Empathy across three generations: From maternal and peer support in adolescence to adult parenting and child outcomes.

This study examined the development of empathic care across three generations in a sample of 184 adolescents in the United States (99 female, 85 male; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other groups), followed from their family of origin at age 13 into their parenting years (through their mid-30s). Mothers' empathic support toward adolescents at age 13 predicted teens' empathy for close friends across adolescence (13-19 years). Participants' empathic support for friends in late adolescence predicted more supportive parenting behavior in adulthood, which in turn was associated with their children's empathy at age 3-8 years. Results suggest that individuals "pay forward" the empathic care they receive from parents, and that skills developed in adolescent friendships may inform later parenting.

Pathways from adolescent close friendship struggles to adult negative affectivity.

This 19-year prospective study applied a social development lens to the challenge of identifying long-term predictors of adult negative affectivity. A diverse community sample of 169 individuals was repeatedly assessed from age 13 to age 32 using self-, parent-, and peer-reports. As hypothesized, lack of competence establishing and maintaining close friendships in adolescence had a substantial long-term predictive relation to negative affectivity at ages 27-32, even after accounting for prior depressive, anxious, and externalizing symptoms. Predictions also remained robust after accounting for concurrent levels of depressive symptoms, indicating that findings were not simply an artifact of previously established links between relationship quality and depressive symptoms. Predictions also emerged from poor peer relationships within young adulthood to future relative increases in negative affectivity by ages 27-32. Implications for early identification of risk as well as for potential preventive interventions are discussed.

Unique roles of adolescents' friends and fathers in predicting verbal aggression in future adult romantic relationships.

This 20-year prospective study examined verbal aggression and intense conflict within the family of origin and between adolescents and their close friends as predictors of future verbal aggression in adult romantic relationships. A diverse community sample of 154 individuals was assessed repeatedly from age 13 to 34 years using self-, parent, peer, and romantic partner reports. As hypothesized, verbal aggression in adult romantic relationships was best predicted by both paternal verbal aggression toward mothers and by intense conflict within adolescent close friendships, with each factor contributing unique variance to explaining adult romantic verbal aggression. These factors also interacted, such that paternal verbal aggression was predictive of future romantic verbal aggression only in the context of co-occurring intense conflict between an adolescent and their closest friend. Predictions remained robust even after accounting for levels of parental abusive behavior toward the adolescent, levels of physical violence between parents, and the overall quality of the adolescent's close friendship. Results indicate the critical importance of exposure to aggression and conflict within key horizontal relationships in adolescence. Implications for early identification of risk as well as for potential preventive interventions are discussed.

Beyond delinquency and drug use: Links of peer pressure to long-term adolescent psychosocial development.

This study examined the predictors and sequelae of exposure to peer pressure from close friends in adolescence. Adolescents (99 female; 85 male) were followed from age 13 to 24 utilizing peer, parent, and romantic partner reports and observational data. Participants who were exposed to high levels of peer pressure as teens were more likely to experience higher levels of coercive behavior from romantic partners (as reported by those partners), as well as lower levels of parent-reported functional independence. All findings held even after accounting for baseline levels of teen assertiveness. Adolescents at risk for increasing exposure to peer pressure were characterized by poor-quality parent and peer relationships, as well as baseline deficits in ability to assert autonomy. Results suggest that exposure to peer pressure, aside from its potential effects on deviant or risky behavior, may reflect a powerful threat to the autonomy development process as adolescents transition from parents to peers as primary sources of support and interaction.

Adolescent social learning within supportive friendships: Self-disclosure and relationship quality from adolescence to adulthood.

This study examines links between self-disclosure and relationship quality with close friends from adolescence to adulthood. A diverse community sample of adolescents (N = 184) participated in survey and observational measures annually from ages 13 through 29, along with their close friends and romantic partners. Random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RICLPM) was used to parse markers of within-individual change from age 13 to 18. Long-term longitudinal path models also investigated cascading associations among self-disclosure and relationship quality, on aggregate, from adolescence to adulthood. Adolescents who reported a higher-quality friendship in a given year demonstrated greater-than-expected increases in self-disclosure the following year, and an adolescent demonstrated high self-disclosure one year reported greater-than-expected increases in friendship quality the following year. Higher mean self-disclosure in adolescence predicted higher mean self-disclosure in adulthood. Results are interpreted as identifying high-quality adolescent friendships as key contexts for developing intimacy-building capacities (i.e. self-disclosure), which sets the stage for satisfying close relationships in adulthood.

Adolescent responses to paternal verbal aggression: Assessing spillover and compensatory processes using random intercept cross-lagged panel models.

