Adolescents' perceptions of privacy violations by parents, siblings, and friends.

Adolescence is a life stage beset by a growing desire for privacy. This study evaluated adolescents' experiences across four types of potentially privacy-invasive behaviors (PPIVBs) and within four different types of relationships. 158 adolescents (Mage = 16.9 years, SD = 1.0; 53.5% female) reported on the frequency of the PPIVBs, perceived control over the behaviors, secret/private information threatened by the behaviors, and feelings of privacy invasion produced by the behaviors. Privacy experiences were more similar across relationships than across types of behavior. Stronger feelings of privacy invasion were reported for PPIVBs involving electronics and information, for behaviors by family members, when behaviors occurred infrequently, when adolescents perceived greater control over whether the behaviors occurred, and when behaviors threated secret/private information.

Emotion Dynamics among Late Adolescents and Emerging Adults: The Role of Maternal Privacy Invasion Perceptions.

Prior research suggests that youth experience immediate emotional distress following privacy invasion, but it is unclear whether and how persistent privacy invasion over longer periods destabilizes the intrapersonal emotional regulatory functions that privacy serves. This study investigated whether late adolescents and emerging adults who reported different patterns of maternal privacy invasion over a full academic year showed differences in emotion regulation, as reflected by the frequency and lability of negative and positive emotional experiences. Participants were first-year university students (n = 349; 60.2% female) in Hong Kong, aged 17 to 24 (MT1 = 18.20, SDT1 = 1.10). They self-reported maternal privacy invasion perceptions and negative and positive emotions 16 times, at bi-weekly intervals. Latent class growth analyses divided participants into a Higher Invasion Perceptions group (24.9%), a Moderate Invasion Perceptions group (46.4%), and a Lower Invasion Perceptions group (28.7%). A one-way MANCOVA examined potential differences in negative and positive emotion dynamics across groups, indexed by frequency (means) and instability (mean square of successive differences and probability of acute change). In line with predictions, both the Higher Invasion and Moderate Invasion groups reported higher negative emotion frequency and instability, compared to the Lower Invasion group. However, groups showed no significant differences regarding positive emotion frequency and instability. The findings indicate that perceptions of maternal privacy invasion predict youth's negative emotion regulation processes over their first collegiate year. Prolonged, higher levels of maternal privacy invasion may disrupt the intrapersonal regulatory functions that privacy serves over time.

"Youth-focused" versus "whole-family" screen rules: Associations with social media difficulties and moderation by impulsivity.

Many parents attempt to limit adolescents' screen time without changing their own habits. We examined whether "whole-family" versus "youth-focused" restrictions differentially predict social media-related difficulties (procrastination and problematic use), and whether adolescents' impulsive social media behaviors moderated these relationships. Among 183 Chinese early adolescents (58.5% female), whole-family rules negatively predicted procrastination. Impulsivity moderated associations between rulemaking approaches and social media difficulties; youth-focused rules negatively predicted procrastination and problematic use for highly impulsive adolescents, while whole-family rules held no associations or predicted increased difficulties. For less impulsive adolescents, however, whole-family rules negatively predicted social media difficulties and youth-focused rules positively predicted problematic use. Results suggest that setting the implementation of screen rules should involve parental participation and consideration of individual differences.

Longitudinal links between expressive flexibility and friendship quality in adolescence: The moderating effect of social anxiety.

INTRODUCTION: Expressive flexibility, or the ability to both up- and down-regulate emotional expressions in social interactions, is thought as an indicator and a consequence of healthy interpersonal relationships. The present longitudinal study examined bidirectional associations between expressive flexibility and friendship quality in early adolescence. Since prior research found inconsistent results regarding the adaptiveness of expressive flexibility, which indicated the necessity to consider individual variability in the process, we further tested the potential moderating effect of social anxiety in the links from expressive flexibility to friendship quality. METHODS: Participants from two junior high schools in eastern China (N = 274; 50.4% female; Mage = 13.56) were surveyed at three time points with 6-month intervals. Expressive flexibility, friendship quality, and social anxiety were all assessed via self-reported scales. RESULTS: According to the cross-lagged model results, friendship quality significantly predicted increased expressive flexibility over time. Conversely, the longitudinal association from expressive flexibility to friendship quality was not significant, but the interaction between expressive flexibility and social anxiety significantly predicted later friendship quality. Further analyses via the Johnson-Neyman technique revealed that expressive flexibility only positively predicted friendship quality for adolescents with lower levels of social anxiety. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that expressive flexibility is not always socially adaptive, so practical interventions that aim to improve youths' social adjustment via expressive flexibility training might need to consider the role of individual characteristics.

