Research Practices and Marshalling Peer Influence.

Young people are challenging gender to expand beyond a male/female binary, yet research practices still lag behind these conceptions. This call-to-action paper will review the traditional conceptualizations of gender as prevalent in peer relations research, contrasted with modern approaches from scholars studying gender and sexual orientation diversity, and outline how youth are challenging binary conceptualizations. We provide recommended best practices to sensitively bridge this gap, including: using open responses where possible, and two-step closed-ended question formats where necessary, to measure gender identity; considering the context and role that gender identity and each of its facets might play in the research design; and preserving underrepresented groups even though they may be small. We close by exploring the ways in which the power of peer socialization can be (and likely currently are being) harnessed to support the ever-changing, diverse gender identities emergent in today's youth, and provide questions for future research.

How Adolescents Use Text Messaging Through their High School Years.

Co-construction theory suggests adolescents use digital communication to address developmental challenges. For a sample of 214 ethnically diverse adolescents, this research used direct observation to investigate the frequency, content, and timing of texting with parents, peers, and romantic partners through grades 9-12. Analyses showed that texting frequency follows a curvilinear trajectory, peaking in eleventh grade. Adolescents discussed a range of topics, predominantly with peers. Communication with parents was less frequent, but consistent over time. Approximately 45-65% of adolescents communicated with romantic partners, texting heavily and about topics similar to those discussed with peers. Texting may help adolescents navigate key developmental challenges of adolescence-the establishment of autonomy, intimate peer relationships, romantic relationships, and self-identity.

Adolescents' externalizing behaviors and antisocial text messaging across the broader peer network: Implications for socialization and selection effects.

Adolescents' peer networks provide an important context that can contribute to increases in antisocial behavior. By a process called deviancy training, peers can both model and reinforce these behaviors, thereby conveying group norms about the acceptability of such behaviors. This research examined the relationship between the proportion of adolescents' peers who exchanged antisocial text messages and externalizing behaviors during high school. In Study 1, parent-, teacher-, and self-reports of rule-breaking and aggression were collected for a sample of adolescents (n = 167, 80 girls; 22.2% Black, 51.5% Caucasian, 18.7% Hispanic) during the summers before and after 9th grade. Total text frequency, frequency of antisocial texts, and the proportion of the peer network who exchanged antisocial messages were examined as predictors of antisocial behavior. The proportion of peers who exchanged antisocial texts significantly predicted rule-breaking, but not aggression. Study 2 examined the direction of the relationship documented in Study 1 more thoroughly. Externalizing behaviors at 9th, 10th, and 11th grade were evaluated as predictors of the proportion of the peer network that exchanged texts about antisocial topics (n = 205, 98 girls; 22.4% Black, 53.7% Caucasian, 16.9% Hispanic). Externalizing behaviors predicted the proportion of adolescents' peer network that exchanged antisocial texts in each of the subsequent years, but this proportion of the peer network exchanging antisocial communication did not predict subsequent externalizing behaviors. The findings suggest that the extent to which antisocial communication permeates the peer group is a selection effect.

Older Adolescents' Understanding of Participant Rights in the BlackBerry Project, a Longitudinal Ambulatory Assessment Study.

For a long-term, longitudinal study that used BlackBerry smartphones for passive ambulatory assessment among older adolescents, this study focused on three areas of ethical concern: (1) adolescents' competence to give assent; (2) understanding of confidentiality, the protection of information, and project goals; and (3) awareness of procedures and benefits, and comfort with the research design. One hundred and seventy-eight participants were 17 and 18 years old (84 girls). Results suggested that participants freely gave consent and understood most, but not all of the informed consent information. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction. Participants showed less understanding of when their confidentiality would be broken and how data would be protected.

"We're not gonna be friends anymore": Associations between viewing relational aggression on television and relational aggression in text messaging during adolescence.

A number of studies suggest that adolescents who view relational aggression on television are more likely to engage in higher levels of subsequent relational aggression in social interactions. This study examined longitudinal associations between viewing relational aggression on television and relationally aggressive behavior in text messaging over a 1-year period during adolescence. Participants were 197 adolescents who completed a number of questionnaires regarding media use and aggression. Adolescents were each given a BlackBerry device and a sample of text messages was coded for aggressive behavior. Results revealed that exposure to relational aggression on television was associated with higher levels of relational aggression in texting one year later, but only for girls. Results are discussed with reference to the General Aggression Model.

Family predictors of continuity and change in social and physical aggression from ages 9 to 18.

