Rita Žukauskienė

The new life stage of emerging adulthood at ages 18–29 years: implications for mental health

Since 1960 demographic trends towards longer time in education and late age to enter into marriage and of parenthood have led to the rise of a new life stage at ages 18-29 years, now widely known as emerging adulthood in developmental psychology. In this review we present some of the demographics of emerging adulthood in high-income countries with respect to the prevalence of tertiary education and the timing of parenthood. We examine the characteristics of emerging adulthood in several regions (with a focus on mental health implications) including distinctive features of emerging adulthood in the USA, unemployment in Europe, and a shift towards greater individualism in Japan.

Cross‐contextual stability of bullying victimization: A person‐oriented analysis of cyber and traditional bullying experiences among adolescents

Using a person-oriented approach the study examined whether bullying victimization at school continued into cyberspace victimization in a large sample of high school students in Lithuania (N = 1667, 58% girls), age 15-19 (M = 17.29, SD = 0.95). Three forms of traditional bullying (verbal, physical and relational) and seven forms of cyberbullying victimization through cell phones and computers were included in the analysis. The findings revealed that 35% of traditional bullying victims were also bullied in cyberspace. In particular, adolescents who experienced predominantly verbal and relational bullying at school, showed a higher risk of victimization in cyberspace a year later, while this was not observed for predominantly physical forms of traditional bullying. The findings point to the importance of a cross-contextual perspective in studies on stability of bullying victimization.

Political and civic engagement development in adolescence.

Twenty years ago one would have been hard pressed to find words like “civic” or “political” as descriptors of adolescent development. However, as this special section of the Journal of Adolescence attests, the tide has turned: The civic/political domain has taken its place as a domain of adolescent behavior, knowledge, attitudes, values, and identity. Signs that this field has come of age include the formation of groups such as CIRCLE (www.civicyouth.org), a research organization and clearinghouse on youth civic engagement In the United States, and PIDOP, an Eight European States Project funded by the European Commission to focus on developmental processes underlying people’s sense of democratic ownership and participation, (www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/pidop/). Beyond Europe and North America, attention has also turned to the unique affordances of the civic/political domain as a context where younger generations forge identities for themselves and their societies. Two prominent international reports on youth in themajority world devoted chapters to citizenship. Both Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries (Lloyd, 2005) issued by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Population andWorld Development Report: Development and the Next Generation issued by the World Bank (2007) considered the civic engagement of younger generations important in its own right, but also critical for the health of communities, economies, governments and societies. What might explain the growing interest in this domain? If we look back over the past sixty years, we find that scholarly attention to the developmental foundations of the civic/political domain tends to increase when there are concerns about generational replacement, specifically about whether 1) the younger generation is motivated and skilled in the civic domain such that they will replace their elders as engaged citizens and 2) the settings and institutions (particularly families, schools and community-based organizations) where civic dispositions and skills for action can be nurtured are up to these tasks. Such concerns were instrumental in the political socializationwork conducted in the wake of WorldWar II and in the generational studies of the late 1960’s. Likewise, historical forces likely played a role in motivating contemporary scholarship on youth and politics. For example, the end of the Cold War and the formation of new democracies in former Soviet nations prompted interest in the practices of formative institutions and their role in developing democratic dispositions and skills in younger generations. German reunification, newwaves of migration into and across Europe, and the formation of the European Union have also made civic and political questions salient topics of discourse. Developmental science brings a critical perspective to these conversations. In this special section contributing authors explore the unique developmental affordances of the civic/political domain for adolescents and also tie engagement in this domain to other developmental tasks of and changes during this period. Not only do authors explore different developmental themes, they also use a range of methods and sample from different countries and sub-groups within those countries. Identity has long been considered a central developmental task of adolescence. Several chapters in the volume reveal both the opportunities for identity exploration afforded by the civic domain as well as the more expansive meaning of identity when seen through a civic lens. Elisabetta Crocetti, Parissa Jahromi, and Wim Meeus use both personand variable-centered approaches in their exploration of civic engagement and identity and find that adolescents’ volunteer activities are a route to identity achievement. Compared to their diffused peers, adolescents with higher levels of identity achievement were more involved in volunteering in their communities. Not only was volunteer work a means to explore who they were, it also was related to their values (social responsibility) and sense that, with others, they could have an impact (civic efficacy). Social or public responsibility also emerges as a theme in the paper by Anne A van Goethem. Here the possibilities of volunteer activities for exploring and reasoning about moral issues are revealed. The projects and contexts in which adolescents volunteer raise social and moral issues as well as questions about one’s responsibility for those issues as a member of the public. As in the Crocetti et al. paper, opportunities to explore such questions and to commit to civic action are positively associated with identity achievement.