Adolescent-Mother Agreements and Discrepancies in Reports of Helicopter Parenting: Associations with Perceived Conflict and Support.

Adolescents' and parents' similar and/or divergent perceptions of parental behaviors may be associated with youth-parent relationship quality. This study examined adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of helicopter parenting, and whether (dis)agreements between these views were associated with perceived conflict and support. Participants were 349 late adolescents (MT1age = 18.20; 39.8% male) and their mothers (MT1age = 49.10) in Hong Kong who completed four assessments over one year. Results suggested that youth-mother agreements regarding helicopter parenting were positively associated with both conflict and support. Additionally, discrepancies between their reports were positively related to adolescent-reported conflict. These findings highlight the importance of examining multiple perspectives when studying helicopter parenting dynamics, and suggest both positive and negative aspects of these practices in Chinese families.

Perceptions of Parental Privacy Invasion and Information Management among Chinese Adolescents: Comparing Between- and Within-Family Associations.

The traditional Chinese conceptualization of family privacy is interdependent and hierarchically structured, but mounting evidence suggests that contemporary Chinese youth hold strong desires for individual privacy and respond defensively to perceived parental privacy invasions. The current research examined within-person associations among adolescents' perceptions of parental privacy invasion, secrecy, and disclosure to parents in the Chinese context. This study collected data from 289 Chinese youth (MageT1 = 13.57, SD = 0.63, 50.30% male) at six-month intervals over one year. Random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) showed that stronger perceptions of parental invasion predicted later within-person decreases in adolescents' disclosure and increases in secrecy. Disclosure and secrecy did not predict later perceptions of parental invasion at the within-person level. The findings suggest that Chinese youth manage privacy reactively and defensively when feelings of invasion occur, by decreasing disclosure and increasing secrecy. Stereotypes portraying Chinese youth as highly deferential to parents' demands for informational access might not be representative of adolescents in contemporary society.

Bidirectional effects between expressive regulatory abilities and peer acceptance among Chinese adolescents.

The current study examined potential bidirectional effects between adolescents' expressive regulation (the ability to enhance and suppress overt emotional behavior in line with situational demands) and peer interactions via two experiments. Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that adolescents' expressive regulation affects their social acceptance from peers. Participants (N = 147) were randomly divided into three conditions and watched video clips in which a same-sex partner differed in his or her levels of expressive enhancement and suppression abilities. Results showed that participants reported greater liking of the partner when he or she was able to flexibly enhance and suppress emotional expressions in line with situational demands compared with when either one of these abilities was impaired. Experiment 2 then examined whether peer rejection reduced participants' enhancement and suppression abilities. We manipulated participants' feelings of rejection through a virtual Cyberball game. Following this manipulation (N = 100; Inclusion vs. Exclusion), we tested participants' expressive enhancement and suppression abilities, as well as their natural expressivity, via an observational task. Peer exclusion resulted in lower levels of enhancement ability and natural expressive behaviors but did not impair suppression ability. The results of these experiments suggest that both expressive enhancement and expressive suppression are important for adolescents to obtain higher peer acceptance. In addition, peer exclusion also caused impairments in expressive regulation, specifically reduced enhancement abilities. In summary, these results evidenced the bidirectional effects between expressive regulation and peer acceptance.

The effects of affective and cognitive empathy on adolescents' behavior and outcomes in conflicts with mothers.

The current study investigated whether manipulations of affective and cognitive empathy have differential effects on observed behavior and self-reported outcomes in adolescent-mother conflict discussions. We further examined how these situational empathy inductions interact with preexisting empathic dispositions. To promote ecological validity, we conducted home visits to study conflict discussions about real disagreements in adolescent-mother relationships. We explored the roles of sex, age, and maternal support and power as covariates and moderators. Results indicated that the affective empathy manipulation had no significant effects on behavior, although a trend in the hypothesized direction suggested that affective empathy might promote active problem solving. The cognitive empathy manipulation led to lower conflict escalation and promoted other-oriented listening for adolescents low in dispositional cognitive empathy. State-trait interactions indicated that the empathy manipulations had significant effects on self-reported outcomes for adolescents lower in dispositional empathic concern. For these adolescents, both manipulations promoted outcome satisfaction, but only the cognitive manipulation promoted perceived fairness. This suggests that cognitive empathy, in particular, allows adolescents to distance themselves from the emotional heat of a conflict and listen to mothers' point of view, leading to outcomes perceived as both satisfying and fair. These findings are relevant for interventions and clinicians because they demonstrate unique effects of promoting affective versus cognitive empathy. Because even these minimal manipulations promoted significant effects on observed behavior and self-reported outcomes, particularly for low-empathy adolescents, stronger structural interventions are likely to have marked benefits.

