Psychology Commons^™

Constructing The Life Skills Education Experiences Of Maldivian Adolescents: Exploring Personal Narratives Of Transition, Challenge, And Becoming, Aishath Nasheeda Dr., Steven E. Krauss Dr., Haslinda Abdullah Dr., Nobaya Ahmad Dr.

The Qualitative Report

Life skills have been shown to help young people cope with challenges and facilitate their transition into adulthood. Few studies have explored life skills programs from the lived experiences of youth themselves. Using a retrospective narrative analysis approach, this study uses social construction and social learning theories to investigate how young people construct their experiences of life skills education in the context of their embedded social environments, including their relationships with family, school, and peers. The study incorporates a series of in-depth, face-to-face, and social media-based interviews with two young adults from the Maldives who had very different experiences …

Using Photovoice To Understand And Amplify Youth Voices To Prevent Sexual And Relationship Violence, Victoria Banyard, Katie Edwards, Ramona Herrington, Skyler Hopfauf, Briana Simon, Linda Shroll

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Aims: Efforts to improve prevention of sexual and relationship violence (SRV) among adolescents call for more centering of youth voices, experiences, and skills to design prevention programs that incorporate youth engagement rather than those that are designed by adults for youth. Amplifying the voices of historically marginalized youth are especially needed. Photovoice (PV) is a participatory action method that can empower youth and generate prevention knowledge.

Methods: The current project used PV to engage youth in late middle and early high school to discuss how they could work to prevent SRV in their community. A convenience sample of nine youth …

Positive Youth Development: Parental Warmth, Values, And Prosocial Behavior In 11 Cultural Groups, Concetta Pastorelli, Antonio Zuffiano, Jennifer E. Lansford, Eriona Thartori, Marc H. Bornstein, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sevtap Gurdal, Qin Liu, Qian Long, Paul Oburu, Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbing, Laurence Steinberg, Sombat Tapanya, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Liane Peña Alampay, Dario Bacchini

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

The current cross-cultural study aimed to extend research on parenting and children’s prosocial behavior by examining relations among parental warmth, values related to family obligations (i.e., children’s support to and respect for their parents, siblings, and extended family), and prosocial behavior during the transition to adolescence (from ages 9 to 12). Mothers, fathers, and their children (N = 1107 families) from 8 countries including 11 cultural groups (Colombia; Rome and Naples, Italy; Jordan; Kenya; the Philippines; Sweden; Thailand; and African Americans, European Americans, and Latin Americans in the United States) provided data over 3 years in 3 waves (M_{age …}

The Distal Role Of Adolescents’ Awareness Of And Perceived Discrimination On Young Adults’ Socioeconomic Attainment Among Mexican-Origin Immigrant Families, Lorey Wheeler, Prerna G. Arora, Melissa Y. Delgado

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Cultural-ecological frameworks posit that there are harmful effects of social stratification on developmental outcomes. In particular, awareness of aspects of social stratification in society and interpersonal experiences of discrimination, more generally and within specific contexts, may differentially influence outcomes across life stages; yet, few studies have examined the distal effects during adolescence on early adult developmental outcomes. The current study fills this gap by examining distal mechanisms linking adolescents’ (Time 1: ages 13–15) awareness of and perceived general and school discrimination to young adults’ (Time 3: ages 23–25) socioeconomic attainment (i.e., educational attainment, occupational prestige, earned income) through adolescents’ (Time …

Depressive Symptoms In Mexican-Origin Adolescents: Interrelations Between School And Family Contexts, Prerna G. Arora, Lorey Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study, as guided by cultural-ecological frameworks, examined multiple contextual stressors, including subjective economic hardship, acculturation, discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety, as simultaneously linked to adolescents’ depressive symptoms, as well as the role of gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness on these associations. Data come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Portes and Rumbaut 2012) that included second-generation 8th- and 9th-grade children of foreign-born parents from the Mexican-origin subsample (n = 755; 52% male; time 1 M age = 14.20 years). Adolescents were either born in (60%) or immigrated prior to age 5 to …

Sibling Relationship Quality And Mexican-Origin Adolescents' And Young Adults' Familism Values And Adjustment, Sarah E. Killoren, Sue A. Rodriguez De Jesus, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Lorey A. Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

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 …

"You're Doing Fine, Right?": Adolescent Siblings Of Substance Abusers, Cynthia E. Clarfield

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

There has been a rising interest in addiction medicine and addiction treatment in both the medical and behavioral health science fields. Research suggests having a family member with a substance abuse problem has negative impacts on both physical and mental health (Orford, Copello, Velleman, & Templeton, 2010a). Despite advances toward understanding the experiences of family members affected by a loved one's addiction, the siblings of substance abusers have been largely excluded from scientific research and literature. As a result, little is known about how siblings experience the impacts of a brother or sister's addiction; even less is known about the …

