Rubab G. Arim

An Examination of the Reciprocal Relationships Between Adolescents’ Aggressive Behaviors and Their Perceptions of Parental Nurturance

This study examined reciprocal relationships between adolescents’ perceptions of parental nurturance and two types of adolescent aggressive behaviors (indirect and direct aggression) using a transactional model. Three waves of longitudinal data were drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The sample included 1,416 (735 female) adolescents who were 10- and 11-year-olds at Time 1 and became 14-and 15-year-olds at Time 3. The findings failed to support reciprocal effects, but confirmed parental effects at different ages for girls and boys. For girls, perceptions of parental nurturance at age 10 were negatively associated with both indirect and direct aggression at age 12. For boys, perceptions of parental nurturance at age 12 were negatively associated with both aggressive behaviors at age 14. Future research should continue to investigate reciprocal effects in parent-adolescent relationships to identify developmental periods where the effect of adolescents’ or their parents’ behavior may be stronger.

The Family Antecedents and the Subsequent Outcomes of Early Puberty.

The purpose of this study was to examine both the family antecedents and the outcomes of early puberty, with a particular focus on factors related to family socioeconomic status (SES). The study employed a comprehensive measurement of pubertal development and longitudinal data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The sample (Nxa0=xa08,440; 49% girls) included four cohorts of children who were followed biennially for 10xa0years, starting from age 4–11 to 14–21xa0years. Data were drawn at different years of age from these cohorts of children. Girls whose fathers were unemployed were more likely to experience early puberty than those whose fathers were employed. For boys, those living with fathers who had not finished secondary school were more likely to experience early puberty. Early maturing girls tended to engage in smoking and drinking at an earlier age compared with their peers. These findings provide support for psychosocial acceleration theory and suggest that different aspects of low family SES may act as a psychosocial stress for early pubertal maturation in boys versus girls, which may lead to engagement in drinking and smoking at a younger age, at least for girls.

Gender and Career Development Projects in Early Adolescence: Similarities and Differences between Mother-Daughter and Mother-Son Dyads

The way that mother-son and mother-daughter dyads engage in career projects was explored using the action-project differentiation procedure, a variant of the action-project method. The goal-directed actions, joint projects, and interactions of ten early adolescent boys and their mothers were examined in relation to the actions, projects, and interactions of ten early adolescent girls and their mothers. Many more similarities than differences were identified, including similarities in the kinds of projects that emerged, the amount of progress they achieved over time, and the patterns of communication that occurred. Two important distinctives also emerged: projects that included a focus on explicit vocational goals (e.g., career exploration, educational achievement) were common within the mother-son group but not the mother-daughter group; conflict and avoiding each other following conflict was often identified as a barrier to achieving projects in the mother-daughter group but not the mother-son group (although conflict was present in both groups).

Change in Depression Symptoms Through Emerging Adulthood

Existing research suggests there may be important association between mental health and the employment that emerging adults obtain during the transition into the workforce. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to examine the trajectories of emerging adults’ depression symptoms over a 4-year period, as a function of two characteristics of employment: type of work (i.e., full-time or not) and job satisfaction (i.e., highly satisfied with work or not). The sample consisted of 793 young Canadians drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. On average, depression symptoms decreased significantly over time. Full-time employment was associated with lower initial levels of depression and a slower decrease in symptoms. Higher job satisfaction also associated with lower initial levels of depression symptoms. These results suggest it is important to consider both these characteristics of employment to more fully understand how employment is connected to depression symptoms over time.