Chinese adolescents' reports of covert parental monitoring: Comparisons with overt monitoring and links with information management.

This study compared Chinese adolescents' reports of covert parental monitoring with the overt strategies of solicitation and control. We investigated these behaviors in terms of unique associations with adolescents' perceived privacy invasion and the information management behaviors of disclosure and secrecy. High school students (N = 455, 61.5% female; Mage = 17.39, SD = 0.83) from a predominantly rural province of Mainland China reported a high incidence of covert monitoring (60.40%). Covert monitoring predicted privacy invasion more strongly than solicitation or control. Solicitation positively predicted disclosure, while covert monitoring negatively predicted disclosure and positively predicted secrecy. Privacy invasion fully mediated links between covert monitoring and information management. These latter effects were significantly stronger for girls than for boys. Similar to Western adolescents, Chinese youth might apply selective resistance when parents violate their personal domain. The findings suggest linkage between some parental monitoring behaviors and disruptions in Chinese family communication.

"Snooping" as a Distinct Parental Monitoring Strategy: Comparisons With Overt Solicitation and Control.

Parents can use solicitation (asking questions) and control (disclosure rules) to obtain information about adolescents, but only if youths comply. Snooping might uncover additional information, but also strongly violates privacy expectations. Three studies of parents and adolescents examined distinctions between snooping, solicitation, and control. Differences existed in terms of factor structure and frequency (Studies 1-2), links to perceived invasion (Study 1), correlations with problematic communication, behavior, and relationships (Study 2), and parent-adolescent (dis)agreement about acceptability (Study 3). Snooping is a relatively infrequent monitoring behavior, compared to solicitation and control, but appears to be a stronger indicator of problems in adolescent and family functioning. We discuss implications regarding the necessity and appropriateness of particular parental monitoring behaviors.

Common and unique associations of adolescents' affective and cognitive empathy development with conflict behavior towards parents.

Adolescents' development of two empathy dimensions, affective empathic concern and cognitive perspective taking, may be associated with shifts towards more constructive behaviors in conflict with parents. This six-year longitudinal study (ages 13-18) used multivariate latent growth curve modeling to investigate correlations between the developmental trajectories of adolescents' (N = 497) empathic dispositions and trajectories of their conflict behaviors towards both parents. There were some similarities between the associations of both empathy dimensions with conflict behaviors. Both empathy dimensions were associated with reduced conflict escalation with mothers, and increased problem solving with both parents. However, these associations were consistently stronger for perspective taking than for empathic concern. Furthermore, higher levels of compliance with mothers in early adolescence were uniquely associated with over-time increasing empathic concern. Perspective taking was uniquely associated with decreased withdrawal from conflicts. Perspective taking thus appears to be more strongly associated with a pattern of constructive conflict behaviors.

Direct Aggression and Generalized Anxiety in Adolescence: Heterogeneity in Development and Intra-Individual Change.

Co-occurrence of aggression and anxiety might change during adolescence, or stay stable. We studied change and stability of four types of co-occurrence regarding direct aggression and anxiety in adolescence: an anxious and non-aggressive type, an aggressive and non-anxious type, a comorbid aggressive-anxious type and a no problems type. We applied a person-centered approach to assess increases and decreases of these types, and tested various models of intra-individual change of the types: the stability, acting out and failure models. We used data from a five-wave study of 923 early-to-middle and 390 middle-to-late adolescents (48.5 % male), thereby covering the ages of 12-20. We observed accelerated development in the older cohort: adolescents tended to grow faster out of the aggressive types in middle-to-late adolescence than in early-to-middle adolescence. We observed one other group-dependent pattern of heterogeneity in development, namely "gender differentiation": gender differences in aggression and generalized anxiety became stronger over time. We found support for two perspectives on intra-individual change of the four types, namely the stability and the acting out perspective. The no problems--and to a lesser extent the anxious--type proved to be stable across time. Acting out was found in early-to-middle adolescents, males, and adolescents with poorer-quality friendships. In all three groups, there were substantial transitions from the anxious type to the aggressive type during 4 years (between 20 and 41 %). Remarkably, acting out was most prevalent in subgroups that, generally speaking, are more vulnerable for aggressive behavior, namely early-to-middle adolescents and males. We interpret acting out as the attempt of adolescents to switch from anxiety to instrumental aggression, in order to become more visible and obtain an autonomous position in the adolescent world. Acting out contributed to the explanation of accelerated development and gender differentiation. We also observed an increase of adolescents with no problems. These findings highlight that the co-occurrence of aggression and anxiety changes considerably during adolescence, but also that the anxious and no problems types are quite stable in this period.

