While the impact of violent media on aggression is well established, less is known about how individual differences influence this relationship over time. This longitudinal study addresses that gap by examining whether narcissism and sex moderated the effect of violent media consumption and reactive and proactive aggression one year later. A sample of 2,284 adolescents from Cyprus (M = 16, SD = 0.89, 49.5% female) participated in this study. Hierarchical regressions, controlling for baseline levels of aggression and age, revealed distinct patterns: violent media and sex predicted reactive aggression, but narcissism did not. In contrast, violent media, sex, and narcissism all predicted proactive aggression. Notably, sex moderated the link between violent media and reactive aggression, with females showing a steeper increase than males. Both sex and narcissism moderated the violent media-proactive aggression association, with males being affected regardless of narcissism, while only highly narcissistic females showed an increase in proactive aggression. These findings show the importance of considering individual differences, such as sex and narcissism, to better understand how violent media influences different functions of aggression.

Parenting styles are closely related to bullying behavior in children and adolescents. However, differences in study design and inconsistent results create uncertainty regarding the relationship between parenting and bullying. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between four parenting styles and bullying perpetration/victimization through a meta-analysis, identifying sources of study heterogeneity by examining moderating effects. This meta-analysis included 107 studies with 624 effect sizes and 162203 participants (49.28% female, M = 13.51, SD = 2.56). Results indicated that positive parenting was negatively correlated with bullying perpetration and victimization, while negative/harsh parenting and uninvolved parenting were positively correlated with bullying perpetration and victimization. A positive correlation was also found between psychologically controlling parenting and bullying victimization (not perpetration). Significant moderating variables included the identity of the caregiver, country of origin, ethnic group, reporter of parenting, reporter of bullying, and measure of bullying. Specifically, the mother's psychological control was more related to bullying perpetration and victimization than the father's. Compared to other countries and ethnic groups, the relationships between psychologically controlling parenting or negative/harsh parenting and bullying were more positive in studies of Chinese and Asians. The relationship between negative/harsh parenting and bullying demonstrated a greater effect size in self-reported measures of parenting and bullying. Finally, a stronger correlation was found between negative/harsh parenting and bullying victimization when using the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire to measure bullying. The current study deepens the understanding of the relationship between different parenting styles and bullying, emphasizing that adopting appropriate parenting, particularly positive parenting behaviors, helps mitigate bullying issues and achieve positive developmental outcomes for children and adolescents.

Although many studies have explored the effects of peer rejection on bullying and victimization, the specific targets of bullying and victimization in adolescents after experiencing rejection have not been identified. This study adopts longitudinal social network analysis to examine whether the effects of peer rejection on bullying and victimization are only for peers in the rejecting relationship or involve other peers. This two-wave longitudinal study included 2,223 Chinese junior high school students. Students reported rejection, bullying, and victimization at the end of the first semester of eighth grade (M = 13.93 years, SD = 0.60, 48.6% girls) and the end of the second semester of eighth grade (M = 14.38 years, SD = 0.59, 49.0% girls). After fitting the data to stochastic actor-oriented models, the results revealed that rejected adolescents are more likely to be victimized by peers who reject them but not by others. Conversely, rejected adolescents tend to bully peers who do not reject them. These findings suggest that rejected adolescents simultaneously are at risk of both developing as bullies and being forced to become victims. They target different peers in each context, reflecting the complexity of bullying and victimization among adolescents after being rejected by peers.

Self-esteem is a powerful protective factor against depressive symptoms, with cognitive vulnerability theory suggesting that early self-esteem more strongly predicts later depressive symptoms than vice versa. While some meta-analyses have examined these relationships, limited knowledge exists on the prospective relationship between self-esteem and depressive symptoms, particularly how it changes with age. This study conducted a longitudinal meta-analysis of nine studies (20,733 participants) on the prospective relationship between self-esteem and depressive symptoms in Korean children and adolescents. Relationships were analyzed by integrating the effect sizes of 22 zero-order correlations and 17 partial correlations and examining age-related changes. The results indicated significant negative correlations in both zero-order and partial correlations. Age-related changes showed a reverse U-shape trend in partial correlations, with the strongest negative association during childhood, weakening until age 14, and then strengthening again. Moderator analysis revealed no significant effect size variation based on publication type or gender proportion, but more recent birth cohorts exhibited a stronger negative relationship in zero-order correlations. Significant differences were also found based on the measurement instrument of depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of tailored interventions to enhance self-esteem and mitigate depressive symptoms, extending the cognitive vulnerability model within Korea's cultural context and providing insights into Korean youth mental health.

