The role of cognitive vulnerability in the development of depressive symptoms in youth might depend on age and gender. The current study examined cognitive vulnerability models in relationship to depressive symptoms from a developmental perspective. For that purpose, 805 youth (aged 10-18, 59.9% female) completed self-report measures.…

The United States Supreme Court's recent decision relating to violent video games revealed divisions within the scientific community about the potential for negative effects of such games as well as the need for more, higher quality research. Scholars also have debated the potential for violent games to have positive effects such as on…

This study examined the associations between adolescents' daily Internet use and low well-being (i.e., loneliness, low self-esteem, and depressive moods). We hypothesized that (a) linkages between high levels of daily Internet use and low well-being would be mediated by compulsive Internet use (CIU), and (b) that adolescents with low levels of…

This study examined the relationship among pubertal timing, parental control, and problem behaviors. There were 267 participants, whose ages ranged from 9 to 16 years. Both maternal and paternal psychological control predicted problem behaviors over and above the effects of behavioral control. For boys, early maturation and high levels of paternal…

This study explores the emergence of a criminal career in adulthood. The main hypothesis tested is that late criminal onset (at age 21 or later) is influenced by early factors that delay antisocial manifestations. The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) was used to examine early determinants of criminal behavior. 400 Inner London…

A focus on antisocial beliefs and attitudes has informed both the assessment and treatment literature, and practice, in youth justice service provision. This study attempts to broaden the construct of antisocial beliefs and attitudes and reports on the psychometric development of the Antisocial Beliefs and Attitudes Scale (ABAS). The ABAS is a new…

This study examines the relationship between vulnerability factors and recidivism of juvenile offenders. Four factors are identified which distinguish recedivists from nonrecidivists in a sample of 96 first offenders matched by age and sex. Results are discussed from an epidemiological and early intervention perspective. (Author/BS)

Studied the relative contribution to and function of general risk factors for mental disorders and compensatory, vulnerability, and protective factors in a sample of 1,110 preadolescents and adolescents in Switzerland. Identified general risk factors for both sexes and general compensatory factors, which included self-esteem and acceptance by…

The relationship between adolescent autonomy and parental stress (PS) for 139 parent-adolescent dyads in a family-oriented educational program was studied via questionnaires. Stress levels were significant for parents of younger adolescents and parents of first-borns. Adolescents' adherence to parental advice and desire for autonomy strongly…

A representative household sample of adolescents (ages 12-17) and their parents were interviewed. Findings support the theory that adolescent alcohol abuse is part of a complex psychosocial problem behavior syndrom. A high degree of parental nurturance may be a significant deterrence to alcohol abuse and more general deviant behavior. (Author/BS)

The incidence and continuity of smoking and drinking, precursory social-behavioral characteristics of smokers and drinkers, and life conditions related to smoking and drinking are described. Part of an extensive Finnish longitudinal study of social development, the original sample consisted of eight-year-old subjects. Follow-up studies were made…

This study distinguished between forms of self-consciousness (private self-consciousness and social anxiety) and investigated the effect of self-esteem, vulnerability to criticism, and the tendency to fantasize on each. A structural equation analysis used unobserved variables from a sample (n=1098) of adolescents, ages 12 to 19. (Author/BS)

This study drew on four cycles of longitudinal data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth to examine the academic and behavioural trajectories of youth between 10 and 15 years of age as a function of maternal age at childbearing. The analyses controlled for several family characteristics and examined the mediating…

The present study was designed to assess body mass index (BMI), self-esteem, parent and peer relations, negative affect, and perfectionism, as predictors of dieting, food preoccupation, and muscle preoccupation, in 326 preadolescent children (150 girls and 176 boys) aged between 8 and 10 years. Preadolescents were tested twice over a 10-month…

Twelve papers on the emergence and maintenance of severe clinical depression and depressive symptoms during adolescence are presented. Topics include parental influences, epidemiological data, depressive and negative affect, hormonal effects, preadolescent symptoms, sex differences, longitudinal studies with rhesus monkeys, suicidal ideation,…