Reactive and proactive aggression: Differential links with emotion regulation difficulties, maternal criticism in adolescence.

Proactive and reactive functions of aggression are thought to manifest through different familial and emotional processes, even though they often co-occur. We investigated direct and indirect pathways through which maternal criticism and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties relate to reactive and proactive aggression in adolescence. Further, we examined how maternal criticism and emotion dysregulation interrelate, both concurrently and over time. Participants were 482 Dutch adolescents (M = 15.03, SD = 0.45, 57% boys) who self-reported on their ER difficulties, perceived maternal criticism, and reactive/proactive aggression. Cross-lagged panel modeling across four annual measurements revealed direct bidirectional links over time between maternal criticism and emotion dysregulation. Positive links over time from maternal criticism to proactive (but not reactive) aggression were also present. Emotion dysregulation and proactive aggression were linked only indirectly via maternal criticism. Gender did not significantly moderate these links. By revealing differential developmental pathways involving adolescents' ER and maternal criticism, the present study offers support for the dual function model of aggression. Aggr. Behav. 41:214-226, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Divergence between adolescent and parental perceptions of conflict in relationship to adolescent empathy development.

Adolescents' developing empathy may be associated with the frequency of conflict with parents, as well as the level of agreement between adolescent and parental perceptions of the frequency of such conflicts. This 6-year longitudinal study investigated the link between adolescent empathy development and perceptions of the frequency of parent-child conflict, as reported by 467 adolescents (43% female, from age 13) and both parents. First, we investigated heterogeneity in empathy development by identifying classes of individuals with similar developmental trajectories. Adolescents were categorized into high-, average-, and low-empathy classes. Initial differences between these classes further increased from age 13 to 16, particularly for cognitive empathy. To assess the association between empathy and the frequency of conflict, we compared these empathy classes in terms of initial levels and over-time changes in the frequency of adolescent- and parent-reported conflict. Compared to the average- and high-empathy classes, the low-empathy class evidenced elevated conflict throughout adolescence. Furthermore, the low- and average-empathy classes demonstrated temporary divergence between adolescent- and parent-reported conflict from early- to mid-adolescence, with adolescents underreporting conflict compared to both parents. Adolescents' agreement with parents was moderated by empathy class, while parents were always in agreement with one another. This may suggest that these discrepancies are related to distortions in adolescents' perceptions, as opposed to biased parental reports. These findings highlight the potential importance of early detection and intervention in empathy deficiencies, and suggest that lower adolescent empathy may indicate elevated family conflict, even if a failure to consider parents' perspective leads adolescents to underreport it.

"Bareback" pornography consumption and safe-sex intentions of men having sex with men.

Men having sex with men (MSM) commonly consume "bareback" pornography, which includes scenes of unprotected anal intercourse. Prior research on human imitative behavior suggests that these media might counteract efforts to promote safe-sex behaviors. To date, no studies have demonstrated a causal link between bareback pornography consumption and reduced safe-sex intentions. Study 1 utilized a correlational design conducted as an online survey. Study 2 was set in an actual MSM sex club, using a 2 × 2 mixed-factorial design to compare type of pornography (unprotected vs. protected anal intercourse) and age of actors (younger vs. older). As the main dependent variable in both studies, participants self-reported their inclinations toward unprotected versus protected intercourse, using a 100-point sliding scale (1 = unprotected, 100 = protected). In Study 1, more attention to unprotected sex acts on actual DVD film covers predicted lower safe-sex intentions, as compared to other elements of the film cover. In Study 2, safe-sex intentions after viewing unprotected-sex films were lower than after viewing protected-sex films. The results provide novel and ecologically valid evidence that "bareback" pornography consumption impacts viewer's inclinations toward sexual risk-taking by lowering their intentions to use protected sex measures. Suggestions are given as to how these findings can be utilized for purposes of intervention and prevention of STI and HIV infections.

Self-concept clarity across adolescence: longitudinal associations with open communication with parents and internalizing symptoms.

