Jennifer L. Kerpelman

Rural African American Adolescents' Future Orientation: The Importance of Self-Efficacy, Control and Responsibility, and Identity Development

Future orientation has been linked to a range of positive adolescent outcomes (e.g., Nurmi, 1991, 1993; Pulkkinen & Ronka, 1994), whereas a lack of orientation to the future has been associated with delinquency (e.g., Oyserman & Saltz, 1993; Trommsdorff & Lamm, 1980). The purpose of this study was to examine variation in future education and future career orientation within a sample of rural, African American adolescents. It was found that identity exploration and commitment, self-efficacy, control, and responsibility were predictive of future orientation. Furthermore, grade level moderated the relation between control and responsibility and future orientation; for younger adolescents, greater perceived control and responsibility was related to a stronger future orientation. In addition, gender moderated the relation between identity exploration and future orientation; for male adolescents, having higher levels of identity exploration was related to a stronger future orientation.

Evaluation of a statewide youth-focused relationships education curriculum

Romantic relationships matter for adolescents. Experiences in romantic relationships facilitate key areas of personal and interpersonal development, however, problems in romantic relationships and lack of positive role models can lead to increased risk of developing unhealthy relationship patterns that can persist into adulthood. The goals of this applied research project were to examine the effectiveness of a youth-focused relationships education curriculum, and to use the knowledge gained to inform practices in relationships education for adolescents. Findings from pre and post-intervention assessments and from two follow-up surveys provide evidence of program success and offer key insights for the development of an effective model of relationships education tailored for adolescents.

Gendered Conflict, Identity Disruption, and Marital Instability: Expanding Gottman's Model:

We propose a mid-range conceptual model integrating three somewhat disparate areas of research to provide an understanding of key factors that lead to marital instability. These areas are the influence of gender on marital instability, the negativity and distancing behaviors in marriage, and identity theory. We develop and discuss a model that posits that incongruencies between spouses in gender beliefs, expectations, and behaviors affect marital instability through negative marital interactions, causing identity disruption and resulting in distancing, marital instability, and, in some cases, divorce.

Female Adolescents' Delinquent Activity: The Intersection of Bonds to Parents and Reputation Enhancement.

According to the reputation enhancement theory, social bonds influence adolescents’ delinquent activity indirectly through the reputations they select. Findings from the current study of a school-based sample of female adolescents indicate that bonds to parents affect reputation enhancement beliefs, which, in turn, predict delinquent activity. Furthermore, mother-daughter bonds appear to moderate the relation between reputation enhancement and delinquency, where under the condition of weak bonds to mother, the relation between reputation and delinquency is the strongest.

Identity and intimacy during adolescence: connections among identity styles, romantic attachment and identity commitment.

Integration of adult attachment and psychosocial development theories suggests that adolescence is a time when capacities for romantic intimacy and identity formation are co-evolving. The current study addressed direct, indirect and moderated associations among identity and romantic attachment constructs with a diverse sample of 2178 middle adolescents. Identity styles were found to have unique and direct associations with identity commitment. Attachment anxiety showed only indirect associations and attachment avoidance had both direct and indirect associations with identity commitment. Tests of moderation revealed that gender, race and relationship status had no influence on the direct associations of identity styles or romantic attachment with identity commitment. Few differences in association strength among identity styles and romantic attachment emerged for gender or race. However, the differences found for relationship status suggested that relationship experiences adolescents bring to their exploration of identity and intimacy matter for how these two areas of development articulate.

What Adolescents Bring to and Learn from Relationship Education Classes: Does Social Address Matter?

