Like No Other? A Family-Specific Network Approach to Parenting Adolescents.

Numerous theories suggest that parents and adolescents influence each other in diverse ways; however, whether these influences differ between subgroups or are unique to each family remains uncertain. Therefore, this study explored whether data-driven subgroups of families emerged that exhibited a similar daily interplay between parenting and adolescent affective well-being. To do so, Subgrouping Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation (S-GIMME) was used to estimate family-specific dynamic network models, containing same- and next-day associations among five parenting practices (i.e., warmth, autonomy support, psychological control, strictness, monitoring) and adolescent positive and negative affect. These family-specific networks were estimated for 129 adolescents (Mage = 13.3, SDage = 1.2, 64% female, 87% Dutch), who reported each day on parenting and their affect for 100 consecutive days. The findings of S-GIMME did not identify data-driven subgroups sharing similar parenting-affect associations. Instead, each family displayed a unique pattern of temporal associations between the different practices and adolescent affect. Thus, the ways in which parenting practices were related to adolescents' affect in everyday life were family specific.

Estranged and Unhappy? Examining the Dynamics of Personal and Relationship Well-Being Surrounding Infidelity.

Although relationship theories often describe infidelity as a damaging event in a couple's life, it remains unclear whether relationship problems actually follow infidelity, precede it, or both. The analyses of dyadic panel data of adults in Germany including about 1,000 infidelity events showed that infidelity was preceded (but not followed) by a gradual decrease in relationship functioning in perpetrators and victims. There was little evidence of rebound effects in the aftermath of infidelity, with the exception of unfaithful women and individuals with lower initial relationship commitment who returned to the pre-event level of well-being or even exceeded it, providing support to the expectancy violation theory (vs. the investment model of infidelity). By showing that well-being starts to decline before infidelity happens, this study provides a differentiated view on the temporal dynamics of infidelity and well-being and contributes to the literature on romantic relationship dynamics and major life events.

Self-Esteem and Income Over Time.

There is robust evidence that people with higher incomes tend to have higher self-esteem, but little is known about how changes in income and self-esteem are related within individuals. Some theories predict that increased earnings lead to higher self-esteem, others that increased self-esteem leads to higher earnings, and still others that there should be no within-person associations between these variables. We tested these theories in 4-year longitudinal data from more than 4,000 adult participants from a Dutch representative sample. Results indicated significant between-person associations between income and self-esteem, consistent with prior research. Within-person effects suggested that increases in self-esteem are a function of previous increases in income more than the other way around. These links held when analyses controlled for employment status, and they generalized across gender, age, and educational background. Overall, the findings provide evidence for theories that consider self-esteem as both a source and a consequence of personal earnings.

Better, for worse, or both? Testing environmental sensitivity models with parenting at the level of individual families.

According to environmental sensitivity models, children vary in responsivity to parenting. However, different models propose different patterns, with responsivity to primarily: (1) adverse parenting (adverse sensitive); or (2) supportive parenting (vantage sensitive); or (3) to both (differentially susceptible). This preregistered study tested whether these three responsivity patterns coexist. We used intensive longitudinal data of Dutch adolescents (N = 256, Mage = 14.8, 72% female) who bi-weekly reported on adverse and supportive parenting and their psychological functioning (tmean = 17.7, tmax = 26). Dynamic Structural Equation Models (DSEM) indeed revealed differential parenting effects. As hypothesized, we found that all three responsivity patterns coexisted in our sample: 5% were adverse sensitive, 3% vantage sensitive, and 26% differentially susceptible. No adolescent appeared unsusceptible, however. Instead, we labeled 28% as unperceptive, because they did not perceive any changes in parenting and scored lower on trait environmental sensitivity than others. Furthermore, unexpected patterns emerged, with 37% responding contrary to parenting theories (e.g., decreased psychological functioning after more parental support). Sensitivity analyses with concurrent effects and parent-reported parenting were performed. Overall, findings indicate that theorized responsivity-to-parenting patterns might coexist in the population, and that there are other, previously undetected patterns that go beyond environmental sensitivity models.

Testing transactional processes between parental support and adolescent depressive symptoms: From a daily to a biennial timescale.