Romantic Relationship Experiences From Late Adolescence To Young Adulthood: The Role Of Older Siblings In Mexican-Origin Families, Lorey A. Wheeler, Sarah E. Killoren, Shawn D. Whiteman, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Susan M. Mchale, Adriana J. Umana-Taylor

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

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% …

Prevalence Of Marijuana And Other Substance Use Before And After Washington State’S Change From Legal Medical Marijuana To Legal Medical And Non-Medical Marijuana: Cohort Comparisons In A Sample Of Adolescents, W. Alex Mason, Charles B. Fleming, Jay L. Ringle, Koren Hanson, Thomas J. Gross, Kevin P. Haggerty

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background—A growing number of states have new legislation extending prior legalization of medical marijuana by allowing non-medical marijuana use for adults. The potential influence of this change in legislation on adolescent marijuana and other substance use (e.g., spillover or substitution effects) is uncertain. We capitalize on an ongoing study to explore the prevalence of marijuana and other substance use in two cohorts of adolescents who experienced the non-medical marijuana law change in Washington State at different ages.

Method—Participants were 8^th graders enrolled in targeted Tacoma, Washington public schools and recruited in two consecutive annual cohorts. The analysis …

Associations Between Family Functioning And Adolescent Health Behaviors, Megan S. Fleming

Senior Honors Projects

Background: The obesity epidemic has been a concern across the globe, affecting about 20% of adolescents in the U.S. Physical activity and nutrition-related behaviors that develop during adolescence carry through into adulthood. Adolescents’ perceptions of how their family functions may be associated with health behaviors, including physical activity and diet.

Objective: To determine whether there is an association between perceived family functioning and adolescent health behaviors among a national sample of adolescents aged 11 to 16 who participated in the 2009-2010 Health Behaviors of School-Aged Children survey.

Methods: Participants reported on demographics and measures of family function, which included …

Mexican-American Adolescents’ Gender-Typed Characteristics: The Role Of Sibling And Friend Characteristics, Norma J. Perez-Brena, Lorey A. Wheeler, Kimberly A. Updegraff, David R. Shaefer

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study examined the role of sibling and friend characteristics in Mexican-American youth’s gender-typed characteristics (i.e., attitudes, interests, and leisure activities) in early versus middle adolescence using a sibling design. Mexican-American 7th graders (M = 12.51 years; SD = .58) and their older siblings (M = 15.48 years; SD = 1.57) from 246 families participated in home interviews and a series of seven nightly phone calls. Results revealed that younger/early adolescent siblings reported more traditional gender role attitudes than their older/middle adolescent siblings and older brothers were more traditional in their attitudes than older sisters. When comparing siblings’ …

Adolescent Reactions To Maternal Responsiveness And Internalizing Symptomatology: A Daily Diary Investigation, Lisa Jobe-Shields, Gilbert R. Parra, Kelly E. Buckholdt, Rachel N. Tillery

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

A daily diary methodology was employed to gather teens’ perceptions of maternal responsiveness to daily stressful events and teens’ reactions to maternal responsiveness in a diverse sample (792 entries from 104 teens; 81% African American, mean age 13.7 years). Additionally, parents and teens completed baseline reports of internalizing symptoms. Diary findings were congruent with prior studies employing self-report measures of global maternal responses to emotion (e.g., higher probability of Accepting reactions to supportive responses, higher probabilities of Attack, Avoid-Withdraw reactions to non-supportive responses). Elevated baseline internalizing symptoms were related to perception of elevated Punish and Magnify responses during the week, …

Mexican American Adolescents’ Gender Role Attitude Development: The Role Of Adolescents’ Gender And Nativity And Parents’ Gender Role Attitudes, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Susan M. Mchale, Katharine H. Zeiders, Adriana J. Umana-Taylor, Norma J. Perez-Brena, Lorey A. Wheeler, Sue A. Rodriguez De Jesus

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Gender development has long term implications for education and career endeavors and family formation behaviors, but we know very little about the role of sociocultural factors in developmental and individual differences. In this study, we investigated one domain of gender development, gender role attitudes, in Mexican American adolescents (N = 246; 51% female), using four phases of longitudinal data across eight years. Data were collected when adolescents averaged 12.51 years (SD = 0.58), 14.64 years (SD = 0.59), 17.72 years (SD = 0.57), and 19.60 years of age (SD = 0.66). Mothers’ and fathers’ gender …

