Angela Ittel

Relations of Pubertal Timing and Depressive Symptoms to Substance Use in Early Adolescence

The aim for this longitudinal study was to test three hypotheses concerning the effects of pubertal timing on substance use during early adolescence. The maturational deviance hypothesis posits that any deviation from the norm, that is, early maturation and late maturation, would increase the risk for substance use. The stage termination hypothesis proposes that only early maturers would show higher levels of substance use. The mediation hypothesis predicts that the relation between off-time maturation and substance use is mediated by heightened depressive symptoms. The three hypotheses were tested in a prospective design with a German sample of early adolescents. The results of the analyses supported the stage termination hypothesis rather than the maturational deviance hypothesis or the mediation hypothesis. Early maturing boys and girls reported a higher frequency of substance use within the following year than did the other participants, with the effects being more pronounced for smoking cigarettes than for drinking alcohol.

On the Relation of Personal Experience to Early Adolescents’ Reasoning About Best Friendship Deterioration

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between early adolescents’ generalized beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution and conflict experiences in their own best friendships. An additional goal was to assess whether early adolescents’ self-esteem moderated this association. Participants listed their beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution, indicated whether conflicts described in a series of vignettes had occurred in one of their best friendships, and described two conflicts they had experienced in their best friendships. They also judged the seriousness of the vignette and personally experienced conflicts. As predicted, early adolescents included conflict issues they had experienced personally more frequently in their causal inventories than conflict issues that they had not experienced personally. However, contrary to predictions, the perceived seriousness of the conflicts did not influence their inclusion in participants’ causal inventories. While high and low self-esteem adolescents had similar beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution, low self-esteem adolescents perceived their conflicts as more serious and their friendships as more fragile.

Innerfamiliale Transmission von Geschlechterrollenorientierungen bei Jugendlichen: Die Bedeutung des Erziehungsverhaltens und des Familienzusammenhalts

Obwohl die Geschlechterrollenorientierung (GRO) in der Adoleszenz durch vielfaltige Sozialisationskontexte gepragt wird, stellt die Familie nach wie vor eine der wichtigsten Kontexte zur Beeinflussung der GRO dar. Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Komplexitat der innerfamilialen Transmission von Geschlechterrollen zu beleuchten, indem Faktoren wie das geschlechtsspezifische Erziehungsverhalten und die Familienkohasion in ein Modell der Geschlechterrollensozialisation integriert wurden. Die Daten wurden aus einer Studie mit 244 Geschwisterpaaren und deren Eltern gewonnen. Bivariate Analysen ergaben signifikante Zusammenhange der GRO in allen innerfamilialen Dyaden. Auserdem zeigen sich deutliche geschlechtsspezifische Muster von Erziehungsverhalten und des Familienzusammenhalts fur die unterschiedlichen Dyaden innerhalb der Familien. Die vorliegende Studie betont die Wichtigkeit einer geschlechtsspezifischen Betrachtung innerfamilialer Sozialisationsprozesse.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Socializers' Beliefs, Career-Related Conversations, and Motivation in Mathematics.

Research based on the Eccles model of parent socialization demonstrated that parents are an important source of value and ability information for their children. Little is known, however, about the bidirectional effects between students’ perceptions of their parents’ beliefs and behaviors and the students’ own domain-specific values. This study analyzed how students’ perceptions of parents’ beliefs and behaviors and students’ mathematics values and mathematics-related career plans affect each other bidirectionally, and analyzed the role of students’ gender as a moderator of these relations. Data from 475 students in 11th and 12th grade (girls: 50.3%; 31 classrooms; 12 schools), who participated in 2 waves of the study, were analyzed. Results of longitudinal structural equation models demonstrated that students’ perceptions of their parents’ mathematics value beliefs at Time 1 affected the students’ own mathematics utility value at Time 2. Bidirectional effects were not shown in the full sample but were identified for boys. The paths within the tested model varied for boys and girls. For example, boys’, not girls’, mathematics intrinsic value predicted their reported conversations with their fathers about future occupational plans. Boys’, not girls’, perceived parents’ mathematics value predicted the mathematics utility value. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for parents and teachers, as well as in relation to gendered motivational processes.

Developmental Science: Integrating Knowledge About Dynamic Processes in Human Development

There is an increasing need to develop an interdisciplinary model that describes the dynamic processes in human development. During the last decades several different theories depicting dynamic developmental processes have been formulated. In this chapter we briefly introduce these approaches and argue that developmental systems perspective (DSP) is one of the more promising approaches to depict how developmental patterns arise. Furthermore, we argue, that Developmental Science—an integrative, interdisciplinary framework—is a useful approach to account for the interplay of changes in individuals across the life span and thereby considering psychological, biological, social, societal, historical and cultural levels and their interdependent systems. We end by formulating strategies we foresee to be useful for all researchers who want to implement the principles of developmental science and developmental system perspective into their work.

