Publications

This study examined long-term sequelae of severe adolescent psychopathology from the perspective of adult attachment theory. The study compared 66 upper-middle-class adolescents who were psychiatrically hospitalized at age 14 for problems other than thought or organic disorders, to 76 sociodemographically similar high school students. When reinterviewed at age 25, virtually all of the previously hospitalized adolescents displayed insecure attachment organizations, in contrast to a more typical mixture of security and insecurity in the former high school sample. Lack of resolution of previous trauma with attachment figures accounted for much of this insecurity. Insecurity in adult attachment organization at age 25 was also linked to self-reported criminal behavior and use of hard drugs in young adulthood. These findings are discussed as reflecting a substantial and enduring connection between attachment organization and severe adolescent psychopathology and a possible role of attachment organization in mediating some of the long-term sequelae of such psychopathology. 

This study examined the link between hostile conflict in families with adolescents and adolescents' efforts to establish autonomy and relatedness in interactions with parents in both normal and psychiatrically impaired groups. Longitudinal, observational data were obtained by coding family interaction tasks involving 53 adolescents and their two parents at age 14 and age 16 years. Measures were obtained for hostile adolescent-parent conflict, hostile marital conflict, and indices of adolescents' success or difficultly in establishing autonomy and relatedness in interactions with parents. Relative increases in adolescent-parent hostile conflict from age 14 to 16 years were predicted by adolescents' behaviors actively undermining autonomy in disagreements with parents at age 14 years. Hostile marital conflict observed by the adolescent at age 14 years predicted adolescent withdrawal from the hostile parent over time, a prediction that was not mediated by observed parenting behaviors. Difficulties in establishing autonomy and relatedness were linked to prior history of psychiatric difficulty. A developmental view of conflict as both reflecting and predicting difficulties in adolescents' establishing autonomy and relatedness in interactions with parents is proposed.

This study explored adolescents' developmental strivings for autonomy and relatedness as motivations in socialproblem-solving competence, and the relevance of those strivings to explaining variation in delinquent activity. Eighty African American and Caucasian male adolescents (11 through 18 years of age) at high riskfor delinquency provided their likely strategies for resolving hypothetical interpersonal dilemmas. Strategies reflecting relatedness striving and autonomous-related reasoning were correlated positively with social problem solving and academic competence. Acts of delinquency were more frequent among adolescents whose strategies showed little relatedness striving, combined with lackof understanding that relationships can support bothautonomy and relatedness. These findings support the view that motivations to establish autonomy while maintaining relationships characterize important dimensions of adolescent social competence and may help enhance knowledge of adolescent problem behaviors. Recommendations for prevention and intervention efforts include increased attention to providing settings that facilitate positive expressions of developmental needs for autonomy and relatedness.

This study explored developmentally salient cognitive and emotional facets of personality during adolescence and their contribution to psychological functioning in young adulthood. Specifically, we examined the of relations among two kinds of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, expressed negative emotions, and self-dissatisfaction during midadolescence and assessed their longitudinal contribution to young adult symptoms of hostility and depression, as well as self-worth. We drew upon a dataset that included both a group of youngsters who had been psychiatrically hospitalized at age 14 and a normative comparison group of high school students studied over an 11-year period. Findings demonstrated that the magnitude of particular actual-ideal discrepancies, expressed negative emotions, and self-dissatisfaction differed between the groups. Contrary to expectation, actual-ideal self-discrepancies were not related to expressed negative emotions during midadolescence. For the psychiatric group, however, both self-discrepancies and expressed negative emotions made unique contributions to individuals' general sense of self-dissatisfaction. Moreover, particular types of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, specific expressed emotions, and self-dissatisfaction differentially predicted symptoms of hostility and depression, as well as diminished self-worth in young adulthood, albeit differently for the two groups. The importance of cognitions and emotions in the course diverse developmental pathways and future directions of the study are discussed.

