Life goal selection pattern and purpose in adolescence: A latent class analysis.

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the goal selection patterns among adolescents and examines the extent to which goals focused on oneself, relationships, and the larger community were associated with variability of daily purpose and mean level sense of purpose in life. METHODS: Participants were 213 high school students with an average age of 15.18 years in an urban public school district in the Northeast United States. Students were asked to select their three most important goals one time and report on their sense of purpose once a day for 3 weeks in spring of 2022. Latent class analysis was used to classify students by the type of goals selected. Differences in the overall sense of purpose and its subscales by class were examined. RESULTS: A model with four classes (Self and Inner Circle, Inner Circle, Other-Oriented, and Self-Oriented) best fits the data. There were no statistical group differences in the variability of daily purpose and overall sense of purpose. Only one pairwise comparison was significant and indicated that students in the Other-Oriented group perceived their purpose as more meaningful than students in the Self and Inner Circle group. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study provide a lens into goal prioritization patterns among adolescents. Further, although students who were more likely to select other-oriented goals had somewhat higher perceptions of sense of purpose, findings support the concept of equifinality by suggesting that a sense of purpose may be actualized through a diverse set of specific goals.

Natural and anthropogenic controls on lake water-level decline and evaporation-to-inflow ratio in the conterminous United States.

Lake water levels are integral to lake function, but hydrologic changes from land and water management may alter lake fluctuations beyond natural ranges. We constructed a conceptual model of multifaceted drivers of lake water-levels and evaporation-to-inflow ratio (Evap:Inflow). Using a structural equation modeling framework, we tested our model on 1) a national subset of lakes in the conterminous United States with minimal water management to describe natural drivers of lake hydrology and 2) five ecoregional subsets of lakes to explore regional variation in water management effects. Our model fit the national and ecoregional datasets and explained up to 47% of variation in Evap:Inflow, 38% of vertical water-level decline, and 79% of horizontal water-level decline (littoral exposure). For lakes with minimal water management, Evap:Inflow was related to lake depth (ß = -0.31) and surface inflow (ß = -0.44); vertical decline was related to annual climate (e.g., precipitation ß = -0.18) and water management (ß = -0.21); and horizontal decline was largely related to vertical decline (ß = 0.73) and lake morphometry (e.g., depth ß = -0.18). Anthropogenic effects varied by ecoregion and likely reflect differences in regional water management and climate. In the West, water management indicators were related to greater vertical decline (ß = 0.38), whereas in the Midwest, these indicators were related to more stable and full lake levels (ß = -0.22) even during drought conditions. National analyses show how human water use interacts with regional climate resulting in contrasting impacts to lake hydrologic variation in the US.

Positive Youth Development in 2020: Theory, Research, Programs, and the Promotion of Social Justice.

We use Hamilton's (1999) tripartite conception of the positive youth development (PYD) literature - that is, PYD as a theoretical construct, PYD as a frame for program design, and PYD as an instance of specific youth development programs - as a framework for reviewing scholarship involved in the PYD field across the second decade of the 21st century. Advances were made in all three domains and, as well, new issues emerged; chief among them was a focus on the promotion of social justice. We discuss ways in which social justice issues are being addressed within each of these domains and we present a vision for enhancing the PYD-social justice relation in future scholarship involving theory, research, program design, and community-based PYD programs.

Health Beliefs About UV and Skin Cancer Risk Behaviors.

Our purpose was to examine the beliefs of college students about UV exposure and sunscreen use and their associations with skin cancer risk and protective behaviors in a cloudy climate. The sample was online survey participants (N = 334) recruited from a large university in Oregon. After fitting an initial measurement model, we fit a structural equation model including Health Beliefs About UV (HBAU) subscales (Health Benefits of Tanning, Seasonal Effects, Tanning Through the Winter, and Sunscreen Toxicity), outcome variables (sunscreen use, indoor tanning, and outdoor tanning), and covariates (eg, tanning and sunscreen use). A minority of participants held the beliefs represented by 3 HBAU subscales, but beliefs about negative health effects of the local weather (Tanning Through the Winter) were common. The measurement and adjusted models provided good fit to the data (χ2 = 143.30; P = .29; df = 136; Root-Mean Square Error of Approximation = .014; Comparative Fit Index = .992; Tucker-Lewis Index = .981). After adjusting for covariates, Sunscreen Toxicity predicted reduced sunscreen use (ß = -.12, P = .021), Health Benefits of Tanning predicted outdoor tanning (ß = .43, P < .001), and Tanning Through the Winter predicted indoor tanning (ß = .31, P = .02). The small sample size, nonresponse rate, and cross-sectional nature of this study mean these findings should be interpreted cautiously. Beliefs about health benefits of sun exposure, the regional weather, and sunscreen safety play a role in skin cancer risk and protective behaviors.