Transactional processes between parental support and adolescents' depressive symptoms might differ in the short term versus long term. Therefore, this multi-sample study tested bidirectional within-family associations between perceived parental support and depressive symptoms in adolescents with datasets with varying measurement intervals: Daily (N = 244, Mage = 13.8 years, 38% male), bi-weekly (N = 256, Mage = 14.4 years, 29% male), three-monthly (N = 245, Mage = 13.9 years, 38% male), annual (N = 1,664, Mage = 11.1 years, 51% male), and biennial (N = 502, Mage = 13.8 years, 48% male). Preregistered random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) showed negative between- and within-family correlations. Moreover, although the preregistered models showed no within-family lagged effect from perceived parental support to adolescent depressive symptoms at any timescale, an exploratory model demonstrated a negative lagged effect at a biennial timescale with the annual dataset. Concerning the reverse within-family lagged effect, increases in adolescent depressive symptoms predicted decreases in perceived parental support 2 weeks and 3 months later (relationship erosion effect). Most cross-lagged effects were not moderated by adolescent sex or neuroticism trait level. Thus, the findings mostly support adolescent-driven effects at understudied timescales and illustrate that within-family lagged effects do not generalize across timescales.

The Relations between Narrative Identity and Personality Pathology among Clinical Adolescents: Findings from a Multi-Ethnic Asian Sample.

Adolescence is a period where personality difficulties can start emerging. At the same time, a great deal of development in narrative identity takes place. Given that identity impairments are a key feature in personality pathology, it is useful to understand how pathological traits and narrative identity features are related. The current study addressed this by linking pathological personality trait domains to narrative identity features in clinically-referred Singaporean adolescents. Participants (n = 118, Mage = 16.82) wrote narratives about a turning point in their lives. These narratives were coded for themes of agency, communion, self-event connection, redemption, and coherence. Communion was significantly and substantially associated with pathological trait domains of negative affectivity, detachment, disinhibition, and psychoticism, although the effect sizes were modest. Whether a lack of communion themes contribute to the development of personality pathology or whether the former is an expression of the latter is an open question for future research.

Unraveling the Bidirectional Associations between Parental Knowledge and Children's Externalizing Behavior.

Although within- and between-family bidirectional associations between parental knowledge and children's externalizing behavior have been theoretically proposed, studies that unravel these associations simultaneously remain scarce. This study examined these bidirectional associations within and between German families. 3611 families participated across one-year intervals between children ages 8 to 15 (50.6% boys, 34.5% fathers, 89.0% German-born, Mwaves = 3.63, SDwaves = 2.00). Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) with linear slopes revealed negative between-family associations between parental knowledge and children's externalizing behavior, and a negative association between the random linear slopes. Generally, no within-family cross-lagged effects were found, but there were some correlated slopes across families. When teasing apart paternal and maternal knowledge, father-driven but not mother-driven lagged effects of increased knowledge predicting decreased externalizing behavior were found. The findings illustrate the importance of fathers' knowledge and new directions for within-family studies of parent-child interactions.

Parent-adolescent interaction quality and adolescent affect-An experience sampling study on effect heterogeneity.

Person-environment interactions might ultimately drive longer term development. This experience sampling study (Data collection: 2019/20 the Netherlands) assessed short-term linkages between parent-adolescent interaction quality and affect during 2281 interactions of 124 adolescents (Mage  = 15.80, SDage  = 1.69, 59% girls, 92% Dutch, Education: 25% low, 31% middle, 35% high, 9% other). Adolescents reported on parent-adolescent interaction quality (i.e., warmth and conflict) and momentary positive and negative affect five to six times a day, for 14 days. Preregistered dynamic structural equation models (DSEM) revealed within-family associations between parent-adolescent interaction quality and adolescent affect (concurrently: r = -.22 to .39; lagged effects: ß = -.17 to .15). These effects varied significantly between families. These findings stress the need for more person-specific research on parenting processes.

Towards a better understanding of adolescent obsessive-compulsive personality traits and obsessive-compulsive symptoms from growth trajectories of perfectionism.

Although there is increasing attention for the interrelationship between obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), their shared characteristics in terms of childhood trait antecedents remain understudied. Perfectionism may be a viable candidate trait antecedent, given its role in the clinical manifestation of both OCPD and OCD in adulthood, and the evidence that perfectionism reflects a dispositional tendency observable from childhood onwards. However, little is known about childhood trajectories of perfectionism with prospective links to later OCPD versus OCD. Using latent growth curve modeling, this study explored the baseline and growth of childhood perfectionism in 485 community and referred children (55.5% girls, 7.17-14.78 years old, Mage = 10.74, SD = 1.50) across three waves. Adolescent OCPD traits and OCD symptoms were measured in Wave 4. An overall decreasing trend of perfectionism from childhood through adolescence appeared, without inter-individual differences in growth. Individual differences in baseline levels of childhood perfectionism were significant, and equally predicting adolescent OCPD and OCD outcomes. At a more specific level, childhood perfectionism predicted most strongly the rigid perfectionism component of OCPD, and the orderliness/cleanliness/perfectionism and obsession domain of OCD. This demonstrates the value of childhood perfectionism for understanding differential outcomes of adolescent OCPD traits and OCD symptoms.