This study explored developmentally salient cognitive and emotional facets of personality during adolescence and their contribution to psychological functioning in young adulthood. Specifically, we examined the of relations among two kinds of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, expressed negative emotions, and self-dissatisfaction during midadolescence and assessed their longitudinal contribution to young adult symptoms of hostility and depression, as well as self-worth. We drew upon a dataset that included both a group of youngsters who had been psychiatrically hospitalized at age 14 and a normative comparison group of high school students studied over an 11-year period. Findings demonstrated that the magnitude of particular actual-ideal discrepancies, expressed negative emotions, and self-dissatisfaction differed between the groups. Contrary to expectation, actual-ideal self-discrepancies were not related to expressed negative emotions during midadolescence. For the psychiatric group, however, both self-discrepancies and expressed negative emotions made unique contributions to individuals' general sense of self-dissatisfaction. Moreover, particular types of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, specific expressed emotions, and self-dissatisfaction differentially predicted symptoms of hostility and depression, as well as diminished self-worth in young adulthood, albeit differently for the two groups. The importance of cognitions and emotions in the course diverse developmental pathways and future directions of the study are discussed.

This study examined multiple paths that can explain the co-occurrence of behaviors comprising a problem behavior syndrome in adolescence. Two hundred sixteen 15–18-year-olds in service programs for at-risk adolescents were assessed twice over a 6–12-month period to examine predictors of changes in levels of their delinquency, unprotected sexual intercourse, and use of soft and of hard drugs. This study considered (a) potential common predictors of multiple behaviors, (b) predictive links among behaviors over time, and (c) whether or not important unique aspects of individual behaviors remain in spite of their co-occurrence. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that the co-occurrence of problem behaviors results from multiple pathways of influence. The future occurrence of several problem behaviors was predicted by adolescents' initial negative expectations in social interactions. In addition, alcohol and marijuana use predicted increases in several other problem behaviors over time. Finally, individual problem behaviors retained important unique characteristics, suggesting the need for further research examining both their syndromal and unique aspects.

This study examined links between processes of establishing autonomy and relatedness in adolescent-family interactions and adolescents' psychosocial development. Adolescents in 2-parent families and their parents were observed in a revealed-differences interaction task when adolescents were 14, and adolescents' ego development and self-esteem were assessed at both 14 and 16. Developmental indices were strongly related to autonomy and relatedness displayed by both parents and adolescents. Significant variance was explained even after accounting for the number and quality of speeches of each family member as rated by a different, well-validated family coding system. Increases in adolescents' ego development and self-esteem over time were predicted by fathers' behaviors challenging adolescents' autonomy and relatedness, but only when these occurred in the context of fathers' overall display of autonomous-relatedness with the adolescent. The importance of the mutually negotiated process of adolescents' exploration from the secure base of parental relationships is discussed. 

This study examined adolescents' expectations and values about how competent behaviors would work for them in difficult social situations and explored the relation of these appraisals to adolescents' delinquency, drug use, and sexual intercourse without use of adequate birth control. Several lines of research on the determinants of adolescent achievement motivation, social competence, and various problem behaviors are integrated within a unified framework based on both motivational and cognitive-social learning theories. One hundred adolescents at-risk for problematic behaviors, aged 15½–18, received structured interviews measuring their expectations of self-efficacy in performing socially competent behaviors, their expectations about the outcomes of these behaviors, their values toward these behaviors, their perceptions of the values of peers, and their identification with the values of important adults. Adolescents also reported their recent levels of delinquency, hard drug use, and unprotected sexual activity. Adolescents' expectations and values were significantly related to all three problem behaviors; males' low efficacy expectations and females' lack of identification with an adult's values were the strongest correlates of problem behaviors. Adolescents' expectations and values are considered as potentially important aspects of adolescents' models of themselves in social interactions, which may mediate the link between problematic family relationships in childhood and deviant behavior in adolescence.