Knowledge is lacking on whether adolescents' motivations for social media use predict internalizing symptoms, and few studies have considered the moderating role of extraversion. In 2017 (T1) and 2018 (T2), 197 adolescents (49.70% girls, M = 13.15, SD = 0.36) from a large metropolitan area participated in this study. Adolescents reported on their social media use motivations and extraversion (at T1) and depressive and anxiety symptoms (T1 and T2). Latent class analysis revealed four motivation profiles at T1: (1) entertainment and fun (30.97%); (2) avoidance and escapism (14.21%); (3) meeting new people, feel involved (16.75%); (4) boredom (38.07%). Social motivations (profile 3) predicted elevated internalizing symptoms at T2. Avoidance and boredom motivations (profile 2 and 4) predicted internalizing symptoms for adolescents with low extraversion. Social media use motivations and extraversion distinguish adolescents who benefit from social media from those who experience difficulties.

Ongoing concerns about the mental health of young people have intensified interest in the role of social media, with research suggesting that the nature of social media behaviors-whether interactive or passive-may differentially impact mental health. However, the bidirectional relationships between specific types of social media use and internalizing difficulties (anxiety and depression) remain underexplored, particularly at the within-person level over time. Data were extracted from the Dutch population-based Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel. Four yearly studies assessing time spent on interactive (communication) and passive use of social media in October (2019-2022) and four annual studies evaluating internalizing difficulties (anxiety and depression) in November (2019-2022) were used. Respondents who were 16- 25 years old in October 2019 (N = 321; M = 20.49; SD = 2.94; 61.7% female). Random Intercept Cross Lagged Path Models were used to analyze the data. There were no significant associations between passive social media use and internalizing difficulties at the within-person level over time. Within-person interactive use was associated with decreases in internalizing difficulties at one time point (2021 to 2022). The results provide marginal evidence that distinct social media behaviors are prospective factors associated with internalizing difficulties in young people.

There is concern that adolescents today are experiencing a "mental health crisis" compared to previous generations. Research has lacked a longitudinal time-lag design to directly compare depressive symptoms and social anxiety of adolescents in two generations. The current study surveyed 1081 adolescents in the current generation (Mage = 14.60, SD = 0.31, 49% female) and 1211 adolescents in a previous generation (Mage = 14.40, SD = 0.51, 51% female) across the high school years (grades 9-12), 20 years apart. Mixed-effects analysis revealed that the Current-Sample reported higher and increasing mental health problems over time compared to the Past-Sample. Although most adolescents reported consistently low mental health problems, the Current-Sample had a higher proportion of adolescents who were consistently at risk across the high school years compared to the Past-Sample. These findings highlight while most adolescents in both generations do not report elevated mental health problems, there may be a small, yet growing, group of adolescents today at risk for experiencing a "mental health crisis".

Physical dating violence is a widespread problem in adolescence, which often occurs during conflict escalation. Given that individual reports may be subject to many biases, including data from both partners is essential to yield a more accurate portrait of adolescent dating relationships. This study sought to examine within-dyad agreement rates as well as dyadic associations between both partners' conflict behaviors and physical dating violence using actor-partner interdependence modeling. The sample consisted of 126 different-sex adolescent couples (n = 252, girls: M = 17.34, SD = 1.39, boys: M = 17.98, SD = 1.65). Each partner independently completed an online questionnaire. The results revealed that boys and girls mostly disagree about what is going on within their relationship, and that the use of destructive conflict behaviors equally contributed to both partner's physical dating violence perpetration and victimization. Increasing youth's awareness of their own and their partner's behaviors during conflict is key in preventing conflict escalation, and ultimately reducing the incidence of physical dating violence.

Previous literature has focused on the overall influence of parental involvement on adolescents' academic performance, while less attention has been accorded to the reciprocal relationships between different forms of parental involvement and academic performance across gender. The present study examined the reciprocal associations between different forms of parental involvement and adolescents' academic performance using nationally representative data. A total of 9449 Chinese adolescents (47.82% girls, M = 13.21, SD = 0.65, 91.20% Han Ethnicity) have participated in the two-year and two-wave longitudinal study. Cross-lagged model results indicated reciprocal associations between parent-reported involvement and academic performance. Autonomy-supportive parental involvement in Grade 7 was positively associated with better academic performance in Grade 8, while behavioral control was negatively associated with later academic performance. Parental socialization practices vary by adolescent's gender. Compared with girls, boys experienced increased parental behavioral control in response to better academic performance. The findings reflect the persistence of stereotypical gender expectations and gender socialization in contemporary China.