Disentangling the effects of peer status and peer victimization on perceived physical health in adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: Although exposure to peer victimization during adolescence has been linked to poorer (perceived) physical health, little is known about how multiple peer stressors may independently and conjointly be related with adolescent physical health outcomes. The current study investigated the unique, interactive, and cumulative effects of peer victimization and two types of peer status (i.e., peer preference and peer popularity) on adolescent perceived physical health, while separating between- and within-person effects. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-three adolescents (Mage = 12.7 years; 47.2% females) enrolled in two secondary schools in the Netherlands completed self-report measures and sociometric nominations of peer status four times, every 6 months, during the first 2 years of secondary school. RESULTS: Multilevel analysis showed that adolescents who reported higher levels of peer victimization than their peers also reported more perceived physical health problems. Moreover, when adolescents were exposed to higher levels of peer victimization (as compared with their own average levels), they also reported poorer perceived physical health (as compared with their own average levels). No main or interactive effects of peer status were found and the effect of a cumulative peer stress score emerged to be driven by peer victimization. CONCLUSIONS: Findings revealed both between- and within-person effects of peer victimization on perceived physical health, suggesting that peer victimization may be the most salient peer stressor to affect physical health outcomes in adolescence.

Climbing up or falling down: Narcissism predicts physiological sensitivity to social status in children and their parents.

Children's narcissism may be rooted in sensitivity to social status (i.e., prominence, respect, and influence in a social group), and this sensitivity might be shared with parents. Testing this idea, a randomized experiment examined how children with high narcissism levels and their parents respond to gains and losses of social status. On a simulated social media platform, children (N = 123, ages 8-13) competed with fictitious peers for status and were randomly assigned to gain or lose status. Unbeknownst to children, parents viewed the course of the task. Children's and parents' affective reactions during the task were measured with facial electromyography, which detects spontaneous facial muscle activity linked to positive affect (i.e., zygomaticus major activity, involved in smiling) and negative affect (i.e., corrugator supercilii activity, involved in frowning). Children with higher narcissism levels showed steeper increases in negative affect during status loss and steeper increases in both positive and negative affect during status gain. Their parents mirrored the steeper increase in positive affect during their child's status gain, but they did not mirror the increase in negative affect. These results suggest that children with high narcissism levels and their parents show intensified affective-motivational responses to children's status-relevant experiences. These responses may be transmitted from one generation to the other (e.g., genetically or through parent-child socialization).

Universal prevention of distress aimed at pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological interventions.

BACKGROUND: There is sufficient meta-analytic evidence that antenatal interventions for women at risk (selective prevention) or for women with severe psychological symptoms (indicated prevention) are effective in reducing postpartum distress. However, women without risk or severe psychological symptoms might also experience distress. This meta-analysis focused on the effectiveness of preventive psychological interventions offered to universal populations of pregnant women on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and general stress. Paternal and infant outcomes were also included. METHOD: We included 12 universal prevention studies in the meta-analysis, incorporating a total of 2559 pregnant women. RESULTS: Overall, ten studies included depression as an outcome measure, five studies included stress, and four studies anxiety. There was a moderate effect of preventive interventions implemented during pregnancy on the combined measure of maternal distress (d = .52), on depressive symptoms (d = .50), and on stress (d = .52). The effect on anxiety (d = .30) was smaller. The effects were not associated with intervention timing, intervention type, intervention delivery mode, timing of post-test, and methodological quality. The number of studies including partner and/or infant outcomes was too low to assess their effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that universal prevention during pregnancy is effective on decreasing symptoms of maternal distress compared to routine care, at least with regard to depression. While promising, the results with regard to anxiety and stress are based on a considerably lower number of studies, and should thus be interpreted with caution. More research is needed on preventing other types of maternal distress beyond depression. Furthermore, there is a lack of research with regard to paternal distress. Also, given the large variety in interventions, more research is needed on which elements of universal prevention work. Finally, as maternal distress symptoms can affect infant development, it is important to investigate whether the positive effects of the preventive interventions extend from mother to infant. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: International prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO) registration number: CRD42018098861.