Mexican-Origin Youth's Cultural Orientations And Adjustment: Changes From Early To Late Adolescence, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Adriana J. Umana-Taylor, Susan M. Mchale, Lorey A. Wheeler, Norma Perez-Brena

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Drawing from developmental and cultural adaptation perspectives and using a longitudinal design, this study examined: (a) mean-level changes in Mexican-origin adolescents’ cultural orientations and adjustment from early to late adolescence; and (b) bidirectional associations between cultural orientations and adjustment using a cross-lag panel model. Participants included 246 Mexicanorigin, predominantly immigrant families that participated in home interviews and a series of nightly phone calls when target adolescents were 12 years and 18 years of age. Girls exhibited more pronounced declines in traditional gender role attitudes than did boys, and all youth declined in familism values, time spent with family, and involvement …

Family Value Transition In A Changing Turkey, Yudum Akyil

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation consists of two articles. The first article presented is a literature review written to identify and review studies of intergenerational value transmission and social change. The main outcomes fell into five subsections (a) culture and values (b) social change and values, (c) continuing and changing values in Turkey, (d) parent-adolescent relationship adaptation to social change, and (e) implication for clinicians working with changing families. Overall, the literature review illustrated the complexity of value transmission process for families in rapidly changing societies and the need for more understanding of those families' experiences for the clinicians. The second article extends …

Taiwanese Adolescent Psychosocial Development In Urban And Rural Areas, Chien-Ti Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate Taiwanese adolescent psychosocial development (i.e., autonomy and identity development) based on psychosocial theoretical models developed in western societies. Data were collected from both public senior high and vocational high schools in both urban and rural areas in Taiwan. Adolescent participants, with an average age of 17 years old, included 447 (about 54% were females) from urban areas, and 702 (62% were females) from rural areas. The results of this study revealed that Taiwanese adolescents from both urban and rural areas were similar to adolescent developmental ranges suggested in western theories. There were …

Exploring Mothers’ And Fathers’ Relationships With Sons Versus Daughters: Links To Adolescent Adjustment In Mexican Immigrant Families, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Melissa Y. Delgado, Lorey A. Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Drawing on ecological and gender socialization perspectives, this study examined mothers’ and fathers’ relationships with young adolescents, exploring differences between mothers and fathers, for sons versus daughters, and as a function of parents’ division of paid labor. Mexican immigrant families (N = 162) participated in home interviews and seven nightly phone calls. Findings revealed that mothers reported higher levels of acceptance toward adolescents and greater knowledge of adolescents’ daily activities than did fathers, and mothers spent more time with daughters than with sons. Linkages between parent-adolescent relationship qualities and youth adjustment were moderated by adolescent gender and parents’ division …

“It’S A Choice, Simple As That”: Youth Reasoning For Sexual Abstinence Or Activity, Rochelle L. Dalla

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This investigation was designed to fill gaps in the extant literature by examining reasons give by youth for refraining from or engaging in sexual intercourse, in addition to their perceptions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of premarital intercourse. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 103 graduating seniors; 60 self-identified as sexually abstinent and 43 as sexually active. Survey indices were used to assess parent-youth relationships, and parent and peer attitudes toward premarital sex, religiosity, and dating patterns; open-ended questions were used to assess reasons for either engaging in or refraining from sexual intercourse, and to identify benefits and problems …

Parent-Adolescent Involvement: The Relative Influence Of Parent Gender And Residence, Daniel Hawkins, Paul R. Amato, Valarie King

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The 1995 wave of the Add Health study is used to investigate the relative influence of parent gender and residence on patterns of parental involvement with adolescents. Adolescent reports (N = 17,330) of shared activities, shared communication, and relationship quality with both biological parents are utilized. A multidimensional scaling analysis reveals that parent gender explains most of the variance in parent-adolescent involvement, with residential status playing a secondary yet fundamental role in accounting for these patterns. Resident mothers who do not live with adolescents’ biological fathers engage in the broadest range of activities with their children. Unpartnered resident fathers display …

Long-Term Outcomes Of An Abstinence-Based, Small-Group Pregnancy Prevention Program In New York City Schools, Lisa D. Lieberman, Heather Gray, Megan Wier, Renee Fiorentino, Patricia Maloney

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Context: Despite drops in U.S. teenage birthrates, questions continue to arise about how best to reduce the country's adolescent birthrate. School-based programs continue to be considered one of the best ways to reach adolescents at risk of early sexual activity.

Methods: A total of 312 students completed a pretest, a posttest and a follow-up one year after the posttest: 125 who had participated in a 3-4-month-long abstinence-based small-group intervention led by trained social workers, and 187 in a comparison group that received no special services.

Results: There were few significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups at posttest. At …