Although cyberbullying victimization significantly impacts cyberbullying behaviors, research on its longitudinal mechanisms and protective factors remains scarce. A total of 1465 Chinese adolescents (52.2% female) with an average age of 16.14 (SD = 0.40) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study with 3-month intervals. Cyberbullying victimization positively predicted cyberbullying perpetration 6 months later, and this effect was mediated by impairment in personality functioning. Mindfulness buffered the predictive effect of cyberbullying victimization on impairment in personality functioning and mitigated the negative impact of impairment in personality functioning on cyberbullying perpetration. Further findings revealed that the indirect effect of impairment in personality functioning was more pronounced when levels of mindfulness were low, and higher levels of mindfulness could disrupt the mediating pathway of impairment in personality functioning between cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. The findings highlighted the importance of promoting the positive development of adolescents' personality functioning and fostering mindfulness skills to reduce cyberbullying among adolescents.

Pubertal development is associated with many psychosocial and interpersonal changes, including a dramatic rise in appearance-related victimization. Yet, it is unclear what aspects of pubertal development provoke victimization along with which, and when, youth are at heightened risk. The present study seeks to address this gap by examining the effect of pubertal asynchrony (i.e., temporal variation in an individual's pubertal milestones) on appearance-related victimization and by determining whether associations between asynchrony and victimization differ by sex and pubertal status. In follow-up analyses, associations between pubertal asynchrony and different typologies of victimization were also assessed. Participants included 373 youth (M = 13.51 [1.62]; 40% girls, 60% boys; 61% White) drawn from an online sample. The results showed that more pubertal asynchrony was associated with more appearance-related victimization, especially for girls, but associations did not differ across pubertal status. Latent profile analyses of appearance-related victimization further suggested that asynchronous youth were more likely to be in profiles characterized by high appearance-related victimization as well as those characterized by high height-based victimization (boys only). The findings suggest that pubertal asynchrony contributes to appearance-related victimization in adolescence and highlights the need for targeted intervention efforts related to pubertal development and specific typologies of victimization.

While previous research suggests that peer and teacher preferences are linked to adolescents' peer relationships, the specific impact of peer and teacher (dis)liking on adolescents' friendship networks is not fully understood. This study used longitudinal social network analysis to examine how peer (dis)liking and perceptions of teacher (dis)liking predicted friendship selection among Chinese adolescents. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 2566 students (48.3% boys, M = 13.94, SD = 0.60 at Time 1) in central China in 2015 and 2016. Results for peer (dis)liking revealed that Chinese students tended to befriend peers they liked (dyadic perception), to befriend peers widely liked (reputational perception), and to avoid peers widely disliked (reputational perception). Regarding teacher (dis)liking, Chinese students tended to befriend peers they believed their teachers liked (dyadic perception) and avoid those widely perceived as liked by teachers (reputational perception). Interestingly, students who were widely perceived as liked by teachers tended to befriend peers whom they believed teachers disliked. Perceived teacher disliking had a limited effect on friendship selection at both the dyadic and reputational levels. These findings suggest that peer liking and perceived teacher liking relate to friendship formation among Chinese adolescents, but that a reputation as a teachers' pet may hinder their friendships.

Earlier pubertal timing is associated with accelerated epigenetic aging, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. This three-wave longitudinal study examined negative health behaviors, specifically substance use, short sleep duration, and poor diet quality in middle adolescence, as mediators of links between earlier phenotypic and perceived pubertal timing measured in early adolescence and epigenetic aging on three epigenetic clocks in late adolescence (GrimAge, DunedinPACE, and PhenoAge). Phenotypic pubertal timing measured physical pubertal maturation relative to chronological age, whereas perceived pubertal timing was based on adolescents' subjective interpretation of their pubertal timing relative to their peers. Participants included 1213 youth (51% female, 49% male; 62% Black, 34% White) who participated during early adolescence (mean age = 13.10 years), middle adolescence (mean age = 16.1 years) and late adolescence (mean age = 19.7 years). Results from a mediation model revealed a mediation effect of earlier phenotypic pubertal timing on accelerated GrimAge in late adolescence through higher substance use during middle adolescence. There was also a direct effect of earlier phenotypic pubertal timing on accelerated DunedinPACE in males. Sleep duration and diet quality did not emerge as mediators but shorter sleep duration predicted accelerated GrimAge in females. These findings suggest that higher substance use presents a mechanism through which earlier maturing youth experience faster epigenetic aging that puts them at risk for poorer health across the lifespan.