This research examined developmental trajectories for social and physical aggression for a sample followed from age 9 to 18, and investigated possible family predictors of following different trajectory groups. Participants were 158 girls and 138 boys, their teachers, and their parents (21% African American, 5.3% Asian, 51.6% Caucasian, and 21% Hispanic). Teachers rated children's social and physical aggression yearly in grades 3-12. Participants' parent (83% mothers) reported on family income, conflict strategies, and maternal authoritarian and permissive parenting styles. The results suggested that both social and physical aggression decline slightly from middle childhood through late adolescence. Using a dual trajectory model, group-based mixture modeling revealed three trajectory groups for both social and physical aggression: low-, medium-, and high-desisting for social aggression, and stably-low, stably-medium, and high-desisting for physical aggression. Membership in higher trajectory groups was predicted by being from a single-parent family, and having a parent high on permissiveness. Being male was related to both elevated physical aggression trajectories and the medium-desisting social aggression trajectory. Negative interparental conflict strategies did not predict social or physical aggression trajectories when permissive parenting was included in the model. Permissive parenting in middle childhood predicted following higher social aggression trajectories across many years, which suggests that parents setting fewer limits on children's behaviors may have lasting consequences for their peer relations. Future research should examine transactional relations between parenting styles and practices and aggression to understand the mechanisms that may contribute to changes in involvement in social and physical aggression across childhood and adolescence.

Adult Recollections of Peer Victimization during Middle School: Forms and Consequences.

This study examined memories of peer victimization by eliciting narratives from university students (N = 210) about one previous experience of peer maltreatment during middle school, and investigating how these recollections related to current levels of adjustment. The majority of participants described an experience of social victimization (70.0%) or physical victimization (16.7%), and analyses examining form of victimization were limited to these participants (n = 182). Previous experiences of peer maltreatment during middle school were associated with negative indices of adjustment in early adulthood. The implications of our findings for school intervention programs are discussed.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Observed Adolescent Text-Based Sexting and Adjustment.

Despite strong concerns that sexting poses risks for adolescents' well-being, previous research finds mixed results. Moreover, these studies rely heavily on self-report measures and cross-sectional designs. This study utilizes observational methods to examine longitudinal relations between text-based sexting and both negative and positive indicators of psychosocial adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 197 adolescents was provided smartphones that captured their text messages across high school, from 2008-2012. Two, two-day samples of text messages from grades 9-12 were content-coded (468,201 total observations). Sexting was defined as sending and receiving text-based statements about past, present, or hypothetical sexual behaviors occurring between dyadic texting partners. Each year, adolescents reported on negative (internalizing, externalizing, and social problems; borderline personality features) and positive (life satisfaction, group belongingness, and positive self-perceptions) indicators of their psychosocial adjustment. Using concurrent and longitudinal multilevel models, greater sexting at one time point than one's average (within-person) was only associated with lower levels of group belongingness within the same year. For girls only, text-based sexting more than others on average (between-person) was related to increased externalizing symptoms and borderline personality disorder features, as well as decreased life satisfaction, group belongingness, self-perceived social competence, and global self-worth. No within-person differences by gender emerged, nor did longitudinal associations. Future studies and intervention efforts should examine when and why higher sexting might be related to psychosocial problems among girls.

Peer Communication about Antisocial Activities as a Mediator of Interparental Conflict in Mid-Adolescence and Externalizing Problems in Late Adolescence.

The current study investigated whether adolescent peer communication about antisocial activities mediates the association between interparental conflict within the family system in mid-adolescence and externalizing problems in late adolescence. Participants were 115 families in which an adolescent and caregiver participated in a longitudinal study. Adolescents (53 girls, 62 boys) completed measures of interparental conflict and externalizing problems in 8th grade (age 14). Afterward, adolescents received a BlackBerry device configured to capture all text messages sent and received. During the 9th grade, four days of text messages were coded for peer communication about antisocial topics. Adolescents again completed a measure of externalizing problems in 11th grade (age 17). Results indicated that interparental conflict in 8th grade correlated positively with adolescents' externalizing problems in 11th grade, but only for girls. In addition, the frequency of communication about antisocial activities mediated the link between interparental conflict and girls' externalizing problems. The findings support the idea that adolescent girls' communications about antisocial activities with their peers may contribute to the link between interparental conflict and girls' externalizing problems.

Joint trajectories for social and physical aggression as predictors of adolescent maladjustment: internalizing symptoms, rule-breaking behaviors, and borderline and narcissistic personality features.

