Adolescents' Online Connections with Friends during COVID-19: An Assessment of the Forms of Communication and Their Association with Emotional Adjustment.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders limited adolescents' ability to connect with friends in person, leading adolescents to rely on digital forms of communication to interact with friends. The present study (N = 168 adolescents ages 11-20, 51.40% female) examined the types of digital communication adolescents used to connect with friends during the pandemic stay-at-home orders and how each form of digital communication related to adolescents' emotional adjustment. The results showed texting to be the most common way adolescents connected with friends. Boys were more likely than girls to talk with friends through social gaming. Synchronous forms of communication (i.e., texting, video calls, and social gaming) were associated with reduced loneliness and depressive symptoms and higher flourishing. Connecting with friends by posting or responding on social media was not associated with adolescent well-being. These results suggest that forms of digital communication that allowed adolescents to talk with friends in real time were particularly important for adolescents' emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Longitudinal Change in Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to examine changes in depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of 1,339 adolescents (9-18 years old, 59% female) from three countries. We also examined if age, race/ethnicity, disease burden, or strictness of government restrictions moderated change in symptoms. Data from 12 longitudinal studies (10 U.S., 1 Netherlands, 1 Peru) were combined. Linear mixed effect models showed that depression, but not anxiety, symptoms increased significantly (median increase = 28%). The most negative mental health impacts were reported by multiracial adolescents and those under 'lockdown' restrictions. Policy makers need to consider these impacts by investing in ways to support adolescents' mental health during the pandemic.

The intervening role of anxiety symptoms in associations between Self-Regulation and prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/a college students.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the intervening role of anxiety symptoms in relations between self-regulation and multiple forms of prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/a college students. PARTICIPANTS: The sample is based on data from a cross-sectional study on college students' health and adjustment. Participants were 249 (62% women; M age =20 years; 86% U.S. born) college students who self-identified as Latino/a. METHODS: College students self-reported on their self-regulation, anxiety symptoms, and types and targets of prosocial behaviors using online surveys. Path analyses were conducted to test direct and indirect associations among the study variables. RESULTS: Self-regulation was directly and indirectly associated with several types of prosocial behaviors via anxiety symptoms. The hypothesized associations also differed by the target of helping. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore a strengths-based view of the coping and mental health resources that predict positive well-being among U.S. Latino/a college students.

Perceived discrimination and Latina college students' depressive symptoms: The roles of dyadic coping with sisters and familism values.

Latinx young adults' experiences of discrimination are associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and examining protective factors that buffer the negative consequences of discrimination is important. In a sample of 195 Latina college students, predominately of Mexican origin, we examined associations between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms, and how sisters' dyadic coping behaviors and familism values moderated this association. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to test our study hypotheses. We found that Latina college students who were older sisters reported more conflictual and antagonistic sibling relationships, or who perceived higher levels of discrimination also reported the most depressive symptoms, which supports prior research. Importantly, Latina college students who strongly endorsed supportive, obligatory, and referent familism values reported fewer depressive symptoms. Supportive familism values weakened the association between perceived discrimination and Latina college students' depressive symptoms but strengthened associations between sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors strengthened the positive association between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of familism values for Latinx young adults' well-being, as well as the harmful effects of perceived discrimination, particularly in the context of sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors.

Latinx college students' anxiety, academic stress, and future aspirations: the role of sibling relationship quality.

Latinx students experience stress at higher rates than European-American college-students in the U.S. and report the highest levels of anxiety among all other college-students, which can be a potential barrier to success. However, family members are identified as important sources of support by Latinx young-adults, and feeling support from family indicates a higher likelihood to remain enrolled in college. Few studies have explored the role of siblings in this relationship. This study examined whether positive and negative relationship qualities (RQ) between Latinx siblings may interact with level of anxiety, predicting academic stress (AS) and future aspirations (FA). Findings indicated that younger siblings with high anxiety and high negative RQ experienced higher levels of AS, while older siblings with low or mean-level anxiety and high negative RQ experienced high AS. Younger siblings with low anxiety, and high negative RQ with older siblings experienced low FA. The findings provide evidence that sibling relationship quality in Latinx students moderates the associations with anxiety, academic stress, and future aspirations, and that the presence of negative relationship qualities carried particular implications for future aspirations and academic stress. Understanding the influence of Latinx sibling RQ on mental health and AS can offer insight into the role of sibling relationships in the context of health, academic retention, and success in Latinx young people.