Evaluating the effects between metal mixtures and serum vaccine antibody concentrations in children: a prospective birth cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Many populations are exposed to arsenic, lead, and manganese. These metals influence immune function. We evaluated the association between exposure to single and multiple metals, including arsenic, lead, and manganese, to humoral immunity as measured by antibody concentrations to diphtheria and tetanus toxoid among vaccinated Bangladeshi children. Additionally, we examined if this association was potentially mediated by nutritional status. METHODS: Antibody concentrations to diphtheria and tetanus were measured in children's serum at age 5 (n = 502). Household drinking water was sampled to quantify arsenic (W-As) and manganese (W-Mn), whereas lead was measured in blood (B-Pb). Exposure samples were taken during pregnancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood. Multiple linear regression models (MLRs) with single or combined metal predictors were used to determine the association with antibody outcomes. MLR results were transformed to units of percent change in outcome per doubling of exposure to improve interpretability. Structural equation models (SEMs) were used to further assess exposure to metal mixtures. SEMs regressed a latent exposure variable (Metals), informed by all measured metal variables (W-As, W-Mn, and B-Pb), on a latent outcome variable (Antibody), informed by measured antibody variables (diphtheria and tetanus). Weight-for-age z-score (WFA) at age 5 was evaluated as a mediator. RESULTS: Diphtheria antibody was negatively associated with W-As during pregnancy in MLR, but associations were attenuated after adjusting for W-Mn and B-Pb (- 2.9% change in diphtheria antibody per doubling in W-As, 95% confidence interval [CI]: - 7%, 1.5%). Conversely, pregnancy levels of B-Pb were positively associated with tetanus antibody, even after adjusting for W-As and W-Mn (13.3%, 95% CI: 1.7%, 26.3%). Overall, null associations were observed between W-Mn and antibody outcomes. Analysis by SEMs showed that the latent Metals mixture was significantly associated with the latent Antibody outcome (ß = - 0.16, 95% CI: - 0.26, - 0.05), but the Metals variable was characterized by positive and negative loadings of W-As and B-Pb, respectively. Sex-stratified MLR and SEM analyses showed W-As and B-Pb associations were exclusive to females. Mediation by WFA was null, indicating Metals only had direct effects on Antibody. CONCLUSIONS: We observed significant modulation of vaccine antibody concentrations among children with pregnancy and early life exposures to drinking water arsenic and blood lead. We found distinct differences by child sex, as only females were susceptible to metal-related modulations in antibody levels. Weight-for-age, a nutritional status proxy, did not mediate the association between the metal mixture and vaccine antibody.

Critical Reflection and Positive Youth Development among White and Black Adolescents: Is Understanding Inequality Connected to Thriving?

Critical consciousness supports youth's development and participation in civil society, yet it remains unclear how this process is connected to indicators of thriving, such as the Five Cs. This study examined critical reflection-a component of critical consciousness-and the Five Cs among 515 youth (Mage = 13.38; 46.47% female): White youth attending middle-income schools (N = 112), White youth attending low-income schools (N = 250), and Black youth attending low-income schools (N = 153). Black youth attending low-income schools had the highest critical racial reflection and White youth attending low-income schools had the lowest critical socioeconomic reflection. Critical reflection was negatively associated with some of the Five Cs, but only among White youth. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are provided.

Indicators of positive youth development can be maladaptive: The example case of caring.