Charting self-esteem during marital dissolution.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to chart changes in self-esteem before and after marital dissolution to identify the factors that shape individuals' self-esteem during this life transition. METHOD: We analyzed 10 annual waves of self-esteem data from 291 divorcees from a nationally representative panel study of the Netherlands (N ~ 13,000). We charted the course of self-esteem before and after marital dissolution and tested a broad set of moderator variables that may shape individuals' self-esteem trajectories. RESULTS: The average divorcee experienced significant decrease in self-esteem preceding marital dissolution and remained stable afterward. There were substantial individual differences in self-esteem trajectories, both before and after marital separation. Divorcees who experienced financial hardship, were affiliated with a church or religion, or scored low in Conscientiousness showed the most pronounced decrease in self-esteem during the years approaching marital dissolution. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of assessing people multiple times before and after marital dissolution to dissect how people approach and respond to this life event. Results are consistent with perspectives that view divorce as an opportunity to abate the strains of an unhappy marriage.

Associations between the identity domains of future plans and education, and the role of a major curricular internship on identity formation processes.

INTRODUCTION: Experiences during the last years of college could stimulate identity formation processes within and across the domains of future plans and education. In the present study, the first research question addressed how identity formation dimensions for education and future plans were associated with each other during the last years in education. The second research question addressed whether identity processes (i.e., identity levels, changes herein, and the associations among identity variables between and within domains) would be different for students who were doing an internship versus those who did not. METHOD: We used a longitudinal design with three measurement occasions. Participants were Dutch psychology college students (N = 287; 83.3% women; M age = 21.8 years, SD = 2.0). We used two different self-report instruments to measure identity processes (i.e., commitment and exploration) in the domains of future plans and education. RESULTS: We found that commitments in the domains of future plans and education were significantly associated. Enrollment in a practical internship was largely unrelated to identity processes, as it did not explain individual differences in identity levels, changes herein and associations between and within domains. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest integration between educational identity and future plans for commitment processes. At a group level, a practical internship in itself did not explain individual differences in identity processes.

Effectiveness of a psycho-educational intervention for expecting parents to prevent postpartum parenting stress, depression and anxiety: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The first months postpartum can be challenging for parents, leading to elevated symptoms of parenting stress, depression and anxiety. In turn, distressed parents are at higher risk for providing suboptimal quality of caregiving. As psychoeducational interventions can be effective in reducing psychological distress, the goal of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effectiveness of low-intensity universal psychoeducational program to prevent postpartum parenting stress, and to enhance parental well-being and caregiving quality. METHOD: Between 26 and 34 weeks of pregnancy, 138 pregnant women and 96 partners were randomized to the intervention or a waitlist control group. The intervention consisted of a booklet, a video, a home visit, and a telephone call. Information was provided on (1) sensitive responsiveness, adapting to the parental role, and attending to own needs; (2) crying patterns; (3) feeding (arrangements); and (4) sleeping (arrangements). The primary outcome was parenting stress postpartum. Secondary outcomes were additional measures of distress (depression and anxiety), parental well-being, and caregiving quality. RESULTS: Both groups showed a rise in distress after birth. No between-group differences were observed on parenting stress, nor on the secondary outcomes. The intervention was rated as useful and of added value by the parents. CONCLUSION: This study offered no evidence that our universal prevention program was effective in decreasing parental distress or in increasing caregiving quality. However, parents found aspects of the intervention useful. More research is needed, including a longer period of follow-up as well as observational measures of parents' responsiveness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial has been registered on 15 September 2016 in the Netherlands National Trial Register, ID: NTR6065, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/5782 .

Self-esteem change during the transition from university to work.

OBJECTIVE: The current study examined whether the transition from university to work, a major developmental milestone in young adulthood, was related to stability and change in self-esteem. METHOD: Self-esteem was assessed in the last year of their master's program (T1) of 163 27-year old students and 14 months later, when they had graduated and half of them had started a full-time job (T2). Daily diaries were used to assess the occurrence of achievement- and affiliation-related experiences on 14 consecutive days at T1 and T2. We compared the full-time job beginners and a comparison group without a full-time job with regard to their mean-level change, rank-order stability and correlated change of self-esteem and daily experiences. RESULTS: First, job beginners increased in self-esteem, but the difference to the mean-level change of the comparison group was only small. Second, self-esteem was less stable among job beginners than among the comparison group. Third, the changes in achievement-related daily experiences and self-esteem correlated positively in the job-beginner group but not in the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underline the role of daily experiences during life transitions for individual differences in self-esteem change. The discussion calls for accounting for unique transition experiences to advance theory and research on self-esteem development.