Negative messages from parents and sisters and Latina college students' body image shame.

Using the sociocultural model and risk and resilience theory, we examined the moderating role of Latinas' family relationship quality on the associations between negative eating and weight messages from fathers, mothers, and sisters, and Latinas' body image shame. Utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk, we recruited a sample of 195 Latina young adults (Mage = 23.24, range = 18 -25; SD = 1.95; 67.4 % Mexican-origin) who reported retrospectively on negative appearance-related messages from each family member (i.e., fathers, mothers, and sisters), positive (e.g., parental warmth and sibling intimacy) and negative (i.e., parental psychological control and sibling negativity) relationship quality with parents and sisters, and current body image shame. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that negative eating and weight messages from fathers, mothers, and sisters and sibling negativity were positively and significantly associated with Latinas' body image shame. Further, we found that under conditions of high paternal psychological control but not low, the associations between fathers' messages and Latinas' body image shame were strengthened. For mothers, under conditions of low maternal psychological control but not high, the associations between mothers' messages and Latinas' body image shame were strengthened. Our findings reveal that family members' negative comments are harmful for Latinas' body image.

Adolescent Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Close Relationships and COVID-19-related Stress.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents' typical social support systems have been disrupted. The present study examined adolescent adjustment during the pandemic (summer, 2020) while controlling for pre-pandemic adjustment (2017-2018) in 170 youth (ages 12-20) from Missouri and Florida. We also examined whether positive and negative relationship qualities with four close others (i.e., mothers, fathers, siblings, and best friends) interacted with COVID-related stress to impact adolescent adjustment. In general, we found that close relationships impacted adolescent adjustment in expected directions (i.e., positive relationships better for adjustment, negative relationships more detrimental), but while mothers and fathers impacted adolescent adjustment in largely similar ways to pre-pandemic studies, influences of relationships with best friends and sibling were more impacted by COVID-related stress.

Associations among Mexican-origin youth's sibling relationships, familism and positive values, and adjustment problems.

Finding ways to protect youth from maladjustment during adolescence and young adulthood is important, and youth of Mexican descent are key targets for such efforts given that they experience higher rates of depressive symptoms, risky behaviors, and sexual risk behaviors compared to youth from other ethnic/racial groups. Using a sample of younger (Mage Time 1 = 12.77 years) and older (Mage Time 1 = 15.70 years) siblings from an 8-year longitudinal study of 246 Mexican-origin families, we conducted path analyses to test whether older siblings' reports of sibling intimacy predicted younger siblings' later positive values and adjustment problems controlling for prior adjustment and maternal and paternal warmth. Additionally, we tested whether younger siblings' familism values moderated and their positive values mediated the sibling intimacy to adjustment problem linkages. Findings revealed that sibling intimacy in early adolescence predicted younger siblings' adjustment problems in young adulthood via their positive values in later adolescence, but only for younger siblings with strong familism values. This study highlights the importance of examining promotive factors, such as positive relationship qualities and familism values, and how positive values protect against problems in young adulthood. Results also have practical implications for prevention programs including the utility of promoting positive sibling relationships and values. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic socialization, identity, and values associated with U.S. Latino/a young adults' prosocial behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: Given the increasing saliency of Latino/a young adults in the United States, there is a need to consider developmental theories that may better capture the cultural mechanisms by which individuals from this specific ethnic group are socialized to engage in prosocial behaviors. The inclusion of cultural processes (including identity and values) might be particularly important in models that investigate family socialization processes and prosocial behaviors, because scholars have suggested that cultural values may be transmitted via parental practices and beliefs, including ethnic socialization practices. METHOD: Participants included 381 U.S. Latino/a young adults (54.2% female; Mage = 21.99). Young adults completed measures of family ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, and endorsement of familism and respect values. They also completed a multidimensional measure of prosocial behavior, assessing different types and targets of helping. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling was conducted, and there was support for the importance of ethnic identity and cultural values as mechanisms through which ethnic socialization is associated with prosocial behaviors. Gender moderated these relations, such that family respect played a relatively more prominent mediating role for men, whereas familism played a mediating role for both men and women. CONCLUSIONS: The findings emphasize the central role of familial ethnic socialization and cultural processes in fostering prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latino/as but reveal specific patterns of relations based on gender and on target of helping. These findings highlight the need for more research on gender-based and relation-based patterns of prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latinos/a young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived Experiences of Discrimination and Latino/a Young Adults' Personal and Relational Well-being.

