Metin Özdemir

Perceived parenting style and adolescent adjustment : revisiting directions of effects and the role of parental knowledge

In the present research on parenting and adolescent behavior, there is much focus on reciprocal, bidirectional, and transactional processes, but parenting-style research still adheres to a unidirectional perspective in which parents affect youth behavior but are unaffected by it. In addition, many of the most cited parenting-style studies have used measures of parental behavioral control that are questionable because they include measures of parental knowledge. The goals of this study were to determine whether including knowledge items might have affected results of past studies and to test the unidirectional assumption. Data were from 978 adolescents participating in a longitudinal study. Parenting-style and adolescent adjustment measures at 2 time points were used, with a 2-year interval between time points. A variety of internal and external adjustment measures were used. Results showed that including knowledge items in measures of parental behavioral control elevated links between behavioral control and adjustment. Thus, the results and conclusions of many of the most highly cited studies are likely to have been stronger than if the measures had focused strictly on parental behavior. In addition, adolescent adjustment predicted changes in authoritative and neglectful parenting styles more robustly than these styles predicted changes in adolescent adjustment. Adolescent adjustment also predicted changes in authoritativeness more robustly than authoritativeness predicted changes in adjustment. Thus, parenting style cannot be seen as independent of the adolescent. In summary, both the theoretical premises of parenting-style research and the prior findings should be revisited.

Bullies, victims, and bully‐victims: a longitudinal examination of the effects of bullying‐victimization experiences on youth well‐being

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how childrens involvement in bullying (as bullies, victims and bully-victims) is related to longer term levels of various internalizing proble ...

Perceived Autonomy Support, Friendship Maintenance, and Happiness

ABSTRACT Decades of empirical research have shown that perceived autonomy support in close relationships is an essential correlate of happiness. However, what might account for the relationship between the 2? For this article, 4 studies (total N = 1325) investigated friendship maintenance as a mediator of the association between friendship autonomy support and happiness. The first 3 studies supported the model for the best friendship of the individual when happiness was assessed with 3 different measures. The 4th study extended the findings by showing that the model was generalizable to the other close friendship of the individual. Overall, the results supported the idea that engaging in routine and strategic behaviors to maintain friendships explains how perceived autonomy support in friendships is associated with happiness. The theoretical and applied implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions for future research were made.

Female pubertal timing and problem behaviour The role of culture

We tested the peer-socialization/contextual-amplification explanation for the link between early female puberty and problem behaviour. We propose that in cultures with high tolerance for adolescent heterosexual involvement, early puberty should be linked with problem behaviour—not in other cultures. We compared girls in two cultures (Slovakia and Sweden) that differ in acceptance of adolescent girls’ heterosexual involvement. Findings supported the hypothesis by showing that in Sweden, a culture that facilitates adolescent heterosexual involvement, early-maturing girls reported more problem behaviours than in Slovakia. The mediation link (heterosexual involvement as the mechanism linking early puberty with problem behaviour) was moderated by culture. The findings expand our understanding of the role of macro-cultural contexts in the developmental significance of female puberty.

Improving dissemination of evidence‐based programs through researcher–practitioner collaboration

Prevention field has achieved major advances in developing, implementing, and testing the efficacy of preventive interventions in controlled settings. Nevertheless, there is still a gap in translating the success of programs in efficacy trials into real-life settings. Dissemination of evidence-based programs is a major challenge. The authors argue that promoting adoption of evidence-based programs requires further improvements in three areas, and collaboration between researchers and practitioners. First, there is a need to develop a holistic assessment system encompassing both risk/need and readiness assessments. Second, there is need for new methods for improving implementation quality. Third, prevention research needs to focus more on identifying the mechanisms that explain how programs work and the core elements of the program. Both researchers and practitioners have roles and opportunities to collaborate to achieve developments in these areas.