There is limited knowledge about patterns of adolescents' experiences of general teacher support and support for critical consciousness and cultural competence development in school settings, which are key experiences proposed to promote academic functioning. Furthermore, less is known about potential developmental and ethnic-racial differences in these patterns. Using a person-centered approach, this study examined culturally relevant school support profiles in a sample of sixth and ninth grade students (N = 717; 49.9% girls) from the U.S. Southwest. Participants were aged 10 to 18 years (M = 13.73; SD = 1.54) and were ethnoracially diverse (31.8% Hispanic/Latinx, 31.5% Multiethnic, 25.7% White, 7.3% Black or African American, 1.4% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 1.4% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 1% Arab, Middle Eastern, or North African). Four culturally relevant school support profiles were identified: (1) low general, devoid cultural & critical support; (2) moderate general, moderate cultural, & devoid critical support; (3) high general, moderate cultural & critical support; and (4) high general, cultural, & critical support. Youth in the high general, cultural, & critical support profile had higher concurrent emotional and behavioral engagement. No significant differences were found between early (6 grade) and middle adolescent (9 grade) youth, pointing to the relevance and associations of the identified profiles across development. One significant difference emerged when comparing White and ethnoracially minoritized youth; among White youth, those in the high general, cultural, & critical support and high general, moderate cultural & critical support profiles had higher academic expectations than those in the low general, devoid cultural & critical support profile. The discussion focuses on characterizing heterogeneous and culturally relevant school support profiles, the associations between these profiles and indicators of academic functioning for ethnoracially diverse youth to advance developmental theory and the importance of promoting culturally relevant school support practices to foster developmental competencies among youth.

Abundant evidence highlights the psychological and interpersonal benefits of self-compassion during adolescence, yet the developmental trajectory and influencing factors during this period remain relatively unexplored. This study investigated the developmental trajectory of self-compassion and illustrated the longitudinal relationship between parenting styles and self-compassion using latent growth curve models (LGCM), cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) in a sample of Chinese youth (N = 871; M = 15.21, SD = 0.73; 45.4% girls) across two years. Results demonstrated an increase developmental trend of self-compassion over two years. The parallel process LGCMs suggested that changes in parental autonomy support was positively related to the changes in self-compassion, whereas the relationship between parental psychological control and self-compassion was significant only at initial levels. CLPM consistently supported a bidirectional relationship between parental autonomy support and self-compassion in Chinese youth at between-person level. Although within-person changes in the study variables were not significant in a bidirectional manner based on the results of RI-CLPMs, changes in parental autonomy support/parental psychological control and self-compassion were concurrently associated. These results suggested that besides stable connections between parenting styles and adolescents' self-compassion, changes in parenting styles and self-compassion are developmentally linked as well. Overall, this study underscores the potentially beneficial impact of parental autonomy support on adolescent self-compassion and reveals nuanced effects of parental psychological control within the Chinese cultural context.

Parents and their children can have congruent or incongruent perceptions of parenting, which has been shown to have downstream effects on certain adolescent outcomes. However, little is known about whether such effect holds for various domains of developmental outcomes or across adolescent boys and girls. Investigating 2268 parent-girl (M = 15.73, SD = 0.29, 75.5% were mothers) and 2090 parent-boy (M = 15.75, SD = 0.29, 71.8% were mothers) dyads from Hong Kong, this study examined the associations between parent-adolescent (in)congruence and adolescent emotional symptoms, positive emotions, and academic performance. Polynomial regression and response surface analyses revealed that both congruence and incongruence were linked to emotional symptoms and positive emotions in varying patterns, but only congruence was tied to academic performance. Associations between (in)congruence and developmental outcomes generally were similar between boys and girls. These findings underscore the importance of decomposing (in)congruence effects in family processes and emphasizing the complexity of adolescent development.

Understood from a critical consciousness framework, White racial identity development involves recognizing and combating White privilege and supremacy. The present study investigated the development of White American young adults' racial identity through their racial consciousness and racial affect and their combined impact on critical reflection using a person-centered approach via Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). Participants were 716 White identifying participants (M = 21.00, SD = 6.20 years; 68% women) who ethnically identified as White (90%) or European American. Participants completed surveys about their White racial consciousness, affect, and critical reflection. The results gave a six-profile solution to understanding White racial identity that can be closely similar to the six statuses proposed by the model of White identity development. However, White racial consciousness is more complex than theorized. The six-profile solution contained insights into how White adults conceive of their Whiteness, both as a racial identity and emotionally. The most illuminating findings of the LPA are in the combinations of identity and affect. The results indicated that even though White individuals are high in racial consciousness, it does not necessarily mean they critically reflect on their privileged position. Further, there was no support for the influence of multiple marginalized identities in helping develop White racial consciousness.