US Latino/as experience high rates of discrimination, resulting in personal and relational distress. A sample of 238 Latino/a young adults (Mage = 25.37 years; 57.6% men; 54.4% Mexican) was used to investigate how perceived discrimination was associated with romantic relationship instability via young adults' depressive symptoms. The moderating roles of ethnic identity and romantic relationship maintenance on these associations were examined. Greater relationship maintenance and ethnic identity affirmation were associated with less depression and relationship instability. Under conditions of high ethnic identity exploration and resolution, the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms was stronger, leading to greater relationship instability. The findings reveal that the protective roles of cultural and relational factors may depend on the stressor and outcomes examined.

Implications of parent-child relationships for emerging adults' subjective feelings about adulthood.

Little is known about the role of parents in promoting their children's successful transition to adulthood, particularly for college students who may maintain stronger ties to parents than other emerging adults. The present study therefore investigated longitudinal implications of parent-child relationship qualities during emerging adults' first year of college for their feelings about the upcoming transition to adulthood 3 years later, as well as implications of 3 types of parental control (behavioral control, psychological control, helicopter parenting) for these associations. Multilevel models indicated that emerging adults who reported less negativity in their relationships with mothers and fathers felt more like adults 3 years later compared with emerging adults with low-quality relationships, while high levels of psychological control and helicopter parenting had detrimental implications for their vocational identity development and perceived competence regarding their transition to adulthood. However, nuanced interactions between parent-child relationship quality and parental control indicated that behavioral control had positive implications for outcomes if it occurred within the context of high-quality relationships, or when utilized with sons. The present study highlights the complex role that parents may play during college students' transition to adulthood, and future work should continue to examine ways that clinicians can incorporate parents as a potential resource for promoting emerging adults' successful transition to adulthood and the workforce. (PsycINFO Database Record

Sibling relationship quality and Mexican-origin adolescents' and young adults' familism values and adjustment.

We examined profiles of sibling relationship qualities in 246 Mexican-origin families living in the United States using latent profile analyses. Three profiles were identified: Positive, Negative and Affect-Intense. Links between profiles and youths' familism values and adjustment were assessed using longitudinal data. Siblings in the Positive profile reported the highest familism values, followed by siblings in the Affect-Intense profile and, finally, siblings in the Negative profile. Older siblings in the Positive and Affect-Intense profiles reported fewer depressive symptoms than siblings in the Negative profile. Further, in the Positive and Negative profiles, older siblings reported less involvement in risky behaviors than younger siblings. In the Negative profile, younger siblings reported greater sexual risk behaviors in late adolescence than older siblings; siblings in opposite-sex dyads, as compared to same-sex dyads, engaged in riskier sexual behaviors. Our findings highlight sibling relationship quality as promotive and risky, depending on sibling characteristics and adjustment outcomes.

Perceived parental psychological control, familism values, and Mexican American college students' adjustment.

OBJECTIVES: Drawing from cultural ecological and risk and resilience perspectives, we investigated associations among Mexican American college students' perceptions of mothers' and fathers' psychological control and familism values, and college students' adjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms and self-esteem). Additionally, we examined how familism values moderated the relations between perceived psychological control and college students' adjustment. METHODS: Participants were 186 Mexican American college students (78.5% women; Mage = 21.56 years), and data were collected using self-report online surveys. RESULTS: Using path analyses, we found that perceived maternal psychological control was positively associated and familism values were negatively associated with college students' depressive symptoms. Additionally, perceived paternal psychological control was negatively associated with college students' self-esteem when college students reported low, but not high, familism values. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight the importance of family relationships for Mexican American college students and the significance of examining these relationships within this cultural context. (PsycINFO Database Record

Romantic Relationship Experiences from Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Role of Older Siblings in Mexican-Origin Families.