How do Lithuanian adolescents address identity questions? A four-wave longitudinal study on change and stability in identity styles

Abstract The present investigation evaluated multiple patterns of change and stability in Berzonsky’s identity styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant) in a four-annual-wave longitudinal study with 468 adolescent boys and girls from Lithuania. A combination of mean level changes, high rank-order stability, and high profile stability has been found in this study. First, levels of informational and normative identity styles remained stable for girls, but decreased significantly for boys; levels of diffuse-avoidant identity styles remained stable for girls and boys. Second, the rank-order stability of the normative and diffuse-avoidant styles was lower for boys, than for girls. Third, the mean profile stability was high for girls and moderate for boys. In general, our findings highlighted substantial gender differences in multiple indices of change and stability of identity styles.

Relationships with parents, identity styles, and positive youth development during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood

The purpose of this study was to examine the links between relationships with parents, identity styles, and positive youth development (PYD), conceptualized as “contribution” to self, family, and community, in Lithuanian youth during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. In Study I, we sought to examine how positive relationships with parents predict contribution with the potential mediating role of autonomy-supportive parenting. Participants (N = 153) filled a self-reported questionnaire in the final year of school and 1 year later. In Study II, we aimed at investigating how parental autonomy support is related to the contribution and the potential mediating role of identity processing style. Participants (N = 254) were assessed 1 year after graduating high school. Overall, the findings indicated that positive relationships with parents play an important role in successful adjustment and that this relationship is partially mediated by identity style. To conclude, the way in which parents respond to their children’s need for autonomy and relatedness affects the adequate identity management and overall positive development during emerging adulthood.

A Cross-Cultural Perspective on the Relationships between Emotional Separation, Parental Trust, and Identity in Adolescents

Emotional separation and parental trust in parent–adolescent relationships are important factors for adolescent identity formation. However, prior research findings on emotional separation are inconsistent. This study aimed to conduct a more rigorous examination of the associations of emotional separation and parental trust with identity synthesis, confusion, and consolidation by applying a bi-factor model to identity, using adolescent samples from Lithuania (N = 610; 53.9% female; Mage = 14.92), Italy (N = 411; 57.4% female; Mage = 15.03), and Japan (N = 759; 43.7% female; Mage = 14.13). Structural equation modeling revealed that emotional separation and parental trust were consistently associated with identity consolidation across the three countries, rather than associated with identity synthesis and identity confusion. Furthermore, the patterns of associations of emotional separation and parental trust with identity synthesis and identity confusion differed across the three nations. Overall, this study provides a better understanding of the role of emotional separation and parental trust in adolescent identity formation by suggesting the importance of the identity consolidation in the association between parent–child relationships and identity formation across three countries.

Adolescents’ Self-Perception of Morality, Competence, and Sociability and their Interplay with Quality of Family, Friend, and School Relationships: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

Morality, competence, and sociability have been conceptualized as fundamental dimensions on which individuals ground their evaluation of themselves and of other people and groups. In this study, we examined the interplay between self-perceived morality, competence, and sociability and relationship quality within the core social contexts with which adolescents have extensive daily interactions (family, friends, and school). Participants were 916 (51.4% girls; Mage = 15.64 years) adolescents involved in a three-wave longitudinal study with annual assessments. The results of cross-lagged analyses indicated that (a) self-perceived morality was more important than self-perceived competence and sociability in strengthening family, friend, and school relationships; and (b) high-quality friendships led to increasing levels of self-perceived morality over time. Overall, this evidence advances our theoretical understanding of the primacy of morality from a self-perspective approach and highlights the developmental importance of friends.

