Publications

The current study examined the moderating effects of observed conflict management styles with friends on the link between adolescents’ preoccupied attachment organization and changing levels of depressive symptoms from age 13 to age 18 years. Adolescents and their close friends were observed during a revealed differences task, and friends’ behaviors were coded for both conflict avoidance and overpersonalizing attacks. Results indicated that preoccupied adolescents showed greater relative increases in depressive symptoms when their friends demonstrated overpersonalizing behaviors, vs. greater relative decreases in depressive symptoms when their friends avoided conflict by deferring to them. Results suggest the exquisite sensitivity of preoccupied adolescents to qualities of peer relationships as predictors of future levels of psychological functioning.

The authors propose that under some circumstances peer influence, and the susceptibility to being influenced by peers, may not be such a bad thing after all, especially during adolescence. They tie peer influence to attachment theory and argue that being socialized means being ready to be influenced by others as one navigates the social world. The authors argue that the best way to modify peer influence effects may be to change the values that adolescents communicate with one another. A recent outreach program developed by these authors offers preliminary evidence to support this principle.

This study examined the dual roles of adolescents’ perceptions of social acceptance and sociometric popularity in predicting relative changes over time in adolescents’ social functioning. Observational, self-report, and peer report data were obtained from 164 adolescents who were interviewed at age 13 years and then again at age 14 years, as well as their same-sex close friends. Adolescents who felt positively about their own social standing fared well over time, regardless of their level of sociometric popularity. Further, low popularity was particularly problematic for adolescents who failed to see themselves as fitting in. Results suggest that during adolescence, when it becomes increasingly possible for teens to choose their own social niches, it is possible to be socially successful without being broadly popular.

This study examines the hypothesis that effective parental influence stems from the qualities of the parent-adolescent relationship rather than from explicit efforts to alter adolescents’ behaviors. Adolescents’ versus parents’ perceptions of parental influence as predictors of parent-adolescent relationship quality and of adolescents’ social functioning are examined using observational and multireporter data obtained from a sample of 167 adolescents (90 female, 77 male; age M = 13.34 years, SD = 0.65), their parents, and their same-sex peers. Analyses revealed that adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of parental influence were uncorrelated with one another and were differentially related to qualities of adolescents’ relationships with parents and friends. Adolescents’ perceptions of high parental influence were linked to observations and self-reports of warm, supportive relationships with parents (particularly mothers). In contrast, parents’ reports of high influence were linked to lower levels of adolescent autonomy with parents and friends and less relatedness with mothers and friends.

The broader context of relational aggression in adolescent romantic relationships was assessed by considering the ways such aggression emerged from prior experiences of peer pressure and was linked to concurrent difficulties in psychosocial functioning. Longitudinal, multi-reporter data were obtained from 97 adolescents and their best friends at age 15 and from adolescents and their romantic partners at age 18. Teens’ relational aggression and romantic partners’ victimization were predicted from levels of best friends’ pressuring behaviors toward teens in an observed interaction as well as from best friends’ ratings of how much pressure teens experienced from their peer group. Romantic partner relational aggression and teen victimization were predicted by pressure from teens’ peer group only. Adolescents’ romantic relational aggression and victimization were also associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms and increased alcohol use. Results are discussed in terms of the connection of relational aggression in romantic relationships to the broader task of establishing autonomy with peers in psychosocial development.

To test the social learning–based hypothesis that marital conflict resolution patterns are learned in the family of origin, longitudinal, observational data were used to assess prospective associations between family conflict interaction patterns during adolescence and offspring’s later marital conflict interaction patterns. At age 14 years, 47 participants completed an observed family conflict resolution task with their parents. In a subsequent assessment 17 years later, the participants completed measures of marital adjustment and an observed marital conflict interaction task with their spouse. As predicted, levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by parents and adolescents during family interactions were prospectively linked with levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by offspring and their spouses during marital interactions. Family-of-origin hostility was a particularly robust predictor of marital interaction behaviors; it predicted later marital hostility and negatively predicted positive engagement, controlling for psychopathology and family-of-origin positive engagement. For men, family-oforigin hostility also predicted poorer marital adjustment, an effect that was mediated through hostility in marital interactions. These findings suggest a long-lasting influence of family communication patterns, particularly hostility, on offspring’s intimate communication and relationship functioning.

Little is known about how to predict which individuals with known temperament vulnerabilities will go on to develop social anxiety problems. Adolescents (N = 185) were followed from age 13 to 18 to evaluate psychosocial, prospective predictors of social anxiety symptoms and fears of negative evaluation (FNE), after accounting for pre-existing social withdrawal symptoms. Results from structural equation modeling suggest that lack of perceived social acceptance predicts subsequent explicit social anxiety and FNE, whereas the emotional intensity of close peer interactions predicts subsequent implicit FNE. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of peer interaction in the development of social anxiety, and the value of measuring both implicit and explicit FNE.

The relation of attachment security to multiple domains of psychosocial functioning was examined in a community sample of 167 early adolescents. Security of attachment organization, assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview, was linked to success in establishing autonomy while maintaining a sense of relatedness both with fathers and with peers, even after accounting for predictions from qualities of the mother-teen relationship. Growth curve analyses revealed links of insecurity to increasing patterns of externalizing behavior and higher and stable patterns of depressive symptoms across adolescence. Implications for a developing theory of the connections of the attachment system to multiple domains of functioning in adolescence are discussed.

A history of exposure to harsh physical discipline has been linked to negative outcomes for children, ranging from conduct disorder to depression and low self-esteem. The present study extends this work into adolescence, and examines the relationship of lifetime histories of harsh discipline to adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms and to their developing capacities for establishing autonomy and relatedness in family interactions. Adolescent and parent reports of harsh discipline, independently coded observations of conflictual interactions, and adolescent reports of symptoms were obtained for 141 adolescents at age 16. Both parents’ use of harsh discipline was related to greater adolescent depression and externalizing behavior, even when these effects were examined over and above the effects of other parenting measures known to account for these symptoms. Adolescents exposed to harsh discipline from mothers were also less likely to appear warm and engaged during an interaction task with their mothers. It is suggested that a history of harsh discipline is associated not only with social and emotional functioning, but also with the developmental task of autonomy and relatedness.

The present study had three main objectives: (1) to develop and validate scales of young adult social competence in two domains, close relationships and social groups, using peer ratings of California Q-sort (Block, 1974; Kremen & Block, 2002) items; (2) to test the hypothesis that social competence is associated with young adult well-being and ego development; (3) to test the hypothesis that close relationship competence aligns more closely than social group competence with young adult functioning. Psychometric data on peer ratings of social competence are presented. For 133 young adults, peer ratings of social competence were correlated in expected directions with indices of functioning (e.g., self-worth, education, psychological distress, criminal behavior, and ego development). Associations were generally stronger for competence in close relationships than in social groups.