Quaranteens: Prepandemic relationship quality and changes in adolescent internalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This preregistered longitudinal study examined changes in adolescents' depressive and anxiety symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using latent additive piece-wise growth models. It also assessed whether support from and conflict with mothers, fathers, siblings, and best friends explained heterogeneity in change patterns. One hundred and ninety-two Dutch adolescents (Mean age: 14.3 years; 68.8% female) completed online biweekly questionnaires for a year (November 2019-October 2020), consisting of a prepandemic, lockdown, and reopening phase. Depressive symptoms increased following the lockdown and decreased upon reopening. Anxiety symptoms showed an immediate decrease followed by a gradual increase in the reopening phase. Prepandemic family and best friend support and conflict did not explain heterogeneity in depressive and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sexual Double Standards: Contributions of Sexual Socialization by Parents, Peers, and the Media.

(Hetero)sexual double standards (SDS) entail that different sexual behaviors are appropriate for men and women. There is large variation in whether people endorse SDS in their expectations about the sexual behavior of women and men (i.e., SDS-norms). To explain these individual differences, we examined associations between SDS-norms of Dutch adolescents (aged 16-20 years, N = 566) and what parents, peers, and the media teach adolescents about appropriate sexual behavior of boys and girls (i.e., SDS-socialization). Adolescents completed an online survey at school. Regarding SDS-socialization, more traditional SDS-norms conveyed by the media and peers, but not of parents, and less perceived sexual activity of female peers, were associated with more traditional SDS-norms. Only for boys, exposure to sexy girls/women on social media and sexual music videos of female artists were associated with more traditional SDS-norms. Thus, SDS-socialization by peers and the media and opposite gender models (for boys) are important in light of adolescents' SDS-norms.

Pornography Use Profiles and the Emergence of Sexual Behaviors in Adolescence.

This research longitudinally explored adolescent pornography (porn) consumption and its association with sexual development in early and middle adolescence. A four-wave design with half-year intervals investigated pornography consumption and different (sexual) activities, such as masturbation, French kissing, petting, giving/receiving manual and oral sex, and intercourse, among 630 respondents (47.9% female, mean age 13.7 years; SD = 0.48) years at T1). A latent growth mixture analysis of pornography consumption revealed two groups with relatively low pornography (LP; 51.8% of the boys, 91.4% of the girls) versus high pornography (HP; 48.2% of the boys; 8.6% of the girls) consumption across time. At T1, HP boys on average watched pornography less than once a month, but more than once a year at T1. At T4, their average pornography use had increased to almost one to two times a week. LP boys never watched pornography at T1. At T4, their average pornography use was still less than once a year. At T1, HP girls never watched pornography, but consumption increased to almost one to three times a month at T4. Across waves of the study, LP girls (almost) never watched pornography. A discrete-time survival mixture analysis of sexual developmental patterning indicated that, compared to their LP peers, both girls and boys in the HP groups showed accelerated development of masturbation, petting, and receiving manual sex. Girls in the HP group were also more inclined to receive oral sex, whereas boys in the HP group also showed earlier and more frequent manual sex and intercourse. Thus, whereas the HP group of boys was substantially larger compared to that of girls, pornography consumption was related to accelerated development of sexual activities for both genders across early and middle adolescence. The discussion deliberates on pornography as a driving force in adolescent sexual development versus pornography as a medium of choice for sexually advanced adolescents.

Parallel Changes in Positive Youth Development and Self-awareness: the Role of Emotional Self-regulation, Self-esteem, and Self-reflection.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether early adolescents' positive development (i.e., resilience and psychological wellbeing) could be enhanced by stimulating three dimensions of self-awareness: emotional self-regulation, self-esteem, and self-reflection. An experimental field study (randomized controlled trial) was conducted. Seventh grade students (N = 1299; Mage = 12.38; 54% boys) completed multiple assessments at the beginning, during, and immediately after the intervention or at parallel time points for students in the control condition. Changes in the assessed constructs were examined with parallel process latent growth curve models. The results showed that increases in emotional self-regulation and self-esteem were related to concurrent increases in both resilience and psychological wellbeing. Changes in self-reflection were, however, not related to changes in these outcomes. The trajectories of change and parallel processes were similar in the intervention and control condition. These findings suggest that interventions aiming to stimulate positive youth development might be optimized by also focusing on youth's self-awareness, though more knowledge about how self-awareness can be stimulated best is needed. This trial was registered in the Dutch Trial Register, number NL6371 (old number: NTR6554), on July 3, 2017.

