Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl

Correlates of help-seeking in adolescence

In this study, we examined the demographic and psychological variables associated with seeking help from parents, friends, and professionals for coping with emotional problems during early and middle adolescence. Two-hundred and twentyone adolescents (109 males, 112 females), ranging in age from 13 to 18years (mean age=15.0 years), completed measures assessing self-worth, self-consciousness, and locus of control. Adolescents were also asked to report whether or not they had sought help from mothers, fathers, friends, and professionals for assistance in coping with a recent stress event. Descriptive analyses revealed that more adolescent females and middle adolescents reported seeking assistance from mothers, friends, and professionals than males and early adolescents. While no difference emerged between early and middle adolescent females in their utilization of mothers and fathers as support providers, middle adolescent males were more likely to report seeking help from their fathers than were younger adolescent males. A series of stepwise discriminant function analyses were conducted in order to determine the extent to which age, gender, self-worth, self-consciousness, and locus of control predicted seeking help. Differential patterns of predictor variables emerged for each helping resource. For example, females and adolescents with an internal locus of control were more likely to report seeking help from their mothers than males and adolescents with an external locus of control. With respect to fathers, adolescents who sought help from their fathers were less self-conscious than those who did not seek help. Those adolescents who reported seeking help from professionals were older, had lower self-worth, and were less self-consciousness than those adolescents who reported that they did not seek help from professionals. Results are discussed with regard to mechanisms of differential gender socialization during adolescence.

Debunking the Myths of Adolescence: Findings from Recent Research

This review summarizes some of the important research findings on adolescence that have accumulated during the past two decades. Current understanding of the adolescent age-period is first discussed with particular attention to the previously held myths about adolescence. Second, a review of existing studies that have examined the problems and help-seeking behaviors of adolescents is presented. Overall, the majority of recent research findings suggest adolescence should not be characterized as a time of severe emotional upheaval and turmoil because the majority (80%) of adolescents manage this transition quite well. Nevertheless, a sizable proportion of youth (20%) do not fare so well, with many not receiving the help they may need.

Enhancing cognitive and social-emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: a randomized controlled trial

The authors hypothesized that a social and emotional learning (SEL) program involving mindfulness and caring for others, designed for elementary school students, would enhance cognitive control, reduce stress, promote well-being and prosociality, and produce positive school outcomes. To test this hypothesis, 4 classes of combined 4th and 5th graders (N = 99) were randomly assigned to receive the SEL with mindfulness program versus a regular social responsibility program. Measures assessed executive functions (EFs), stress physiology via salivary cortisol, well-being (self-reports), prosociality and peer acceptance (peer reports), and math grades. Relative to children in the social responsibility program, children who received the SEL program with mindfulness (a) improved more in their cognitive control and stress physiology; (b) reported greater empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, optimism, school self-concept, and mindfulness, (c) showed greater decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and peer-rated aggression, (d) were rated by peers as more prosocial, and (e) increased in peer acceptance (or sociometric popularity). The results of this investigation suggest the promise of this SEL intervention and address a lacuna in the scientific literature-identifying strategies not only to ameliorate childrens problems but also to cultivate their well-being and thriving. Directions for future research are discussed.

Life Satisfaction in Early Adolescence: Personal, Neighborhood, School, Family, and Peer Influences

Drawing from an ecological assets framework as well as research and theory on positive youth development, this study examined the relationship of early adolescents’ satisfaction with life to trait optimism and assets representing the social contexts in which early adolescents spend most of their time. Self-reports of satisfaction with life, optimism, and ecological assets in the school (school connectedness), neighborhood (perceived neighborhood support), family (perceived parental support), and peer group (positive peer relationships) were assessed in a sample of 1,402 4th to 7th graders (47% female) from 25 public elementary schools. Multilevel modeling (MLM) was conducted to analyze the variability in life satisfaction both at the individual and the school level. As hypothesized, adding optimism and the dimensions representing the ecology of early adolescence to the model significantly reduced the variability in life satisfaction at both levels of analysis. Both personal (optimism) and all of the ecological assets significantly and positively predicted early adolescents’ life satisfaction. The results suggest the theoretical and practical utility of an assets approach for understanding life satisfaction in early adolescence.

Kindness Counts: Prompting Prosocial Behavior in Preadolescents Boosts Peer Acceptance and Well-Being

At the top of parents’ many wishes is for their children to be happy, to be good, and to be well-liked. Our findings suggest that these goals may not only be compatible but also reciprocal. In a longitudinal experiment conducted in 19 classrooms in Vancouver, 9- to 11-year olds were instructed to perform three acts of kindness (versus visit three places) per week over the course of 4 weeks. Students in both conditions improved in well-being, but students who performed kind acts experienced significantly bigger increases in peer acceptance (or sociometric popularity) than students who visited places. Increasing peer acceptance is a critical goal, as it is related to a variety of important academic and social outcomes, including reduced likelihood of being bullied. Teachers and interventionists can build on this study by introducing intentional prosocial activities into classrooms and recommending that such activities be performed regularly and purposefully.