Given that adolescence is a critical period for socioemotional development, marked by shifting dynamics in the parent-child relationship, parent-adolescent dyadic regulation may serve as a key mechanism linking the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship to adolescent mental health. The current study investigated two dyadic regulatory processes during mother-adolescent conflictual interactions as interpersonal mechanisms underlying the link between adolescent-mother attachment security and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms: (a) mutual engagement in positive affect (i.e., dyadic positivity) and (b) mutual engagement in re-coordination following relational mismatches (i.e., dyadic repair). Eighty-six adolescents (M = 13.3 years, SD = 0.6, 37% girls) and their mothers participated. Path models revealed that attachment security was associated with greater engagement in dyadic positivity and repair. Moreover, the indirect effect of attachment security on adolescents' symptoms (i.e., internalizing symptoms at age 13 and externalizing symptoms at age 14) was significant via dyadic positivity, but not dyadic repair. Dyadic positivity during mother-adolescent conflictual interactions may be one interpersonal process that underlies the link between a secure child-mother attachment and mental health during adolescence.

Activism around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a critical task to promote social justice and to develop sustainable and effective solutions to global problems (e.g., climate change) in contemporary society. The present study examines relationships between adolescents' perceptions of gender and ethnic classroom inclusivity, outcome expectancies, utility values, and activism orientation in STEM, grounded in the situated expectancy-value theory. Participants were 699 adolescents (50.2% boys, 47.8% White; M = 15.11 years, SD = 0.84) in the southeastern United States. A structural equation model with FIML estimation, multiple imputation with Bayesian analysis, and multigroup SEM analyses were utilized to test the hypothesized associations using two time points, controlling for sociodemographics and STEM grades. The findings revealed that adolescents' perceptions of STEM classroom inclusivity appeared to play an important role in shaping STEM expectancies and perceived value of STEM. Multigroup SEM analysis showed that ethnicity significantly moderates the effect of perceived STEM classroom inclusivity on STEM expectancies, suggesting the effect of inclusivity on expectancies is stronger for racially/ethnically majoritized adolescents as compared to racially/ethnically minoritized adolescents. Associations from STEM motivational beliefs to activism orientation revealed that adolescents with higher STEM utility values are more likely to have a higher orientation toward STEM activism. Adolescents' perceptions of STEM classroom inclusivity had an indirect positive effect on STEM activism orientation through STEM utility values. These findings provide support for the conceptual premise that classroom inclusivity can foster motivational beliefs, and activism orientation in STEM.

Little is known about the unique effects of (un)popularity on body image and the characteristics influencing these effects. The goals of this study were to examine (1) the longitudinal associations of adolescents' (un)popularity with weight perception and dieting, (2) whether (dis)liking, self-esteem, and gender moderated these associations. Participants were 1697 Dutch adolescents (M = 14.18 years, SD = 1.29; 51% female), from a middle-class population. Participants completed peer nominations and self-reports in three consecutive school years. Mixed-effects models showed that (un)popularity did not predict weight perception and dieting over time. Concurrently, when liking was low, popularity predicted positive weight perception. Higher popularity predicted more dieting in females. This study highlighted that adolescents' body image varied in subgroups of social status.

Although numerous studies have explored the causes and consequences of intrinsic and extrinsic life goals, the developmental trend of life goals during adolescence has not been well understood. To address this research gap, this study explored the developmental changes of the pursuit of intrinsic and extrinsic goals during early, middle, and late adolescence, and examined the relation between life goals and internalizing/externalizing problems from a developmental perspective. A total of 4703 Chinese adolescents from primary (N = 1819, 47.8% girls, M = 9.34, SD = 0.58), middle (N = 1525, 47.5% girls, M = 12.47, SD = 0.59), and high school (N = 1646, 51.9% girls, M = 15.45, SD = 0.65) participated in this two-year, three-wave longitudinal study. The results revealed that the pursuit of intrinsic goals increased among primary school students, but decreased among middle and high school students. Conversely, the pursuit of extrinsic goals exhibited a consistent increase among adolescents in primary, middle, and high school. Girls have higher initial levels of intrinsic goals than boys in primary school, and boys' intrinsic goals declined faster than girls' in middle school. Additionally, the initial level and developmental rate of intrinsic goals among three developmental stages were significantly associated with internalizing/externalizing problems, with lower initial level, slower growth rate, and faster decline rate being associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. The significant association between the initial level and developmental rate of extrinsic goals and internalizing/externalizing problems were mainly observed among late adolescents, with higher initial level and growth rate being associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. These findings delineate the differences in developmental trends between intrinsic and extrinsic goals, underscore the robust relation between intrinsic goals and internalizing/externalizing problems, and figure out the development-stage differences in the relation between extrinsic goals and internalizing/externalizing problems.