The Role of Classmates' Modeling and Reinforcement in Adolescents' Perceived Classroom Peer Context.

Experiences with classmates can affect adolescents' academic, emotional, and social development. The aim was to examine whether changes in classmates' modeling and reinforcement, induced by an intervention, affected changes in adolescents' perceived classroom peer context and whether these associations were moderated by dyadic mutuality. Questionnaires and observations were used in a sample of 7th Grade students (N = 152; Mage = 12.37; 53.8% boys). Generally, changes in classmates' modeling and reinforcement were unrelated to adolescents' perceived classroom peer context, except for classmates' prosocial modeling. Increases in prosocial modeling were related to decreases in victimization, especially for dyads with high levels of mutuality. The results suggest that classmates' prosocial modeling may be more important for the perceived classroom peer context than classmates' deviant modeling.

Observed Normativity and Deviance in Friendship Dyads' Conversations About Sex and the Relations With Youths' Perceived Sexual Peer Norms.

The current study examined the relations between observed normativity and deviance during adolescents' and young adults' conversations about sex with their friends and their individual perceptions of sexual peer norms. Participants were 16-21-year-old same-sex friendship dyads (31 male and 30 female dyads) who performed a peer interaction task that consisted of five discussion assignments focusing on party planning, sexual double standards, condom use, homosexuality, and consensual sex. Videotaped discussions were coded to capture the amounts of normative talk (e.g., consistent with notions of healthy sexuality) and deviant talk (e.g., consistent with notions of risky sexuality), and the verbal or nonverbal reinforcement thereof. Participants also completed individual questionnaires to assess their perceived sexual descriptive norms, injunctive norms, pressure, and risk norms among their peers. Actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) results revealed that youths' perceived descriptive, injunctive, and risk norms, but not their experienced peer pressure, were related to both their own (actor effects) and their friends' (partner effects) normativity and deviance. Overall, more deviance was related to perceiving friends to be more sexually active, more approving of having sex, and engaging in more risky sex, whereas more normativity was related to these perceptions in the opposite direction. Gender differences in the APIMs indicated that interactive normativity and deviance was related to perceived descriptive, injunctive, and risk norms for boys, but only to perceived injunctive norms for girls. These findings demonstrate the importance of assessing the dyadic nature of youths' sexual communication with friends, their relation to individual sexual peer norm perceptions, and gender differences therein.

Parenting matters: a longitudinal study into parenting and adolescent sleep.

The current three-wave longitudinal study examined the differential relations between general parenting behaviour (monitoring, autonomy granting, and the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship) and adolescent sleep (bedtimes, time in bed, sleep quality and sleepiness) over a period of 2 years. At Time 1, the sample consisted of 650 adolescents between 12 and 15 years old (M = 13.36 years; SD = 0.55 years). At Time 2, 563 adolescents participated, and at Time 3 there were 493 adolescents. The distribution of boys and girls was about equal. Adolescents completed questionnaires in the classroom. Linear mixed model analyses were performed, controlling for sex, age, social economic status and ethnicity. Results showed that higher levels of monitoring contributed to earlier bedtimes, longer time in bed, better sleep quality and less sleepiness. The parent-adolescent relationship quality showed positive associations with time in bed, sleep quality and sleepiness, but not with bedtimes. Autonomy granting appeared hardly to be related to any of the sleep variables. In addition, passing of time, sex and ethnicity contributed to adolescent sleep as main effects or in interaction with parental control and support, suggesting that the main effects of monitoring and the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship are not constant across the whole range of the covariates. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that general parenting behaviour may contribute to better adolescent sleep over time. Therefore, the involvement of parents in improvement of adolescent sleep is highly advocated.

Mental health of adolescents before and after the death of a parent or sibling.

The death of a parent or sibling (family bereavement) is associated with mental health problems in approximately, 25 % of the affected children. However, it is still unknown whether mental health problems of family-bereaved adolescents are predicted by pre-existing mental health problems, pre-loss family functioning, or multiple bereavements. In this study, a prospective longitudinal assessment of change in mental health following bereavement was done in a large representative sample from the 'Tracking Adolescents Individual Lives Survey' (TRAILS). This is a four-wave prospective cohort study of Dutch adolescents (n = 2230) of whom 131 (5.9 %) had experienced family bereavement at the last wave (T4). Family-bereaved adolescents reported more internalizing problems, within 2 years after family bereavement, compared to the non-bereaved peers, while taking into account the level of internalizing problems before the bereavement. A clinically relevant finding was that 22 % new cases were found in family-bereaved, in comparison to 5.5 % new cases in non-bereaved. Low SES predicted more internalizing problems in family-bereaved but not in non-bereaved adolescents. Family functioning, reported by the adolescent, did not predict mental health problems within 2 years. Multiple family bereavements predicted fewer externalizing problems. In conclusion, internalizing problems increase in adolescents after family bereavement in comparison to non-bereaved and these can be predicted by pre-loss factors. Awareness among professionals regarding the risks for aggravation of mental health problems after family loss is needed.

