International Journal of Developmental Science

This study explores the longitudinal effect of adolescent volunteering behaviour on young adult volunteering and the completion of secondary school. Utilising data from the Australian sample of the International Youth Development Study, frequency of volunteering in Grade 9 (mean age = 15 years) and in young adulthood (mean age = 21 years), and completion of secondary school were measured. Mixed effect logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescent volunteering was associated with an increased likelihood of volunteering in young adulthood (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.29; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.20–1.39; N = 2,648) and of Grade 12 completion (OR 1.14; CI 1.03–1.28; N = 2,648), after controlling for family socioeconomic status and adolescent school adjustment. These findings suggest that adolescent volunteering may lead to further involvement in young adult volunteering and have a positive effect on school completion.

Immigrant and refugee youth are at elevated risk for joining gangs, which, in turn, is associated with a host of maladaptive outcomes. Previous literature on risk and protective factors for immigrant and refugee youth gang involvement has been inconclusive. Applying a developmental ecological systems approach, this study investigated contextual influences on immigrant and refugee gang involvement across three ecological systems (i.e., ontogenic system, microsystem, and exosystem). Participants included 81 immigrant and refugee youth aged 12–20 years (M_age = 15.68; 54.3% female) who completed self-report questionnaires assessing gang involvement and multiple risk and protective factors. Multivariate analyses revealed that racial discrimination, negative parenting, and exposure to community violence were positively associated with gang involvement, whereas peer support was negatively related to gang involvement. Future research should examine how to mitigate risk factors from multiple ecological systems. One potential avenue is to develop alternative prosocial settings in which these youth feel supported and valued.

A considerable body of research has examined the association between self-presentation on social networking sites and personality in adults. Yet, there is a lack of corresponding research on adolescents as well as studies on alternative measures of personality traits of the self. The current study investigates, using a cross-sectional multi-method approach, whether adolescents present themselves according to their self-concept on Facebook, using a multi-dimensional perspective of self-concept, and whether a congruent self-presentation is associated with self-esteem. Adolescents aged 14–17 years (N = 143) were recruited through various online channels. Using multiple regression analysis, we found that overall adolescents’ self-presentation on Facebook reflects their reported self-concept facets. The evidence also suggests that there is a positive association between adolescents’ congruent self-presentation and self-esteem. The implications and future research directions with respect to self-presentation on Facebook in adolescence are discussed.

The study examined the association among mothers’ parenting stress, adolescents’ emotional separation and self-orientation toward connectedness. Participants were 194 Italian adolescents, aged from 15 to 19 years (mean age = 17.39, SD = 1.18), and their mothers, aged from 33 to 64 years (mean age = 44.35, SD = 5.40). General findings showed that adolescents’ emotional separation may not necessarily be associated with their mothers’ parenting stress, but both of these variables may be related to adolescents’ personal characteristics, which may contribute to define parent-child relationship. Particularly, adolescents’ orientation towards a connected self was associated negatively with emotional separation and parenting stress. These findings indicate potential pathways to mitigate the stress in facing the normative challenges of adolescence.