Traditionelle Geschlechterrollen und Problemverhalten im Leben Jugendlicher in Berlin

Mannliche Jugendliche zeigen hohere Auspragungen in Problemverhalten und Delinquenz als weibliche Jugendliche. Dieser Befund ist durch zahlreiche Studien belegt. In diesem Beitrag wird ein sozialisatorischer Ansatz zur Erklarung der geschlechtsspezifischen Ansatze vorgestellt. Annahme ist, dass sich die Differenz im Problemverhalten zwischen Jungen und Madchen uber die Transmission und Zustimmung von Dominanzideologien in der Familie erklaren lasst. Ergebnisse bestatigen diese Annahme und stellen geschlechterspezifische Prozesse der Transmission und der Entstehung des „gender gap“ in der Delinquenzbeteiligung dar.

Bewältigung von Cyberviktimisierung im Jugendalter - Emotionale und verhaltensbezogene Reaktionen auf Cyberbullying

The experience of cybervictimization is related to health, psychological, and behavioral problems among children and adolescents. Up to today research is scarce, how the persons affected by cybervictimization react and which determinants influence the choice for social, problem-focused, technical, or helpless coping behavior. The current online study with 428 adolescents considers age, sex, mean internet use, frequency of victimization, roles in cyberbullying, and emotional reactions to cybervictimization as potential determinants of the mentioned coping strategies. Based on the participant role approach, roles of cyberbullies, cybervictims, defenders or outsiders are frequently changing. Logistic regression analyses point out the important relevance of emotional reactions like anger or helplessness and the roles as cyberbully-victim or outsider. Further, younger participants reported cybervictimization more often, while the frequency of cybervictimization and sex did not and internet use only partially predict coping strategies. These findings corroborate the relevance of emotional reactions and the roles in the process of cyberbullying. As a starting point for prevention and intervention of cybervictimization, we suggest emotion regulation, teaching of technical coping behaviors as well as reflexion of roles in the context of cyberbullying. If feasible, different stakeholders should be engaged in this process: adolescents, parents, educational staff inside and outside of schools, experts from counseling and therapy as well as internet and mobile phone service providers.

The role of classroom characteristics for students’ motivation and career exploration

This study focused on students enrolled in obligatory vocational education courses in German secondary schools that aim to support students’ career exploration. The study examined the relations between student-perceived classroom characteristics (support for autonomy, competence and relatedness), students’ intrinsic motivation and their career exploration (self- and environmental exploration). Data were analysed from 1780 seventh- to tenth-graders (boys: 54.2%) from 13 German secondary schools. The structural equation modelling results revealed that student-perceived support for autonomy, competence and relatedness in class was significantly positively related to their intrinsic motivation and self-exploration. Student-perceived support for competence was significantly positively related to environment exploration. Student-perceived relatedness in class was significantly positively related to their achievement. Intrinsic motivation was significantly positively related to self- and environment exploration and achievement. The results showed that the paths within the tested model varied for boys and girls. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for career preparation in school, as well as related to gendered motivational processes.

Auswirkungen der Arbeitslosigkeit bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen — eine Übersicht

Entwicklungsnormen fur Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene werden formuliert, um sie damit letztendlich auch als Individuen in die Gesellschaft zu integrieren. Kultur und Gesellschaft geben jene Erwartungen vor, die sich in diesen Normen ausdrucken. Sie schaffen den Bezug und die Orientierung, mit der die individuelle Entwicklung beurteilt wird. Die Gesellschaft gibt also die abstrakte Valenz der Norm vor, und die Jugendlichen verknupfen diese Entwicklungsaufgabe inhaltlich direkt mit ihrer Identitat, indem sie ihr einen Wert zuschreiben (Oerter/Dreher 1995).

Entwicklung motivationaler Orientierungen in den MINT-Bereichen im mittleren Jugendalter

Das Kapitel befasst sich mit dem aktuellen Forschungsstand zur Entwicklung motivationaler Orientierungen im mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Bereich im mittleren Jugendalter. Ziel des Kapitels ist es, einen Uberblick uber Entwicklungsverlaufe unterschiedlicher motivationaler Orientierungen zu geben und dabei die Rolle der Erziehungs- und Entwicklungskontexte, Familie und Schule, fur motivationale Orientierungen im mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Bereich zu diskutieren. Des Weiteren wird auf die Bedeutung des Geschlechts Jugendlicher sowie des familiaren und kulturellen Hintergrundes fur die Entwicklung motivationaler Orientierungen im Jugendalter eingegangen.