A Meta-Analysis of the Relations Between Three Types of Peer Norms and Adolescent Sexual Behavior.

The aim of the present meta-analysis was to investigate the associations between three types of peer norms-descriptive norms (peer sexual behaviors), injunctive norms (peer sexual attitudes), and peer pressure to have sex-and two adolescent sexual behavior outcomes (sexual activity and sexual risk behavior). Adolescent sexual activity was more strongly associated with descriptive norms (ESrfixed=.40) than with injunctive norms (ESrfixed=.22) or peer pressure (ESrfixed=.10). Compared with the sexual activity outcome, the effect size for descriptive norms (peer sexual risk behavior) for sexual risk behavior was smaller (ESrfixed=.11). Age, gender, peer type, and socio-cultural context significantly moderated these associations. Additional analyses of longitudinal studies suggested that selection effects were stronger than socialization effects. These findings offer empirical support for the conceptual distinction between three types of peer norms and hold important implications for theory, research, and intervention strategies.

Longitudinal effects of sibling relationship quality on adolescent problem behavior: a cross-ethnic comparison.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether adolescents of Moroccan and Dutch origin differ concerning sibling relationship quality and to examine whether the associations between quality of the sibling relationship and level and change in externalizing and internalizing problem behavior are comparable for Moroccan and Dutch adolescents. Five annual waves of questionnaire data on sibling support and conflict as well as externalizing problems, anxiety and depression were collected from 159 ethnic Moroccan adolescents (Mage = 13.3 years) and from 159 ethnic Dutch adolescents (Mage = 13.0 years). Our findings demonstrated significant mean level differences between the Moroccan and Dutch sample in sibling relationship quality, externalizing problems, and depression, with Moroccan adolescents reporting higher sibling relationship quality and less problem behavior. However, effects of sibling relationship quality on externalizing problems, anxiety, and depression were similar for the Moroccan and Dutch samples. Sibling support was not related to level of externalizing problems, nor to changes in externalizing problems, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, more sibling conflict was related to a higher starting level of and faster decreases in problem behaviors. Our results support the ethnic equivalence model, which holds that the influence of family relationships is similar for different ethnic groups. Moreover, sibling support and conflict affect both the level and the fluctuations in problem behavior over time in specific ethnic groups similarly. Implications for future studies and interventions are subsequently discussed.

Youths' displaced aggression against in- and out-group peers: an experimental examination.

People often displace their anger and aggression against innocent targets, sometimes called scapegoats. Tragic historic events suggest that members of ethnic minority out-groups may be especially likely to be innocent targets. The current experiment examined displaced aggression of Dutch youths against Dutch in-group peers versus Moroccan out-group peers. Participants (N=137, Mage=11.6 years) completed a personal profile that was allegedly evaluated by Dutch peer judges. After randomly receiving negative or neutral feedback from these peers, participants were given the opportunity to aggress against other innocent Dutch and Moroccan peers by taking money earned away from them. Results showed that in response to negative feedback, participants displaced aggression disproportionally against innocent Moroccan out-group targets. This effect was not driven by ethnic prejudice; in both conditions, participants holding more negative attitudes of Moroccans engaged in higher levels of aggression regardless of the ethnicity of the target.

Distinctiveness of symptoms of prolonged grief, depression, and post-traumatic stress in bereaved children and adolescents.

Studies among adults have shown that symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) are distinct from those of bereavement-related depression and post-traumatic stress-disorder (PTSD). This study was an attempt to replicate this finding in two distinct samples of bereaved children (N = 197; aged 8-12 years) and adolescents (N = 135; 13-18 years), confronted with the death of a parent, sibling or other close relative. Using confirmatory factor analyses, we compared the fit of a one-factor model with the fit of a three-factor model in which symptoms formed three distinct, correlated factors. In both samples, findings showed that the model in which symptoms of PGD, depression, and PTSD loaded on separate factors was superior to a one-factor model and displayed excellent model fit. Summed scores on the PGD, depression, and PTSD items were significantly associated with functional impairment, attesting to the concurrent validity of the PGD, depression, and PTSD factors. The current findings complement prior evidence from adult samples that PGD is a distinct syndrome and suggest that PGD symptoms should be addressed in the assessment and treatment of bereaved children and adolescent seeking help following their loss.