Youth's experiences with romantic relationships during adolescence and young adulthood have far reaching implications for future relationships, health, and well-being; yet, although scholars have examined potential peer and parent influences, we know little about the role of siblings in youth's romantic relationships. Accordingly, this study examined the prospective longitudinal links between Mexican-origin older and younger siblings' romantic relationship experiences and variation by sibling structural and relationship characteristics (i.e., sibling age and gender similarity, younger siblings' modeling) and cultural values (i.e., younger siblings' familism values). Data from 246 Mexican-origin families with older (M = 20.65 years; SD = 1.57; 50 % female) and younger (M = 17.72 years; SD = .57; 51 % female) siblings were used to examine the likelihood of younger siblings' involvement in dating relationships, sexual relations, cohabitation, and engagement/marriage with probit path analyses. Findings revealed older siblings' reports of involvement in a dating relationship, cohabitation, and engagement/marriage predicted younger siblings' relationship experiences over a 2-year period. These links were moderated by sibling age spacing, younger siblings' reports of modeling and familism values. Our findings suggest the significance of social learning dynamics as well as relational and cultural contexts in understanding the links between older and younger siblings' romantic relationship experiences among Mexican-origin youth.

The Sociocultural Context of Mexican-Origin Pregnant Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Teen Pregnancy and Links to Future Outcomes.

Given the negative developmental risks associated with adolescent motherhood, it is important to examine the sociocultural context of adolescent mothers' lives to identify those most at risk for poor outcomes. Our goals were to identify profiles of Mexican-origin pregnant adolescents' cultural orientations and their attitudes toward teen pregnancy, and to investigate how these profiles were linked to adolescents' pregnancy intentions, family resources, and short-term family, educational, and parenting outcomes. With a sample of 205 Mexican-origin adolescent mothers, we identified three profiles based on cultural orientations and attitudes toward teen pregnancy: Bicultural-Moderate Attitudes, Acculturated-Moderate Attitudes, and Enculturated-Low Attitudes. The results indicated that enculturated pregnant adolescents had the least favorable attitudes toward teen pregnancy, and the lowest levels of family income, pregnancy intentions, pregnancy support, and educational expectations compared to acculturated and bicultural pregnant adolescents; acculturated adolescents (with the highest family income and high levels of pregnancy support) had the highest levels of parenting efficacy 10 months postpartum. Our findings suggest that enculturated adolescent mothers (with less positive attitudes toward teen pregnancy) may benefit from educational support programs and enculturated and bicultural adolescent mothers (with moderately positive attitudes toward teen pregnancy) may benefit from programs to increase parenting efficacy. Such targeted interventions may, in turn, reduce the likelihood of adolescent mothers experiencing negative educational and parenting outcomes.

Domain differentiated disclosure to mothers and siblings and associations with sibling relationship quality and youth emotional adjustment.

Disclosure, or revealing personal information to others, is important for the development and maintenance of close relationships (Jourard, 1971; Rotenberg, 1995). More recently within developmental psychology, however, the focus has been the study of adolescent disclosure to parents as a means of information management regarding their daily activities. This research assumes that a) disclosure between multiple adolescents and parents within the same family are similar, and b) only information transmitted from adolescents to parents is important for adolescent well-being. Thus, this article presents the findings of 2 within-family studies to investigate differences in the amount and social domain (Smetana, 2006; Turiel, 2002) of youth disclosure to mothers versus siblings, and the influence of disclosure to siblings on relationship quality and youth emotional adjustment. Study 1 utilized 101 sibling dyads with youth ranging in age from 11-21 years, but all siblings living together. Study 2 investigated a sample of 58 sibling dyads in which all first-borns were first-year college students and all second-borns were in high school. All participants completed questionnaire measures to assess study variables. Findings revealed that while youth disclosed more to mothers than siblings, this difference disappears by emerging adulthood, particularly depending on the domain of the issue. Additionally, while greater disclosure among siblings was positive for the quality of the relationship, sibling disclosure was differentially associated with emotional adjustment depending on whether youth were the disclosers or being disclosed to, the domain of the issues disclosed, and the gender composition of the dyad.

Longitudinal associations among parental acceptance, familism values, and sibling intimacy in Mexican-origin families.