The current study examined the effectiveness of a youth-focused relationship education curriculum in a sample of 1,430 adolescents attending health classes across 39 public high schools. The evaluation consisted of pre, post, and 1-year follow-up data collections for intervention and control samples. Growth curve models were fit to test the general effects of the curriculum and to examine the influence of social address indicators. Results indicated that the intervention group, but not the control group, changed in the desired direction in terms of the faulty relationship beliefs and the relationship skills that were the focus of this study. Desired improvements on the faulty relationship beliefs occurred independent of social address, but desired improvements in conflict management skills appeared only for the less socially or economically advantaged groups (e.g., lower socioeconomic status and minority status). Participants living in stepfamilies also significantly improved their perceived skills. Adolescents living in single-parent family structures appeared to benefit least from the program. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

A longitudinal examination of career preparation and adjustment during the transition from high school.

Preparing for an adult career and incorporating a career into ones identity is a key task during the transition to adulthood (Erikson, 1968), and completing developmental tasks is considered a major factor in adjustment (Havinghurst, 1972). Previous research has established associations between overall career preparation in high school and adjustment soon after high school graduation. Differences in the developmental patterns of career preparation dimensions (indecision, planning, and confidence) following high school graduation also have been found. The current study builds on that prior work by examining associations between changes in the dimensions of career preparation and changes in 3 aspects of adjustment (emotional stability, social adaptation, and self-actualization) from 12th grade in high school to 4.5 years after high school graduation in a sample of 454 youths, using latent growth curve analysis. Results showed that career preparation both predicts and is predicted by adjustment. Career confidence was a particularly important predictor of adjustment. Both 12th grade career confidence and changes in confidence over time predicted changes in adjustment and adjustment 4.5 years post-high school. In an alternative model, an increase in emotional stability was predictive of higher career confidence and lower indecision. Results are discussed in the context of developmental theories and the notion that adjustment and career are interrelated processes.

Coercion Theory, Self-Control, and Social Information Processing: Understanding Potential Mediators for How Parents Influence Deviant Behaviors

Research has demonstrated that (in)effective parenting influences whether a child/adolescent engages in deviant behaviors; however, research is mixed regarding whether that influence is direct. After a review of theoretical and empirical evidence, parenting factors outlined by several theories appear important in explaining the association between parenting and deviance. More importantly, however, is that the parental influence may not be direct, but rather mediated through a child/adolescents level of self-control and social information processing skills. As such, evidence suggests that to fully understand the complex association between parenting and deviance, parenting and mediating factors from multiple theories must be explored simultaneously.

Engagement in risky sexual behavior: adolescents' perceptions of self and the parent-child relationship matter

The current study examined associations among parenting practices, adolescents’ self-esteem and dating identity exploration, and adolescents’ sexual behaviors. Participants were 680 African American and European American sexually experienced adolescents attending public high schools in the southeast. Results indicated that risky sexual behavior was associated positively with parental psychological control, and negatively with self-esteem and dating identity exploration. Parental support positively predicted self-esteem and dating identity exploration; psychological control also showed a positive association with dating identity exploration. Contrary to expectation, neither self-esteem nor dating identity exploration mediated associations between parenting and risky sexual behavior; moderation tests showed few differences. However, dating identity exploration showed potential to serve as a protective factor for higher risk groups (i.e., males, African Americans), and psychological control appeared particularly detrimental for older adolescents. Finally, youth from stepfamilies showed associations among the variables that differed from youth living in single-parent and two-parent biological/adoptive families.

Identity as a Moderator of Intervention-Related Change: Identity Style and Adolescents' Responses to Relationships Education

We propose that interventions targeting youth should consider the effects of identity formation on outcomes. In this study, data from 935 high school students address the potential moderating effects of identity style (high vs. low informational, normative, diffuse orientations) on intervention-related change in faulty relationship beliefs, future orientation, perceived interpersonal communication skills, salience of future marital and parental roles, and perception of knowledge gains. Four moderating effects suggest that high use of informational style promotes active exploration of curriculum content. Two moderating effects suggest that high use of the normative style limits responsiveness to some topics. Finally, three moderating effects reveal a tendency for diffuse students to resist the positive messages of the curriculum. Taken together, findings support the idea that identity style is an important influence on intervention outcomes.