Sleep characteristics across the lifespan in 1.1 million people from the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

We aimed to obtain reliable reference charts for sleep duration, estimate the prevalence of sleep complaints across the lifespan and identify risk indicators of poor sleep. Studies were identified through systematic literature search in Embase, Medline and Web of Science (9 August 2019) and through personal contacts. Eligible studies had to be published between 2000 and 2017 with data on sleep assessed with questionnaires including ≥100 participants from the general population. We assembled individual participant data from 200,358 people (aged 1-100 years, 55% female) from 36 studies from the Netherlands, 471,759 people (40-69 years, 55.5% female) from the United Kingdom and 409,617 people (≥18 years, 55.8% female) from the United States. One in four people slept less than age-specific recommendations, but only 5.8% slept outside of the 'acceptable' sleep duration. Among teenagers, 51.5% reported total sleep times (TST) of less than the recommended 8-10 h and 18% report daytime sleepiness. In adults (≥18 years), poor sleep quality (13.3%) and insomnia symptoms (9.6-19.4%) were more prevalent than short sleep duration (6.5% with TST < 6 h). Insomnia symptoms were most frequent in people spending ≥9 h in bed, whereas poor sleep quality was more frequent in those spending <6 h in bed. TST was similar across countries, but insomnia symptoms were 1.5-2.9 times higher in the United States. Women (≥41 years) reported sleeping shorter times or slightly less efficiently than men, whereas with actigraphy they were estimated to sleep longer and more efficiently than man. This study provides age- and sex-specific population reference charts for sleep duration and efficiency which can help guide personalized advice on sleep length and preventive practices.

The relationship between early sexual debut and psychosocial outcomes: a longitudinal study of Dutch adolescents.

In a longitudinal dataset of 470 Dutch adolescents, the current study examined the ways in which early sexual initiation was related to subsequent attachment, self-perception, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. For male adolescents, analyses revealed general attachment to mother and externalizing problems at Wave 1 to predict to early transition at Wave 2. However, there was no differential change in these psychosocial factors over time for early initiators of sexual intercourse and their non-initiating peers. For female adolescents, the model including psychosocial factors at Wave 1 did not predict to sexual initiation at Wave 2. However, univariate repeated measures analyses revealed early initiators to have significantly larger increases in self-concept and externalizing problems than their non-initiating female peers. While the difference between female early initiators and non-initiators were statistically significant, the mean levels of problem behaviors were very low. The findings suggest that, contrary to previous research, early sexual initiation does not seem to be clustered with problem behaviors for this sample of Dutch adolescents.

Tracing changes in families who participated in the home-start parenting program: parental sense of competence as mechanism of change.

The present study aimed to (1) determine the long-term effectiveness of Home-Start, a preventive parenting program, and (2) test the hypothesis that changes in maternal sense of competence mediate the program's effects. Participants were 124 mothers (n = 66 intervention, n = 58 comparison). Four assessments took place during a 1-year period. Latent growth modeling showed that Home-Start enhanced growth in maternal sense of competence and supportive parenting, and led to a decrease in the use of inept discipline. Results of mediational and cross-lagged analyses were consistent with the hypothesized model: Participation in Home-Start was related to the changes in maternal sense of competence, which in turn predicted changes in parenting. The results affirm the importance of directly targeting parental sense of competence in the context of prevention work with parents.