Prospective associations among parent-adolescent acceptance and familism values in early and middle adolescence and sibling intimacy in late adolescence and young adulthood were assessed in 246 Mexican-origin families. Older sibling gender and sibling gender constellation were investigated as moderators of these associations. Sibling intimacy was stable over time and younger siblings with older sisters reported higher levels of sibling intimacy than those with older brothers. As predicted, stronger familism values were associated with greater sibling intimacy, but this link was evident only for older sisters and for girl-girl dyads. The links from mother- and father-acceptance to sibling intimacy also depended on the gender constellation of the sibling dyad: Higher levels of maternal warmth were associated with greater sibling intimacy for older sisters and girl-girl sibling pairs but higher levels of paternal warmth were linked to greater sibling intimacy only for older siblings in mixed-gender sibling dyads. Findings are consistent with prior research on the role of gender in family relationships but extend this work to encompass the effects of both parents' and siblings' gender, as well as the role of sociocultural values in parents' socialization influences.

Contextual and developmental predictors of sexual initiation timing among Mexican-origin girls.

Using data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin girls (ages 11-17 at Time 1), we examined sociocultural (i.e., family structure, nativity, and acculturation), interpersonal (i.e., supportive parenting and conflict), and developmental (i.e., menarche timing and autonomy expectations) predictors of sexual initiation. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we explored whether Time 1 variables predicted the occurrence and timing of first sexual intercourse reported 2.5 and 3.5 years later. Results indicated that the likelihood of early sexual intercourse was higher among first-generation than second-generation immigrants. In addition, living with a stepparent (compared with two biological parents) was associated with a higher likelihood of early intercourse. Furthermore, early autonomy expectations emerged as a salient predictor of intercourse, such that girls with earlier autonomy expectations were more likely to have earlier intercourse than girls with later autonomy expectations. Taken together, results highlight the importance of considering developmental and contextual factors when studying Mexican-origin girls' sexual initiation.

Sibling Conversations about Dating and Sexuality: Sisters as Confidants, Sources of Support, and Mentors.

Using an observational methodology to examine sibling communication, sisters (N = 28 dyads) were videotaped discussing their ideas about dating and sexuality. Social provision theory was used as a framework for the examination of roles enacted by sisters during these conversations. Inductive thematic analytic procedures were conducted and three roles were identified: sisters as confidants, sources of support, and mentors. Older and younger sisters both served as confidants and sources of support for one another, whereas, older sisters were more likely to be mentors for their younger sisters than vice versa. Findings indicate the potential importance of sisters in the formation of adolescent girls' ideas about romantic relationships and sexuality, sibling communication as a socialization mechanism of sisters' similarities in romantic experiences and sexual behaviors/attitudes, and the inclusion of older sisters in prevention intervention programs focused on reducing adolescent sexual risk behaviors and promoting healthy romantic relationships and sexuality development.

Sibling influence on mexican-origin adolescents' deviant and sexual risk behaviors: the role of sibling modeling.

PURPOSE: A growing body of research indicates that siblings uniquely influence each other's health risk behaviors during adolescence and young adulthood. Mechanisms underlying these associations, however, are largely unknown because they are rarely tested directly. The present study addressed this gap by examining the role of sibling modeling in explaining changes in Mexican-origin youths' deviant and sexual risk behaviors over time. METHODS: The sample included 380 Mexican-origin siblings (older sibling age: M = 21.18, SD = 1.59; younger sibling age: M = 18.19, SD = .46) from (N = 190) families. Participants provided self-reports of their sibling relationship qualities, including modeling, as well as their engagement in deviant and sexual risk-taking behaviors in two home interviews across a 2-year span. RESULTS: A series of residualized regression models revealed that younger siblings' perceptions of modeling moderated the links between older siblings' deviant and sexual risk behaviors and younger siblings' subsequent behaviors in those same domains. Specifically, high levels of modeling predicted stronger associations between older siblings' earlier and younger siblings' later risk behaviors controlling for younger siblings' earlier behaviors as well as variables that have been used as proxies for social learning in previous research. CONCLUSIONS: Social learning mechanisms, especially modeling, are salient processes through which older siblings transmit norms and expectations regarding participation in health risk behaviors. Future research should continue to explore the ways in which siblings influence each other because such processes are emerging targets for intervention and prevention.