This investigation examined the relation between developmental trajectories jointly estimated for social and physical aggression and adjustment problems at age 14. Teachers provided ratings of children's social and physical aggression in Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 for a sample of 255 children (131 girls, 21% African American, 52% European American, 21% Mexican American). Participants, parents, and teachers completed measures of the adolescent's adjustment to assess internalizing symptoms, rule-breaking behaviors, and borderline and narcissistic personality features. Results showed that membership in a high and rising trajectory group predicted rule-breaking behaviors and borderline personality features. Membership in a high desister group predicted internalizing symptoms, rule-breaking behaviors, and borderline and narcissistic personality features. The findings suggest that although low levels of social and physical aggression may not bode poorly for adjustment, individuals engaging in high levels of social and physical aggression in middle childhood may be at greatest risk for adolescent psychopathology, whether they increase or desist in their aggression through early adolescence.

"Ur a freakin goddess!": Examining Appearance Commentary on Instagram.

Frequent use of highly visual online platforms such as Instagram may be linked to greater body image concerns. One prominent feature of Instagram is the ability to receive feedback in the form of likes and comments. The goal of this cross-sectional study (conducted in laboratory and online) was to examine college students' receipt of appearance commentary on their most recent Instagram posts, and how this relates to their self-reported body image concerns. The Instagram commentary that 337 students (M age=20.39) received on their posts was observationally coded for positivity and negativity. Receiving positive appearance commentary was common and linked to greater appearance-related social media consciousness, and, weakly, to body surveillance. There were no associations with self-objectification, appearance-contingent self-worth, facial satisfaction, and body dissatisfaction. Negative appearance commentary was not associated with body image concerns. Photos depicting only the self were especially likely to elicit positive appearance commentary. Females received more positive appearance commentary compared to males, whereas males received more negative appearance commentary. Future research should examine long-term effects of receiving appearance comments via Instagram.

Listening In: How Parent-Child Communication Relates to Social and Physical Aggression.

In this study, we investigated the relations between features of parent-child conversations (neutral talk, positive and negative in-dyad and out-dyad talk) and children's social and physical aggression from ages 9-18. Participants were 297 youth (52% girls) of about 9 years old at Time 1 and their parent. Fifty-two percent of this United States sample identified as White, 20% Black, 20% Hispanic, 8% other races/ethnicities. One hundred eighty-seven parents participated in the parent-child observation task. Ninety four percent of parent participants were mothers. Parent-child conversations were observed in the laboratory during preadolescence, and teachers reported child's aggression. Using multinomial logit analyses, we found that coded observations of communication features predicted membership in linear trajectories of social and physical aggression across nine years of adolescence; trajectories were derived via mixture modeling. Parent and child communication characteristics were related to trajectories of aggression that spanned preadolescence and adolescence; however, not all predicted associations were significant. Children's talk about neutral topics predicted being on a lower social aggression trajectory. Positive out-dyad talk from children was related to being on a lower physical aggression trajectory, as was parent in-dyad positive talk. After controlling for other factors, neither parent nor child in- or out-dyad negative talk was associated with social or physical aggression. These findings highlight the importance of positive communication by youth and toward youth in association with long-term social adjustment.

Associations between Self-Reports and Device-Reports of Social Networking Site Use: An Application of the Truth and Bias Model.

People are generally poor reporters of time spent using digital technology. Advancing smartphone features, such as the iOS Screen Time application, allow researchers to obtain more objective measurements of digital technology use. Truth and Bias models were used to test how self-reported social networking site use aligns with device-reported use as recorded by the iOS Screen Time app (N=1585). This study explored use across four major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat) and examined how individual differences moderate biases in reports. Participants overestimated their use for all platforms at comparable levels. Moderation by individual differences was not consistent. These findings add to the growing call from researchers to utilize assessments other than self-reports in measuring digital technology use.

Frequency of Text Messaging and Adolescents' Mental Health Symptoms Across 4 Years of High School.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to examine the concurrent and longitudinal associations between adolescents' text messaging frequency and mental health symptoms across 4 years of high school. METHODS: A total of 203 adolescents (aged 14-18 years) consented and were provided smartphones across 4 years of high school. Using billing records, daily frequencies of text messaging were created for each year. Adolescents reported on their mental health symptoms (internalizing, externalizing, social problems, and inattention) each summer. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses tested the between- and within-person associations between texting and mental health symptoms. Between-person analyses revealed an association only between externalizing symptoms and texting. Girls who texted more (vs. less) frequently reported more externalizing and inattention symptoms, whereas there were no significant associations for boys. There were no significant within-person concurrent associations between texting and symptoms. Autoregressive latent cross-lagged model with structured residuals testing the longitudinal, bidirectional associations also did not find significant relations across 4 years of adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Across analyses, few robust associations emerged. Adolescent girls who text messaged more frequently reported greater externalizing and inattention symptoms. Contrasting the popular narrative that smartphones cause depression, this study did not find any consistent within-person or longitudinal associations between texting and mental health symptoms across adolescence. Research on the content, rather than quantity, of texts and device use is necessary to understand the potential effects on development.