Systematic Review of the Measurement Properties of Questionnaires for the Measurement of the Well-Being of Children and Adolescents

The objective of this study was to systematically review the psychometric properties of the measures used in assessing the psychosocial well-being status of children and adolescents. This review updates and expands on the previous review of the literature on child well-being in order to assess all available studies from 2000 to 2013 on the measurement properties of all available well-being assessment instruments that aim to measure the construct of well-being in childhood and adolescence. Overall, 182 measures designed for measuring child and adolescent well-being were found. These measures vary in length and structure from one item scales to multidimensional questionnaires with 70 items and more. Most of the instruments measure positive indicators of well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, quality of life, self-esteem, etc.), others measure deficit indicators (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress, etc.), and a few instruments measure both positive and deficit indicators. In addition, there are some instruments with undefined modality of well-being. Thus, our study has revealed an ongoing theoretical shift from a deficit approach to well-being to a strengths-based approach. The results also indicate that the reliability information is reported for the majority of the instruments. The most frequently used reliability measure for all these instruments is the Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient. The reports of validity are available for approximately one-third of the instruments. Measures of well-being in adolescence are dominant, however, some instruments are suitable for the measurement of well-being and its indicators in childhood, and some reach the period of emerging adulthood (19-21 years). Most of the studies were conducted in North America and Europe with only a few of them being cross-cultural.

Testing Syndromes of Psychopathology in Parent and Youth Ratings Across Societies

As societies become increasingly diverse, mental health professionals need instruments for assessing emotional, behavioral, and social problems in terms of constructs that are supported within and across societies. Building on decades of research findings, multisample alignment confirmatory factor analyses tested an empirically based 8-syndrome model on parent ratings across 30 societies and youth self-ratings across 19 societies. The Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6–18 and Youth Self-Report for Ages 11–18 were used to measure syndromes descriptively designated as Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/Depressed, Somatic Complaints, Social Problems, Thought Problems, Attention Problems, Rule-Breaking Behavior, and Aggressive Behavior. For both parent ratings (N = 61,703) and self-ratings (N = 29,486), results supported aggregation of problem items into 8 first-order syndromes for all societies (configural invariance), plus the invariance of item loadings (metric invariance) across the majority of societies. Supported across many societies in both parent and self-ratings, the 8 syndromes offer a parsimonious phenotypic taxonomy with clearly operationalized assessment criteria. Mental health professionals in many societies can use the 8 syndromes to assess children and youths for clinical, training, and scientific purposes.

Agresyvaus jaunesniojo mokyklinio amžiaus vaikų elgesio raidos ypatumai

Findings from several studies are suggesting that the most of the growth of aggression occurs in the very young age and in adolescence. However,it is very little known about the gender differences in the growth and decrease of aggressive behaviour in middle childhood. Besides, most studines concerning development of aggressive behaviour have been carried out in Western cultures. Understanding the development of aggressive behaviour in childhood and adolescence in such East-European country as Lithuania presents a significant scientific and practical interest. T his study assessed gender differences in the development of aggression in the middle childhood. Peer and child interview, teacher and parents ratings of behaviour problems, and sociometric status w ere obtained for 695 first-through-seventh grade children, both boys and girls. One year later parents of 220 students repeatedly completed CBCL 4/18 form. T he results indicate that the mean tevels of boys aggressive behaviour decreases gradually during the middle childhood, starting from 9-10-years of age. Girls showed a lower level of aggression compared w ith boys, and the difference in the decrease of aggression. Aggressive behaviour was related with peer rejection, especially for boys. Results are discussed in terms of future directions for longitudinal research on the gender differences in the development of aggression.