INTRODUCTION: Prior research suggests several pathways through which verbal aggression manifests across adolescent relationship contexts, including spillover (continuity of aggression across different relationships) and compensation (offsetting an aggressive relationship with less aggression in other relationships). These pathways vary across timescales in ways that between-person analytic approaches are unlikely to adequately capture. The current study used random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) to examine adolescents' spillover and compensatory responses to paternal verbal aggression. METHODS: Participants were 184 adolescents (53.2% female) from a United States community sample participating in a longitudinal study. Annually from ages 13-17, participants reported on their experiences of verbal aggression in their paternal and maternal relationships and participated in observed interactions with a close peer that were coded for aggressive behavior. RESULTS: Spillover was observed from father-adolescent to mother-adolescent and adolescent-peer contexts in analyses at the between-person level, likely capturing long-term, cumulative effects of paternal aggression. Conversely, compensation was observed in analyses at the within-person level, likely capturing medium-term (i.e., year-to-year) adaptations to paternal aggression: Adolescents who experienced more aggression from their father than expected at a specific time point were less likely to both perpetrate and experience aggression in maternal and peer relationships the following year. Several findings differed across teen gender, with compensation more likely to occur in males than females. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the multiple pathways by which father-adolescent aggression may be linked to behavior in other relationships in the medium- and long-term. They also support the value of RI-CLPM in decomposing these effects.

Fathers' contributions to attachment in adolescence and adulthood: the moderating role of race, gender, income, and residential status.

Fathers play a critical yet underappreciated role in adolescent development. To examine contributions of fathers' parenting to attachment in adolescence and adulthood, this longitudinal study followed 184 adolescents from ages 13-24. At age 13, adolescents reported on their fathers' parenting behavior and were observed in a father-teen conflict task; at ages 14 and 24, they completed the Adult Attachment Interview. Adolescents who lived with their father showed higher attachment security at age 14 (Cohen's d = .72), compared to those with non-residential fathers. Fathers' positive relatedness and support for teens' psychological autonomy predicted attachment security at age 14. Fathers' physical aggression predicted attachment insecurity in adolescence, whereas fathers' verbal aggression predicted insecurity in adulthood, illuminating developmental shifts. Pathways to security were moderated by father residential status, adolescent gender, and race. Findings underscore the importance of fathers' presence, autonomy support, and non-aggression in predicting adolescents' state of mind in close relationships.

Adolescent caregiving success as a predictor of social functioning from ages 13 to 33.

Adolescent success providing satisfying support in response to a close friend's call in a caregiving task was examined as a potentially fundamental developmental competence likely to predict future social functioning, adult caregiving security, and physical health. Adolescents (86 males, 98 females; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other) were followed from ages 13 to 33 (1998-2021) using multiple methods and reporters. Early caregiving success was found to predict greater self- and partner-reported caregiving security, lower negativity in adult relationships, and higher adult vagal tone. Results are interpreted as advancing our understanding beyond simply recognizing that adolescent friendships have long-term import, to now identifying specific capacities within friendships that are linked to longer-term outcomes.

Adolescent peer struggles predict accelerated epigenetic aging in midlife.

This study examined struggles to establish autonomy and relatedness with peers in adolescence and early adulthood as predictors of advanced epigenetic aging assessed at age 30. Participants (N = 154; 67 male and 87 female) were observed repeatedly, along with close friends and romantic partners, from ages 13 through 29. Observed difficulty establishing close friendships characterized by mutual autonomy and relatedness from ages 13 to 18, an interview-assessed attachment state of mind lacking autonomy and valuing of attachment at 24, and self-reported difficulties in social integration across adolescence and adulthood were all linked to greater epigenetic age at 30, after accounting for chronological age, gender, race, and income. Analyses assessing the unique and combined effects of these factors, along with lifetime history of cigarette smoking, indicated that each of these factors, except for adult social integration, contributed uniquely to explaining epigenetic age acceleration. Results are interpreted as evidence that the adolescent preoccupation with peer relationships may be highly functional given the relevance of such relationships to long-term physical outcomes.

Characterizing Emotional Support Development: From Adolescent Best Friendships to Young Adult Romantic Relationships.

This study examined development of emotional support competence within close friendships across adolescence. A sample of 184 adolescents (53% girls, 47% boys; 58% White, 29% Black, 14% other identity groups) participated in seven waves of multimethod assessments with their best friends and romantic partners from age 13 to 24. Latent change score models identified coupled predictions over time from emotional support competence to increasing friendship quality and decreasing support received from friends. Friend-rated emotional support competence in adolescence predicted supportiveness in adult romantic relationships, over and above supportiveness in adolescent romantic relationships. Teen friendships may set the stage for developing emotional support capacities that progress across time and relationships into adulthood.