INTRODUCTION: Research on positive youth development typically takes a more-is-better approach in which higher scores on measures of positive youth development indicate better outcomes. We question the validity of this assumption and describe how an imbalance among the Five Cs of Positive Youth Development can lead to a situation where "more" is actually "less." We then provide an empirical illustration using cross-sectional data. METHODS: We examined conditional associations between indicators of thriving and the C of caring using survey data obtained from a sample of 2,386 students in Norway (mean age 16.60 years [SD = 1.98]; 44.8% girls). Multilevel models assessed whether associations between caring and the thriving indicators (here defined as greater mental well-being and lower anxiety and depressive symptoms) differed when versus when not controlling for overall positive youth development. RESULTS: When positive youth development was not included as a covariate, caring was positively associated with mental well being and anxiety but not significantly associated with depressive symptoms. After adding positive youth development to the model, caring became less strongly associated with mental well-being, more strongly associated with anxiety, and significantly (positively) associated with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that, after controlling for a set level of positive youth development, caring does not predict adaptive outcomes in a monotonic more-is-better way. These findings illustrate an instance where developmental regulations benefit the context at the cost of the individual and therefore speak to a growing acknowledgement in the literature-young people may suffer if they "care too much."

Development, Construct Validity, and Predictive Validity of a Continuous Frailty Scale: Results From 2 Large US Cohorts.

Frailty is an age-related clinical syndrome of decreased resilience to stressors. Among numerous assessments of frailty, the frailty phenotype (FP) scale proposed by Fried et al. has been the most widely used. We aimed to develop a continuous frailty scale that could overcome limitations facing the categorical FP scale and to evaluate its construct validity, predictive validity, and measurement properties. Data were from the Cardiovascular Health Study (n = 4,243) and Health and Retirement Study (n = 7,600), both conducted in the United States. Frailty was conceptualized as a continuous construct, assessed by 5 measures used in the FP scale: gait speed, grip strength, exhaustion, physical activity, and weight loss. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the relationship between the 5 indicators and the latent frailty construct. We examined the association of the continuous frailty scale with mortality and disability. The unidimensional model fit the data satisfactorily; similar factor structure was observed across 2 cohorts. Gait speed and weight loss were the strongest and weakest indicators, respectively; grip strength, exhaustion, and physical activity had similar strength in measuring frailty. In each cohort, the continuous frailty scale was strongly associated with mortality and disability and continued to be associated with outcomes among robust and prefrail persons classified by the FP scale.

Predicting students' noncompliance with a smoke-free university campus policy.

The adoption of university campus smoke-free and tobacco-free policies has risen dramatically, but research on effective implementation is scant. Significant challenges exist regarding policy implementation, particularly enforcement. This study examined college students' noncompliance with a recently implemented smoke-free campus policy at a public university. The sample included students who reported past-month smoking of tobacco or e-cigarettes in a 2013 web-based survey, 9 months after a smoke-free campus policy took effect. Ordinal logistic regression was used to examine predictors of students' having smoked on campus since the policy began (n = 1055). Predictor variables included past-month use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and non-cigarette tobacco products, secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, support for a smoke-free campus, tobacco-related social norms, use of strategies to deal with smoking urges, and other variables. In multivariate analysis, policy violation was positively associated with past-month use of cigarettes and non-cigarette combustible tobacco, SHS exposure on campus, living on campus, and use of nicotine gum/patches to handle urges. Violation was negatively associated with smoke-free campus support, age, estimates of student policy support and cigarette smoking, and self-reported absence of smoking urges. Results suggest that nicotine dependence may be an underlying influence on policy violation. Several recommendations are offered. First, upon policy adoption, campuses should ensure student smokers' access to cessation support and assistance with dealing with nicotine cravings. Second, campus information campaigns should focus particularly on younger students and those living on campus. Third, campuses should establish strong anti-tobacco norms, monitor SHS exposure, and communicate levels of students' policy support.

A cross sectional study of urinary phthalates, phenols and perchlorate on thyroid hormones in US adults using structural equation models (NHANES 2007-2008).