The Big Five Inventory-2: Replication of Psychometric Properties in a Dutch Adaptation and First Evidence for the Discriminant Predictive Validity of the Facet Scales [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text].

This series of studies investigated whether the good psychometric properties of the English version of the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) could be replicated using its Dutch adaptation. Second, it aimed to further examine the predictive validity of both the Big Five domain and the more specific facet scales of the BFI-2 in a large and representative sample. Results indicated that the structure found in the English version was replicated in the Dutch adaptation. The 60-item BFI-2 was reliable at the level of both domains and facets, as were the abbreviated versions. In terms of validity, the domain scales predicted a broad range of criteria. Examination of preregistered hypotheses regarding the discriminant validity of the facets indicated that experts were able to predict which facets would be most strongly associated with specific criteria. Overall, results confirm the strong psychometric properties of the BFI-2 Big Five domain scales and indicate that theoretically identified facets can be more valid predictors of criteria than other facets of the same domain.

Adolescents' Identity Formation: Linking the Narrative and the Dual-Cycle Approach.

The narrative and dual-cycle approach conceptualize and operationalize adolescents' identity formation in different ways. While the narrative approach focuses on the construction of an autobiographical life story, the dual-cycle approach focuses on the formation of identity commitments. Although these approaches have different emphases, they are conceptually complementary. Yet, their empirical links and distinctions have only scarcely been investigated. Empirical knowledge on these links in adolescence and across time has been especially lacking. In the present research, it was therefore examined whether key characteristics of adolescents' narration (autobiographical reasoning and agency) were concurrently and prospectively related to engagement in the dual-cycle processes of commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration. The findings from a cross-sectional sample of 1,580 Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.7 years, 56% female) demonstrated that autobiographical reasoning was significantly positively associated with the commitment and more adaptive exploration processes (i.e., in breadth and in depth). In addition, agency was significantly positively associated with the commitment processes and exploration in depth. Yet, these associations between the narrative characteristics and dual-cycle processes were only weak. Subsequently, the findings from a two-year longitudinal subsample (n = 242, Mage = 14.7 years, 62% female) indicated that on average commitment strength remained stable but exploration increased across middle adolescence. A stronger increase in identification with commitment and adaptive exploration (i.e., in breadth and in depth) was predicted by a higher degree of agency in adolescents' narratives. Overall, these findings indicate that both approaches to identity formation are associated, but the small size of these associations suggests that they predominantly capture unique aspects of identity formation. Both approaches could thus complement and inform each other.

Self-Enhancement and Psychological Adjustment: A Meta-Analytic Review.

This article advances the debate about costs and benefits of self-enhancement (the tendency to maintain unrealistically positive self-views) with a comprehensive meta-analytic review (299 samples, N = 126,916). The review considers relations between self-enhancement and personal adjustment (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, depression), and between self-enhancement and interpersonal adjustment (informant reports of domain-general social valuation, agency, communion). Self-enhancement was positively related to personal adjustment, and this relation was robust across sex, age, cohort, and culture. Important from a causal perspective, self-enhancement had a positive longitudinal effect on personal adjustment. The relation between self-enhancement and interpersonal adjustment was nuanced. Self-enhancement was positively related to domain-general social valuation at 0, but not long, acquaintance. Communal self-enhancement was positively linked to informant judgments of communion, whereas agentic self-enhancement was linked positively to agency but negatively to communion. Overall, the results suggest that self-enhancement is beneficial for personal adjustment but a mixed blessing for interpersonal adjustment.

Unique predictive power of other-rated personality: An 18-year longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: What is gained by having others report on one's personality? Research on adult samples has suggested that informant reports are especially informative regarding traits that are highly visible and evaluative (i.e., socially desirable/undesirable instead of neutral), such as Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. This 18-year longitudinal study aims to demonstrate the unique predictive power of other-rated personality in adolescence, using life outcomes and personality in adulthood as trait criteria. METHOD: We examined the unique predictive power of self- and other-rated Big Five personality traits at age 12 and 17 on self-rated life outcomes and personality at age 29 (e.g., educational achievement, work income, depression, moral transgressions, and relationship satisfaction). Participants were 186 German adolescents (53% boys), their parents and friends at age 12, and their mothers and fathers at age 17. RESULTS: Other-ratings showed unique predictive power beyond self-ratings for all Big Five traits, with the most consistent results for Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate the added value of including other-reports on adolescent personality when predicting future life outcomes and personality, especially for highly visible and evaluative traits. The present study sheds light on the predictive power of self- versus other-rated personality and personality-outcome associations.