A social-development model of the evolution of depressive symptoms from age 13 to 30.

This 17-year prospective study applied a social-development lens to the challenge of identifying long-term predictors of adult depressive symptoms. A diverse community sample of 171 individuals was repeatedly assessed from age 13 to age 30 using self-, parent-, and peer-report methods. As hypothesized, competence in establishing close friendships beginning in adolescence had a substantial long-term predictive relation to adult depressive symptoms at ages 27-30, even after accounting for prior depressive, anxiety, and externalizing symptoms. Intervening relationship difficulties at ages 23-26 were identified as part of pathways to depressive symptoms in the late twenties. Somewhat distinct paths by gender were also identified, but in all cases were consistent with an overall role of relationship difficulties in predicting long-term depressive symptoms. Implications both for early identification of risk as well as for potential preventive interventions are discussed.

Getting under the skin: long-term links of adolescent peer relationship difficulties to adult vagal tone.

Understanding whether and how the absence of positive relationships may predict longer-term physical health outcomes is central to building a working conceptual model of the interplay of social and physical development across the lifespan. This study sought to examine the extent to which difficulties establishing positive social relationships from adolescence onward serve as long-term predictors of low adult vagal tone, which in turn has been linked to numerous long-term health problems. A diverse community sample of 141 individuals was followed via multiple methods and reporters from age 13 to 29. Across this span, social relationship quality was assessed via close friend and peer reports, observations of romantic interactions, and self-reported romantic relationship satisfaction. A range of potential personality and functional covariates was also considered. Vagal tone while at rest was assessed at age 29. Adult vagal tone was predicted across periods as long as 16 years by: adolescents' difficulty establishing themselves as desirable companions among peers; early adults' inability to establish strong close friendships; and lack of warmth in romantic relationships as an adult. Poor early adult friendship quality statistically mediated the link from adolescent peer difficulties to adult vagal tone. A range of potential confounding factors was examined but was not linked to vagal tone. Within the limits of the correlational design of the study, robust connections between adult vagal tone and social relationship quality from adolescence onward suggest at least a possible mechanism by which relationship difficulties may get 'under the skin' to influence future physiological functioning.

Facilitating connection to enhance college student well-being: Evaluation of an experiential group program.

This randomized controlled trial examined the impact of The Connection Project, an experiential, relationship-focused intervention designed to improve school belongingness and decrease symptoms of depression and loneliness among new college students. Participants were 438 first-year and transfer students (232 treatment, 206 waitlist-control) at a medium-sized, 4years, predominantly White public university in the Southeastern United States. At postintervention, the treatment group reported significant relative increases in school belonging and significant relative reductions in levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms in comparison to waitlist-controls. Program effects were stronger for students from marginalized racial or ethnic backgrounds, students from lower socioeconomic status households, and transfer students. Results are interpreted as suggesting the utility of experiential, peer-support prevention programming to promote college students' well-being, particularly college students who hold identities that are traditionally disadvantaged in this context.

Here for You: Attachment and the Growth of Empathic Support for Friends in Adolescence.

Attachment was examined as a predictor of teens' empathic support for friends in a multimethod longitudinal study of 184 U.S. adolescents (58% Caucasian, 29% African American, 13% other) followed from ages 14 to 18. Adolescents' secure state of mind regarding attachment at 14 predicted teens' greater capacity to provide empathic support during observed interactions with friends across ages 16-18 (Baverage = .39). Teens' empathic support was generally stable during this period, and less secure teens were slower to develop these skills. Further, teens' attachment security predicted the degree to which friends called for their support (Baverage = .29), which was associated with teens' responsiveness to such calls. The findings suggest that secure attachment predicts teens' ability to provide empathic support in close friendships.

Perceived Psychological Control in Early Adolescence Predicts Lower Levels of Adaptation into Mid-Adulthood.

This study examined perceived parental psychological control in early adolescence as a critical stressor likely to be associated with lower levels of adaptation into mid-adulthood. A diverse sample of 184 adolescents was followed from age 13 through 32 to assess predictions to adult adaptation. Perceived parental psychological control at age 13 predicted relative decreases in observed support, lower likelihood of being in a romantic relationship, and lower academic attainment (after accounting for grade point average at baseline) by age 32. Many outcomes were mediated by lower levels of psychosocial maturity and peer acceptance in mid-adolescence. Overall, results suggest that perceived parental psychological control in early adolescence potentially undermines autonomy so as to lead to less favorable outcomes well into adulthood.