Exploring text messaging as a platform for peer socialization of social aggression.

This study examined whether adolescents' social aggression is socialized through exposure to peers' socially aggressive text messaging. Using data on the socially aggressive content of text messages that 221 participants (Mage = 15.02 years; 46.7% female) sent to and received from peers, and teacher ratings of participants' in-person social aggression, this study found that exposure to peers' socially aggressive texting about out-dyad peers predicted positive changes in adolescents' text-based and in-person social aggression. Gender differences were examined, and results were mixed. In ninth grade, girls sent more socially aggressive text messages than boys; however, by 10th grade, these differences disappeared. Gender differences in adolescents' in-person social aggression and their exposure to peers' socially aggressive texting were nonsignificant at both time points. There was no evidence of gender differences in the links between exposure to peers' socially aggressive texting and adolescents' socially aggressive texting. However, marginal differences were found in the associations between exposure to peers' socially aggressive texting and adolescents' in-person social aggression. Results suggest that texting provides an additional platform for peer socialization of adolescents' social aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-Absorbed and Socially (Network) Engaged: Narcissistic Traits and Social Networking Site Use.

Across two studies, the current research investigated how different dimensions of narcissism (grandiosity/agentic extraversion, entitlement/self-centered antagonism, vulnerability/narcissistic neuroticism) relate to social networking site (SNS) use and behaviors. Study 1 employed a community sample of young adults, whereas Study 2 examined college students. Participants completed assessments of narcissism and SNS use through an online survey. Grandiosity/agentic extraversion was generally associated with greater levels of downward social comparison relative to the other two dimensions. Entitlement/self-centered antagonism generally showed weak correlations with SNS outcomes. Vulnerability/narcissistic neuroticism was generally associated with greater upward social comparison and perceived social exclusion relative to the other two dimensions. Results suggest that SNS experiences may vary depending on the dimensions of narcissism.

Continuity and change in social and physical aggression from middle childhood through early adolescence.

For a sample followed from age 9-13 (N=281), this investigation examined developmental trajectories for social and physical aggression as measured by teacher ratings. Trajectories for both forms of aggression were estimated first separately, then jointly. Mean levels of both social and physical aggression decreased over time for the overall sample, but with high variability of individual trajectories. Subgroups followed high trajectories for both social and physical aggression. Joint estimation yielded six trajectories: low stable, low increasers, medium increasers, medium desisters, high desisters, and high increasers. Membership in the high increaser group was predicted by male gender, unmarried parents, African American ethnicity, and maternal authoritarian and permissive parenting. Permissive parenting also predicted membership in the medium increaser group. This is one of the first studies to examine social aggression longitudinally across this developmental period. Though the results challenge the claim that social aggression is at its peak in early adolescence, the findings emphasize the importance of considering different developmental trajectories in trying to understand origins and outcomes of aggression.

Relations between Parent Psychological Control and Parent and Adolescent Social Aggression.

Parent-child interactions and parenting behavior may be related to social aggression among adolescents, and adolescents' social aggression may relate to parents' social aggression. This study investigated (a) whether parent psychological control predicted future adolescent and parent social aggression in their own peer relationships, (b) whether parents' social aggression was related to their use of psychological control within the parent-adolescent relationship (c) whether adolescents' and parents' social aggression was associated with changes in each other's social aggression over time, and (d) change in psychological control. Participants were 174 racially/ethnically diverse parent-adolescent dyads assessed longitudinally for four years. Adolescents were approximately 15-years-old at the first time point. The adolescent sample was 52% girls and 56% identified as White, 22% as Black or African American, 16% as Hispanic, and 5% as mixed race/ ethnicity. Ten percent of the parent participants were fathers. Parents self-reported their psychological control and social aggression, and their adolescents' teachers reported adolescents' social aggression. Hypotheses were tested using longitudinal structural equation modeling and a latent growth curve analysis. The hypothesized effect of parent's psychological control on parent's future aggression with their own peers was supported. Psychological control positively predicted parent aggression from T2 to T3 (ß = .28, p < .05) and from T3 to T4 (ß = .37, p < .05). Other hypotheses were not supported. The findings suggest that the parent-child relationship may influence the parent's functioning in their own peer relationships. Parents' peer relations seem to have important implications for their own wellbeing and the parent-child relationship.