A Warm Nest or 'The Talk'? Exploring and Explaining Relations Between General and Sexuality-Specific Parenting and Adolescent Sexual Emotions.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to explore and explain two hypothesized indirect longitudinal pathways and investigate gender differences in linking parenting factors to adolescents' sexual emotions. The general pathway expected higher parent-adolescent relationship quality to be related to more positive and less negative sexual emotions through higher adolescent global self-esteem. The sexuality-specific pathway expected more frequent parent-adolescent sexual communication to be related to more positive and less negative sexual emotions through higher adolescent sexual autonomy. METHODS: Online questionnaire data were used from three waves of Project STARS, a longitudinal study on adolescent sexual development. The analysis sample included 248 sexually experienced adolescents (M = 14.74 years at baseline). Adolescents reported on the quality of their parent-adolescent relationship, how often they discussed sexual topics with their parents, their global self-esteem, sexual autonomy, and experience of positive (happy, proud, and loved) and negative (dirty, ashamed, and guilty) emotions after having sex. RESULTS: Overall, adolescents experienced more positive than negative emotions after sex. Mplus path model results indicated that, first, higher parent-adolescent relationship quality was related to higher adolescent global self-esteem, but global self-esteem was not related to sexual emotions. Second, more frequent parent-adolescent sexual communication was related to more adolescent sexual autonomy, and more sexual autonomy was related to more positive and less negative sexual emotions. However, no significant indirect effects, nor gender differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents' sexual autonomy appears to play a particularly important role in how they experience having sex. Concrete suggestions for how the development of adolescents' sexual autonomy may be supported are discussed.

Components of School-Based Interventions Stimulating Students' Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Domains: A Meta-analysis.

Many universal school-based interventions aim to stimulate students' intrapersonal (e.g., self-esteem) and interpersonal (e.g., school climate) domains. To improve our understanding of why some of these interventions yield stronger effects than others, we identified intervention components that are related to stronger or weaker intervention effects. We systematically searched four databases (i.e., PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC, CENTRAL) for controlled evaluations of universal school-based interventions. In total, 104 included studies (529 included effect sizes) reported on 99 unique interventions. Interventions showed small positive effects on the intrapersonal (d = 0.19) and interpersonal (d = 0.15) domains. Focusing on self-awareness and problem solving, using more active learning approaches, and using more extensive interventions predicted stronger intervention effects on aspects of both domains. In contrast, efforts to improve emotion regulation, assertiveness, cognitive coping, and using group discussions predicted weaker intervention effects. Furthermore, commonly implemented components were not necessarily related to stronger intervention effects and components that were related to stronger effects were not necessarily often implemented. Our findings highlight the need to carefully select components for inclusion in interventions.PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42019137981.

Longitudinal Associations Between Sexual Communication With Friends and Sexual Behaviors Through Perceived Sexual Peer Norms.

The role of peers in adolescents' sexual behaviors is not yet fully understood. We investigated the association between sexual communication with friends (at T1) and subsequent changes in adolescents' experience with sexual behaviors (between T1-T3), and examined whether this association was explained by adolescents' perceptions of three sexual peer norms (at T2): (1) peers' sexual behaviors (descriptive norms), (2) peers' approval of sexual behaviors (injunctive norms), and (3) peer pressure to have sex. The data source was Project STARS, a longitudinal study on adolescent sexual development in the Netherlands, collected via online self-report questionnaires from 1,116 adolescents (11.5-17.9 years). Adolescents who communicated more frequently with their friends about sexuality-related topics at T1 reported significantly larger increases in their experience with different sexual behaviors between T1-T3. More sexual communication with friends also predicted adolescents subsequently perceiving more 1) peer sexual behaviors, 2) peer approval of sex, and 3) peer pressure to have sex. These stronger perceptions, in turn, predicted larger increases in their sexual behaviors between T1-T3. After adjusting for the three norms simultaneously, the main association between sexual communication with friends and sexual behavior change weakened but remained significant. Inspection of specific indirect effects showed this link was explained by injunctive norms only. No gender differences were found.

Indirect Over-Time Relations Between Parenting and Adolescents' Sexual Behaviors and Emotions Through Global Self-Esteem.

The present study examined indirect over-time relations between parenting and adolescent sexuality through global self-esteem. Three waves of online questionnaire data were collected among a community sample of 1,116 Dutch adolescents (M = 13.9 years at baseline). Participants rated the quality of their relationship with parents, their global self-esteem, and their experience with various sexual behaviors. Sexually experienced adolescents (n = 168) evaluated their sexual experiences using six emotions. Path model results showed that a higher-quality relationship with parents at T1 predicted higher levels of self-esteem at T2, which in turn predicted less experience with sexual behaviors and more positive sexual emotions at T3. The indirect over-time path from relationship quality through self-esteem to adolescents' sexual emotions was significant; the indirect path to adolescents' experience with sexual behaviors was not significant at the .05 level. No significant age or gender differences were found in the path models. The findings indicate that self-esteem plays an important role in adolescent sexuality and that parents can contribute to positive sexual experiences of adolescents indirectly--through the enhancement of self-esteem--by fostering a high-quality relationship with their children. Implications for theory, future research, and strategies to promote healthy and positive youth sexuality are discussed.