Higher self-concept clarity is related to several adjustment indices and may be promoted by open communication with parents, while problems with self-concept clarity development could enhance internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms) in adolescence. This longitudinal study examined linkages between self-concept clarity, adolescents' open communication with parents, and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms. Dutch youths (N = 323; 51.1 % girls; mean age Time 1 = 13.3 years) reported on these constructs over four consecutive annual measurements. Concurrent positive links between open communication and self-concept clarity were found at Time 1. Over time, higher levels of open communication with parents predicted higher self-concept clarity only in middle adolescence (mean age between 14 and 15 years). We also found concurrent associations between self-concept clarity and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Longitudinally, lower self-concept clarity predicted relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms across all waves, and also higher anxiety levels from Time 1 to Time 2. Conversely, higher levels of anxiety also predicted lower levels of self-concept clarity during the first three waves. Self-concept clarity did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms. This study is one of the first to investigate self-concept clarity across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety symptoms and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower self-concept clarity and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Siblings versus parents and friends: longitudinal linkages to adolescent externalizing problems.

BACKGROUND: It is well documented that friends' externalizing problems and negative parent-child interactions predict externalizing problems in adolescence, but relatively little is known about the role of siblings. This four-wave, multi-informant study investigated linkages of siblings' externalizing problems and sibling-adolescent negative interactions on adolescents' externalizing problems, while examining and controlling for similar linkages with friends and parents. METHODS: Questionnaire data on externalizing problems and negative interactions were annually collected from 497 Dutch adolescents (M = 13.03 years, SD = 0.52, at baseline), as well as their siblings, mothers, fathers, and friends. RESULTS: Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed modest unique longitudinal paths from sibling externalizing problems to adolescent externalizing problems, for male and female adolescents, and for same-sex and mixed-sex sibling dyads, but only from older to younger siblings. Moreover, these paths were above and beyond significant paths from mother-adolescent negative interaction and friend externalizing problems to adolescent externalizing problems, 1 year later. No cross-lagged paths existed between sibling-adolescent negative interaction and adolescent externalizing problems. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, it appears that especially older sibling externalizing problems may be a unique social risk factor for adolescent externalizing problems, equal in strength to significant parents' and friends' risk factors.

Examining the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) among early and late adolescents and their mothers.

We examined whether the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980 ), consisting of Perspective Taking (PT), Empathic Concern (EC), Personal Distress (PD), and Fantasy (FN), is a psychometrically invariant empathy measure for early and late adolescents and their mothers. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated adequate properties and psychometric invariance across 2 Dutch samples (269 early adolescents, 232 late adolescents). Females scored higher than males on each subscale. Early adolescents scored lower than late adolescents on PT and FN, and higher on PD. The different groups showed similar subscale associations with psychosocial health indexes, and similar subscale contributions to a higher order empathy dimension. Most dimensions showed positive correlations between adolescents and mothers. The IRI appears adequate for examining empathy across the span of adolescence, as well as patterns between youths and mothers.

Forbidden friends as forbidden fruit: parental supervision of friendships, contact with deviant peers, and adolescent delinquency.

Spending leisure time with deviant peers may have strong influences on adolescents' delinquency. The current 3-wave multi-informant study examined how parental control and parental prohibition of friendships relate to these undesirable peer influences. To this end, annual questionnaires were administered to 497 Dutch youths (283 boys, mean age = 13 years at baseline), their best friends, and both parents. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed strong longitudinal links from contacts with deviant peers to adolescent delinquency, but not vice versa. Parent-reported prohibition of friendships positively predicted contacts with deviant peers and indirectly predicted higher adolescent delinquency. Similar indirect effects were not found for parental control. The results suggest that forbidden friends may become "forbidden fruit," leading to unintended increases in adolescents' own delinquency.

Family cohesion and romantic and sexual initiation: a three wave longitudinal study.

Although the relation between family relationships and the timing of sexual debut has been the focus of many studies, research on mediating factors is scarce. This study examines whether low levels of family cohesion result in an earlier onset of romantic and sexual experiences, and whether the link between family cohesion and an early sexual debut is mediated by early romantic initiation. A longitudinal sample of 314 adolescent girls and 222 boys, aged 12-17 at Wave 1, completed questionnaires at three measurement points with three year intervals. The results showed that sexual debut followed romantic initiation for 77% of the participants. For early adolescent females (aged 12-14), high levels of family cohesion resulted in a later sexual debut and this association was fully mediated by a delay of romantic initiation. Among boys and older girls, timing of romantic initiation did not mediate the link between family cohesion and timing of sexual initiation. Early adolescent girls who have negative relationships with their parents turn to romantic relationships for intimacy and support, which subsequently provide the opportunity for an early sexual debut. Low levels of family cohesion thus primarily precipitate romantic initiation and sexual initiation appears to be secondary to this process among girls in this age group.