Understanding the Link Between Social and Emotional Well-Being and Peer Relations in Early Adolescence: Gender-Specific Predictors of Peer Acceptance

Past studies have investigated relationships between peer acceptance and peer-rated social behaviors. However, relatively little is known about the manner in which indices of well-being such as optimism and positive affect may predict peer acceptance above and beyond peer ratings of antisocial and prosocial behaviors. Early adolescence—roughly between the ages of 9 and 14—is a time in the life span in which individuals undergo a myriad of changes at many different levels, such as changes due to cognitive development, pubertal development, and social role redefinitions. The present study investigated the relationship of self-reported affective empathy, optimism, anxiety (trait measures), and positive affect (state measure) to peer-reported peer acceptance in 99 (43% girls) 4th and 5th grade early adolescents. Because our preliminary analyses revealed gender-specific patterns, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the predictors of peer acceptance separately for boys and for girls. Girls’ acceptance of peers was significantly predicted by higher levels of empathy and optimism, and lower positive affect. For boys, higher positive affect, lower empathy, and lower anxiety significantly predicted peer acceptance. The results emphasize the importance of including indices of social and emotional well-being in addition to peer-ratings in understanding peer acceptance in early adolescence, and urge for more research on gender-specific peer acceptance.

Relations of Peer Acceptance, Friendship Adjustment, and Social Behavior to Moral Reasoning During Early Adolescence

The relations between moral reasoning and six dimensions of peer relationships were examined. Participants were 108 adolescents, age 10 through 13 years, who completed sociometric measures of acceptance, peer behavioral assessment items, a measure to assess the number of their close friendships, a questionnaire on the features of their very best friendship, a measure to assess the frequency of their participation in socializing and agentic activities with close friends, and the Kohlberg moral judgment interview. Results indicated that moral reasoning was related significantly and positively to leadership status, prosocial behaviors (for girls), antisocial behaviors (for boys), number of close friendships, and socializing and agentic activities (for girls). Results also revealed that social behaviors mediate the link between early adolescents’moral reasoning and their peer acceptance as operationalized in terms of leadership status. Results are discussed in terms of the significance of peer relationships in the moral reasoning of early adolescents.

Empathy and Social Relationships in Adolescents with Behavioral Disorders

This study explored the relationship between empathy (defined here as a persons emotional responsiveness to the emotional experiences of another) and social competence in adolescents with behavioral disorders. Compared on empathy and several indices of social competence were 39 adolescent males with behavioral disorders and 39 of their age-matched peers without behavioral disorders in order to examine differences and interrelations among these variables within each group. Results indicate that adolescents with behavioral disorders reported lower levels of empathy, participated in fewer extracurricular activities, had less frequent contacts with friends, and had lower quality relationships than their peers without disabilities. The two groups did not differ in self-reported number of close friends. Among adolescents without behavioral disorders, higher empathy was significantly associated with better quality relationships, whereas no correlation between these two variables was evidenced among the adolescents with behavioral disorders. Intervention implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are put forth.

Mindfulness and Inhibitory Control in Early Adolescence

This study examined the relationship between the executive control process of inhibition and self-reported dispositional mindfulness, controlling for gender, grade, and cortisol levels in 99 (43% female) fourth- and fifth-graders ( X ¯ = 10.23 years, SD = 0.53). Students completed a measure of mindful attention awareness and a computerized executive function (EF) task assessing inhibitory control. Morning cortisol levels also were collected and were used as an indicator of neuroendocrine regulation. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for gender, grade, and cortisol levels, higher scores on the mindfulness attention awareness measure significantly predicted greater accuracy (% correct responses) on the inhibitory control task. This research contributes to understanding the predictors of EF skills in early adolescents’ cognitive development. Specifically, it identifies mindfulness—a skill that can be fostered and trained in intervention programs to promote health and well-being—as significantly related to inhibitory processes in early adolescence.

Do Expectancies Influence Choice of Help-Giver? Adolescents’ Criteria for Selecting an Informal Helper

This study endeavors to test whether adolescents’ expectations of potential helpers’ nurturance and expertise are associated with adolescent selection of an informal helpgiver. A sample of 89 adolescents in Grades 8 and 11 responded to assessments of help seeking within four different scenarios. Regression analyses revealed that expectations of expertise are important in selecting a mother or father as a potential help giver, whereas expectations of nurturance are influential in choosing a friend as a help giver. Age was not found to modify the relationship between expectations and selection of a helper, and gender modified the relationship in only one scenario. Results are discussed in terms of adolescent help seeking as having a dual function, that of information seeking and relationship development.