Different factors predict adolescent substance use versus adult substance abuse: Lessons from a social-developmental approach.

This 17-year prospective study applied a social-developmental lens to the challenge of distinguishing predictors of adolescent-era substance use from predictors of longer term adult substance use problems. A diverse community sample of 168 individuals was repeatedly assessed from age 13 to age 30 using test, self-, parent-, and peer-report methods. As hypothesized, substance use within adolescence was linked to a range of likely transient social and developmental factors that are particularly salient during the adolescent era, including popularity with peers, peer substance use, parent-adolescent conflict, and broader patterns of deviant behavior. Substance abuse problems at ages 27-30 were best predicted, even after accounting for levels of substance use in adolescence, by adolescent-era markers of underlying deficits, including lack of social skills and poor self-concept. The factors that best predicted levels of adolescent-era substance use were not generally predictive of adult substance abuse problems in multivariate models (either with or without accounting for baseline levels of use). Results are interpreted as suggesting that recognizing the developmental nature of adolescent-era substance use may be crucial to distinguishing factors that predict socially driven and/or relatively transient use during adolescence from factors that predict long-term problems with substance abuse that extend well into adulthood.

The Connection Project: Changing the peer environment to improve outcomes for marginalized adolescents.

This study evaluated a school-based intervention to enhance adolescent peer relationships and improve functional outcomes, building upon Ed Zigler's seminal contribution in recognizing the potential of academic contexts to enhance social and emotional development. Adolescents (N = 610) primarily from economically or racially/ethnically marginalized groups were assessed preintervention, postintervention, and at 4-month follow-up in a randomized controlled trial. At program completion, intervention participants reported significantly increased quality of peer relationships; by 4-month follow-up, this increased quality was also observable by peers outside of the program, and program participants also displayed higher levels of academic engagement and lower levels of depressive symptoms. These latter effects appear to have potentially been mediated via participants' increased use of social support. The potential of the Connection Project intervention specifically, and of broader efforts to activate adolescent peer relationships as potent sources of social support and growth more generally within the secondary school context, is discussed.

With(out) a little help from my friends: insecure attachment in adolescence, support-seeking, and adult negativity and hostility.

Attachment theory suggests that insecurely attached individuals will have more difficulty seeking and receiving support from others. Such struggles in adolescence may reinforce negative expectations of others and contribute to relationship difficulties into adulthood. Using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from age 13 to 27, along with friends and romantic partners, this study found that more insecure states of mind regarding attachment at age 14 predicted relative decreases in teens' abilities to seek and receive support from close friends from ages 14-18. In addition, greater attachment insecurity predicted greater observed negative interactions with romantic partners and relative increases in hostile attitudes from ages 14 to 27. The effect of attachment insecurity on observed negativity was mediated by difficulty seeking/receiving support in friendships during adolescence. Results suggest a type of self-fulfilling prophecy as insecure adolescents confirm their negative expectations of others through ongoing struggles to obtain support.

The Intensity Effect in Adolescent Close Friendships: Implications for Aggressive and Depressive Symptomatology.

This study examined the effect of close friendship intensity as a potential amplifier of an adolescent's preexisting tendencies toward depressive and aggressive symptoms. A diverse community sample of 170 adolescents and their closest friends was assessed via multiple methods, and adolescents were followed from age 16 to 17. Results supported the hypothesized effect, with more intense close friendships interacting with higher baseline levels of behavioral symptoms to predict greater relative increases in symptoms over time. Effects were observed for both depressive and aggressive symptoms, and appeared with respect to multiple observational measures of friendship intensity. Findings are interpreted as suggesting that seemingly disparate phenomena (e.g., co-rumination for depression and deviancy-training for aggression) may both be dependent upon the intensity of the adolescent's social connections.

RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF AN INTERVENTION TO ENHANCE A SENSE OF BELONGINGNESS AMONG ENTERING COLLEGE STUDENTS.

This study examined an intervention designed to improve sense of belongingness for new students at a medium-sized, four-year, public university in the Eastern United States. A randomized controlled trial was used to assess the impact of The Connection Project, a novel, 9-session intervention in a sample of 128 first-year students (77 treatment, 48 waitlist control). Given the onset of COVID-19, students received a hybrid in-person/online intervention. At post-intervention, the intervention group reported a significantly higher sense of school belongingness, after accounting for baseline levels, than control group students. Post-hoc analyses of moderation by demographic variables indicate that the intervention functioned similarly for students from a variety of backgrounds in this sample. These results are interpreted as suggesting the potential value of this intervention to promote a sense of community and connection among new students in college, whether delivered in-person or online.