Experiences of dating violence are widespread among adolescents. Therefore, increasing the understanding on the developmental antecedents is crucial. However, most existing studies involve cross-sectional designs, which poses a challenge in better understanding the developmental precursors of dating violence victimization. To address this, we…

This study focuses on interviews with fifteen writers of real person fiction -- a type of fanfiction -- about British boy band One Direction. Most interviewees began writing these romantic, often sexually explicit, stories between the ages of 12 and 16. Results indicate that many writers learned how to write about sex by reading other explicit One…

This study examined how peer norms condition the effect of romantic involvement on adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. We hypothesized that, as a result of social control and social learning, adolescents who start a romantic relationship report more problem behavior when romantic involvement was not normative behavior…

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterised by a distressing preoccupation with perceived defects or flaws in one's appearance. BDD most typically emerges in adolescence and is estimated to affect 2.2% of the UK adolescent population. There is a dearth of research into children's and young people's lived experiences of BDD, particularly in…

The present study investigated the effect of descriptive and injunctive norms of peers, parents, and favorite celebrities on adolescents' negative online behavior toward celebrities. The sample consisted of 1,255 adolescents ([X-bar][subscript age] = 14.17, SD = 0.47). Adolescents indicated what their peers, parents, and favorite celebrities think…

Background: Peer crowds are macro-level, reputation-based subcultures with shared preferences, values, and behavior. The Country peer crowd has been the focus of tobacco industry research and marketing but has yet to be the primary focus of public health research. The current study explores the utility of "Down and Dirty," a "Social…

Background: This study examined how risk perceptions and social norms around e-cigarettes are associated with susceptibility (i.e., openness to using the product in the next 12 months) of e-cigarettes and smoking among adolescents. Methods: We analyzed data from a 2016 representative survey of 8,718 middle school students in Mexico. The study…

Participation in sport and Physical Education (PE) has historically been heavily gendered, and the glorification of masculinity and sporting prowess is viewed as a potentially negative influence on participation for both males and females. This paper explores male and female experiences of sport and PE to grasp how the field of physical culture…

This longitudinal study examined the extent to which the development of prosocial and aggressive peer norms was related to individual prosocial and aggressive behavior development across the first year of secondary education (three waves, n = 1,134 adolescents from 51 classes, M[subscript age] = 12.66). A distinction was made between descriptive…

Increasing recreational reading is a priority in a climate of growing adolescent aliteracy. Raising the social appeal of books has been identified as one potential avenue for arresting this trend. An understanding of the current social acceptability of book reading amongst contemporary adolescents is important in informing an effective approach to…

Expectations about alcohol's effects and perceptions of peers' behaviors and beliefs related to alcohol use are each shown to strongly influence the timing of drinking onset during adolescence. The present study builds on prior work by examining the conjoint effects of within-person changes in these social-cognitive factors on age of adolescent…

Cognition plays a major role in the development of antisocial behavior. The aim of this study was to extend the current state of research regarding the mechanisms of negative peer influence in adolescence by testing whether aggregated classroom attitudes (injunctive norms) predict individual attitudes toward antisocial behavior and vice versa. For…

Previous research has confirmed peers and parents as significant agents of socialisation with respect to young people's sexuality. The aim of this cross-sectional cohort study was to examine how parental and peer variables predict young women's sexual behaviour and sexuality-related thoughts and emotions, and whether perceived peer influences…

The relationship between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) identities and negative psychoemotional outcomes among teens is well established; this study analyzed happy memory narratives written by 390 LGB adolescents to investigate positive life experiences that might improve the well-being of LGB youth. A significant number of narratives were…

This systematic review investigated the relationship between peer and/or friend variables and physical activity among adolescents by synthesising cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental research conducted in the US. Seven electronic databases were searched to identify related articles published within the last 10 years and the articles…