BACKGROUND: Biomonitoring data shows that people are exposed to phthalates, phenols and perchlorates. Many of these compounds are endocrine disrupting compounds that affect thyroid hormone levels. Yet the effect of these compounds on thyroid hormone levels are often evaluated individually rather than as a mixture. Our objective was to examine the association between 11 urinary endocrine disrupting compounds and thyroid hormones using structural equation models. METHODS: Using data from the National Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey 2007-2008, we fit a latent variable utilizing urinary measurements of 9 compounds in females (perchlorate, bisphenol A, benzophenone-3, mono-2ethyl5carboxypentyl phthalate, mono-n-butyl phthalate, mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate, mono(2ethyl5hydroxyhexyl) phthalate, mono-benzyl phthalate, and mono-isobutyl phthalate) and 8 compounds in males (without benzophenone-3). The association of the latent variable with serum thyroid hormones (Total T3, Total T4, and Thyroid Stimulating Hormones) was assessed in females (N = 710) and males (N = 850) over the age of 12 controlling for age, race, and urinary creatinine. RESULTS: In males, urinary endocrine disrupting compound levels were negatively associated with thyroxine (ß: -0.19, 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI): -0.31, -0.05). In females, urinary endocrine disrupting compound levels were positively associated with triiodothyronine serum concentrations (ß: 0.09, 95% CI: -0.03, 0.21) however this association was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional analysis provides additional evidence that environmental exposure to phthalates and phenols is associated with endocrine-related processes. Furthermore, these results suggested sex-specific differences in exposure to endocrine disrupting mixtures, and the exposure-response between endocrine disrupting mixtures and thyroid hormone levels. Specifically, higher exposure to a mixture of endocrine disrupting compounds was associated with lower levels of total T4 in males but not in females. While a structural methodological framework was used to assess these complex relationships, the cross sectional nature of this analysis limits causal inference and further research is needed to determine the clinical significance of these findings.

Academic achievement in the high school years: the changing role of school engagement.

School engagement is an important theoretical and practical cornerstone to the promotion of academic accomplishments. This article used a tripartite-behavioral, emotional, and cognitive-model of school engagement to assess the relationship between school engagement and academic success among high school students, and to determine whether a reciprocal relationship exists between these constructs. Data were derived from 710 youth (69% female) who took part in Waves 6 through 8 (Grades 10 through 12) of the 4-H study of positive youth development. Longitudinal confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the invariance of the tripartite model of school engagement. Results of a structural equation model showed that the components of school engagement and academic achievement were mutually predictive and that these predictions varied from grade to grade. Future possibilities for evaluating the relationship between school engagement and academic achievement, as well as the implications for educational policy and practice, are discussed.

Understanding entrepreneurial intent in late adolescence: the role of intentional self-regulation and innovation.

Entrepreneurship represents a form of adaptive developmental regulation through which both entrepreneurs and their ecologies benefit. We describe entrepreneurship from the perspective of relational developmental systems theory, and examine the joint role of personal attributes, contextual attributes, and characteristics of person-context relationships in predicting entrepreneurial intent in a sample 3,461 college students enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States (60 % female; 61 % European American). Specifically, we tested whether personal characteristics (i.e., gender, intentional self-regulation skills, innovation orientation) and contextual factors (i.e., entrepreneurial parents) predicted college students' intentions to pursue an entrepreneurial career. Our findings suggest that self-regulation, innovation orientation, and having entrepreneurial role models (i.e., parents) predict entrepreneurial intent. Limitations and future directions for the study of youth entrepreneurship are discussed.

Special issue introduction: Thriving across the adolescent years: a view of the issues.

Framed within a relational developmental systems model, the 4-H Study of positive youth development (PYD) explored the bases and implications of thriving across much of the second decade of life. This special issue pertains to information derived from the recently completed eight waves of the 4-H Study of PYD, and presents findings about the relations between individual and contextual variables that are involved in the thriving process. This introduction briefly reviews the historical background and the theoretical frame for the 4-H Study and describes its general methodology. We provide an overview of the articles in this special issue and discuss the ways in which the articles elucidate different facets of the thriving process. In addition, we discuss the implications of this research for future scholarship and for applications aimed at improving the life chances of diverse adolescents.

Longitudinal analysis of a very short measure of positive youth development.

