The timing of entry into adult roles and changes in trajectories of problem behaviors during the transition to adulthood.

This study of a cohort of 451 adolescents examined associations between trajectories of problem behaviors and the timing of entry into work, marriage, and parenthood. We used data from 12 assessments across adolescence, through emerging adulthood and into young adulthood. We employed 2-phase mixed-effects models to estimate growth in substance use and antisocial behavior across adolescence, deceleration in the period that follows, and the change point that marks the transition between the 2 phases. We then examined the degree to which the timing of entry into a specific adult role was associated with change in problem behaviors and the change point between the 2 phases. We hypothesized that earlier entries into adult roles would be associated with earlier transitions to the decline in problem behaviors generally observed during adulthood but that later entries would be associated with more quickly declining rates of problem behaviors during adulthood. As proposed, earlier entries into marriage and parenthood predicted earlier transitions to declining trajectories in both substance use and antisocial behavior during adulthood. The findings also indicated that delayed marriage and parenthood were associated with more quickly decreasing rates of change in substance use, but not antisocial behavior, during adulthood. Thus, the results are consistent with the idea that substance use decreases earlier but not as quickly during adulthood for those with earlier entries into marriage and parenthood. However, the timing of entry into work did not predict trajectory changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing Alternative Explanations for the Associations Between Parenting and Adolescent Suicidal Problems.

Although studies have established associations between parenting characteristics and adolescent suicidality, the strength of the evidence for these links remains unclear, largely because of methodological limitations, including lack of accounting for possible child effects on parenting. This study addresses these issues by using autoregressive cross-lag models with data on 802 adolescents and their parents across 5 years. Observed parenting behaviors predicted change in adolescent suicidal problems across one-year intervals even after controlling for adolescents' effects on parenting. Nurturant-involved parenting continued to demonstrate salutary effects after controlling for adolescent and parent internalizing psychopathology: over time, observed nurturant-involved parenting reduced the likelihood of adolescent suicidal problems. This study increases the empirical support implicating parenting behaviors in the developmental course of adolescent suicidality.

Sex differences in developmental trends of suicide ideation, plans, and attempts among European American adolescents.

Although suicide ideation, plans, and attempts increase during adolescence, it remains unclear whether boys' and girls' risk for these outcomes peaks at different ages. We used longitudinal categorical data (never, once, 2+ times) from the Family Transitions Project (N = 1,248 rural European Americans, ages 11-19) to investigate whether yearly prevalence rates of adolescent suicidal episodes follow different patterns by sex. Multiple-group growth models revealed that peak levels of past-year ideation and plans occurred during mid adolescence for girls, but slowly increased through late adolescence for boys. We found that prevalence patterns for attempts were very similar for boys and girls, with both increasing through mid adolescence and then declining, although girls' risk declined slightly more rapidly. This information may help alert gatekeepers to developmental periods during which boys and girls are particularly vulnerable to suicide-related experiences, and also may help inform the timing of preventive efforts.

Why do older men report low stress ratings? Findings from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.

We examined the interplay between three explanatory hypotheses for why older adults appear to rate their problems as less stressful than do younger adults: age-related differences in personality, in types of problems, and in the appraisal process-specifically, the number of primary stress appraisals. A sample of 1054 men from the Normative Aging Study (mean age = 65.02; range = 45 to 92) were interviewed about a problem in the past week. Personality did not mediate the effect of age on stress ratings. While general hassles and health problems both increased with age, they had opposite influences on stress ratings. Accounting for covariates, older men reported fewer appraisals, and the number of appraisals mediated the association between age and stress ratings. We found no moderating effects of problem type on these processes. Thus, lower stress ratings for everyday problems in later life may result from developmental changes in primary appraisal processes.