What Makes Youth Harass Their Immigrant Peers? Understanding the Risk Factors

Immigrant youth are at risk of experiencing harassment in school; however, we have only limited understanding of what makes youth harass their peers on ground of their ethnic origin. To address this major limitation, we examined (a) whether youth’s negative attitudes toward immigrants impact their engagement in ethnic harassment over time and (b) whether youth’s impulsivity, their tendencies to engage in risky behaviors, and a chaotic surrounding school environment moderate the link between their negative attitudes toward immigrants and their involvement in ethnic harassment. The sample included 583 Swedish youth ( X ¯ age = 13.93, SD = .71). Youth with negative attitudes toward immigrants ethnically were found to harass their immigrant peers when they had high levels of impulsivity and violent tendencies. Contrary to our expectation, youth perceptions of school atmosphere did not act as a moderator. The present study highlights the importance of identifying risk factors to reach a comprehensive understanding of ethnic harassment.

How much do we know about the long-term effectiveness of parenting programmes? Advances, shortcomings, and future directions

Purpose – Parenting programmes are seen as feasible and cost-effective in preventing early behavioural problems in children and adolescents. A number of studies have concluded that such programmes are effective in reducing child problem behaviours and improving the skills and well-being of parents. Nevertheless, less is known about long-term programme effects. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A non-meta-analytic discussion. Findings – Long-term evaluations of parenting programmes suffer from a number of methodological weaknesses resulting in an inability to make robust causal inferences about child and parent outcomes in the longer term. The current evidence is favourable but is likely to be biased by methodological weaknesses. There is a need for more studies of greater methodological strength to obtain conclusive evidence that would guide empirical research, practice and policy. Originality/value – The paper discusses weaknesses in long-term evaluations of parenting ...

Friendship and happiness among young adults

In recent years, relationship scientists have made significant contributions to our understanding of the relation between friendship and happiness. Within this chapter, we will review empirical evidence that highlights friendship as a consistent and robust correlate of happiness among young adults. In addition to reviewing prominent indices of friendship (e.g. quantity, quality, satisfaction) that are often addressed within the literature, we will touch on issues such as the degree to which friendship is important for one’s happiness. For example, researchers have shown that in some contexts, the contributions of friendship are dependent upon variables such as romantic relationship status or familial support. Thus, we present evidence that allows one to evaluate the relative importance of friendship for happiness, taking various other factors into account. Additionally, we have provided a review of proposed future directions that may support continued growth of the field, allowing for a more enriched understanding of the link between friendship and happiness.

Why Do Some Adolescents Encounter Everyday Events That Increase Their Civic Interest Whereas Others Do Not

Using a longitudinal design, we asked 2 age cohorts of adolescents (15- and 18-year-olds) whether they, during the last year, had experienced events that had increased their civic interest and about details of their experiences. Based on self-determination theory, we predicted that the adolescents who reported having experienced events of this kind had already been more interested and had had more positive feelings about politics much earlier in time, and that this original interest would have increased more over time, than that of other adolescents. Second, we proposed that the adolescents who had encountered events that triggered their civic interest would have been engaged in behaviors that reflected their needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, much earlier in time, and that, over time, they would have increased these behaviors more than other adolescents. These 2 predictions were largely confirmed. As for the content of the events the adolescents reported, many of them concerned national and international issues experienced as threatening, and that challenged the adolescents’ beliefs and morality. Overall, a previous interest in politics and engagement in exploratory behaviors that reflect the adolescents’ psychological needs seem to play crucial roles in understanding why adolescents in their everyday life encounter events that trigger their civic interest. Further, the findings show that having had everyday experiences that trigger the adolescents’ civic interests are associated with a later increase in political interest more broadly.

School Bonding and Alcohol Use in Italian Early Adolescents: What Comes First?

Previous research has identified school bonding as protective against substance use during adolescence. However, there is still a question as to whether school involvement predicts changes in substance use or if substance use actually predicts changes in level of school bonding. This study investigated the relationship between school bonding and alcohol use, which is commonly recognized as gateway drug, during early adolescence. A three-wave longitudinal analysis was conducted on a sample composed of 161 Italian adolescents (51% boys, 49% girls, mean age = 11.14 years, standard deviation =.40). Associations were analyzed by using crossed-lagged autoregressive models in MPlus. Findings revealed that greater school involvement decreased alcohol consumption from Grade 6 to Grade 7. However, greater alcohol use decreased school involvement from Grade 7 to Grade 8. Findings of this study underlined the importance of choosing the right time for prevention.