As developmental scientists cease to perceive adolescence as a period of inevitable turmoil and adopt the Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspective, psychometrically sound measurement tools will be needed to assess adolescents' positive attributes. In this article we examine the longitudinal stability of the very short version of the PYD scale developed as part of the 4-H Study of PYD. Using a sample of 7,071 adolescents (60% female) followed between Grades 5 and 12, our results suggest general stability of PYD across adolescence, both in terms of mean levels and rank-order stability. We also show that both a global measure of PYD and the individual Five Cs of PYD consistently correlate with important criterion measures (i.e., contribution, depressive symptoms, and problem behaviors) in expected ways. Although our results suggest weak relationships among our three criteria, we especially note that across adolescence PYD becomes more strongly correlated with contribution but less strongly correlated with depressive symptoms, and that confidence becomes more strongly related to depressive symptoms. We discuss implications for use of the present PYD measure in youth development programs.

Beyond the deficit model: bullying and trajectories of character virtues in adolescence.

Previous work on peer victimization has focused primarily on academic outcomes and negative indicators of youth involved in bullying. Few studies have taken a strength-based approach to examine attributes associated with bullies and victims of bullying. As such, we examined developmental trajectories of moral, performance, and civic character components, and their links to bully status using data from 713 youth (63% female) who participated in Wave 3 (approximately Grade 7) through Wave 6 (approximately Grade 10) of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that moral character was stable across waves, whereas civic character increased slightly by Wave 6. Trajectories for performance character varied; some youth alternatively displayed positive versus negative growth. Youth who reported bullying behavior reported lower initial levels of moral, performance, and civic character as compared to youth not involved in bullying. Bully-victims reported lower initial levels of moral and civic character as compared to youth not involved in bullying. Implications for future work examining character-related components in the context of peer victimization are discussed.

Corrigendum: Nurturing resilience in American Indian/Alaska Native preschool children: the role of cultural socialization, executive function, and neighborhood risk.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1279336.].

Special section introduction: thriving in context: findings from the 4-h study of positive youth development.

The positive youth development perspective, a strength-based relational developmental systems model that focuses on mutually influential relationships between individuals and contexts, has been used to study thriving across the second decade of life. However, more attention has been paid empirically to identifying the features of the individual (e.g., intentional self regulation, hope, or purpose) or to enumerating the role of context-general ecological assets than to the nature of individual-context relationships linked to thriving within specific contexts. The goal of this special section is to provide initial research reports about context-specific instances of the thriving process. The research focuses on two contexts where many youth spend a considerable amount, and often the majority, of their time-school and out-of-school time sports activities.

Nurturing resilience in American Indian/Alaska Native preschool children: the role of cultural socialization, executive function, and neighborhood risk.

Introduction: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children possess numerous cultural assets, yet higher exposures to neighborhood risks (e.g., lack of housing, crime) may present barriers to healthy cognitive development, including executive function (EF). Cultural socialization may promote resilience and support children's early cognition, but this has not been adequately studied. The present study examined the effects of neighborhood risk and cultural socialization on EF for AI/AN preschool children. Method: Parents/caregivers of 768 AI/AN preschoolers from the 2015 AI/AN Head Start Family and Community Experiences (FACES) Study rated neighborhood risk via two scales: "Neighborhood Problems" and "Environmental Conditions," and cultural socialization practices via two scales: cultural activities and tribal language activities. Children's EF was measured directly using the Pencil Tap Task and the Leiter-R attention subscale. Results: Families perceived neighborhood risks as relatively low, and overall risk did not predict children's EF. However, higher average language socialization was significantly related to higher EF, as were two specific language activities (encouraging children to learn their tribal language, making sure children heard their tribal language) and two cultural activities (playing AI/AN games, participating in tribal ceremonies), controlling for neighborhood risk. Discussion: Findings suggest some aspects of cultural socialization may promote resilience among AI/AN preschoolers by supporting early EF. Mechanisms may include increased spiritual, social, and cultural connections, and practice with EF skills during cultural games. Future research should partner with AI/AN communities to investigate culturally grounded EF interventions and reevaluate measures of neighborhood risk to promote resilience and connectedness for AI/AN children.

Promoting positive youth development in the face of contextual changes and challenges: the roles of individual strengths and ecological assets.

Experiencing positive and healthy youth development may be particularly challenging in the face of abrupt, major, rapid, or nonnormative ecological changes. Aligning individual youth strengths and ecological assets may promote youth thriving in the face of these changes.